english
nederlands
Indymedia NL
Independent Media Centre of the Netherlands
Indymedia NL is an independent free communication organisation. Indymedia offers an alternative approach to the news by using an open publishing method for text, images, video and audio.
> contact > search > archive > help > join > publish news > open newswire > disclaimer > chat
Search

 
All Words
Any Word
Contains Media:
Only images
Only video
Only audio

Dossiers
Agenda
CHAT!
LINKS

European NewsReal

MDI's complaint against Indymedia.nl
Courtcase Deutsche Bahn vs. Indymedia.nl
Topics
anti-fascisme / racisme
europa
feminisme
gentechnologie
globalisering
kunst, cultuur en muziek
media
militarisme
natuur, dier en mens
oranje
vrijheid, repressie & mensenrechten
wereldcrisis
wonen/kraken
zonder rubriek
Events
G8
Oaxaca
Schinveld
Schoonmakers-Campagne
Help
Tips for newbies
A short intro into Indymedia NL
The policy of Indymedia NL
How to join?
Donate
Support Indymedia NL with donations!
Lawsuits cost a lot of money, we appreciate every (euro)cent you can spare!

You can also direct your donation to Dutch bank account 94.32.153 on behalf of Stichting Vrienden van Indymedia, Amsterdam (IBAN: NL41 PSTB 0009 4321 53)
Indymedia Network

www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa
ambazonia
canarias
estrecho / madiaq
kenya
nigeria
south africa

Canada
hamilton
london, ontario
maritimes
montreal
ontario
ottawa
quebec
thunder bay
vancouver
victoria
windsor
winnipeg

East Asia
burma
jakarta
japan
manila
qc

Europe
alacant
andorra
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
bristol
bulgaria
croatia
cyprus
estrecho / madiaq
euskal herria
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
lille
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
netherlands
nice
norway
oost-vlaanderen
paris/île-de-france
poland
portugal
romania
russia
scotland
sverige
switzerland
thessaloniki
toulouse
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia
west vlaanderen

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
brasil
chiapas
chile
chile sur
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso

Oceania
adelaide
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
oceania
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india
mumbai

United States
arizona
arkansas
atlanta
austin
baltimore
big muddy
binghamton
boston
buffalo
charlottesville
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
danbury, ct
dc
hampton roads, va
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
idaho
ithaca
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
omaha
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
seattle
tallahassee-red hills
tampa bay
tennessee
united states
urbana-champaign
utah
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
armenia
beirut
israel
palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
discussion
fbi/legal updates
indymedia faq
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech
volunteer
Credits
This site is produced by volunteers using free software where possible.

The system we use is available from:mir.indymedia.de
an alternative is available from: active.org.au/doc

Thanks to indymedia.de and mir-coders for creating and sharing mir!

Contact:
info @ indymedia.nl
Human Rights Watch & US Foreign Policy
Universele Mensenrechten? - 16.02.2011 22:38

 http://twitter.com/hrw
 http://twitter.com/hrw/statuses/36939556712497152
 http://twitter.com/united4iran/statuses/37587106926829568
 http://twitter.com/hrw/statuses/37714351792197632
 http://twitter.com/thedohadebates






 http://foreignassistance.gov/CountryIntro.aspx
 http://www.state.gov/s/d/rm/c6112.htm

 http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/11/131236.htm
 http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/02/156626.htm
 http://www.state.gov/statecraft/tech/society/index.htm
 http://www.bridgingthegulf.org/news/newsitem/article/////on-the-seventh-forum-for-the-future-doha-2011.html

 http://www.coe.int/t/dgap/forum-democracy/default_EN.asp?

 http://www.state.gov/statecraft/cs20/index.htm

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State
George Washington University, Washington, DC
February 15, 2011
 http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2011/02/156619.htm

_________________________________________________________

The George Washington University
 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torture_archive/index.htm
 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB308/index.htm
_________________________________________________________

 http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2011/02/156557.htm


 http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/02/12/what-will-uzbeks-say-about-us-their-tahrir-square
 http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/02/13/yemen-dont-use-tasers-peaceful-protesters
 http://twitter.com/hrw/statuses/37293693538926592
 http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/02/14/yemen-security-forces-assaulting-activists

 http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/02/15/youre-next-and-you-know-who-you-are


You're Next--And You Know Who You Are

by Sarah Leah Whitson
Published in: Foreign Policy
FEBRUARY 15, 2011
MORE COVERAGE:
Live Updates from the Middle East

Ultimately, Western capitals have no choice but to live with the uncertainty of democratic outcomes in the region -- after all, Arabs have had to live with adverse foreign policies of democratically elected leaders in the United States and Israel. Western governments are best served, in the end, by supporting what they claim to stand for, and what protesters are demanding: human rights and democracy.

Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division at Human Rights Watch
In the aftermath of Tunisia and Egypt, many are asking, "Who's next?" My confident answer is this: each and every leader in this region who rules by force and fraud, who has neither credibility nor legitimacy, and who fears nothing more than the wrath of his own people, is next. We cannot know the sequence, or plot it on a calendar. But the political upheavals in North Africa in just the first two months of this year put the lie to received wisdom in Arab and all-too-many Western capitals that the people in the region are not "ready" for democracy and will not rise to demand an end to tyranny.

To quell the noisy street displays of democratic fervor, many governments have relied on their rusty toolbox of repression. Yemeni security forces unleashed busloads of recruited counter-demonstrators armed with clubs and rocks to confront around 1,000 people marching to celebrate Hosni Mubarak's downfall, and then sent in riot police with their water cannons and tear gas. In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority could not stomach demonstrations whose focus was not the Israeli occupation, but a demand for unity and fair elections in their own quasi-administration. There too we saw the stale repertoire of violent attacks, arrests, beatings, and torture of peaceful protesters demanding serious political change.

Syria and Libya acted preemptively, arresting activists likely to organize any street protests, saturating public places with security forces. In these countries, even a rally of a dozen people is treated like a threat to the status quo. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran combined rank hypocrisy with his trademark brutality, congratulating "the justice-seeking movement in Egypt" while silencing Iranian protest leaders and dismissing their planned solidarity march as "divisive."

Whether shrewder or more fearful, other Arab leaders offered some wilted carrots. Jordan's King Abdullah dismissed his cabinet and appointed a new prime minister, pretending yet again that reform doesn't require constitutional limits on absolute monarchy but merely a shuffle of his minions. Bahrain's King Hamad, following the Kuwaiti example, took the hush money approach, offering more than $2,600 per Bahraini family (Kuwaitis got $3,580 each). The most serious gesture was the promise by the Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika to end decades of emergency rule which, as in Egypt and Syria, allows the government to ban public assemblies at will and detain people without charge indefinitely with virtually no judicial oversight.

None of these measures address the fundamental popular demands in these countries for the chance to live in freedom. They want laws abolished that land people in jail for "insulting" a leader, that restrict public and private assembly (gatherings of more than five people need Interior Ministry approval in many countries), that curtail nongovernmental organizations and independent political parties, and that prevent fair elections -- if elections are held at all. The need for genuine rule of law requires an end to laws that embody tyranny.

Arab and Iranian leaders have imposed harsher restrictions on their citizenry with each passing year, most recently in their efforts to include internet and satellite communications within the ambit of their oppressive speech and press laws. They have resisted real reforms for a very basic reason: it would mean an end to their monopoly of power. The more secular of the bunch have relied on the specter of Islamists to scare the international community into accepting the "secure" status quo of their dictatorial rule. It's a bad bargain long indulged by the United States and the European Union, whose billions in aid to Jordan and Egypt, and vast "counterterrorism cooperation" projects with virtually every Arab government, effectively bolster authoritarian rule and sanction the suppression of their citizenry. Egypt and Tunisia provide an important and immediate lesson: the stability imposed by repressive governments will not last forever, even if one never knows exactly when the people will say "enough." It's not at all clear whether the leaders of popular revolts, or the winners of democratic elections, will be intolerant, undemocratic Islamists. It may well be that a progressive, secular party in the reconstituted Egypt will win the support of the majority of Egyptian voters; and it may well be that some current Arab leaders, even a King Abdullah, would win in a real election.

Ultimately, Western capitals have no choice but to live with the uncertainty of democratic outcomes in the region -- after all, Arabs have had to live with adverse foreign policies of democratically elected leaders in the United States and Israel. Western governments are best served, in the end, by supporting what they claim to stand for, and what protesters are demanding: human rights and democracy.

As for each Middle Eastern leader ruling without the consent of his people, the lesson is just as clear: reform or perish. Who's next? You're next.

Sarah Leah Whitson is Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division at Human Rights Watch.

 

Read more about: anti-fascisme / racisme media vrijheid, repressie & mensenrechten

supplements
> indymedia.nl > search > archive > help > join > publish news > open newswire > disclaimer > chat
DISCLAIMER: Indymedia NL uses the 'open posting' principle to promote freedom of speech. The news (text, images, audio and video) posted in the open newswire of Indymedia NL remains the property of the author who posted it. The views in these postings do not necesseraly reflect the views of the editorial team of Indymedia NL. Furthermore, it is not always possible to guarantee the accuracy of the postings.