“Jasmine Revolution”
Symbol of peace: Flowers placed on the barrel of a tank
in very much calmer protests than in recent days in Tunisia

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011

'The Protester' - Time Person of the Year 2011
Mannoubia Bouazizi, the mother of Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi. "Mohammed suffered a lot. He worked hard. but when he set fire to himself, it wasn’t about his scales being confiscated. It was about his dignity." (Peter Hapak for TIME)

1 - TUNISIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


How eyepatches became a symbol of Egypt's revolution - Graffiti depicting a high ranking army officer with an eye patch Photograph: Nasser Nasser/ASSOCIATED PRESS

2 - EGYPT Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)


''17 February Revolution"

3 - LIBYA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

5 - SYRIA Democratic Change / Freedom of Speech (In Transition)

"25 January Youth Revolution"
Muslim and Christian shoulder-to-shoulder in Tahrir Square
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -
(Subjects: Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" (without a manager hierarchy) managed Businesses, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)
"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)
(Subjects:Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

"If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening."


“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."



African Union (AU)

African Union (AU)
African Heads of State pose for a group photo ahead of the start of the 28th African Union summit in Addis Ababa on January 30, 2017 (AFP Photo/ Zacharias ABUBEKER)

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela
Few words can describe Nelson Mandela, so we let him speak for himself. Happy birthday, Madiba.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Verdict due in Rwandan genocide denial case

Deutsche Welle, 18 October 2012



Rwandan opposition members are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the trial of Victoire Ingabire.

In early 2010, Rwandan opposition politician Victoire Ingabire returned to her home country after spending 16 years in exile in the Netherlands. She wanted to run in the presidential election as the candidate for the United Democratic Forces (FDU-Inkingi). But the government of President Paul Kagame refused to allow her party, and two other leading opposition parties, to participate in the election.

The sentencing of Victoire Ingabire
has already been postponed twice
A few months after her arrival in Rwanda, Ingabire was arrested. Paul Kagame was re-elected president with 93 percent of the votes cast.

Kagame regards Ingabire as a danger to national unity, mainly because of controversial statements she made referring to the 1994 genocide. Since her arrest in 2010, she has been in prison several times. The verdict against her is due to be announced on October 19, 2012, after several postponements. The deputy leader of FDU-Inkingi, Eugene Ndahhyo, expects a guilty verdict. “We're dealing with the repressive machinery of the ruling party, the FPR, which rules with terror,” he said. “They chase members of the opposition out of the country and the government has huge financial resources to sabotage the opposition.” As a result, many members of the opposition live in exile.

Ndahhyo is one of them. From his base in France, he coordinates his party's activities. “We are in touch with party members who live in Rwanda, but everything is done in secret as we don't want to endanger them,” he said. Opposition members living in Rwanda risk being "arrested, intimidated or killed and live in great fear.”

Difficult past

The Rwandan government fights everything it regards as a danger to the country's stability. That is, above all, because of the country's painful past. The 1994 genocide perpetrated by members of the Hutu majority cost an estimated one million lives. Most of the victims belonged to the minority Tutsi. The killing only came to an end after 100 days, following the intervention of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, led by Paul Kagame. Six years later Kagame was elected president. He has ruled since then with an iron fist.

Victoire Ingabire is seen as a threat to national stability because she called for Hutu war victims also to be commemorated and for a legal process to be instigated that would examine their fate.

The charges against her are based on this so-called genocide denial.

Traditional gacaca courts were set
up to promote post-genocide healing
She is also accused of providing financial support for the Hutu rebel group “Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda”, endangering national security and inciting opposition to the state. State prosecutors have called for a life sentence.

Political opposition ‘not possible'

Ingabire is not the only member of the opposition in prison. Deo Mushayidi is also behind bars. He founded an opposition party “People's Defense Pact” in Belgium. In 2010 he was arrested while travelling to Burundi and taken directly to Rwanda. He was accused of planning a coup, disseminating hate propaganda and using forged documents. He received a life sentence.

Bernard Ntaganda was sentenced to four years for endangering national peace, promoting ethnic divisionism and attempting to organize a demonstration that had not been approved by the government. Like Victoire Ingabire, he had also wanted to run against Paul Kagame in the 2010 elections.

Gerd Hankel from the Hamburg Institute for Social Research has been monitoring Rwanda, and President Kagame's treatment of the opposition, for some time. He says the government ignores basic rights such as the freedom of opinion and freedom of assembly. He also expects a harsh verdict for Victoire Ingabire. “The draconian prison sentences that are handed down generally are proof that political opposition which deserves the name is not possible in Rwanda,” Hankel told DW.


A UN report said a close ally of the Rwandan president,
Paul Kagame  (pictured), was commanding rebels in the DRC. 
Photograph: Isaac Kasamani/AFP/Getty Images


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