CANVAS founder Srdja Popovic elected new Rector of St. Andrews University

After being approached by a St. Andrews student, CANVAS founding member Srdja Popovic ran for the position of Rector at St. Andrews University – and won the election last week. Running against MSP and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie, Popovic was able to secure double the student’s votes. The position of Rector, existing at Scotland’s oldest universities, is elected by the student body every three years to become President of the University Court, presiding over meetings taking essential decisions for the University.

In the new position of Rector at the prestigious university, Srdja Popovic “aims to empower students in St Andrews to mobilise themselves”, he told Rachel Miller from BBC News. The Serbian activist further stated that one of the goals should be to build a student movement as a platform for broader social change. Srdja Popovic already came closer to achieving this goal by helping 50 students active in the campaign to build their own ‘students for students’ movement. He also revealed to BBC that what ultimately convinced him to run for the position, was the discovery that one of the former Rectors was John Cleese who inspired him in his own creative protest through Monty Python’s absurd humor.

To read more about Srdja Popovic and his new position as the Rector of the University of St. Andrews, read this BBC article.

For those who speak Serbian, take a look at this N1 Info article.

Photo: N1 Info

Protest Banner Lending Library: creatively supporting protest!

Chicago Tribune reported on American artist Aram Han Sifuentes who started sewing protest banner and arranging a “Protest Banner Lending Library”.

The fiber arts’ teacher started sewing protest banners with different slogans last year. It was her way to support protests without having to go to the streets herself, as she was still in the process of applying for citizenship. The artist had moved to the US with her family from South Korea when she was a child and grew up in California.

Establishing the “Protest Banner Lending Library”, she enabled others to go through a large list of already existing banners and to lend them for their own protests. Some of the banners Sifuente made herself, others were made by collaborators or one of the visitors of one of many workshops in Chicago or New York. Until mid-November, the Lending Library can be visited at the Alphawood Gallery in Lincoln Park, Chicago.

This project is an example of how one can support protest and a cause without going to the streets or taking risks he or she is not prepared to take. Others who are, can still benefit from this support! And besides this “practical” aspect, a lot of Sifuente’s projects are creative and humorous, another quality which can be useful in attracting people to a cause when trying to win over more supporters, for example.

To read more about the “Protest Banner Lending Library” and other creative projects by the artist, like a disco-themed polling booth for all those who cannot vote legally, follow this link.

Photo: Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune

Anthem protests in Hong Kong: This time it’s the fans

With lots of attention focused on kneeling protests during the national anthem in the United States, some media has reported on a similar movement in Hong Kong. But while in the US it’s the athletes who protest, in Hong Kong it’s the fans.

Hong Kong sports fans have been turning their backs, booing, chanting and even raising their middle fingers during China’s national anthem being played. “[A] protest of Beijing’s growing influence in this semiautonomous city”, states New York Times. Most recently on last Tuesday, Hong Kong soccer fans booed before an Asian Cup qualifier against Malaysia started, while two weeks ago, they protested at another game against Laos.

After the street protests of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong had ended three years ago “without the government ceding any ground on expanding residents’ say in local elections”, the New York Times reports “that [the] spirit of protest has been revived in the stadium jeers, which appear to have started two years ago.”

This month, a new law passed by the Chinese government went into effect, among other things prohibiting the disrespect of the anthem. Hong Kong has yet to enact its own version of the law. The city which returned to Chinese control in 1997 after being a British colony, enjoys significant autonomy and many citizens “desire to maintain a separate identity as Hongkongers”, writes Washington Post. In international sports competitions, Hong Kong also has its own teams competing.

To read more about the protests, some local and international reactions or watch the latest videos from Hong Kong, take a look at the following articles by the New York Times and Washington Post.

Photo: Hong Kong fans’ protest during Chinese national anthem last week (Photo Credit: AP / washingtonpost.com)

 

US American athletes could learn from past nonviolent action: be clear and disruptive!

In past weeks, professional athletes kneeling during the national anthem to protest and raise awareness on the issue of racial injustice in the United States have caught the media’s attention. CANVAS’ Weekly Report and Daily News reported on the protests and Donald Trump’s and Vice President Mike Pence’s reaction at a San Francisco 49ers game earlier this month. While protests had caused solidarity in the NFL for a while, the league’s commissioner Roger Goodell called on the players last week to stand up for the national anthem possibly fearing financial consequences, wrote Les Carpenter on the Sportsblog for the Guardian. But even after this statement, some players again kneeled during the anthem at a game on Sunday.

In an opinion article for Bloomberg last Thursday, Stephen L. Carter, columnist and professor of law at Yale University, pointed out that even though he is a supporter of the athletes’ cause, the players are currently not causing any disruption and are thus not advancing their struggle. He refers to lessons learned by Martin Luther King during the Albany Movement in 1961-1962, when activists failed to incite the expected harsh responses by the police, not being able to make their point.

Carter writes: “Protest at its best should have a clear, articulable purpose. It should also be designed to create a disruptive tension that can be resolved only by bringing the movement nearer to its goal.” The CANVAS Core Curriculum as well points out that “[t]he world rarely changes because of symbolic actions” (p. 69), that protests should communicate a clear message and that one of the main desired outcomes of nonviolent action, besides mobilization and defection, is the interruption of the ‘business as usual’ (pp. 92-93).

According to Carter, there have certainly been reactions by fans and statements as that by Roger Goodell. But it remains to be seen whether the protests will have any serious consequences, and whether the US American athletes and their supporters can further promote the cause, triggering a genuine national debate on the issue.

Read more about what Stephen L. Carter writes on the NFL protesters here.

Photo Left: Bettmann Archive / dailymail.co.uk

Photo Right: Patrick Smith / sportsday.dallasnews.com

Can nonviolence end the Israeli occupation? – Issa Amro interview

Late on Friday, Al Jazeera aired an interview with prominent Palestian human rights activist Issa Amro. As a part of the weekly UpFront- show, presenter Medhi Hasan asked Amro, who’s been recognised by both the European Union and the United Nations for his tireless work, about his persistent advocacy for specifically non-violent action.

Amro was asked if he could understand that many of his fellow countrymen, repressed for so many years, would rather fight back instead of using a peaceful sit-in or other civil-disobedience tactics. “If a Palestinian under occupation wants to fight back against an Israeli soldier illegally occupying their land, what is wrong with that in your view?” asked Hasan.

“It is not about what is wrong. It is not about armed resistance versus nonviolent resistance. On the contrary. The armed resistance is allowed under international law, to resist the occupiers. But it is about tactics, and what is possible. About what you win and how you will win. Palestinians practiced people’s resistance in the first Intifada and it went very well, we were achieving a lot. In the second Intifada, we lost a lot from [more violent tactics], and the price was very very high. So it is about tactics and strategies, and about what kind of resistance will make you stronger. […] Non-violence as a tactics now is just the best tool to end occupation.”

Where Amro has been dubbed ‘the Palestinina Ghandi’ by many, his views are not at all those of so called ‘principled non-violent resistance‘ grounded in religious and ethically based injunctions against violence. Rather, his adoption of non-violence is a strategic choice, simply waging the impact of both forms of strategy. “I simply think that civil disobedience will make the cost of the occupation higher.”

Rather than being embraced by political leaders on both sides, Palestinian security forces arrested Amro in September for a Facebook-post criticizing the Palestinian Authority arresting a journalist. Amro is also awaiting trial in an Israeli military court for a series of charges, dismissed by international rights groups as baseless.

“It is part of my struggle. To teach the international community, who is asking us day and night to do nonviolent resistance, to tell them who the occupier is, how they attack human rights defenders, […] how they will take me to jail for a few years for only using nonviolence resistance. […] There is no change without a price.”

Watch the full interview with this courageous acticist via this link on Al Jazeera (starting from 12.15).

Photograph: www.aljazeera.com (interview PrtSc)

Weekly Report: 13 October, 2017

Photo: On a Media Award Ceremony, RaajjeTV staff staged a silent protest against the Maldives Media Council Photograph: RaajjeTV

The Maldives

In a statement, UN Special Rapporteur Diego García-Sayán, part of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, has condemned the indefinite suspension of 54 lawyers in the Maldives after The International Commission of Jurists had already done so two weeks ago (see Weekly Report: 29 September). Among other things, the Special Rapporteur expressed his concerns about the independence of the legal profession and access to justice in the Maldives, and called on the authorities to establish an independent bar association overseeing lawyers’ affairs in the country.

As the second hearing of the suspects charged with the murder of popular blogger and human rights defender Yameen Rasheed was held behind closed doors, some have called for public hearings of the case in the future. The Asian Tribune and other organizations such as the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Democracy (FORUM-ASIA) or the Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN) called on the Criminal Court of the Maldives to do so in order “to respect the Constitution […] [and] the interest of Yammen, his family and justice in the Maldives. Yameen had received several death threats which were ignored by the police and was stabbed to death in April this year. Besides criticizing prevailing issues in the Maldives such as pervasive injustice and human rights abuses, the blogger was a leading advocate of justice for his friend and journalist Ahmad Rilwan Adulla who had disappeared in 2014.

On Wednesday, Moosa Rasheed of Avas Online dedicated his award of “Most Promising Journalist Of The Year”, awarded by the Maldives Media Council (MCC), to the missing journalist. At the awards ceremony, RaajjeTV also staged a silent protest, criticizing the unfairness and bias of the Commission in panalizing the TV station. RaajjeTV was fined by the Commission, penalizing a statement made in July during a live program, which allegedly encouraged to overthrow the government and negatively impacted national security, among other things.

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22211&LangID=E
https://www.asiantribune.com/node/91076
https://avas.mv/en/39599
https://raajje.mv/en/news/19418

Cambodia

After the ruling Cambodian government has started dissolving the main opposition party, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Cambodia now warns about Cambodia’s rapidly deteriorating civil and political rights. According to a statement, current developments have “deeply worrying implications for forthcoming elections and the future of democracy in the country.”

The South China Morning Post referred to Cambodia as “Asia’s newest one-party state” and reported Mu Sochua, one of Cambodia’s top opposition leaders, had fled to Morocco. She is one of three vice-presidents of the opposition party and was one of the remaining senior leaders still left free in Cambodia. She had been involved in opposition politics since the mid 1990s, but did not feel safe in the country anymore.

https://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/%28httpNewsByYear_en%29/40BA8DAC40D9F4EAC12581B70032D58D
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2113968/welcome-asias-newest-one-party-state

Myanmar

After thousands of Rohingya were leaving Myanmar on Wednesday and Thursday last week, army chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing stated that the Rohingya ‘were not native’ to Myanmar. According to him, they were rather left in only by the colonialists and they were originally Bengali. In his accounts, the general – most powerful person in Bugghist-majority Myanmar – claims that Rohingya insurgents’ attacks had triggered the situation. According to the UN human rights office, the military has been violently forcing out Rohingya to Bangladesh in recent weeks, and the “U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra‘ad al-Hussein has described the government operations as ‘a textbook example of ethnic cleansing’”. U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman is scheduled to visit the country today. In the meantime, the EU is reportedly considering sanctions and cutting ties with the country if the situation does not improve. EU ambassadors have approved an agreement calling for the violence to end.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya/myanmar-army-chief-says-rohingya-muslims-not-natives-numbers-fleeing-exaggerated-idUSKBN1CH0I6
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/eu-burma-cut-ties-rohingya-muslims-crisis-ethnic-cleansing-myanmar-rakhine-state-a7997161.html

Democratic Republic Congo

Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that the electoral commission of the DRC has announced that presidential elections are not to be held before April 2019, after they were already due to be held last year. President Joseph Kabila therein undermines the pact of him to step down in 2017, made with the political opposition. According to a senior opposition member “[t]he holding of elections has become a political tool of Mr. Kabila to distract the people,” and The Rassemblement opposition coalition “will ‘no longer recognize him as head of state’ after Dec. 31”.

On Tuesday, a Statement by the UN Security Council condemned the attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) on 09 October in the North Kivu Province on a base of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO). The attack had led to the death of two Tanzanian peacekeepers and 18 further peacekeepers injured. Besides the attacks on MONUSCO, presumed ADF forces have ambushed a group of motorbiker, reportedly killing 20 civilians earlier on Sunday. On Thursday, News24 further reported on Rwandan rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) killing 7 people including civilians and a police officer in the same province. At the same time, the International Committee of the Red Cross highlighted the urgent need for humanitarian assistance in the Kasai region.
Seven international and Congolese human rights organizations urged the United States and the European Union to increase targeted sanctions on President Joseph Kabila’s family and financial associates who benefit from unlawful activity, reported Human Rights Watch on Tuesday.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-11/congo-elections-won-t-be-held-before-april-2019-commission-says
https://www.un.org/press/en/2017/sc13022.doc.htm
https://www.cnbcafrica.com/apo/2017/10/10/monusco-repels-deadly-attack-by-suspected-adf-in-mamundioma-reinforcements-deployed-to-secure-the-location/
https://www.news24.com/Africa/News/hutu-militia-kills-seven-in-eastern-drc-attack-20171012
https://www.icrcnewsroom.org/open.asp?ID=1570&title=Violence_in_DR_Congo_s_Kasai__Humanitarian_assistance_urgently_needed&mID=426qg9g.a44356057f0460129.36
https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/10/10/dr-congo-us-eu-should-expand-targeted-sanctions

Venezuela

Upcoming Sunday, Venezuelans will participate in state elections to vote for governors. The opposition already claims that the government is using tactics of manipulation, confusion and fear. According to recent polls, Maduro is deeply unpopular, but support for the opposition has also gone down. Whatever Sunday’s elections’ outcome will be, governors are expected to be subordinated to the government-controlled assembly, leaving little risk when allowing clean votes, “while gaining much from the optics” – possibly hoping to defuse international pressure and appease domestic opposition. While demand for travel documents is at a record high, many Venezuelans have been waiting for their passports to be renewed since new ones cannot be issued due to a lack of material, and have not been able to travel in the meantime. President Maduro has now signed an emergency decree to extent those passports’ validity. At the same time, Colombian authorities have already stated that the number of foreigners coming in to Cucuta has more than doubled this summer, though it does not reflect dual nationals returning or those crossing without passing official checkpoints. More Venezuelans than ever have decided to leave the country, many using the Simon Bolivar International Bridge towards Colombia.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/is-venezuela-a-dictatorship-a-key-election-will-offer-clues/2017/10/11/d4301382-ad01-11e7-9b93-b97043e57a22_story.html?utm_term=.3329e56e668d
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-10-12/thousands-are-fleeing-venezuela-by-two-lane-border-bridge
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4972088/Venezuela-runs-paper-ink-print-new-passports.html#ixzz4vKXqPBLR

Spain

While calls for Catalan independence continue, others have made statements against independence the independence of Catalonia as happened on Sunday during a march organized by the Catalan Civil Society, when people were waving Spanish, Catalan and EU flags together. On Thursday, many Spaniards also crowded the streets and displayed flags in Madrid and Barcelona to demonstrate Spanish unity on a National Holiday. However, Sunday as well as Thursday were marked by extremism and violent escalation. Tension remains high between the central government and Catalonia after Catalan government chief Puigdemont signed a symbolic declaration of independence on Tuesday, citing the results of the referendum from 01 October which had been declared illegal by Madrid. Prime Minister Rajoy has now given Puigdemont eight days to drop his push for independence. If the latter does not do so, Rajoy could use Article 155 of the constitution and impose rule from Madrid. As the Article has never been used before, uncertainty remains about what that could mean in practice.

https://catalannews.com/politics/item/hundreds-of-thousands-march-in-barcelona-against-catalan-independence
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spain-politics-catalonia/spaniards-use-national-holiday-to-show-unity-amid-catalan-crisis-idUSKBN1CH1BH
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/catalonia-barcelona-fight-demonstrations-spain-national-day-independence-unity-clash-a7997191.html

Syria

The Islamic State (IS) has seen its territories decline throughout the last year, now falling back on territories in the Euphrates valley southeast of Deir al-Zor, writes Reuters. While the US-backed Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) have been preparing for “a final showdown with Islamic State”, the UN estimates up to 8,000 civilians to still be trapped in Raqqa. The Raqqa Civic Council has attempted to negotiate to release of civilians facing fear that the latter may be used as human shields. Raqqa is one of the IS’ last strongholds and has served as their de-facto Syrian capital since 2014. Reportedly, there has been a number of IS fighters surrendering in recent weeks. However, the SDF had already been predicted ahead of a major push in June, which has proven overly optimistic with militants holding out months until now.

On Thursday, IS suicide attackers staged a triple car bomb attack in Abu Fas, northeast Syria, killing at least 50 people among which were refugees fleeing the fighting in Deir-al Zor. On Wednesday, suicide bombers had detonated near the Damascus police headquarters, killing two people and leaving six wounded. Reuter reports of aid agencies warnings’ “the the fighting in eastern Syria is the worst in the country this year and that air strikes have caused hundreds of civilian casualties.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-raqqa/fighters-on-raqqa-front-line-brace-for-final-showdown-with-islamic-state-idUSKBN1CE1M5
https://www.dw.com/en/syria-civilians-trapped-in-raqqa-as-islamic-state-makes-last-stand/a-40915379
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-mideast-crisis-syria-attack/islamic-state-attacks-kill-at-least-50-in-east-syria-kurdish-red-crescent-idUKKBN1CH2RE

The United States of America

The US announced its withdrawal from the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), accusing the body of an ‘anti-Israel bias’. Heather Nauert, US state department spokesperson, announced on Thursday that the US would replace its representation there with an ‘observer mission’. Israel has also declared to prepare a withdrawal from UNESCO alongside the US. Among other reactions, Irina Bokova, the Director-General of the organization, lamented the US decision and stated that at times when “conflicts continue to tear apart societies across the world, it is deeply regrettable for the United States to withdraw from the United Nations agency promoting education for peace and protecting culture under attack,” she said.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2017/10/12/california-fires-map-how-deadly-wildfires-spreading/759038001/
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/withdraws-unesco-171012133838151.html

Zimbabwe

Early this week, President Mugabe announced a Cabinet reshuffle where he dropped three ministers and reassigned ten others. The reconfiguration of Cabinet posts should be viewed in the light of ZANU-PF’s internal battle over Mugabe’s succession. President Mugabe “clipped under-fire Vice-President Mnangagwa’s wings” by taking away the Justice Ministry from him as well as demoting several of his affiliates. The post was re-administered to Happyton Bonyongwe, director-general of the Central Intelligence Organisation, which is still under strong hold of the President.

The Cabinet reshuffle included the creation of a new ‘Cyber-Ministry’, which pro-democracy groups and social media users fear will be used to suppress free speech following comments by Mugabe’s spokesperson. The new Ministry will “will help us in nailing those who do mischief using cyber space,” George Charamba told reporters at State House on Tuesday. The Presidential spokesperson also mentioned the fact that Mugabe learned a lot from Zimbabwe’s Eastern allies in this matter, such as China, Russia and Korea, as these countries “have done exceedingly well in terms of ensuring some kind of order and lawfulness in that area.”

Also this week, Zimbabwean activist and National Vendors Union leader Sten Zvorwadza was arrested for describing the ancient President of the country, Robert Mugabe as a dead man walking. Zvorwadza made the remark about the 93-year-old leader while he was commenting on the recent disturbance between authorities and vendors. Armed Zimbabwean police have arrested several vendors resisting moves by the government to remove them from the streets following an order by President Robert Mugabe to get rid of people selling various wares in public.

https://www.news24.com/Africa/Zimbabwe/well-nail-those-who-do-mischief-mugabe-on-social-media-abuse-20171011

Iraq

 On Thursday, The Iraqi government stated that it would not hold talks with the Kurdish autonomous region on reopening its airports and providing dollars for its banks, unless the Kurds commit to “Iraq’s unity”. The flight-ban was imposed immediately after the September 25th referendum, in which a landslide majority voted in favor of independence. Among other measures to isolate the Kurdish region, Baghdad stopped selling dollars to four Kurdish-owned banks and called for a halt to its independent crude oil sales. Although the Kurdish representatives have called for negotiations many times since the independence-vote, Baghdad sticks to their position that the Kurds must disavow the referendum result as a pre-condition for any talks. In coordination with the Bagdad-regime, Turkey this week committed to gradually closing border gates with northern Iraq in response to the independence referendum in Iraq’s Kurdish region.

Reacting to the rising tension in the region, the two main roads connecting Erbil and Dohuk to Mosul were cut off on Thursday with sand embankments as a precautionary measure after Kurdish forces detected an increase in deployments and movements of Iraqi forces near the front line with the Peshmerga. According to Al Jazeera, the move came after Kurdish authorities on Wednesday claimed they feared Iraqi government forces and allied paramilitary units were preparing to launch an assault on the autonomous northern region.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-kurds-referendum-iraq/iraq-refuses-talks-with-kurds-unless-they-commit-to-unity-idUSKBN1CH0N6?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Reuters%2FworldNews+%28Reuters+World+News%29
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-turkey-iran/turkey-to-close-border-gates-with-northern-iraq-in-coordination-with-baghdad-tehran-erdogan-spox-idUSKBN1CH13Z
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/kurd-fighters-iraq-briefly-block-roads-mosul-171012091357819.html

Other News

Bolivia: Thousands of protestors marched in several cities throughout Bolivia to make a statement against President Evo Morales newest attempt to clear the way to run for a fourth term in 2019. – https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bolivia-politics-protests/bolivians-protest-morales-new-bid-to-extend-term-limits-idUSKBN1CG0BR?utm_source=34553&utm_medium=partner
Morocco: Last Sunday, hundreds of people from all over Morocco protested in Casablanca and continued the wave of demonstrations which have been happening throughout the year. Protestors came out in support of jailed activists and in general solidarity with the Rif region, where protests had started last year. – https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/10/9/casablanca-protests-in-solidarity-with-jailed-rif-activists

Fighting Nuclear Power with Fireworks!

Developing your goals and ‘Vision of Tomorrow‘ is one thing, focussing public attention to the underexposed issue you are fighting for might be as important. How does one bring attention to a public risk that affects millions of people?

In Greenpeace’s battle against nuclear energy, the organisation published a new report on the danger of fuel storage pools at nuclear facillities in France and Belgium. The report by independent experts, submitted to French and Belgium authorities earlier this week, questions the security of several nuclear facilities and points at their vulnerability to outside attacks. “While these pools can contain the highest volume of radioactive matter in a nuclear plant, they are very poorly protected,” according to Greenpeace. “Rather than wait for the worst to happen, let’s address this issue and take action.”

The report, however, was not the only action this week!  Early on Thursday, Greenpeace activists broke through two security barriers at EDF’s Cattenom nuclear plant in northeast France, reaching the reactor’s nuclear zone to within a few tens of meters of the nuclear installations. Several activists launched fireworks inside the grounds of the French nuclear plant, to highlight the vulnerability of the plant to attacks. Using drones and on the ground activists to register their actions, the fireworks made it all over the news.

Greenpeace reports might only reach a secluded group of people, but the issues they report on concern a much wider audience. Getting their attention, even for a brief moment, is part of building a bigger movement, and mobilizing people for your Vision of Tomorrow.

For footage of the Greenpeace action, read the full Reuters-article here.

Photograph: Greenpeace Luxembourgh/Twitter

International Community ignores Non-Violent Tibet, while Tibetan-government calls ‘Five-Fifty’ forum.

According to the latest Freedom House index, the denoted territory of Tibet is right at the bottom of the ranking, in the good company of countries as Syria, North-Korea and Eritrea. “Yet the situations in Syria and North Korea get far more media coverage, thanks to the crises’ threats of terrorism and nuclear war,” writes Josh Rogin for the Guardian, late last week. Tibetan leaders lament that their nonviolent movement is ignored while violent movements and violent regimes succeed.

The (in this case Chinese) surge of nationalism and the retreat of human rights and democracy promotion, should be seen as global trends, according to Rogin. Although the Tibetan issue has moved to the background of world-politics over the last years, their nonviolent movement is at a crossroads, facing increasing Chinese oppression. Loss of visible support from the United States and the rest of the international community prompted the Tibetan government-in-exile in northern India to convene the ‘Five-Fifty’-conference last weekend to determine its path forward.

The Five-Fifty-forum refers to the bilateral goal of the conference: chart a five-year plan for pursuing a return to dialogue and negotiations with China, or, alternatively, plan for another 50 years of resistance to China’s occupation, systematic repression and attempted cultural genocide in Tibet.

Guiding Tibet’s quest for a sustainable solution is the so called “middle way approach,” which seeks limited autonomy within the Chinese system, and not ethnic purity or even an autonomous state. The middle-way approach is a nonviolent, but more importantly very pragmatic approach to conflict-resolution, in which genuine dialogue conducted with a spirit of openness and reconciliation are the most important values. Where the Dalai Lama has held the Tibetan movement to a strict policy of nonviolence for decades, that commitment could perish when the 82-year-old spiritual icon passes on.

More on the Chinese-Tibetan conflict, and the role the United States could play as an international power can be found in Rogin’s complete opinion-article for the Guardian – here.

Photo:  United States President Barack Obama meets with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the White House on 18 February 2010. While President Trump may not prioritize human rights or the viability of nonviolent movements, supporting Tibet could also be in the United States’ national interest, according to Josh Rogin. Photograph: WikiMedia

New protests force US Vice President to walk out on NFL-game

A new chapter in the US-campaign, in which NFL-players try to play their part in raising awareness for racial injustice in America. The protests during the anthem by NFL players, almost all African American, began last year when the then 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeled in protest against racial injustice and police brutality. 49ers players have been prominent among those kneeling this season.

Though Kaepernick had knelt to protest against unpunished police killings of African Americans, the president and the White House insisted that protesting during the anthem showed disrespect to the flag and to American troops, veterans and first responders.

On Sunday, after at least 20 members of the San Francisco 49ers were kneeling during the national anthem, US Vice President Mike Pence decided to leave the stadium, staging his own little protest. Pence announced his departure from the Lucas Oil Stadium on Twitter. A White House statement followed, with a tweet from President Donald Trump which confirmed the walkout was not spontaneous.

“I will keep doing what I feel is necessary to use a platform that I have to make those changes. It is just really disheartening when everything I was raised on, was to be the best person I could be to help people that need help. And the Vice-President of the United States, is trying to confuse the message that we are trying to put out there,” said 49ers player Eric Reid.

Read more about the campaign and Eric Reid here.

Photograph: Michael Conroy/AP (www.theguardian.com)

FOLLOW UP – Monopoly Man at Equifax Senate hearing!

FOLLOW-UP POST!

Late last week, CANVAS wrote about the ‘Monopoly-man’ protest. Activist and consumer protection advocate Amanda Werner performed the stunt to raise awareness about forced arbitration clauses and their effects on consumers. Vice Magazine contacted Werner and gave her a platform for a more detailed explanation about the message behind the method.

Werner’s aim was to achieve more than just a laugh with her actions. “Equifax and Wells Fargo are using these arbitration clauses as a way to [to use another Monopoly reference] get out of jail free, and deny consumers justice,” she told VICE. Before her appearance in the hearing went viral,  Public Citizen and Americans for Financial Reform already distributed mocking “get out of jail free cards” on Capitol Hill, symbolizing how forced arbitration lets banks get away with wrongdoing.

Werner describes how she needed to find a balance between catching the camera’s and not crossing the line of what was still acceptable surrounded by Equifax execs and representatives. “I was getting a lot of dirty looks, and folks were very uncomfortable with the fact that I was in the room,” Werner told VICE. “I think honestly they kept waiting for me to do something that was going to get me kicked out, but luckily I did my homework, I knew what I was allowed to do and not do.”

Where her attendance made a big impact, kicking her out in the middle of the hearing might have raised even more eyebrows. Dilemma-action in its prime! Read the full Vice Magazine-article here.

Photo: Amanda Werner/ Twitter – via www.cbc.ca