By Michael Allen on March 17, 2010
A “deluge of events” is hitting Cuba’s communist regime, notes Yoani Sanchez, the island’s leading dissident blogger:
The first drops fell at the beginning of January, with the death of several dozen patients in the Havana Psychiatric Hospital from starvation and cold. The flood of problems intensified with the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, pushed to [read full story]
Posted in Blogs, Cuba, Latin America and the Carribean, communist regimes, corruption, dissidents, engagement, freedom of expression, protests |
By Michael Allen on March 3, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010 – 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM – The Iraqi Elections & the Changing Politico-Security Environment in Iraq – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. – Featuring keynote speaker Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, this one day conference presents a number of panels and experts discussing key issues of security and [read full story]
Posted in Africa, Analysis, Asia, Backlash, Blogs, China, Democracy assistance, Egypt, Elections, Fragile States, Iran, Iraq, Islam and democracy, Islam/politics, Journal of Democracy, Middle East and North Africa, NGOs/Civil society, National Democratic Institute, National Endowment for Democracy, Publications, Religion and Democracy, Russia, Soft power, Tools/technology, Women, accountability, authoritarianism, autocrats, backsliding, color revolutions, corruption, democracy, democracy and development, democracy promotion, democracy support, democratic reform, democratization, dictatorships, dissidents, economic crisis, emerging democracies, foreign policy, governance, media, promoting democracy, protests, religious freedom, rule of law, smart power, solidarity, state-building | Tagged Broadcasting in UN Blue: The Unexamined Past and Uncertain Future of Peacekeeping Radio, Center for International Media Assistance, Dalia Ziada, democracy in Mexico, Democratization in Africa, freedom of the internet for democracy, Human rights, Human Rights in the North Caucasus, Iraqi Elections, Islam and Religious Freedom, Islamic Republic of Iran, Mark Lagon, Mexican Media Under Attack, Mobilizing for Women's Rights and Eliminating Violence against Women, National Endowment for Democracy, Restoring America’s Reputation, Second Geneva Summit for Human Rights, velayat-e-faqih, Women in a Changing China, Women's Learning Partnership, Yemen, Zalmay Khalilzad |
By Michael Allen on January 22, 2010
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech on Internet Freedom is prompting some interesting reactions, judging by this sample compiled by the Center for International Media Assistance, including: Being the Web’s First Global Diplomat; Index on Censorship’s experts’ analysis of the speech; Marc Lynch on the Internet Freedom Agenda; and Evgeny Morozov wonders if Hillary Clinton [read full story]
Posted in Blogs, Hat tip: Center for International Media Assistance., National Endowment for Democracy, Tools/technology, democracy promotion, media, promoting democracy |
By Michael Allen on January 21, 2010
The US Government will fund and facilitate innovative approaches to expanding internet freedom and access, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this morning. Activists like those in Iran’s Green movement were “redefining how technology is used to spread truth and expose injustice”.
Just as samizdat literature undermined communism – “words that pierced the concrete and concertina [read full story]
Posted in Backlash, Blogs, China, Democracy assistance, Egypt, Featured, Human rights, Iran, NGOs/Civil society, Tools/technology, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, authoritarianism, autocrats, corruption, democracy, democracy and development, democracy promotion, dissidents, freedom of expression, media, promoting democracy, solidarity | Tagged Internet freedom |
By Michael Allen on January 20, 2010
Authoritarian regimes have deliberately targeted and intensified attacks against human rights and democracy advocates over the past year, according to the annual review of Human Rights Watch. [read full story]
Posted in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Blogs, China, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Human rights, Kenya, National Endowment for Democracy, Regions, Sri Lanka, authoritarianism, democracy, democracy promotion, democracy support, dissidents | Tagged Afghanistan, authoritarian, azerbaijan, burundi, china, democracy, Democratic Republic of the Congo, dissidents, Egypt, ethiopia, human rights watch, Kenya, National Endowment for Democracy, NGOs, non-governmental organizations, Russia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, turkmenistan, uzbekistan |
By Michael Allen on January 20, 2010
The one-day trial of four Vietnamese democracy advocates ended today as a Hanoi court handed down unusually harsh sentences. [read full story]
Posted in Asia, Blogs, Vietnam, democracy | Tagged china, Communist Party, democracy, Democracy Digest, Tiananmen Square, vietnam, Vietnam Committee on Human Rights |
By Michael Allen on December 22, 2009
Speaking from a steel cage in a Baku courtroom, two Azerbaijani bloggers today told RFE/RL that they would take their case to the European Court of Human Rights:
“There is no bigger honor than fighting for your ideas and values,” said Emin Milli, who, along with Adnan Hajizade, is accused of hooliganism after a scuffle at [read full story]
Posted in Azerbaijan, Blogs, National Endowment for Democracy, authoritarianism, dissidents, freedom of expression |
By Michael Allen on December 8, 2009
Some media stories that have caught the eye of the Center for International Media Assistance this week:
Iranian regime’s offensive against new-generation media; how Iranian activists skirt Web crackdown; why Israel wants US to counter the Islamic Republic with Twitter; Russian Internet provider blocks sites ; guerrilla blogging inside Cuba; Mubarak’s virtual enemies; the global war [read full story]
Posted in Blogs, China, Cuba, Cuba, Democracy assistance, Egypt, Hat tip: Center for International Media Assistance., Human rights, Philippines, Russia, Tools/technology, freedom of expression, media |
By Michael Allen on November 20, 2009
Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez posted seven questions to President Barack Obama and to the island’s Communist leader Raúl Castro.
She was stunned when Obama replied. Castro – at least at time of posting – hasn’t. Strange, huh?
She took the initiative, she said, because for too long “Cubans have resigned themselves to having no one `up there’ [read full story]
Posted in Blogs, Cuba, International Republican Institute, communist regimes |
By Michael Allen on November 12, 2009
The Obama administration has come under fire from democracy advocates for failing to match rhetorical commitments with appropriate policies and personnel. The administration has rejected the charge, and some recent appointments would seem to support their assertions.
Middle East democracy expert and former Brookings analyst Tamara Cofman Wittes has been appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State [read full story]
Posted in Blogs, Democracy assistance, Featured, Honduras, Honduras coup, Latin America and the Carribean, Middle East and North Africa, National Endowment for Democracy, democracy promotion, democracy support, foreign policy, promoting democracy |
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