Challenging Moldova’s pro-Western facade
An unknown assailant threw a grenade at the house of the governor of Moldova’s central bank overnight, RFE/RL reports: Bank chief Dorin Dragutanu and his family were asleep when the… Read more »
Search Results for: asia civil society
Vietnam must end ‘thuggish’ repression, says rights group
Despite renewed economic growth and progress on a number of social indicators in 2015, the government of Vietnam continued to crack down on independent writers, bloggers, and rights activists deemed… Read more »
Why social media made but couldn’t save the Arab Spring
Five years ago this week, massive protests toppled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, marking the height of the Arab Spring. Empowered by access to social media sites like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook,… Read more »
Fearing social instability, China waging ‘lawfare’ on NGOs
China’s Communist authorities are intensifying a crackdown on dissent, civil society and growing labor unrest, reflecting the ruling party’s concern that economic restructuring and dislocation will “threaten social stability.” “If… Read more »
No democratic experiment for Vietnam’s Market-Leninists
Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party opened an eight-day congress Thursday to name the country’s new set of leaders, who will determine the pace of critical economic reforms, the fight against corruption… Read more »
Azeri protests highlight political risks of oil price fall
Azerbaijan is to impose a 20 per cent tax on taking money out of the country, as the oil-dependent government scrambles to respond to a currency collapse that has triggered… Read more »
China’s leaders reveal their fears
Once admired by authoritarian governments elsewhere, not to mention some commentators in the West, for its canny balancing of free markets and party control, China’s style of leadership may be… Read more »
The public sphere’s new enemies
All around the world, it seems, the walls are closing in on the space that people need to assemble, associate, express themselves freely, and register dissent, notes Chris Stone, president… Read more »
Ukraine: the good, the bad, the irreversible
Ordinary Ukrainians, Euromaidan activists and military veterans are despondent at the complete lack of progress in the fight against high-level corruption and the dominance of Ukraine’s oligarchs, says a… Read more »
China’s labor rights movement gaining momentum
Chinese authorities recently detained seven labor activists in the southern province of Guangdong, alleging that they were “inciting workers to go on strike,” and “disturbing public order,” among other… Read more »