DEMOCRACY ON THE MARCH IN PAKISTAN
By Kent Patton
After an anxious week of threats and violence, voters in Pakistan went to the polls on May 11to elect a new parliament. They gave another mandate to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Party (PML-N) and sent the ruling Pakistan People’s Party to join the opposition.
ICYMI: THE END OF VENEZUELA’S LAST INDEPENDENT TELEVISION STATION?
In case you missed it, news out of Venezuela continues to worry activists and reformers. The Los Angeles Times reports that the country’s last independent television station, Globovision, has been sold to owners close to the new president
ICYMI: ELLIOTT ABRAMS ON IRAN’S LECH WALESA
In case you missed it, Elliott Abrams latest post on CFR’s Pressure Points blog discusses the case of Mansur Osanlu, an Iranian labor leader who has been forced into exile. Abrams notes that Osanlu has been compared with Lech Walesa, the hero of Poland’s Solidarity movement, but that in many ways, Iranian trade unions face even steeper obstacles than their counterparts under Polish communism.
MAY 9 IS VIETNAM HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
By Lindsay Lloyd
May 9 is Vietnam Human Rights Day, when we draw attention to the ongoing lack of basic freedoms in Vietnam. Although Vietnam has made considerable economic progress, the government continues to deny civil liberties and political freedoms to the population.
NEW ON THE FREEDOM COLLECTION: CZESLAW BIELECKI
By Christopher Walsh
Poland’s Czeslaw Bielecki has played many different roles in his career as a freedom activist. He’s been a protestor, writer, political prisoner, underground publisher, architect, artist, entrepreneur, advisor to Lech Walesa, chairman of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee and lecturer. As made evident in his Freedom Collection interview, Bielecki took a certain joy in undermining the Soviet-backed dictatorship in which he lived. He elaborates on such stories in works like The Little Conspirator and Freedom: A Do-It-Yourself Manual. Having helped lead his country’s successful transition from dictatorship to democracy, Bielecki delights in relaying those experiences with a new generation of freedom activists.
ICYMI: HAVANA IN BLACK AND WHITE
In case you missed it, Mary Anastasia O’Grady’s latest column in the Wall Street Journal focuses on Berta Soler, one of the founders of the Cuban dissident group known as the Ladies in White. O’Grady’s piece also explores the topic …
NEW ON THE FREEDOM COLLECTION: VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS
By Lindsay Lloyd
Watch the new interview with Vytautas Landsbergis, who led Lithuania back to democracy and freed his country from five decades of occupation by the Soviet Union.
Vytautas Landsbergis was born in the 1930s, when Lithuania was an independent nation. In 1939, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin agreed to a secret pact that divided the Baltic States and much of Central Europe between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. During World War II, Lithuania passed between Nazi and Soviet occupation. With the Allied victory, Stalin abolished the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and declared them to be part of the Soviet Union. During fifty years of subjugation to Moscow, the dream of independence never died.
ICYMI: ARCH PUDDINGTON ON PRESS FREEDOM
In case you missed it, Freedom House Vice President for Freedom and Bush Institute Fellow in Human Freedom Arch Puddington has a new post on foreignpolicy.com analyzing the 10 worst countries to be a journalist. Puddington describes the findings of …
THE HIMALAYAN SPRING CONTINUES: BHUTAN HOLDS ELECTIONS FOR UPPER HOUSE
By Kent Patton
On April 23, Bhutan held elections for its National Council, the upper body of the parliament. By all accounts, and there aren’t many, the elections were successful and the newest democracy in Asia has shown the world how bold vision and leadership can reshape a country.
ICYMI: WSJ ON CUBA’S LADIES IN WHITE
In case you missed it, the Wall Street Journal’s Mary Anastasia O’Grady’s latest column looks at the story of Cuba’s Berta Soler, one of the leaders of the Ladies in White. Soler and her colleagues formed the group to call attention …