Stories about Human Rights from November, 2008
Kosovo: Haradinaj's Profile; Discussion at LSE
Popkitchen posts a critique of a Vanity Fair profile of Ramush Haradinaj, a former guerrilla leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and former prime minister of Kosovo, and writes...
World AIDS Day: Blogging Positively
This year marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, which takes place every year on December 1. Though the impact of HIV and AIDS is felt by millions of...
Japan: Mainichi's Wikipedia Slip-up
Ignoring the fact that Wikipedia timestamps are in GMT and not JST (Japan Standard Time), on the 18th of November the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun published an article entitled, “Attack on the former vice-Director's home: crime announced on the Internet six hours earlier… hinting at the crime?”, in which a Wikipedia contributor (”Popons”) was erroneously identified as involved in the attempted murder of Kenji Yoshihara, wife of former vice health minister Kenji Yoshihara. Bulletin board commenters quickly spotted the mistake, and bloggers responded with criticism, but the Wikipedia editor in question was apologetic about the ordeal.
Ukraine: “No Other Home: The Crimean Tatars” – in Romania and Online
Maria Sonevytsky of My Simferopol Home announces the upcoming exhibition of the “No Other Home: The Crimean Tatars” project in Bucharest, Romania, in mid-December, and links to a related story...
Central & Eastern Europe: Obituaries
Edward Lucas re-posts The Economist‘s obits of Mieczyslaw Rakowski, a Polish Communist journalist and politician, who died on Nov. 8, and of Boris Fyodorov, a Russian economic reformer, who died...
Poland: A Racist Country?
Discussions on whether Poland is a “racist country” – at the POLSKI blog, Raf Uzar, and Eternal Remont.
Ukraine: Ruthenians
Some background and a translation of an Izvestiya piece on Ukraine's Ruthenians – at Robert Amsterdam's blog.
Ukraine: Taras Kuzio on Yushchenko
Taras Kuzio analyzes “the achievements and failures and unfulfilled expectations of the last four years” in Ukraine – here and here, and also writes that president Yushchenko “had over-focused on...
Russia: Yevgeny Kolesov and Politkovskaya Trial
Robert Coalson of RFE/RL's The Power Vertical writes about “the open-again, closed-again, open-again trial of three men allegedly involved in the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya” and the role...
Hungary, Czech Republic: Romaphobia
The Hungarian Spectrum reports on the murder of a 14-year-old girl in a Hungarian village, which led to an anti-Roma rally. The Reference Frame is unhappy with Al Jazeera's story...
Croatia: Creator of Anti-PM Facebook Group Arrested
Svetlana Gladkova reports on Profy on the arrest (and the subsequent release) of a Croatian man who created a Facebook group (HRV) “I bet I will find 5,000 people who...
Iran: Do not Execute Farzad Kamangar
Several human rights activists and bloggers warned that Farzad Kamangar, a teacher and trade unionist may be executed in the near future in Iran. Farzad Kamangar, who is from Kurdistan province in Iran, is accused of being affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
China: Chinese students inform on political science professor
David Bandurski from China media project quoted from South China Morning post on a news about two Chinese students reporting to the police on a professor at Shanghai’s East China...
China: Zeng Jingyan's Thanksgiving message
ESWN translated Chinese dissent Zeng Jingyan's Thanksgiving message. Zeng's husband Hu Jia is still in prison and Zeng herself is under monitored.
The Balkans: Tragic Legacy
Cafe Turco writes on the inaccuracies in Resolution 819 film and posts a translation of Hasan Nuhanović's article that challenges “the veracity of some scenes.” Srebrenica Genocide Blog writes on...
Central & Eastern Europe: A Roma Roundup
A few Roma-related posts: Inside Albania muses on the U.S. election and concludes that having a Roma PM in Albania will remain “pure fantasy” for quite a while; Romano Them...
Czech Republic: Milan Kundera Controversy
Belatedly, a link to the post on Milan Kundera controversy – at Balkans via Bohemia.
Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan: Calling Attention to Tragedy
Window on Eurasia writes: “Kyiv’s efforts to call attention to Stalin’s terror famine on the 75th anniversary of that tragedy and especially its moves to gain international recognition of it...
Russia: The Crisis and Constitutional Changes
Robert Amsterdam writes about “the uses and expediency” of Beslan in 2004 and the current financial crisis for Russia's leaders: “[…] an opportunity to pass measures to further consolidate authority.”
Latvia: The Crisis and Freedom of Speech
Free Speech Emergency in Latvia wrote on Nov. 22: “A university lecturer was arrested for two days for making comments at a public discussion of the economy, while a musician...
India: Who are they, and what is the Media saying?
Smoke Signals slams the mainstream media coverage of the event, as the television screens are filled with almost panic inducing sequences, and hurried question and answer sessions. At the time...
