Jose Cendon and Collin Freeman were freed today against ransom and are on their way to Nairobi. The photographer and writer team were reporting on piracy in Somalia when they were captured in Puntland on November 26, 2008.

Dirabakir protests, October 20, 2008

October 20, 2008, during protests in Diyarbakır, SE Turkey, an estimated 50 minors were arrested for throwing stones at security forces and police. These children, who are between the ages of 11-18, have been charged by the 5th Commissairiat Assize Court  of Diyarbakır with “being a member of a terrorist organization,” and could receive a maximum sentence of up to 22 years in prison. It is now 71 days they are in custody. One child has been released pending trial, set for February 17, 2009.

Charging a person younger than 18 at the Commissairiat Assize Court, a court for adults, is in violation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as Turkey’s child justice system. I am receiving reports that the minors have allegedly been tortured, including a boy aged 11 years who is now suffering from psychological trauma.

No major international human rights organization has taken interest in this issue at present. Further details will be posted as they come available.

continue reading at AlterNet… 

Giles Ji Ungpakorn, professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, has kindly allowed me to publish his prescient analysis of the current political crisis in Thailand. See below.

The appointment of “Democrat” Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva as the new Thai Prime Minister is the final stage of the second coup against an elected government. After the deliberate chaos created by the PAD’s seizure of the airports, the courts stepped in to dissolve the hugely popular governing party for the second time. The Army chief then called a meeting of Democrat Party parliamentarians along with some of the most corrupt elements of the governing coalition parties. It is widely believed that the Army chief and others, threatened and bribed MPs to change sides. Chief among them is “Newin Chitchorp”, who was named by his father after the infamous Burmese dictator.

The Democrat Party is known among the cyber community as the “Cockroach Party”. This is because cockroaches live in filthy places and can survive even nuclear holocausts. The party has survived for many years, forming governments after various crises. These so-called Democrats have systematically backed anti-democratic measures. They supported the 2006 coup, the military constitution and the PAD. One Democrat Party MP was the leader of the mob that took over the international airport. Over the last 30 years, the Democrat party has never won an overall majority in parliament. It does not represent the people. During the Thaksin years it spent the whole time criticising the universal health care scheme and other pro-poor policies. After the 1997 economic crisis it used state money to prop up the banks and guarantee the savings of the rich, while telling the poor to fend for themselves and depend on their families. Even Abhisit’s name in Thai means “privilege”. He is an Oxford graduate from a wealthy family.

The first coup, on 19th September 2006, was a straight forward military coup, using tanks and soldiers wearing Royal yellow ribbons. The military junta tore-up the democratic constitution and replaced it with an authoritarian one. Half the Senate was appointed by the military and many so-called independent bodies were staffed by junta supporters. The military appointed themselves to lucrative state enterprise positions. Then they got the courts to dissolve the Thai Rak Thai Party despite the fact that it had won repeated elections.

Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai party was and remains hugely popular among the majority of Thais. This party introduced the first universal healthcare scheme and projects to stimulate village economies. The aim was to develop Thailand as a whole, increasing the education and health status of the general population, thus turning them into “stake-holders”. This was a winning formula, an alliance between a pro-poor capitalist party and the poor, both urban and rural.

But Thaksin’s modernisation plans, which also included major infrastructure development such as public transport projects for Bangkok, upset the Old Order. This “Old Order” is not headed by the King, as many commentators think. The Old Order is made up of local political mafias, the army, conservative judges and the Democrat Party. They were joined by businessmen like Sonti Limtongkul, who initially supported Thaksin, but fell out over personal interests. The PAD mobilised a fascist-style middle class mob to cause chaos. They seized the Government House, destroyed offices, stole weapons and then tried to close parliament. There final act was the take-over of the two international airports with the open support of the military. The PAD and the Old Order want to reduce democracy further. They want to reduce the number of elected members of parliament, stiffen Les Majesty laws and destroy the alliance between the poor and Thaksin. They are angry that the poor have become politicised. They hate the fact that state budgets were spent on healthcare, rural development and education. Instead they want to cling to their old privileges, espouse strict “Monetarism” (except for elite and military spending) and advocate that the poor should be “Sufficient” in their poverty. These people use neo-liberal free-market ideas in association with the King’s “Sufficiency Economy” ideology. Their excuse for opposing democracy is their belief that the poor are too stupid to deserve the right to vote.

The Thai King has always been weak[1]. His status has been systematically promoted by military juntas and the elite in general. We are all socialised to think that the King is an “ancient Absolute Monarchy”, while at the same time being within the Constitution. This picture of power creates a shell to protect the entire ruling class and the status quo under a climate of fear. The army especially needs such a legitimising shell because it is no longer OK for the military hold political power, unless it can claim to protect the Monarchy.

In previous political crises, such as in 1973 and 1992, the King only intervened late in the day after it was clear who had won. In the present crisis the King has remained silent and has not made any attempts to resolve the crisis. He missed his annual birthday speech on 4th December this year, claiming a sore throat.

The Royal dimension to this crisis is that it is a struggle between two elite groups. One side have been much more successful in claiming Royal legitimacy. But ironically this claim by the anti-Thaksin lot is causing a crisis for the Monarchy because it associates PAD violence and law-breaking with the Monarchy and the actions by the military have created an image that the Monarchy is against the majority of the population. The support shown by the Queen for the PAD has also angered or disappointed many Thais.

The new government will be made up of a coalition of some of the most corrupt and unprincipled politicians. This shows that the elites’ opposition to Thaksin was never really about preventing corruption or vote buying, despite the fact that many ordinary middle-class people might have felt that it was. Even the Democrat Party has a history of vote buying and corruption. The Democrat governor of Bangkok had to resign recently under a corruption cloud. Yet the party was not dissolved by the courts. So far, Thaksin and his fellow politicians have only been found guilty of technicalities. No serious corruption charges have been proven. No evidence of real election fraud has ever been unearthed. In fact, Thaksin’s party was reducing the importance of vote-buying through pro-poor policies. This is what angered the Old Order. It meant that they could only overthrow his government buy promising more to the poor or by using  various means to organise coups.

There are a number of questions which need to be put to the new government:

1.      Will the government punish PAD leaders for breaking the law, including the Democrat MP who took over the airport? Will the PAD be made to answer for the damage at Government House? Will the Democrats expel their MP who lead the airport occupation?

2.      Will the military chiefs be sacked for breaking the law and intervening in politics. Will they be sacked for giving the green-light to the take-over of the airports and thus compromising airport security?

3.      Will the government defend the undemocratic constitution or will it amend the constitution to increase democracy?

4.      Will elections be held as soon as possible to allow the Thai population to have a say?

5.      What serious measures will the government take in order to protect the poor from the economic crisis. What job creating policies do they have? How can they stop workers being sacked from factories. Will they increase wages and cut VAT in order to stimulate the economy? Will they increase taxation on the rich in order to help the poor?

6.      Will the government punish state officials who murdered unarmed demonstrators in the South at Takbai during the Thaksin government? Will they withdraw troops and police so that a peaceful political solution can be achieved?

7.      Will the government ensure a balanced media by allowing significant space for Red Shirt anti-government critics? Or will the government increase censorship and media bias? Will they repeal the les majesty law and allow public scrutiny and criticism of the courts?

Many of us can guess what the answers will be….

While I was in SE Turkey, I befriended a young activist, Ipek Tasli, pictured above, who is working against the Ilisu Dam project. Below is a press release from the Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) about her recent arrest.

KHRP is deeply concerned about the arrest of Ipek Tasli, a joint coordinator with the Keep Hasankeyf Alive Initiative, during a recent trip to carry out research in areas due to be affected by the Ilısu Dam project in south-eastern Turkey.

Tasli visited Dargeçit on 4 December and investigated official efforts to inform residents in the area about the construction of the dam. Staff at a government office told her that people regularly visited the community outreach office to receive information about the project and that they had been in contact with nearly all of those who would be affected. However, an informal poll of local people suggested that very few even knew where the office was. Tasli next travelled to the site of the dam itself to photograph construction work and speak with people living in the area. She was told that residents in a village there had asked for a local information office to be set up but were yet to receive a reply.

After leaving the village, Tasli and her driver were arrested by gendarmes at around 4pm and were questioned without access to a lawyer. The following day she was brought before a court and she and her driver were accused of disseminating propaganda on behalf of a terrorist organisation. They were eventually released at 2pm on 5 December but Tasli’s camera and photographs were not returned to her.

The Ilısu Dam project stands to displace up to 78,000 people, flood the ancient city of Hasankeyf and reduce downstream water flows to Iraq. KHRP and its partners have long campaigned against the way the project has been designed. Efforts to consult with those who will be affected and to lay the ground for compensation have been grossly inadequate. In October, Germany, Austria and Switzerland threatened to withdraw financial support for the scheme unless Turkey takes concrete steps to meet its obligations.

‘This incident once again underlines the Turkish authorities’ absolute disregard for due process and transparency in relation to the Ilısu Dam scheme and its huge environmental and human rights fallout,’ said KHRP Deputy Director Rachel Bernu. ‘In the course of undertaking a project with such far-reaching implications, the Turkish authorities should be engaging civil society representatives and affected populations in open dialogue, not intimidating them with accusations of terrorism offences. It is to be hoped that the European Export Credit Agencies will take this episode very seriously as they continue to evaluate their involvement.’

Christine King Farris, Martin Luther King Jr.’s sister, reacts to the news at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia (couldn’t find the credit)

The above photograph is one of my favorite images from the wires. Ms. Farris’ expression embodies the same combination of wonder and disbelief I felt watching CNN officially call the election for Obama early this morning from my desktop in France. I don’t have much to add to all the statements made around the world about what a historic day it was and what a promising sign of progress and hope it is for America, for the world, and particularly for people of color. Having spent a great deal of time in the United States, I learned a thing or two about the wounds of slavery that continue to plague that nation, and having recently been to Africa, I sadly came to understand that feeling “less than” is a lingering symptom of centuries of colonialism. Let this day be the beginning of a healing process, and a reminder that we can one day realize Dr. King’s dream in every corner of the earth.

A ripple of joy could be felt across the entire world today; a palpable sense of relief and celebration that not only are we finally, at last, to be rid of the Bush monsters, but we are exiting this period in history with a true leader at the helm. Best wishes to Mr. Obama as he embarks on this difficult journey, for it won’t be long before the world stops jumping for joy and starts putting his feet to the fire. There is much to be done, and more importantly, much to be undone. Good job, America. It looks like you finally woke up. But please, don’t stop here.

“What is my name?” shouted a ten-year old boy in my face. “My name is PKK!”

I thought back to a moment when I was working on a story on a women’s prison in Afghanistan where the inmates often have and raise their children in jail. I asked one child his name. “My name is my mother,” he replied. He knew nothing else outside those walls, just as the stone throwers of Diyarbakir, who far too often barely come up to my shoulder, know nothing else. Decades of brutal oppression have left open wounds, and the conflict is long from being over. The ramparts of the ancient city are a potent symbol of the invisible walls that still stand between Turks, and the “other.”

Turkey’s Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, made a poorly-timed visit to the Kurdish capital of Diyarbakir today in an attempt to woo the pro-Kurdish party, DTP, into voting in next year’s municipal elections for the ruling government party, AKP, which has steadfastly lost the former’s support in recent months. He came under the auspices of making a speech for the opening of the academic year at Dicle University, and to talk of new reforms in favor of the Kurds, but his remarks were drowned out by the DTP-called protests that swept across the eastern Kurdish territories after allegations surfaced at the weekend that the long imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah “Apo” Ocalan, had been tortured in custody. Miniature armies of boys took to the streets, shouting “Apo is our leader,” in unison and waged pitched battles with plain-clothed and riot police until nightfall. A 22 year-old man died of gunshot wounds in a neighboring city, scores were arrested, and an unkown number sustained injuries.

As PM Erdogan addressed the University audience, he announced that Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, TRT, would begin broadcasting 12 hours a day in the Kurdish language by the end of January, marking the first time in history that Kurds will be able to hear and watch full programming in their mother tongue. Many Kurds in Southeastern Turkey do not speak Turkish, and this will be an historic moment in their struggle for cultural freedom.

“In this country, every culture, be it Turkish, Kurdish, Bosnian, Georgian, adds to our common richness, no matter which ethnic root it comes from,” Mr. Erdogan said as he addressed his audience. “Despite all the provocations of the terrorist organization,” he continued, referring to the PKK, “we will concede neither security, nor democracy, nor human rights.” Adding that, “those trying to destroy that unity will get their answer from the brotherhood of this nation.”

The Turkish government has ushered in a number of pro-Kurdish reforms in recent years as it gears up to join the European Union, but many of the promises for reform and financial investment in the area are viewed more as manipulation rather than true conciliatory acts. Despite his seemingly progressive platform on the Kurdish problem, Prime Minister Erdogan is accused by many of slowly realigning himself with the military elite, which has long been the bane of every Kurd’s existence in these parts.

Although it can be said that progress is being made, the conflict persists, and the recent escalation in violence is proof of that. Human rights abuses continue, and the pro-Kurdish party, DTP, is currently threatened with dissolution by Turkish courts. DTP’s call for protests across the region upon the Prime Minister’s visit was more in response to the discrepant political intricacies of the conflict than to the alleged mistreatment of Ocalan.

Most shops had closed for the day in expectance of heated street clashes, and the morning began with the sound of surveillance helicopters and fighter planes flying overhead. At 6 pm, after a day full of dodging tear gas, water canons and vagrant flying stones, I took refuge in a bakery with some locals who handed me lemon and water to cool the burning sting of the gas. “This is not the way to win the fight,” said an old man rubbing his eyes. “It has been like this since 10 o’clock this morning. We need to get weapons to fight them and put an end to this.”

Just outside, a new generation of stone throwers hadn’t lost heart and continued to pelt the water canon tank in the dwindling hours of daylight. I was struck by how young so many of them were, and drew many parallels with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The deaf dialogue is identical, with one side, the one that is oppressed, being identified as terrorists, and the other painting itself as legitimately defending the nation against an illegitimate and violent group. Surely there are two sides to every story, but it takes a lot to push a parent to send his child into the streets with a bag full of stones and stand face to face with armed men. In a city where warplanes fly overhead daily, where arrests, torture and assassinations are not yet a thing of the past, what other future do they see for them?

Quote of the day:

“At best, military force can contain a terrorist campaign; it can never address the causes.” -Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain

Turkish forces continued to pound Northern Iraq today in a grand show of force against Kurdish forces after yesterday’s scandalous revelations by the Turkish daily Taraf that the army had apparently ignored intelligence reports that the October 3 PKK attacks were imminent. The breaking news supports a commonly held theory that the PKK and Turkish forces are in bed together. “Taraf said the military received intelligence, as early as a month before the attack, that about 80 PKK members were moving toward Hakkari from northern Iraq…A report five days before the attack warned the PKK group were bringing anti-aircraft artillery with them, while intelligence passed on by the United States a few hours before the assault showed the militants setting up their weapons and mining the area just across from the outpost.” (Turkish Daily News, Oct. 16) Yet the army did nothing to foil the deadly incursion that led to the death of 17 Turkish soldiers. Turkish newspapers also circulated a picture of Air Force Commander Gen. Aydogan Babaoglu playing golf while on vacation the day after the bloody attack, inviting a ripple of unprecedented public criticism.

Turkey’s army was tasked by its first president and national hero, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, with keeping the governement secular, and has traditionally been revered by the public, but it has recently felt it is loosing power with recent reforms in the democratization process as well as with the election of Abdullah Gul to the presidency who is seen by some as being too religiously conservative. This is the first time the public is beginning to ask important questions about the role and effectiveness of Turkey’s army.

Turkey’s bid to become a full member of the European Union has consistently been refused due to a number of lingering problems, namely the Turko-Kurdish conflict, the unresolved isle of Cyprus, and the role of the military. Should Turkey be fit to join the EU it would have to reduce the influence of the army, something the latter does not seem prepared to allow. It is believed by most Kurds I have spoken with that the army has secretly helped to perpetuate the conflict with PKK forces in Northern Iraq in order to ensure the necessity of its presence and clout and that’s an opinion the press and public seem to be entertaining openly for the first time only in the last weeks since the October 3 PKK attack.