Thursday, April 12, 2007
Kyrgyzstan: When Is The Revolution Going To End?
By Bruce Pannier
(TASS) April 12, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Whatever one chooses to call it, the "Tulip" or "People's" Revolution in Kyrgyzstan in March 2005 carried hope for many of a better era. But much of the past two years has been tumultuous, characterized by protests, quarrels within the government, and increasingly abusive language between government and opposition politicians.
The word "stability" arises in virtually any discussion of events in Kyrgyzstan, but it appears to be more elusive now than ever.
Opposition groups in Kyrgyzstan are currently holding a rally aimed at forcing President Kurmanbek Bakiev to make way for an early presidential election. The demonstrators are also demanding constitutional reforms.
An Era Of Demonstrations
There have been more demonstrations in Kyrgyzstan since independence in 1991 than in the other four Central Asian states combined. But since the revolution that ousted former President Askar Akaev two years ago, breaks between protests have been rare -- they seem to come one after another. The frequency of rallies in Kyrgyzstan has led some to comment that the country is in danger of becoming a failed state.This article brings up another good point- one that a friend who is a part of Sksel a brought up to me in conversation a few weeks ago. Thoughts that I echo, and will summarize here.
"Two years after March 2005, we have to say that many if not most of the slogans of the Tulip Revolution have not been realized," Edil Baisalov, the head of Kyrgyzstan's Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, said of the near-constant protests in Kyrygzstan during a recent appearance at RFE/RL offices in Washington. "For many in Kyrgyzstan, it only turned into a change of a few nameplates on some of the highest floors [of the government building]. But everything else remained; and what we hoped for was to receive a moral revolution that would, first of all,
mean not only change of regime but change in the way the people and government communicate [and] that many of the formerly acceptable levels of corruption and arrogance -- these sort of things would go away. Not only have they not gone away, but many people will tell you that they have multiplied."
[...]
On April 12, 2004, thousands of Armenian citizens filled Baghramyan avenue facing the Parliamentary building, in protest against the fraudulent elections and calling for the President's resignation. Among the masses, a group of patriotic Armenians lifted their friends over their shoulders and began a traditional circle dance in the middle of the street.
Baghramyan Ave. - April 12, 2004
Shortly thereafter, the protest was dispersed by irreprehensible, unnecessary and brutal violence by military police.
On April 12, 2007, around 7:30pm, a group of about 20 Armenians gathered at the intersection of Baghramyan and Demirchyan Avenues, once again facing Parliament, and for just a few minutes ran into the middle the intersection to form a circle and dance.
Baghramyan Ave. - April 12, 2007
The people involved (some of whom were victim to beatings in 2004, some of whom were witness, and others who were not at all present that day) organized this event yesterday to remind the country and this government of what happened just 3 years ago; that violence against peace is always wrong; to demonstrate in solidarity that peoples' freedoms must never be taken away; and to symbollically state that they will not stand for this country's government to pressure their fellow Armenians - not in 1996, not in 2004, not in 2007 and not in 2008.
article in Armenian: http://www.a1plus.am/am/?page=issue&iid=47850
Around 100,000 people gathered in Tirana's main square on 13 April in protest against government pressure on the news media. Prime Minister Sali Berisha has accused certain media of being in the service of organised crime and, a few weeks ago, the judicial authorities began investigating some news media on suspicion of tax evasion. Press representatives claim that only media critical of the government are being targeted.
PRIME MINISTER OF RA ANDRANIK MARGARYAN DIEDWhat does this mean?
[02:01 pm] 25 March, 2007
Today Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, head of the Republican Party of
Armenia Andranik Margaryan died of heart attack.
YEREVAN, March 26 (RIA Novosti) - Armenian President Robert Kocharyan has accepted the government’s resignation following the death of Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan, a government spokesman said Monday.
Cultural Diplomacy argues that the huge global reach and potential of Britain’s world class artistic and cultural assets – from Razorlight to the Royal Ballet - should be at the heart of government relationship building abroad.
Cultural Diplomacy argues that, more than ever before, culture has a vital role to play in international relations. This stems from the wider, connective and human values that culture has: culture is both the means by which we come to understand others, and an aspect of life with innate worth that we enjoy and seek out. Cultural enables us to appreciate points of commonality and, where there are differences, to understand the motivations and humanity that underlie them.
As identity politics exert an increasing influence on domestic and international exchanges, culture is therefore a critical forum for negotiation and a medium of exchange in finding shared solutions. Cultural contact provides a forum for unofficial political relationship-building: it keeps open negotiating channels with countries where political connections are in jeopardy, and helps to recalibrate relationships for changing times with emerging powers such as India and China. In the future, alliances are just as likely to be forged along lines of cultural understanding as they are on
economic or geographic ones.
However, culture should not be used as a tool of public diplomacy. The value of cultural activity comes precisely from its independence, its freedom and the fact that it represents and connects people, rather than necessarily governments or policy positions. Cultural Institutions and others in the cultural sector must not only retain their independence, but also be brought more into the policy-making process.
Turkey fixes Armenian church as gesture
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer
AKDAMAR ISLAND, Turkey - An ancient Armenian church, perched on a rocky island in a vast lake, has become a modern symbol of the divisions and fitful efforts at reconciliation between Turks and Armenians whose history of bloodshed drives their troubled relationship.
The Akdamar church, one of the most precious remnants of Armenian culture 1,000 years ago, deteriorated over the last century, a victim of neglect after Turks carried out mass killings of Armenians as the Ottoman Empire crumbled around the time of World War I. Rainwater seeped through the collapsed, conical dome, treasure-hunters dug up the basalt floor, and shepherds took potshots with rifles at the facade.[...]
Next week, the church will showcase Turkey's tentative steps to improving ties with its ethnic Armenian minority, as well as neighboring Armenia. Turkey completed a $1.5 million restoration of the sandstone building, and invited Armenian officials to a ceremony there on March 29 to mark what Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has called a "positive" message.
[...]
"A positive sign and a move on the part of Turkey ...would be the opening of the border with Armenia and establishment of diplomatic relations," the news agency Armenpress quoted Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian as saying this week. He said the Armenian delegation could reach the church by
land in just a few hours if the border were open, but instead will have to fly to Istanbul, and then take another flight back toward the Armenian border.
Turkey closed its border with Armenia in 1993 during a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a Muslim ally of Ankara. The move hurt the economy of tiny, landlocked Armenia. Turkey also lobbied against a proposed U.S. congressional resolution that would recognize the killings of Armenians in the last century as genocide. Some of Turkey's 65,000 Armenian Orthdox Christians say they endure harassment in Turkey, which has an overwhelmingly Muslim population.
Hrant Dink, the ethnic Armenian journalist murdered in Istanbul in January, was apparently targeted by nationalists for his commentaries on minority rights and free expression.
Patriarch Mesrob II, the spiritual head of the Armenian Orthodox community in Turkey, has asked the government to mount a cross on top of the church, which used to have one, and to allow periodic eligious services there.
The government has yet to respond, but placement of a cross could be sensitive for Erdogan, who plans to attend the inauguration ceremony, and his Islamic-rooted government. The symbolism could upset some Muslims, and Turkey's powerful military, might regard it as a concession to Armenia and the Armenian diaspora.
Proper Education
To raise the notion of frugality in the midst of the greatest consumer boom in economic history may seem wildly out of place. But if globalization only half succeeds in lifting many more millions into the middle class in this century, by necessity frugality will become a virtue.
[...]
The technological promise that we can have our cake and eat it too may well substitute for self-limitation up to a certain threshold. In the end, however, the expectation that some kind of planetary liposuction will save us from ourselves can be no substitute for a lean ethos that emphasizes the art of living over the ideology of consumerism.
Clearly, the answer is not technology but a cultural transformation that redefines wealth as well-being instead of well-having. The alternative of frugality does not mean poverty. It means living intelligently instead of wastefully as if there were no tomorrow, as if the polar icecap would never melt no matter how hot the fevered pitch of industrialized desire...
NPQ | What set of policies in the advanced countries can make globalization work?
Stiglitz | The prescription for making globalization work is what is generally called “the Scandinavian model.” That means high levels of investment in education, research and technology plus a strong safety net. That, of course, also entails, as in the Scandinavian countries, a highly progressive income tax.
Far from making these countries less competitive, it has made them more so. Though it may seem a contradiction to conservative ideologues who think cutting taxes is the answer to everything, the fact is that people are more willing to take entrepreneurial risks if they can count on a safety net and if they have the training to be innovative.
From "Making Globalization Work" NPQ Winter 2007
It’s been included in the Oxford English Dictionary since 2004, but it’s unlikely that more than a handful of people in Armenia know what a flash mob is. It’s even less likely that anybody actually cares, but nonetheless, history was made in Yerevan today when Sksel a, an informal grouping of civil society activists working to activate youth in time for the May parliamentary election, organized Armenia’s first ever flash mob.
In modern usage, flash mob describes a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, do something unusual for a brief period of time, and then quickly disperse. They are usually organized with the help of the Internet or other communications networks.
The term has also been applied to distributed mobs, who use similar means to coordinate sudden large scale simultaneous actions in multiple locations. An example of such an action is the widespread use of mobile phones in the 2005 civil unrest in France to coordinate widespread social disruption.
Usually, the organizers of such events don’t tell participants what exactly will happen and why, and today’s event was no exception. Apart from a non-descriptive advert posted on various blogs such as this one, no other details were announced prior to the
event. Even so, after two previously successful events, enough interest was aroused to attract around 150-200 young Armenians to turn up at the park opposite Yerevan’s Conservatory.
Of course, most of those attending were also present at Sksel a’s Barekendan and Կես կատակ կես լուրջ ցուՅցահանդես events, but for Armenia even this is impressive given the level of apathy and non-involvement in society. However, when interviewed by one journalist, a 15-year-old girl said she had attended all three events so far, but wasn’t too sure what this one was hoping to achieve. Still, perhaps that’s not too surprising.
Standing at the corner of each intersection leading into the roundabout opposite Yerevan’s Opera House, as well as circling the grassy area in its center, each participant stood with a newspaper reading separate articles of their choice out aloud. Also wearing hats made out of newspapers, the sight and sound of that alone was surreal and unexpected enough for Armenia even in this day and age.
As were leaflets handed out asking “are you satisfied with yourself, or with the person next to you?,” “are you guilty?,” and “are you afraid, or don’t you care?”
Tamar Palandjian, Youth Program Coordinator at the Civil Society Institute (CSI) says that the purpose of the event was straightforward enough. Under banners that asked “Shall We Read?” the event was aimed at encouraging the population to read newspapers. With all of the television stations under direct or indirect government
control, the only plurality of opinion and diversity of information can be found in the print media.
Even so, newspaper circulation remains low with actual readership even lower, and even the most popular of papers can publish only a few thousand copies each day. Nevertheless, if the purpose of the event was to get people to take interest in the press, then the flash mob achieved its goal. Cars and public transport passing by stopped to take copies of the newspapers participants were handing out until the police asked the organizers to stop in case traffic was disrupted.
Once again, there were even a few members of the Diaspora in attendance, including representatives of two significant organizations albeit there in a personal capacity, and most observers were overall impressed with the new approaches taken by Sksel a with regards to activating society, and in particular youth. However, many still remain unsure as to where Sksel a is heading, and whether it’s ultimate goal is clear enough.
One participant attending for the first time, for example, said that she wanted to be involved with something, but wasn’t entirely sure what. Still, such events might help direct young Armenians in that sense, and it was interesting to see that after the initial action itself, participants were encouraged to cut out those articles they found most interesting to paste to a large board erected in the park.
“They’re making their own newspaper,” remarked one young Armenian from the Diaspora. “I wonder what it says?”
More events are planned in the very near future.
"Circle dancing is magic. It speaks to us through the millennia from the depths of human memory.Madame Raphael had cut the picture out of the magazine and would stare at it and dream. She too longed to dance in a ring. All her life she had looked for a group of people she could hold hands with and dance with in a ring.
First she looked for them in the Methodist Church (her father was a religious fanatic), then in the Communist Party, then among the Trotskyites, then in the anti-abortion movement (A child has a right to life!), then in the pro-abortion movement (A woman has a right to her body!); she looked for them among the Marxists, the psychoanalysts, and the structuralists; she looked for them in Lenin, Zen Buddhism, Mao Tse-tung, yogis, the nouveau roman, Brechtian theater, the theater of panic; and finally she hoped she could at least become one with her students, which meant she always forced them to think and say exactly what she thought and said, and together they formed a single body and a single soul, a single ring and a single dance".
- Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS:
• NEW: Chirac urges nation to reject "extremism, racism, anti-Semitism...rejection"
• NEW: Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen calls Chirac departure "a great joy"
• NEW: Chirac says he would have liked to have modernized France more rapidly
• Nicolas Sarkozy, Segolene Royal, Francois Bayrou lead contenders for president
PARIS, France (Reuters) -- President Jacques Chirac announced on Sunday he would not seek re-election next month after 45 years in frontline politics and made a final appeal to French voters to shun extremism.
Chirac, 74, has served as head of state since 1995 and leaves behind a checkered record that consists as much of symbolic gestures as concrete policies.
To Whom It May Concern:
I am disappointed with the complete lack of coverage regarding the French presidential elections which are now almost ONE-month away.
Unfortunately, I could fathom why domestic US CNN may not carry much content on anything not of direct interest to the general American public. However, as a US citizen living and working abroad, I watch CNN INTERNATIONAL frequently and am very disappointed to have seen not one segment or report on this critical election happening in a very important EU state.
Instead, CNN International IS saturated with news of the US's 2008 election...still TWENTY-ONE months away.
My French friends tell me that their country is in the midst of a serious identity crisis and these elections could prove pivotal for the future.
As Chirac held the post of Prime Minister and then Mayor of Paris before taking Presidential office, my friends in their 20s have not yet lived a day when Jacques Chirac was not a dominant figure in political life. This is France's first chance in over two decades to have a change in leadership.
My friends also describe candidate Sarkozy as "the French George Bush." In the meantime candidate Bayrou labels himself as the French version of a Bill Clinton or a Tony Blair.If even these comparisons aren't enough to make our American-centric news agencies pay some attention, I'm not sure what is.
If CNN International truly intends to report global news, I implore you to report much more about elections happening outside the US.
Thank you.
Sent today via http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?37. Send one, it's fun.
In the meantime, here's at least one article worth reading about France's ignored Presidential race.