Author: CounterVortex

Inner Asia

Tibetan language rights activist goes on trial

Relatives of Tashi Wangchuk waiting outside Yushu Intermediate People's Court in China's Qinghai Province. The trial of the educational rights activist ended with no verdict, and Tashi remains behind bars. He faces charges of "inciting separatism" for speaking to the New York Times about his work to advocate for Tibetan-language education, as guaranteed by China's constitution. Tashi told the Times that the lack of general instruction in the Tibetan language is "destroying our ethnicity's culture." The charge against him, dismissed as "ludicrously unjust" by Amnesty International, carries a 10-year sentence. (Photo: NYT via Phayul)

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The Andes

Survivors of the ‘disappeared’ protest in Lima

Thousands have taken to the streets of Lima every night since the Christmas Eve pardon of ex-dictator Alberto Fujimori, to be repeatedly dispersed by the riot police with tear-gas. Lead contingents in the marches have been relatives of those assassinated and "disappeared" under Fujimori's rule, especially victims of the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta massacres—carried out in 1991 and 1992, respectively, by regime-linked death squads against suspected sympathizers of the Shining Path. Marchers hold placards with the faces and names of "disappeared" students, workers and activists from the Fujimori era. (Photo: Diario Uno)

Iran

Iran: uprising against austerity —and clerical rule?

A wave of protests across Iranian cities began as a response to inflation and economic pain, but shows signs of escalating to a popular repudiation of clerical rule. Spontaneous protests first broke out in the northeast city of Mashhad, where security forces responded with tear-gas and water cannons. Since then, protests have been reported from Kermanshah and Hamadan in the west, Rasht and Sari in the north, Ahvaz in the southwest, and Qom and Isfahan in central Iran. Arrests are also reported from the capital, Tehran, where a group of demonstrators attempted to occupy a public square. Protests began with the slogan "Death to high prices!" But as repression mounted, demonstrators began chanting "Death to the dictator," in apparent reference to President Hassan Rouhani and the ruling mullahs. (Photo: Center for Human Rights in Iran)

North Africa

Morocco: mass protest against ‘mines of death’

Thousands have repeatedly filled the streets of Jerada, in northeastern Morocco, as a mounting protest movement demanding jobs and social development for the marginalized region was further fueled by a mining disaster that left two young brothers dead. Mining was for decades Jerada's economic lifeline, employing more than 9,000. Since operations closed in the late 1990, locals have been struggling to survive—often by illegally taking coal from the abandoned pit, and selling it on the black market. Protesters accuse officials of turning the blind eye to the pirate mining despite the growing number of deaths in the improvised operations. They are demanding economic alternatives for the region, and government intervention to close "the mines of death." (Photo: @Riffijnsleed)

Southern Cone

Brazil’s top fugitive drug lord gets popped

Brazilian authorities announced the apprehension of Rogerio Avelino da Silva AKA “Rogerio 157″—the fugitive gang leader said be behind a wave of paramilitary-style violence that prompted the national government to flood  Rio de Janiero’s favelas with army troops earlier this year. Nearly 3,000 officers from the Federal Police as well as army troops took part in the “mega-operation” that led to his arrest. (Photo: O Globo)

East Asia

China: dissident blogger gets eight years in prison

A court in China convicted a prominent cyber-activist on subversion charges, after holding him for two years. Wu Gan, AKA "Super Vulgar Butcher," was arrested during the "709 Crackdown" on rights campaigners in 2015. Following the verdict, Wu was sentenced to eight years—the harshest term yet for anyone targeted in the crackdown. There's a particular irony to Wu's draconian sentence, as he made protesting transgressions of justice in China's court system his special cause. For instance, he took up the case of a rape victim who had killed her assailant, a Communist Party official. He also followed the example of online activists in the West by posting videos of police abuses. Photo: YouTube

The Andes

Fujimori walks: soft coup in Peru?

Protests are breaking out across Peru following the Christmas eve "humanitarian pardon" of imprisoned ex-dictator Alberto Fujimori by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (PPK). The pardon came three days after PPK survived a congressional vote on removing him from office over his embroilment in the Odebrecht scandal. A right-wing bloc led by the dictator's son Kenji Fujimori abstained from the vote, allowing PPK to survive in office—and raising obvious accusations of a quid pro quo. (Photo: Tomate Colectivo)

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Planet Watch

Arctic oil scramble in offing after GOP tax bill

As a part of the Republican tax overhaul bill, Congress voted  to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and natural gas drilling, after more than four decades of contestation on the matter. Drilling is still years away at best, due to depressed oil prices, a lengthy review process, and likely legal challenges. But oil companies are already arguing over who will have rights to the reserve—while Native Alaskan communities that depend on its critical caribou habitat see impending cultural extermination. (Photo: FWS)