Category: dissent

Ever ‘more authoritarian’ Azerbaijan’s referendum ‘lacks legitimacy’

     

Observers are questioning the integrity of the constitutional referendum in Azerbaijan, in which the government reported 91 percent approval of sweeping constitutional changes, including extending the presidential term and increasing… Read more »

Political violence in Putin’s Russia

     

  The February 2015 assassination of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was only the latest and most dramatic example of the political violence that has been central to the Putin… Read more »

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 »

Final days of chavismo? Venezuela protests test Maduro’s grip

     

Venezuela’s opposition mounted fresh nationwide protests Wednesday to push for a vote on driving President Nicolas Maduro from power in the crisis-stricken country, AFP reports: A week after a mass… Read more »

Putin Vs. Putin?

     

Russian police briefly detained opposition figure Ilya Yashin (left) on Thursday, two days after he released a report alleging widespread corruption by President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, the Organized… Read more »

#ConCaracas: Venezuela approaching tipping point?

     

  A major opposition protest planned for September 1 could determine the political future of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro. Opposition leaders say they will take to the streets of the capital Caracas to insist… Read more »

Crimean Tatar activist still confined in mental hospital

     

  Leading Crimean Tatar representative Ilmi Umerov has not been released from a mental hospital, his lawyer Mark Feygin said. “Together with Ilmi’s family we came to the hospital. He… 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 »

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 »