...dence) of widespread election fraud. On December 5, Russians took to the streets in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Over the course of the next three months, tens of thousands – though the exact figure differs depending on whether protestors or politicians give the figure – of Russians, nationalists, and liberal intellectuals alike stood out in the freezing cold to protest not only the corruption that consumed the December 4 legislative elections, but...
...their zenith at the end of December and have now caused some Russian officials to call for electoral reform and increased transparency, though it seems that these half-baked concessions have spurred rather than mollified the protestors. Globally, this seems to be the time of revolutions and upheavals, an international springtime for democracy, with frenetic political activism emerging in Egypt, Syria, Libya, and potentially even Iran and Jordan....
...ia also acts as a constraint on government action, forcing them to put on a balancing act when deploying force against largely unarmed civilians. Even Iran, a reviled pariah state, resorted to plainclothes basij to intimidate protestors during the summer of 2009, aware that the eyes of the world were watching. However, while new social media certainly has a role to play in keeping governments accountable to the people, one must keep in mind its w...
...the alleged defeat of presidential candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi triggered mass urban protests which startled the entire Iranian body politic, from the frustrated middle classes to the highest echelons of clerical power. The protestors—soon deemed the Green Movement—demanded free and fair elections and the expansion of basic civil liberties, rapidly becoming a unique political phenomenon unseen in 30 years. Out of the sea of these nameless thous...
...of Low Steps, holding posters and chanting about apartheid in Israel, human rights abuses, and Palestine’s right to sovereignty. Small leaflets about the conflict littered the ground. The chants turned into yells, and as the protestors seemed to run out of things to say, call-and-response songs with marginally related lyrics took their place. Since Students for Justice in Palestine practices a strict “non-engagement” policy, refusing to engage i...
..., used the country’s security infrastructure to crush dissenting reformist parties and their supporters. At the street level, Basij militiamen were deployed on dirt bikes to break up protests, and paramilitary forces fired on protestors. The troubling events were chronicled in countless videos posted on YouTube and broadcasted worldwide. By some estimates, as many as 72 protestors were killed, with 4000 protestors at least temporarily imprisoned....
...slide, and Iranians took to the streets in protest. The opposition quickly assumed the title of the Green Movement, named after the Islamist campaign colors of the revolutionary-turned-reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Protestors formed a human chain around Tehran’s center square, set fires outside of the Interior Ministry building, and chanted “Down with the Dictator.” Hope for a changed Iran seemed tangible for the first time in thirty y...
...cal role that it has always held behind the scenes. Over the past fourteen months, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has gradually shown that it is not “for the people”. Its initial decision not to shoot peaceful protestors enabled the removal of Mubarak from power, but has been followed by a prolonged false showing of democratic transition that is gradually becoming impossible to reclaim. Skewed Court Decisions Judicial personnel ar...
...nitially took the form of peaceful protest, currently serves as the only means for self-defense and considerable solidarity against Assad. The Syrian regime seeks to discredit the SNC by associating it with Al-Qaeda, and some protestors who’ve taken to the streets in Syria do not identify with an organization that consists mostly of exiles. Christians, Alawites, and Shiites who are resolved with the current status quo have also been reticent in s...
Protestors in Bahrain A look at recent headlines coming out of the Middle East reveals the dominance of coverage on Egypt, Syria, and Iran. This comes as no surprise; Egypt remains a focal point of political turmoil in the Arab world, violence in Syria threatens to destabilize the entire region, and Iran seems to stand in the distance forever and always as a source of conflict and dissension. Elsewhere, Tunisia, Libya, Iraq, and Yemen struggle...
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