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Will we see a Russian Spring in 2012?
The protests in the Arab world in 2011 caused a great change within many countries. In Libya, a civil war erupted and Gaddafi was forced out of power and subsequently killed. Other leaders such as Egyptian leader, Hosni Mubarak, were also removed from power.
In Russia there have been growing protests since the disputed legislative elections. On 5th December there was public outrage as many people believed that the election had been fixed in favour of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the United Russia Party. The allegations against United Russia were fuelled by claims and rumours that voter turnout had reportedly been up to 140% in some areas and that United Russia had 99.5% of the support in other areas (although these figures have not been confirmed and are unlikely to be accurate). Protests began in Moscow and it is estimated that up to 8000 people protested on the first day. Many people believed that the election had been a sham and called for Putin to step down as Prime Minister and Leader of the United Russia party; some also demanded a re-election. Since then, there has been growing pressure on the government to step down and annul the election. Many public figures and governments have called for an investigation into the election, including US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and former Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev. READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY
Belarus, a forgotten regime.
There have been many different regimes and dictatorships in the news recently, for a variety of different reasons. The Arab Spring has been one of the biggest international events in recent years as several regimes have fallen in the past 12 months and many others are under pressure. It is not just the Arab world which has seen regimes, dictatorships and allegedly corrupt governments put under pressure. Russia has seen protests and international pressure after the allegedly corrupt legislative election earlier this month and the government have also been accused of mistreating protestors and journalists. Another regime which has seen a sizable uprising is the government in Belarus; however, it has not been in the media as much as other uprisings.
Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarussian president is now serving his fourth term after he won a presidential election in December 2010 by gaining nearly 80% of the votes. The result prompted mass protests against the government as there were allegations of vote fraud. The protestors met resistance from riot police and interior ministry troops; many fled from the protests but some who did not flee were beaten and hospitalised or unfairly arrested by the police. READ THE REST OF THE ENTRY
Calls for a new election in Russia after allegations of corruption, fraud and vote fixing.
2011 has definitely been a year of protest. The Arab Spring has seen thousands of people rise up against dictators who had previously ruled with an iron fist. Some movements in the Arab Spring have been successful and some have not, but even those who have not achieved their goal yet have shown the world how powerful protesting can be. Another substantial protest movement in 2011 has been the Occupy Movement where people in cities all around the world united against the “one per cent” who they believe to be to blame for the recession and current state of the world’s economy. CLICK HERE TO KEEP READING
Will the mainstream media give us our voice back?
Oct 13
Posted by tomtyson89
The Occupy Wall Street movement rolls on. Now into its fourth week, it is slowly dawning on the US mainstream media that there is a genuine, sustained desire from these protestors to have their voices heard. This is a bit of the problem for the conservative media since the protestors wish for a change in the culture of greed that is so ubiquitous in Wall Street doesn’t quite tally up with their defence of the status quo. The answer to such a quandary? An all-out attack on the methods and aims of the protestors, casting them as anti-American, anti-Capitalist and anti-freedom, and some analysts at Fox were even kind enough to inform us of the striking parallels between these protests and those that occurred around the time of the Russian revolution and Hitler’s rise to power in the 30’s. Read the rest of this entry →
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Tags: Jon Stewart, media, NHS, protests, tuition fees, usa, Wall Street