Freedom at Issue

Food Crises Test the Mettle of Middle East’s Undemocratic Regimes

The global food crisis, which was among the principal matters discussed at last month’s G8 Summit in Hokkaido, Japan, affects few regions more severely than the Middle East. Widespread poverty means that large numbers of people who previously scraped by on very little can no longer make ends meet. Moreover, the reliance of most Arab countries on food imports, as well as the political tensions that divide their societies, makes the problem of rising food costs a particularly acute governance challenge for Arab governments.

GDP Growth Brings Little Love to Peru's Garcia

Last night Peruvian president Alan Garcia gave the annual independence day address, which is similar to the State of the Nation speech in the USA. Given Peru’s robust economic growth and status as a darling of international business, one might have assumed that the speech would adopt a valedictory tone. However, for a variety of reasons Garcia has less to celebrate than first meets the eye.

Benighted Russia Waits in Vain for Anticorruption Drive

Russia’s new president, Dmitri Medvedev, placed an early emphasis on anticorruption efforts, calling graft a “systemic problem” that requires a “systemic response.” Earlier this month, he bemoaned the fact that corruption had become “the norm, a daily occurrence in everyday life,” and went on to observe that victims seem “resigned” to this reality, while perpetrators assume they will enjoy impunity. He failed to mention that these conditions persisted, and indeed grew worse, during the eight-year presidency of his patron and now prime minister, Vladimir Putin, who made similar pronouncements about the need to root out lawlessness when he took office in 2000. Given the nature of his own election and his ongoing partnership with Putin, it is difficult to swallow the notion that Medvedev will usher in a new age of transparency in government and society.

Egypt Outdoes the Neighbors on Satellite TV Restrictions

Following a failed attempt to coordinate the imposition of region-wide restrictions on satellite broadcasting in the Middle East, the Egyptian government is reported to be plowing ahead with its own legislation to control satellite television.

In March of this year we reported in this post on attempts by states in the Middle East to control digital media in the region. While the governments of states like Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia have become adept at suppressing political opposition in the print and terrestrial audio-visual media, stemming the tide of digital communication poses an ever-greater challenge. In particular, the earlier post drew attention to the Arab League Satellite Broadcasting Charter, a joint proposal by the Egyptian and Saudi governments, which stipulated strict regulations for broadcasters across the region. The charter banned material that would undermine “social peace, national unity, public order and general propriety” and proposed penalties for broadcasters who violate the rules including large fines and termination of their services.

The Ones the Bolivarian Revolution Left Behind

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez declared the other day that Venezuela’s prisons need an overhaul. A case of the Bolivarian government seeing a developing problem and reacting to it? Hardly. At the least, there is certainly nothing proactive about the idea that the country’s prison system requires attention. Venezuelan prisons have been a human rights disaster for many years, and a serious and sustained government response is long overdue.

Will Jordan Get on the Anti-NGO Train?

The Jordanian parliament is currently in the process of approving two new laws that will together represent a clear step backward in democratic governance. The first law confirms existing restrictions on public gatherings and demonstrations, while the second extends the government’s already wide control over the establishment, administration, and funding of NGOs operating in the country. These laws are the latest advance in a trend that has seen the erosion of freedom of political expression over the past few years, and also add Jordan to the list of countries (Russia, Peru, Venezuela, etc.) where civil society organizations have come under threat from the state.

State Rewards Islamist Thuggery in Indonesia

The ostensibly pluralist Indonesian government issued a decree last month that instructed the minority Ahmadiyah sect to halt its activities or face legal sanctions, including up to five years in prison for violators. While the vaguely worded decree stopped short of an explicit ban on the heterodox Muslim group, it represented a victory for a small but potent alliance of radical Islamists and their gangs of street-fighting supporters. A new report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) warns that the extremists have used classic interest-group lobbying methods, combined with real and threatened violence, to achieve a level of influence far beyond their miniscule electoral support. If their many political opponents and the state itself fail to stand up to them, their list of demands will only grow, dragging the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country toward its ideological fringe and undermining an otherwise promising Southeast Asian democracy.

Bolivia's Rollicking Careening Ride Continues

Bolivia is fast approaching an August 10 recall referendum in which the continued tenure of President Evo Morales and all nine of the departmental prefects (similar to US state governors) will be put to the test. As usual, the country is full of sound and fury, with various prefects oscillating back and forth between resistance to and participation in the referendum. It now appears as though all or nearly all of the prefects will participate in the balloting. What is less clear is what the results will mean for the country’s political stalemate.

No Sign of Olympic Truce for Human Rights in China

With the opening of the Beijing Olympics just a month away, the Chinese government has done little to fulfill its promise that the games would usher in human rights improvements. China earned praise only a few weeks ago after the tragic May 12 earthquake disaster led to greater openness in the media and increased activity by civil society groups. Those developments effectively eclipsed a spate of international criticism and Chinese nationalism associated with the travels and travails of the Olympic torch and the ongoing security crackdown in Tibet. However, it has since become clear that the government intends to continue—albeit with new Olympic vigor—its long-standing policy of sanitizing public discourse and using force to muzzle or eliminate sources of potential controversy.

The Slow Demise of the Sandinista Revolution

 

Last month, Nicaragua’s Supreme Electoral Court (CSE) dealt a major blow to the already weakened state of democratic plurality within the country when it eliminated the legal status of two key opposition parties, the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) and the Conservative Party (PC). The move, which was greeted with much criticism for its perceived arbitrariness, is a serious one as both parties were expected to be major contenders in key mayoral races across the country during the municipal elections coming in November. Indeed, the two parties collectively received 20% support in the opinion polls.

Spotlight on Indigenous Rights

The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues has released the final report on its seventh annual session, held between April 21 and May 2. The gathering focused on the issue of global climate change, highlighting the fact that indigenous peoples were already suffering disproportionately from the phenomenon despite having contributed very little to its causes. The report also warned that many of the proposals for halting global warming could negatively affect indigenous groups without proper consultation. In other words, climate change countermeasures could become the latest in a long line of state-supported development campaigns that largely ignore the needs and rights of indigenous peoples. Observance of those rights is often a revealing indicator of a country’s performance on broader governance issues, including rule of law, property rights, political representation for minorities, and freedom of expression.