January 4, 2009 Piso Tres [es] writes about the homicide of a young university student in Bogotá and wonders whether “there needs to be wide media coverage so that the police searches and finds the responsible party?” and that the police only started to offer a reward only after there was press coverage.
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January 3, 2009 On new year eve, residents of Junjing Garden in Guangzhou city organized a gathering against the construction of a Power station on the southern side of the residential area. According to the report from Sound of Hope, 24 of the residents were arrested the next day on 1 of Jan, 2009, among two of them were primary school kids who were holding banner during the protest gathering.
The power station had once been stopped by local residents 2 years ago, but the government decided to restore the construction saying that the magnetic field generated by the electricity is at a safe level. However, the residents do not trust the government's statistic and explanation and they criticized the mainstream media for their one-sided story in Junjing forum. In responding to Southern Metropolis feature report, aaaznh said:
封锁媒体,欺上瞒下合不合法?北京中科院科学家都反对把变电站建小区,谁才是真正的专家?电力专家就是为利益服务的华南虎专家,周围有大量的空地为什么不建?早就规划了为什么还要让周围建学校和居民楼?
Ajuns pointed out:
ZF见隐瞒不住了，开始利用媒体做单方的宣传攻势了，大家想办法把事情真相告诉市民。要充分利用网络报导后面的跟贴，将现场图片联接告诉市民。
qinf2 said:
失真报道，是什么原因让他们这样的报道呢。为什么不到群众中来，骏景大部分都是外地人，绝大部分都是受过高等教育的人，这样的一群人的分辨力绝对不低。造成知识分子忍无可忍的原因为什么不报道出来。订这样的报纸有何用。
I am poor and so I am not scared posted this picture to express his feeling:
Indeed the power station is really close, the photo below show the construction site and protest banners hanging outside the residential buildings:
The new round of confrontation between the residents and polices started on 30 of December when a large number of polices appeared in the district to reopen the construction site:
In reaction to the government's action, the residents decided to organize a new year eve gathering on 31 of December - 1 of Jan to pray for their children's health:
A large number of police arrived and resulted in a confrontation:
Due to the police arrest of 24 residents, more gatherings and “walkings” (meaning demonstration) happened in the past few days. This video clip below shows the gathering in Jan 3, 2009, the residents demand the police to release the protesters:
In order to sustain the protest action, the residents discussed new protest strategy in the forum. Moonlight suggested to stop paying the management fee:
出来散步也有几天了，心情真的很激动，感觉又回到了大学的时候，不过那个时候是为了国家（98年中国驻南联盟大使馆被炸），现在是为了自己的小家，其实也是我们共同的家。坦白的说，这几天雷声很大，不过雨点小，电狗们好像就是缩了壳的乌龟，不管你怎么摇，我就是不管。
冷静想一下，我们是不是打击面太宽了，我们喊反对暴力，是针对JC的，我们喊反对建变电站，是针对电力局的。我们喊要求迁移，是针对规划部门的，我们喊，还我绿地，是针对合生的。我们是一人对四人，处处都打，处处都打不痛，所以我建议我们选最容易入手的地方去打。
仔细考虑一下，我觉的最好是针对现在的开发商和物业，开发商和物业都是穿一条裤子的。我们在散步的同时，现在应该全面停交物业管理费。这可是实实在在的真金白银啊，只要我们停交三个月，相信物业就会急了。他能怎么办？？停水，我不相信他敢一次给几百户一起停水断电，如果真的停了更好，几千人上街打水的场面，一定比我们散步更能让媒体注意。
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January 3, 2009 Moses Kemibaro reports that Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has signed into law the controversial Communications Amendment Bill 2008. He notes that “the Bill has been signed even as Kenyan Media, in particular, and Kenyans, in general, have expressed concerns about the Bill as there are aspects about it that will (potentially?) seriously limit media rights in Kenya and also affect Kenyans freedom of expression and privacy”. Bankelele offers a breakdown of the main issues covered by the bill.
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January 2, 2009 Democracy For Nepal (DFN) posts videos and more perspectives on the Maoist attack on Himal publication house.
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January 2, 2009 Tzitzernak2 reports from the trial of seven prominent opposition members and activists. The blog also posts a YouTube video from the court case by A1 Plus, a pro-opposition TV station deprived of its broadcasting frequency by the authorities in 2002.
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December 31, 2008 Daniel Kalinaki, an editor at the Ugandan daily The Monitor, explains that being a journalist in Uganda is an unpredictable profession: this week the paper has received a letter to “present ourselves at the Criminal Investigations Directorate to assist the police investigations that a story we published in the paper was prejudicial to national security”.
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December 31, 2008 Bermudian blogger Vexed Bermoothes reports that Grenada is in the process of introducing a Freedom of Information Act and public sector integrity legislation, with additional plans to “establish a common code of practice and ethics for media.”
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December 31, 2008 The reds are already in the Parliament gates!
They are not communists. They are not armed rebels. They are anti-government protesters wearing red-shirts and carrying red banners. They are not the protesters who occupied Thailand’s airports last month.
Yellow is the color of the airport protesters; while the protesters who have camped outside the Parliament building last December 28 have chosen red as their protest color. The yellow protesters belong to the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD). The red protesters belong to the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship (DAAD).
The yellow protesters hate former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra. They have accused the two succeeding Thai prime ministers of being puppets of Thaksin. To force the removal of the elected government, they organized street actions last August. They occupied the airports last month. They achieved their goal when the court ruled that the ruling party was guilty of electoral fraud. They are supporting the leadership of incumbent Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
The red protesters are supporters of Thaksin and the former ruling party. They believe the incumbent prime minister is illegitimate. They want to dissolve the Parliament; they want a new round of elections.
Both groups have claimed they support democracy. Both groups have denounced dictatorship. Both parties have mobilized thousands of their members to assert their demands.
The yellow protesters have already succeeded. Now, the red protesters are beginning to use the tactics of their yellow counterparts in order to undermine the current administration. When they were in the streets a few weeks ago, PAD members were called fascists by their critics. Today, PAD denounces the DAAD as “red-shirt gangsters.”
After three days of camping outside the Parliament building, the red protesters have dispersed peacefully. They were able to delay the inauguration speech of the new leader. The Parliament session was moved to another venue. The red protesters have vowed to return to the streets after the New Year’s festivities.
Pictures from schoenes-thailand
Andrew Walker of New Mandala uploads an article written by Jim Taylor who has interviewed some of the red protesters:
“The many villagers that I talked to expressed openly a bitter disappointment and profound sadness in what they see as the biased political leanings of the highest order in society. Most traditional Red supporters in the street were too fearful according to many informants to turn up at Parliament given the media warnings of police and army intervention.
“But, the Red campaign, as many rally goers told me, is much more than simply Thaksin now. The question is one of Thai democracy. Rural voters are no longer ignorant of what they can expect and should expect in resource allocation and political participation since Thaksin’s time and grasp well the concepts of true democracy and social equity.”
BangkokDan is disappointed that the red protesters are copying the tactics of the yellows:
“The red shirts, attempting to force Thailand’s new unelected government to dissolve the house for new elections, have a serious image problem. Their tactics look like a virtual carbon-copy of those used by the opposite yellow shirts.
“Even though, put simply, the aims of the yellows and reds are virtually the same. They just they want to put their own people into office. Tit for tat and tat for tit.
“By xeroxing the yellows they do themselves a great disservice. State your points, demonstrate some civilized anger. But insist on peaceful ways and patience. Sabotage only strengthens a doomed government. Rather sooner than later there will be elections and things fall into place.”
Jotman is worried that the political situation will worsen:
“It seems to me that confrontation between police and army units and red demonstrators is somewhat more likely than when the protesters wore yellow shirts.
“Whereas the red shirt mob is from out of town, the yellow shirt mob — whose heavy-handed tactics heralded in the new government — had been comprised of many Bangkok residents. It may seem simplistic to emphasize geography at a time like this, but if these protests lead to violence, regional loyalties will be accentuated. To say that these developments do not bode well for national unity would be an understatement.”
Thai Intelligent News Weblog notes that the red protesters have modified their slogans to show that they are more than just Thaksin supporters:
“Judging by previous red shirt gatherings, it is clear there is a strong Thaksin flavor to it. There used to be big video projections ready for Thaksin phone in or video tapes of Thaksin, and the red shirt used to carry a lot of banner about Thaksin. Come this time around, at the current gathering at Parliament house, a great deal have changed.
“Even the banners that the red shirt people, individually made them, bought to gathering, there are very few about Thaksin. What happened? Why the change? The best answer comes from a host of different people, mostly technocrats on the side of Democracy, who kept suggesting that the red shirt “could be much more effective if it cut down the Thaksin play and tuned up its message on Democracy.”
Because it relied on extralegal means to grab power, Thailand Jumped the Shark believes the government has little credibility:
“The Democrats have nobody to blame but themselves. They have no credibility. They could have taken a strong stand against the illegal tactics of the PAD. Instead, thet used the thuggish PAD tactics, the courts and the behind the scenes persuasiveness of the army to come to power. Now, they think the Reds should roll over for them, because they are cute Democrats with beautiful English accents and foreign degrees. Typical elitist mentality.
“Funny, when Abhisit was in the opposition, he called for a dissolution of parliament to end the impasse. I doubt you will be hearing that from Abhisit now.”
Via Twitter, Thailandreport gives updates:
…parliament meeting is moving to MoF
…there are some injuries now
…parliament meeting was postponed from yesterday to today. will it happen? red mob is still there.
…parliament meeting today was canceled due to red mobs
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December 30, 2008 Cuban diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense links to an open letter [ES] to Fidel Castro, written by a political prisoner.
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December 30, 2008 As four people are shot at a football match, Barbados Free Press says that this is “what happens when you combine no rule of law with no effective police force and a top-down culture of corruption in government…”
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