Velvet Revolution

The Greengrocer That Broke the Camel's Back

Uriel Abulof | Posted 03.04.2012

Read More: Mohamed Bouazizi, Arab Spring, Vaclav Havel, Vaclav Havel Dead, Velvet Revolution, Vaclav Havel Death, World News

Vaclav Havel left an indelible imprint on the conscience of the entire world. His 1978 essay The Power of the Powerless, has lost none of its relevance, particularly in the wake of the stormy year that the Middle East experienced.

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Real-World Change Can Come From Within

Parker J. Palmer | Posted 03.04.2012

Read More: Politics, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr, Spirituality and Politics, Vaclav Havel, Social Movements, Democracy, Rosa Parks, Velvet Revolution, Religion and Politics, Occupy Faith, Religion News

The notion that social change can be sparked by an inner revolution is not only realistic. It also gives us a gift that conventional "realism" withholds -- a chance to do something that might make a difference.

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Velvet Revolution Leader Remembered: 'Europe Owes Vaclav Havel A Profound Debt'

AP | KAREL JANICEK | Posted 02.22.2012

Read More: Video, Vaclav Havel, Vaclav Havel Funeral, Vaclav Havel Dies, Velvet Revolution, Czech Republic, World News

PRAGUE — Czechs and world leaders paid emotional tribute to Vaclav Havel on Friday at a pomp-filled funeral ceremony, ending a week of public gr...

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On Vaclav Havel, Kim Jong Il and Regular Russian Citizens

Tereza Nemessanyi | Posted 02.21.2012

Read More: Snub, Social Media, Vaclav Havel, Protest, Russia, Death, Velvet Revolution, Memorial, Czech, Medvedev, World News

Most people who know me know my parents defected from Czechoslovakia, and that its Velvet Revolution changed my life. I went from being "from nowhere" to "from somewhere."

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Remembering Vaclav Havel

Todd Brewster | Posted 02.20.2012

Read More: Charter 77, Vaclav Havel Dead, Arnost Lustig, Prague, Velvet Revolution, Vaclav Havel, Czech Republic, World News

With the news this past weekend that Vaclav Havel, the one-time Czech president, had died, I found myself recalling a scene back in 1989, when I was lucky enough to spend a week in Prague with the leader of what eventually became known as the "Velvet Revolution."

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Remembering Vaclav Havel

Andrew Nagorski | Posted 02.20.2012

Read More: Communism, Remembrance, Eastern Europe, Vaclav Havel, Poland, Solidarity, Free Speech, Czechoslovakia, Velvet Revolution, Dictatorship, Soviet, Newsweek, Playwright, Czech Republic, World News

Looking back at my encounters with Havel, I'm struck by three dominant character traits: his moral courage, his ability to recognize and live with the contradictions of human behavior, and his sense of the absurd.

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Vaclav Havel's Death Mourned

AP | KAREL JANICEK | Posted 02.17.2012

Read More: Vaclav Havel Dead, Vaclav Havel Passed Away, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Vaclav Havel, Iveta-Radicova, Czechoslovakia, Velvet Revolution, Karel Schwarzenberg, World News

PRAGUE — Thousands of Czechs paid tribute to Vaclav Havel on Sunday, braving cold and snow at the spot where the leader of the peaceful anti-com...

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Czech Parliament To Compensate Anti-Communists

AP | Posted 09.19.2011

Read More: Communism, Anti-Communist Movement, President Vaclav Klaus, Vaclav Havel, Vaclav Klaus, Anti-Communism, Prague, Velvet Revolution, Czech Republic, World News

PRAGUE -- The Czech Parliament has approved legislation to honor and compensate members of the anti-communist movement. The bill gives members of the...

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WATCH: Media Matters Toasts Final Glenn Beck Show With Silly Party

HuffingtonPost.com | Zach Carter | Posted 08.28.2011

Read More: Media Matters, Soros, Glenn Beck Leaving Fox News, Party, Glenn Beck Leaving Fox, Media Matters Glenn Beck, Gold, Glenn Beck Leaving, Glenn Beck Media Matters, Glenn Beck, Velvet Revolution, Paul Begala, Fox, Eric Cantor, Video, Politics News

Glenn Beck's tenure at Fox News will come to an end on Thursday, and no organization seems happier about his impending signoff than Media Matters, the...

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A Middle East-Like Revolution in Cuba? Don't Hold Your Breath

Christopher Sabatini | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Egypt Protests, Sanctions, U.S.-Cuba Policy, Cuba, Wael Ghonim, Libya, Hugo Chavez, Twitter, Fiber Optic Cables, Moammar Gadhafi, Velvet Revolution, Facebook, World News

  Under current U.S. law, Cuba will never have a Wael Ghonim, the Google executive who has become a hero in Egypt for defending freedom of expression and communication among activists.

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After the Fall of African Dictatorships

Alemayehu G. Mariam | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mwai Kibaki Kenya, Africa Dictatorship, Robert Guei, Laurent Gbagbo Ivory Coast, Ben Ali Tunisia, Hissen Habre Chad, Yoweri Museveni Uganda, International Criminal Court Bashir, Czechoslovakia Charter 77, International Criminal Court Taylor, Saudi Arabia, Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe, African Dictators, Siad Barre Somalia, Mohamed Farrah Aidid Somalia, Tunisia Ben Ali, Lansana Conté Ahmed Sékou Touré Guinea, Ethiopia Derg, Hosni Mubarak Egypt, Mohamed Bouazizi, U.S. Aid Egypt, Ethiopia Election May 2010, Omar Al-Bashir Sudan, Mobutu Sese Seko Zaire, Jean-Bedel Bokassa Central African Republic, Velvet Revolution, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Idi Amin Uganda, Egypt Mohamed El Baradei, Africa Humpty Dumpty, Paul Kagame Rwanda, Nawaz Sharif Pakistan, Charles Taylor Liberia, Alassane Ouattara Ivory Coast, Laurent-Désiré Kabila Democratic Republic Congo, Mengistu Haile Mariam Ethiopia, World News

If Africans are to have hope of a better future, they will need to build a fortress of freedom impregnable to the slings and arrows of civilians dictators and the savage musketry of military juntas.

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As African Tyrants Fall

Alemayehu G. Mariam | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mohamed Bouazizi, Orange Revolution, Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia Protests, Africa Nonviolent Revolution, Velvet Revolution, Ethiopia Economic Crises, Ahimsa, Mohamed Ghannouchi, Quit India, Ethiopia, Mengistu Hailemariam, Satyagraha, Tunisian People?S Revolution, Mohandas Gandhi, Saudi Arabia, Bulcha Demeksa, African Dictators, Africa Passive Resistance, Meles Zenawi, Idi Amin, Constitutional Democratic Rally Party, Egypt Protests, World News

The Tunisian people's revolution provides practical insights into the prerequisites for dismantling dictatorships in Africa. The first lesson is that when dictatorships end, their end could come with either a bang or a whimper.

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Iran Opposition Unplugged

Jamal Dajani | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Twitter, Mehdi Karroubi, Islamic Republic of Iran, Middle East, Iran Election, Uranium Enrichment, Islamic Revolution, Jamal Dajani, Iran, Velvet Revolution, Iran Nuclear Program, Israel, Iranian Election, World News

It seems that the balance in the Iranian uprising is shifting in the regime's favor. This time Ahmadinejad was prepared... he succeeded in "unplugging" the opposition.

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Lessons from the Velvet Revolution

Stephen Zunes | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Communism, Ronald Reagan, Freedom, Nonviolent Action, Czechoslovakia, Democracy, Velvet Revolution, Fall of Berlin Wall, Haiti Earthquake, World News

These movements were largely led by democratic socialists who mobilized workers, church people, intellectuals, and others to face down the tanks with their bare hands.

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MAZIAR BAHARI RELEASED: Iran Frees Newsweek Reporter On Bail

AP | ALI AKBAR DAREINI | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mass Trial, Election Fraud, Vote Rigging, Iran Election, Iran, Media, Khatami, Ahmadinejad, Mousavi, Newsweek, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Velvet Revolution, Saeed Hajjarian, Bahari Released, Bail, Maziar Bahari, Tehran, Iraq, Bahari, World News

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran released a foreign Newsweek reporter on bail Saturday almost four months after he was arrested following the country's dispu...

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Fox 'News' Fans Flood Anti-U.S. Chamber Campaign With Death Threats, Racial Attacks

Brad Friedman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Fox News, Velvet Revolution, Tom Donohue, Chamber of Commerce, Tea Baggers, Death Threats, Conservatives, US Chamber of Commerce, Politics News

"Conservative" Fox "News" fans sure do use the F-word a lot in their death threats. We're used to various death threats by now, but those American "values"-lovin' viewers have really outdone themselves this time.

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How Sweet The Sound: An Interview With Joan Baez

Mike Ragogna | Posted 05.25.2011

For most of the fifty years since she debuted at the Newport Folk Festival, Joan Baez has dedicated her life and music to fighting for equality and social justice, and for bringing about positive change in the world.

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Freed Academic Haleh Esfandiari: 'Iranians Want Evolution, Not Revolution'

Diane Tucker | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Evin Prison, Kennebunkport, Harsh Interrogations, Iran Election, One Million Signatures Campaign, Iran Regime Change, Iran, Iran Liveblogging, Diane Tucker, Mental Stress, Green Wave, The Inner Life, Voting Problems, Haleh Esfandiari, Civil Rights, Stress, Green Movement, Iran Post Election Crisis, Women?S Rights, Kian Tajbakhsh, Press Freedom, Mixed Marriage, Women?S Books, Voting, Fear Watch, Tehron Mass Trial, Twitter, Hijab, Iran Solitary Confinement, Middle East Politics, European Union, Georgia, Color Revolution, Obama Mideast Trip, Velvet Revolution, Islamic Veil, Iran Protest Movement, Ukraine, Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Nico Pitney Iran Liveblogging, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Haleh Esfandiari Solitary Confinement, Bush Administration, My Prison My Home, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Iran Family Protection Law, Islamic Revolution, Democracy Promotion, Diane Tucker Iran Blogs, Iranian Women?S Rights, Voter?S Rights, Woodrow Wilson Center, Iran's Cultural Prison, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, World News

Every two or three years, there has been a wave of protests like this in Iran. But this time I think there has been a fundamental change.

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Yemen: A Powder Keg Ready to Explode

Jamal Dajani | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Hussein Al-Houthi, Yemen, Middle East, Yemen-Houthi, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism, Velvet Revolution, Sa'ada, Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, Ali Abdullah Saleh, World News

The Obama administration may be ignoring what could potentially be the hottest spot in the Middle East, the country which is the ancestral birthplace of Osama bin Laden: Yemen.

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Iranians Worldwide Roll Out Green Scroll Against Ahmadinejad (SLIDESHOW, UPDATES)

Diane Tucker | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Cn Tower, Iran Election, Vaclav Havel, Iran, Velvet Revolution, Radio Free Europe, Diane Tucker, Iran Protests 2009, Green Scroll Movement, Dubai, Eiffel Tower, Shah of Iran, Slideshow, Toronto, Portland, Zurich, Stockholm, Hamburg, austinforiran.org, portlandstandswithiran.org, Antone's, India, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Alfred Hitchcock, Women and Politics, Wall for Peace, Ali-Akbar-Hashemi-Rafsanjani, France, Paris, World News

Updates, and video screen grabs from the ceremony in Paris, follow the post. AUSTIN, TX -- When a reporter asked Vaclav Havel to comment on Iran's p...

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Kian Tajbakhsh: Iran Arrests First American Citizen

AP | DESMOND BUTLER | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Kian Tajbakhsh Arrested, Velvet Revolution, Kian Tajbakhsh Iran, Iranian Election, Iran Arrests American, Kian Tajbakhsh, Iran, Iran Arrests, Tajbakhsh, World News

NEW YORK — An Iranian-American scholar whom Iran once accused of fomenting political unrest has been arrested by authorities there for the secon...

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Iran Uprising: Historic Parallels To Today's Protests

Huffington Post | Stuart Whatley | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Bulldozer Revolution, Iran Demonstrations, Iranian Revolution, Iran Election, Foreign Affairs, Iran, Velvet Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran Elections, Tiananmen Square, Carnation Revolution, Tulip Revolution, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran Protests, Iran Election 2009, Second Chimurenga, Islamic Revolution, Rose Revolution, Orange Revolution, Advocacy, Civil Disobedience, Iran Uprising, Iran Today, Protests in Iran and Tiananmen Square, Todays Iran Protests, World News

The massive socio-political movement in Iran, following the highly controversial announcement Saturday declaring Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the victor of tha...

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If Democracy Is Denied

Michael Carmichael | Posted 05.25.2011

The sheer momentum of the Obama-Biden ticket has triggered frantic and massive Republican vote-rigging operations in key battleground states designed ...

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