Blog Archives

Lost in Laos — supporters demand safe return of disappeared activist

January 16, 2013
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Lost in Laos — supporters demand safe return of disappeared activist

by Kirsten Han. Lao activist Sombath Somphone was driving home on December 15 when he was pulled over. CCTV footage shows him stepping out of his jeep and speaking to someone (some have suggested that it was a police officer). He was then taken away in another car, while an unidentified man drove his jeep

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Striking migrant workers in Singapore punished with deportation

December 5, 2012
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Striking migrant workers in Singapore punished with deportation

by Kirsten Han. On the morning of November 26, 171 Chinese migrant workers in Singapore — all of whom were bus drivers for major public transport operator SMRT — refused to get on the shuttle buses sent to pick them up at their dormitory. Assembling in protest against unsatisfactory wages and living conditions, they pointed out

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Activists organize to ‘Free the Thirteen’ in Burma

October 10, 2012
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Activists organize to ‘Free the Thirteen’ in Burma

by Kirsten Han. Sweet, slight and soft-spoken, one wouldn’t picture Phwe Yu Mon as an activist. But from the moment I met her in July earlier this year, she’d told me about the peace work that she was involved in back in her home country of Burma. An ethnic Kachin, she wanted to do her

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Democratically Speaking: Chee Soon Juan promotes nonviolent action in Singapore

September 11, 2012
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Democratically Speaking: Chee Soon Juan promotes nonviolent action in Singapore

by Kirsten Han. Singapore, a densely-packed city-state of over five million, does not have a very vibrant political scene. The country has been governed by a single party for over five decades; the People’s Action Party (PAP) has been calling the shots even before independence was thrust upon us in 1965. The government has made

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‘Aggravated rebellion’ over Cambodia’s Boeung Kak Lake

August 27, 2012
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‘Aggravated rebellion’ over Cambodia’s Boeung Kak Lake

by Kirsten Han. A lesson learnt: one does not simply Skype activists in Cambodia. First, there were connection problems, then video problems, then audio feedback problems, but we finally got it working. After all, the struggle against Internet bandwidth is nothing compared to the struggle that activists Ee Sarom and Tep Vanny have been involved

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A happy surprise for Vietnam’s LGBT community

August 13, 2012
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A happy surprise for Vietnam’s LGBT community

by Kirsten Han. It was a pretty positive week for gay marriage: Scotland indicated an intention to legalize same-sex marriage by 2015. The Democrats in the U.S. are backing same-sex marriage for their party platform. New Zealand will be voting on same-sex marriage, with Prime Minister John Key saying that he will vote in favor.

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Can Hong Kong bring democracy to China?

July 23, 2012
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Can Hong Kong bring democracy to China?

by Kirsten Han. The people of Hong Kong were introduced to Li Wangyang in early June when a television interview was broadcast two days before the 23rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. A glass worker by trade, Li had been a union leader and supporter of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, and was in and

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A union under construction at Philippine shipyard

July 6, 2012
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A union under construction at Philippine shipyard

by Kirsten Han. Subic Bay, in the Zambales province in the Philippines, used to be home to the largest U.S. naval base in the Pacific. Locals worked at the base, trading and interacting with the American sailors until the Philippine government asked the United States to withdraw in 1992. The base has since been converted

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Voices of peace amidst violence in Burma

June 27, 2012
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Voices of peace amidst violence in Burma

by Kirsten Han. Photographs show fires burning in western Burma, billows of black-and-grey smoke rising into the air. Following the rape and murder of a young Buddhist Rakhine girl — allegedly by three Muslim Rohingyas — and the lynching of 10 people (nine of them Muslims) by the Rakhine, violent clashes have erupted between the

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The sorry state of unions in Singapore

June 8, 2012
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The sorry state of unions in Singapore

by Kirsten Han. On May 24, an article was published in The Straits Times on the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and its commitment to the workers of Singapore. Only it didn’t seem to be a proper article; it was shared on both Twitter and Facebook with an “advertorial” disclaimer. Closer inspection found that it

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Relentless Action

Quotes

  • Courtesy towards opponents are eagerness to understand their view-point is the ABC of non-violence.
    Mohandas Gandhi

Translator

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