Venezuela crisis prompts austerity in Cuba: three sad scenarios
Cuba is seeing a surge in tourism, helped in part by the arrival of Americans. But it is suffering economically, in part because of its reliance on fuel from Venezuela,… Read more »
Category: Communist regimes
Gay Cuban journalist dismissed, as Farinas hunger strike continues
A gay Cuban journalist and activist says he was fired from a government-run radio station because he worked with independent media, The Washington Blade reports: Maykel González Vivero (left) hosted… Read more »
China warns ‘localists’ against reshaping Hong Kong’s political landscape
China has warned that anyone advocating Hong Kong’s independence could be punished, the BBC reports: The stern message came after young pro-democracy activists won seats on Hong Kong’s Legislative Council… Read more »
China to Strengthen Communist Party’s Role in NGOs
China has issued new rules demanding the establishment of Communist Party panels in non-government bodies, aiming to beef up the ruling party’s role in such social groups, amid a broad… Read more »
HK’s Umbrella Movement Fights Back
The run-up to the Sept. 4 election for Legislative Council is getting tense, and the governments of both Hong Kong and Beijing are watching with keen interest, notes analyst Lian… Read more »
China’s Future a Dictator’s Dilemma: Communist Party’s Strategy for Survival
China’s Communist authorities fretting about potentially “subversive” civil society groups — such as rights lawyers and labor activists — have a new red flag: the upcoming birthday of former president… Read more »
Hong Kong: Student Protest Leaders Sentenced
Three student leaders in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, who led mass rallies and sit-ins in 2014, have been sentenced, the BBC reports: Joshua Wong, who became the teenage face… Read more »
Resisting the Tyranny of the Possible: Lessons from the Fall of the Berlin Wall
Resisting the Tyranny of the Possible. This was moral revolution, a revolution of conscience rooted in cultural reclamation, and it resonated through the region because it was entirely congruent with… Read more »
Vietnam’s growing protest culture explained
The Formosa scandal in Vietnam has recently made international headlines and offered the international community a rare glimpse into the fringe, but steadily growing, culture of protest and activism in… Read more »
China’s crackdown on dissent the harshest in decades
China is in the midst of what many overseas scholars say is its harshest crackdown on human rights and civil society in decades, marked by officially-sponsored paranoia about foreign forces… Read more »