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communist regimes
By Michael Allen on March 9, 2010
The testimonies of former prisoners provide a rare insight into the nature of repression in North Korea, according to Stephen Haggard and Marcus Noland. Their analysis – Repression and Punishment in North Korea: Survey Evidence of Prison Camp Experiences – features in a useful Bookforum round-up of recent insights into the world’s most repressive regime, [read full story]
Posted in Closed societies, communist regimes |
By Michael Allen on March 9, 2010
Contrary to recent portrayals of a self-confident, newly assertive China assuming its place as a global hegemon, the country’s leadership “is in crisis mode”, according to a new Stratfor analysis.
Meanwhile, the ruling Communist Party’s second-highest ranking official today conceded the danger of social instability, emphasizing that the regime’s priorities would be to enhance social security [read full story]
Posted in Asia, China, Featured, authoritarianism, autocrats, communist regimes, democratic reform, democratization, freedom of expression |
By Michael Allen on March 5, 2010
A North Korean factory worker was publicly executed by firing squad this week after conveying news out of the secretive communist state via his illicit cell phone, Associated Press reports:
The man, surnamed Chong, made calls to the defector using an illegal Chinese mobile phone, the broadcaster said, citing a North Korean security agency official it [read full story]
Posted in Closed societies, Democracy assistance, Human rights, NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Tools/technology, communist regimes, freedom of expression, media, north korea |
By Michael Allen on March 3, 2010
Politics can be more fun than this? Communist dictator Enver Hoxha’s statue bites the dust.
The most exciting event of his childhood was when crowds pulled down the huge statue of Enver Hoxha, Albania’s communist dictator. But now Erion Veliaj is organizing a new generation through a different approach to politics.
“We have to make politics fun [read full story]
Posted in NGOs/Civil society, National Endowment for Democracy, Transparency, accountability, communist regimes, corruption, democracy, democracy support, governance, promoting democracy |
By Michael Allen on March 1, 2010
The ruling Communist Party’s insistence on “rigid stability” and monopolizing political power is likely to generate “revolutionary turmoil”, warns China’s leading expert on social unrest. But some democracy and labor activists are pursuing a gradualist strategy, even working in partnership with state actors, where necessary.
Securing its power through coercion and ideology at the expense of [read full story]
Posted in Labour/labor unions, National Endowment for Democracy, communist regimes, democracy promotion, democratization, dissidents, promoting democracy, protests | Tagged China Labor Bulletin, Chinese Solidarnosc, collective bargaining, Han Dongfang, independent trade unions, labor movement, revolutionary turmoil, rigid stability, Yu Jianrong |
By Michael Allen on March 1, 2010
Following the death of Cuban prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo, the island’s communist authorities have been arresting and harassing dissidents. The World Youth Movement for Democracy highlights other disturbing cases and calls for action:
At approximately 7pm on February 23, human rights activist of the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy Cristian Toranzo Fundichely, regional winner [read full story]
Posted in Cuba, Cuba, Latin America and the Carribean, communist regimes, dissidents, freedom of expression | Tagged cuba, Cuban prisoner of conscience, New Castro, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Same Cuba, World Youth Movement for Democracy |
By Michael Allen on February 26, 2010
Twenty years after the collapse of communism, the West should not be complacent about the inevitability of democracy, writes André Glucksmann.
The fall of the Berlin Wall did unleash a “solidarity of the shaken”— a politics of democratic solidarity practiced by those “shaken by totalitarian regimes and devoted to opposing them,” he argues.
The peoples extricating themselves [read full story]
Posted in Eastern Europe, Europe, Georgia, Russia, communist regimes, democracy, democratization, dissidents, promoting democracy, solidarity, totalitarianism |
By Michael Allen on February 25, 2010
After the death of a prominent dissident prompted international outrage, Cuba’s communist authorities have reacted with a crackdown on the island’s democracy advocates.
Political leaders and human rights groups deplored the passing of Orlando Zapata Tamayo and called on Havana to release political prisoners still in detention.
To forestall public protests at Zapata’s funeral, security services [read full story]
Posted in Cuba, Featured, Human rights, Latin America and the Carribean, communist regimes, democracy, dissidents, promoting democracy |
By Michael Allen on February 23, 2010
Beijing’s aggressive response to the Dalai Lama’s meeting with President Obama was predictable, but it said more about the regime than it may have intended:
Much of the reason Tibet touches such a raw nerve in Beijing is that the unrest there goes to the heart of the Communist Party’s lack of democratic legitimacy. The more [read full story]
Posted in communist regimes | Tagged Dalai Lama, Dalai Lama’s meeting with President Obama, democratic legitimacy, lack of democratic legitimacy |
By Michael Allen on February 22, 2010
Concern is growing over the deteriorating condition of Cuban prisoner of conscience Orlando Zapata Tamayo:
After 75 days on hunger strike, Tamayo has been transferred to a prison hospital in Havana due to his “grave condition,” a dissident group reports. Elizardo Sanchez, chairman of the unofficial Cuban Human Rights Commission, said Zapata’s family confirmed the transfer [read full story]
Posted in Cuba, Human rights, NGOs/Civil society, communist regimes, dissidents |
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