Democracy Now!
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
