Amnesty International Hails WikiLeaks and Guardian As Arab Spring 'Catalysts'

[Hissyspit]

Source: Guardian

Amnesty International hails WikiLeaks and Guardian as Arab spring 'catalysts'

The human rights group predicts a serious fightback from the forces of repression as it releases its annual report

The Guardian, Fri 13 May 2011 00.01 BST

- snip -

The rights group singles out WikiLeaks and the newspapers that pored over its previously confidential government files, among them the Guardian, as a catalyst in a series of uprisings against repressive regimes, notably the overthrow of Tunisia's long-serving president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

"The year 2010 may well be remembered as a watershed year when activists and journalists used new technology to speak truth to power and, in so doing, pushed for greater respect for human rights," Amnesty's secretary general, Salil Shetty, says in an introduction to the document. "It is also the year when repressive governments faced the real possibility that their days were numbered."

But, Shetty adds, the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, and elsewhere, remains unpredictable: "There is a serious fightback from the forces of repression. The international community must seize the opportunity for change and ensure that 2011 is not a false dawn for human rights."

Read more: http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/13/amnesty-international-wikileaks-arab-spring?cat=world&type=article

[Uzybone]

1. only a complete fool would believe this

The peasant trader who set himself on fire in Tunisia had never heard of Wikileaks.

Give Wikileaks and the Guardian their credit, but this hyperbole borders on propaganda.

[Hissyspit]

2. Nonsense.

It says a catalyst, not the catalyst.

[Uzybone]

4. they should stop patting themselves on the back

and praise the PEOPLE who actually risked their lives as the catalysts. The entire article didn't even mention the poor man who started it all.

[Luminous Animal]

6. Yes, they did mention the young man who set himself on fire. From the article.

"One example highlighted by Shetty was Tunisia, where WikiLeaks revelations about Ben Ali's corrupt regime combined with rapidly-spreading news of the self-immolation of a disillusioned young man, Mohamed Bouazizi, to spark major protests."



edited to add quotation marks.

[Uzybone]

7. My mistake. Thanks.

[Luminous Animal]

3. He was a young man with the equivelent of a high school degree. I am sure he could read

and the Wiki cables were translated and widely distributed (electronically and paper copy) in Tunisia in November of 2010. Mohammed Bouazizi set fire to himself on December 17th.

[liberation]

10. The "peasant"?

Besides the wrong premise of your post. Who uses that term in this day and age?

[freshwest]

5. K & R. Whatever it takes.

[Gregorian]

8. It looks like DU has stagnated.

The way I see it is if you oppose Wikileaks, then you don't oppose governments being able to do what ever the hell they want. And that is almost never a good thing. My guess is Thomas Jefferson would be cheering Wikileaks on.

[sabrina 1]

12. Yes, I don't get it. Eg, this week in India, revelations from

Wikileaks revealed a 'pay for votes' scheme two years ago in a special election. I believe it involved nuclear power. Those revelations have, rightfully, created a firestorm in India's parliament with calls for an investigation of the PM.

Clean elections are vital to a democracy. Without those revelations it is clear, as many in India are now saying, their Democracy was seriously threatened.

I would think anyone who cares about corruption in government would applaud a free press. Wikileaks was founded, with many of the original founders being from China, because the press is far from free and people have been deprived of information vital to their countries' ability to function as free societies. Iow, Wikileaks would never have been necessary if the Press had been doing its job. Whistleblowers did not trust their press, here and elsewhere anymore. That is why Wikileaks was so important. India now has a chance to set right the wrong that was done to its people, thanks to Wikileaks.

I am astounded to see the reaction to it on the left to be honest. And it makes me wonder, would the reaction be different if Wikileaks had existed when Bush was president.

[Gregorian]

16. Interesting information you posted. Thanks

I didn't know about the original Wikileaks founders being comprised of Chinese. Nor the Indian situation. I appreciate you sharing that.

[bvar22]

31. "Clean elections are vital to a democracy"

That is WHY both dominant Political Parties
have collaborated to ensure that we NEVER will have a transparent, verifiable election
in the USA.
Elections are much too important to leave in the hands of the citizens.

[Fly by night]

9. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." John 8:32

I don't quote the Bible much, but this quote is appropriate IF you also have the backbone to act on the truth. In that regard, we could learn much from our Middle Eastern freedom-fighting exemplars.

(My other favorite Bible quote has to do with rich men, camels and the eyes of needles.)

[Auntie Bush]

11. Those are probably the only ones I know. lol

Never did much Bible study...thank God!

[Fly by night]

28. I learned the "truth" quote back in grad school at UT-Austin in the mid-70s.

That Bible quote is etched in marble over the UT campus main library. A candidate for student government president ran on a platform that included a promise to replace that Bible quote with a shorter statement:

"Money talks."

Now that, unfortunately, is also the truth.

And it hasn't set any of us free yet.

[eridani]

27. But first it wll piss you off! n/t

[riverwalker]

13. they are right

and I came to that conclusion during the Egyptian Jan 25 movement. I was following the events reading blogs of activists, etc. A popular activist/blogger in Egypt was Sandmonkey, who was arrested during Tahrir, and I think Rachel interviewed him once (or maybe it was Anderson Cooper). Anyway, while reading his blog I found an article he wrote in November of 2010, several months BEFORE things started happening in Egypt and Tunisia. However, he made it clear what an impact it had on him and others like him. The Wikileaks basically set things in motion.

http://www.sandmonkey.org/2010/11/29/the-glorious-wikileaks/

The Glorious Wikileaks
November 29, 2010 By The Sandmonkey

Yesterday was bound to be another depressing day in Egyptian History: The election went as I expected, with massive fraud aimed towards an almost total NDP controlled Parliament, clashes, media blackouts and 9 dead, and no one in the international media or the US making a peep about it. The deal was sealed: Obama had sold out democracy promotion in exchange of regional stability, and having Egypt being its silent enforcer in the region against the Iranians. And then Wikileaks happened, and IT WAS GLORIOUS!
Just when the egyptian government thought it was done with the elections headache, Wikileaks comes along and fucks it up the ass. It was beautiful Karma in action. Thanks to Wikileaks I felt like a child who was allowed to listen to grown-up conversations for the first time. And if that wasn’t sweet enough, seeing every foreign policy assessment I have ever made become validated this way? Gratification, defined.
<more>

[Luminous Animal]

15. Nice! Thank you. I hadn't seen that before.

[Azathoth]

14. What a bunch of self-congratulatory, paternalistic bullshit

The year 2010 may well be remembered as a watershed year when activists and journalists used new technology to speak truth to power and, in so doing, pushed for greater respect for human rights," Amnesty's secretary general, Salil Shetty, says in an introduction to the document.

Sorry Salil. Neither the Tunisian people nor the Egyptian people needed to read US embassy cables in the Guardian in order to discover that they were angry at their respective, corruption-riddled governments. Those poor, benighted Africans managed to peacefully revolt without any 'catalytic' aid from Western, self-congratulatory, smash-the-system, speak-truth-to-power idiots. You want to give credit to Westerners for facilitating or catalyzing the spread of democratic movements around the world? Try giving it to Jack Dorsey or Mark Zuckerberg, or even to Assange back when he was publishing legitimate whistle-blowing documents and not stolen diplomatic cables.

[sabrina 1]

17. Kenya, another country that the Wikileaks documents helped

by revealing information about that corrupt and brutal government. India, happening right now, revelations by Wikileaks show a 'cash for votes' scheme, undermining that Democracy and exposing corruption that may now, rightfully, help remove those involved and make sure that elections from now on are fair and bought and paid for. With apparently the knowledge of some in the US.

For their work on Kenya, long before the US was even aware of Wikileaks, Assange received another award several years ago.

It was only when they started revealing info on the Bush War crimes, that all of a sudden, this formerly respected, award-winning news org. became 'terrorists'.

As for Tunisia, the revelations and confirmation of what many Tunisians had suspected, the corruption of the regime, did contribute to the revolution. The suicide of Bouazizzi was the final catalyst as people had finally had, with the corruption now confirmed and the brutality of that regime.

Corrupt governments have a lot to fear from real investigative journalism especially when they cannot control whistle-blowers. If they are not doing anything wrong, they have nothing to fear. But considering the state of our own media, who knows what they are up to? Unlike what is happening elsewhere, however, where governments are suffering consequences for their crimes, here the war crimes revelations have resulted, not in investigations of the war criminals, but of the messengers. Additionally the documents have refealed that it is even worse than that, that this government has been protecting our war criminals from prosecution elsewhere.

Maybe one day we will return to the rule of law, a free press and politicians who don't assume that we have no right to know what they are doing in our name.

Wikileaks deserves this award. The second they have received this week. It's going to be harder to call a multiple-award winning news organization 'spies' as this government is planning to do, foolishly. All it does is demonstrate how fearful they are of what may be revealed, rather than WANTING to know, as India does, where the corruption exists and doing something about it.

[Hissyspit]

18. Um, "activists" includes those people in those countries.

Kind of paternalistic for you to assume it only meant Westerners.

[Ignis]

20. "Try giving it to...Mark Zuckerberg"

:rofl:

Truly, Zuck's first and foremost motive is governmental transparency in the promotion of democracy.

:eyes:

[liberation]

22. So the powers that be are the "victims" and Amnesty international is "paternalistic"

Wow, just wow holy sweet pretzel logic and projection. Esp. given that you claim your own standard for what constitutes "legitimate whistle-blowing"... talk about "paternalistic."

[EFerrari]

24. LOL

[FailureToCommunicate]

19. Credit the people, and maybe this guy, much more than WIkileaks...

Gene Sharpe's essays and guidebook have been translated, downloaded and read in every country in that region for years...

http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations98ce.html

[Hissyspit]

21. True, Sharpe was influential. Deserves much credit and some of that has been publicized and

documented. I think that Am Int'l makes it clear that the activists in said countries are to be credited. Not sure why that means automatic malignity of WikiLeaks?

[liberation]

23. It's red herring season

And now even Amnesty International has to suffer a thousand nit picks while they get thrown under the bus for saying something remotely positive about wikileaks.

[FailureToCommunicate]

29. No maligning of Wikileaks meant. Just a matter of a relative credit

due.

Always appreciate your tireless work here Hissy!

:hi:

[Hissyspit]

33. o.k.

Thanks. :hi:

[go west young man]

25. Many good DU'ers were on board with this thinking back

when it was happening. The Guardian back in February mentioned the "Wikleaks" revolution. They also mentioned the street vendors self immolation.
For those that doubt the power of Wikleaks and the fact that one good U.S. soldier allegedly brought about not one but two revolutions in the Middle
East while the entire U.S. military took ten years to attempt to overthrow two countries in the same region, I would highly recommend those blind flag
wavers read the Wikileaks cables about the nepotism in both Ben Ali's regime and the Mubarek regime. The U.S govt would love to have it both ways and
be able to claim they were behind these revolutions but they were actually in bed with both dictators as shown by the Wikileaks cables. They now want to
prosecute their best soldier for allegedly providing the info that brought about that change. History will show who the true U.S. patriot was in 2011.
Bradley Manning would be his name. Thank you Amnesty International and the Guardian UK and Wikileaks for bringing the world the truth. And for all
the DU'ers that wrap themselves in the flag while professing to be on the side of good morals why aren't you complaining when secret government cables
are stolen from China or North Korea or even new Russia? Could it be because those countries are not your countries. Seems a bit hypocritical.

[go west young man]

26. For DU'ers who need to witness Wikleaks in action today check these links.

What four Miles Of Yemeni Protestors Looks Like http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=237_1305310955

And just one of the many Wikleaks cables on Yemen. http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2005/06/05SANAA1790.html

A section of that cable: Government By the Government, For the Government
--------------------------------------------- ---

¶9. (C) Rampant official corruption impedes foreign investment, economic growth, and comprehensive development. Corruption and greed are also closely related to Yemen,s dangerous SA/LW proliferation. MCC provides the opportunity to commit the ROYG to a serious plan to combat endemic corruption. Saleh's feet must be held to the fire on what has thus far been mere lip service. MCC membership serves as both a carrot and stick in this regard.

--------------------
Democratic Elections
--------------------

¶10. (C) Saleh touts Yemen as a leader in regional reform and has committed to democratization. Domestically, however, he has run-out of reforms he can implement at no political cost to himself. Increasingly anxious about upcoming Presidential elections, and already preoccupied with succession, it is unlikely Saleh will allow a viable opposition candidate to challenge him in 2006. The visit is an opportunity to pressure Saleh not to amend the constitution so he may run again in 2013 by praising him for bringingt Yemen to the point where he can rely on the system in place to produce a legitimate successor. The inducement here might be a public show of support via a greater role in public fora such as the G-8.

¶11. (C) Comment: Progress on SA/LW, information and intelligence sharing, fighting corruption, and democratic reform is essential, even crucial, for U.S. and Yemeni interests. Saleh must be reassured of the tangible benefits from his partnership with the U.S., but must not be allowed to leave Washington thinking that he can maintain U.S. friendship with a business as usual approach to the above issues. End Comment.

[harun]

30. I give some of the credit also to Obama giving that speech in Egypt.

[JackRiddler]

32. The US government tried to keep Mubarak in power until it was impossible.

The USG financed this regime for 30 years! In the crisis they sent Wisner as an envoy (look up his allegiances) and tried to get the CIA's torture man, Suleiman, in as the replacement. Only when there was no chance of keeping Mubarak in did the USG give up on him. Obama's nice speech doesn't change the fact that Egyptians REMEMBER everything that Americans prefer not to learn in the first place.

[Poll_Blind]

34. That simply isn't supported by the facts. Sad truth is US and Israel were...

...the last two left on earth who supported his murderous regime. And Israel never came around.

PB

[SusanaMontana41]

35. Kicked. Great post! n/t