Leopoldo López: Venezuela’s Leading Champion

No toilet paper. Little electricity. Hospitals overloaded with patients laying on the floor. This is the situation that bedevils Venezuela today, not long after the death of the tyrannical Hugo Chávez and the increasing state crackdowns by his successor. Before everything deteriorated though, when the government began to steal from Venezuelans and foreigners, while subverting the rights of their detractors, some foresaw the wrong that Chávez was creating and fomenting. The price at least one man is paying for this righteous defiance has been steep.

Leopoldo López, a popular mayor of Chacao, is currently serving a fourteen-year prison term for allegedly inciting riots and other trumped up charges after the death of Chávez. While he vehemently denied these charges, López turned himself over to the authorities, and a faulty conviction and sentence were handed down. This was likely the culmination of his prior attempts to undermine the government, from his supposed involvement to depose Chávez in 2002, up to his support of the anti-government protestors 2014. Human Rights Watch has decried the legal outcome and prison treatment of López, the United States government is disturbed by the baseless accusations and leaders from Spain and Latin American countries are attempting to secure his release. This is not what everyone wants though, as he has stirred controversy in some circles.

The background of López is not one of the typical freedom fighter or political protestor. He comes from a wealthy family with connections to the oil industry (which Venezuela has some of the largest reserves of in the world). He was educated in the United States at both Kenyon College and the Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. His work was that of an economist and he cofounded the center-right party Primero Justicia. As Chávez rose to power, López began to challenge the dictator’s reforms and began to gain a constituency with the beleaguered middle class during the early 2000s. This, and his alleged arrogance and showmanship has divided the ranks of the opposition, and puts some on edge, both within and outside of Venezuela.

Despite all of the accusations and the awkward lineage of López within the anti-government coalition, he brings a dedicated following and can reach segments of Venezuelan society that are marginalized by the Chavistas. As he stood trial, which was considered a sham, López had numerous followers waiting in hope that their leader would be found innocent of the charges. When he was convicted, the supporters were demoralized and saddened, but resolved to fight on. They won’t abandon their leader; one student according to the BBC in 2014 said, “If Leopoldo [Lopez] is attacked by the government, the people will defend him.”

With the defeat of the government in the recent election, optimism rises that López will be released. Still, he continues to be in a military prison outside of the capital of Caracas and has likely been mistreated with threats and solitary confinement. But López is still fighting, so that his countrymen may breathe free.

Sources

 “Ex-Spanish PM meets with Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez” Fox News Latino

website, Jun. 7, 2016

“Leopoldo Lopez, imprisoned Venezuelan opposition leader, remains defiant” CNN website,

Sept. 11, 2015

“Leopoldo Lopez: Venezuela’s maverick opposition leader” BBC News website, Sept. 11, 2015.

“The Making of Leopoldo López: A closer look at the democratic bona fides of the rock star of

Venezuela’s opposition” Foreign Policy website, Jul. 27, 2015

“Venezuela’s triumphant opposition to free opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez” The Telegraph

website, Dec. 7, 2015

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Russia’s jailing of a peaceful opposition activist for violating the country’s new law on public assemblies is a shocking and cynical attack on freedom of expression, Amnesty International said today.

Ildar Dadin was sentenced to three years in jail by a Moscow court for repeated anti-government street protests. He is the first person to be jailed using the law, which was introduced in 2014 and punishes repeated breaches of public assembly rules.

“The shocking sentencing of Ildar Dadin shows that the Russian authorities are using the law on public assemblies to fast-track peaceful protesters to prison,” said John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia Director at Amnesty International.

“This cynical move shows that compared to the drawn out criminal proceedings against peaceful protesters in the past, the authorities have now created a shortcut for imprisoning activists. It is more dangerous to be a peaceful activist in Russia than at any time in recent years.”

The recent changes to Russia’s draconian law on public assemblies criminalize anyone found to have violated the law more than twice within 180 days.

A solitary violation of the law, for example peacefully gathering without the authorities’ express prior permission, is punishable by a fine or up to 15 days’ administrative detention. Three such violations result in a criminal offence punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment.

Ildar Dadin’s first violation was protesting against the conviction of peaceful activists from the so-called Bolotnaya demonstration of 7 May 2012 in Moscow, for which he was detained.

He has since been either fined or detained four times for similar “offences”.

He has been under house arrest since 30 January 2015, when his last 15-day administrative detention sentence expired, and was only allowed to leave home to attend court hearings. Following today’s sentencing, he was taken into custody.

The judge at Moscow’s Basmanny Court sentenced Ildar Dadin to three years in jail, despite prosecutors having requested a two-year prison sentence.

“It is deeply disturbing that the Russian authorities have ‘legalized’ their own human rights violations and are now actively putting this into practice,” said John Dalhuisen.

“Ildar Dadin must be immediately and unconditionally released and Russia must repeal this repressive and unjust law.”

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Citizens and residents of the United States alike pride themselves on their country’s freedoms. The first and foremost of these freedoms is our first amendment right to speak and publish whatever we believe or wish to express without fear of punishment. Over the last 230 years this right, or luxury even, has served as a system which keeps politicians and their political parties in check through challenging any arbitrary opinions when they seem to get a bit too loud. Other countries, such as North Korea and Iran, do not have this luxury. In these nations individuals who speak against the government in any way, shape or form are arrested; some are even killed.

One of the many individuals who have been incarcerated in the name of justice is Atena Farghadani, 28-year-old Iranian artist and activist. Farghadani, a graduate of University of Alzahra (degree in fine arts), was arrested in August of 2014 for releasing a political cartoon which criticized the Iranian parliament in their decision to restrict measures of contraception by portraying them as monkeys and goats (Amnesty International 2015). The government found the publicity of her political cartoon via her Facebook account to be an unacceptable form of propaganda which insulted not only Iran’s parliament but also its Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. As a result, she was sentenced to three months in Evin Prison which is located in the northwestern section of Tehran and was released in November of 2015. In attempt to raise awareness about the abusive treatment she received in the prison after her letters of protest to the Supreme Leader, the President, and the Head of the Prison Service of Iran were left unanswered, Farghadani posted a video online on December 29, 2014 in which she explained the ruthless and torturous treatment that was inflicted upon her during her time at Evin (Farghadani 2014). Several days after the video went online Farghadani was arrested by the Iranian government and in June of 2015, she was sentenced to twelve years and nine months of imprisonment in an undisclosed location- five years and two months longer than the maximum imprisonment time period allowed for an offense of that nature (Cavna 2015). She is currently serving that prison sentence.

The 2014 publication of the political cartoon was not Farghadani’s first time peacefully protesting against the social and political injustices occurring in her country. In 2009, Farghadani’s artwork protested the deaths of the families that were killed during the post-presidential election demonstrations in Tehran which likely garnered the attention of anti-reformist government officials and made her more susceptible to condemnation (Amnesty International 2015).

Individuals like Farghadani exist all over Iran and all over the world and they are constantly sacrificing their own good for the betterment of society. They believe that one person’s tireless fighting for justice can, in fact, make a difference and that regardless of the size or impact of that difference it is always significant. It is of acute importance that we, as college students, remember this as we learn and grow to become people that will directly impact future societies.

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I am an American, but I have lived and worked in South Korea as an ESL teacher for the past ten years. America has a few military bases set up throughout Korea, which causes concern and problems throughout the peninsula. Some of the old timers claim that the American military presence is necessary due to the ceasefire still on with their neighbor to the north. The two Koreas are still technically at war, but the US military presence is a big issue in Korea still to this day.

When I first came to Korea, it was on the heels of the Shin Mi-Suen (신효 순) and Shim Mi-Suen (심미선) incident where a negligence on the US military’s part led to the death of those two middle school girls. And, since then, the view of US soldiers in Korea has not been the best, partially (or mainly) due to the drunken brawls, drug use, and sex crimes of some of the soldiers.

And recently, there are plans to build a joint U.S./ROK naval base on the beautiful island of Jeju (제주도). This small island off the southern coast of Korea holds strong pride for the Korean people and UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has labeled the Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes as a World Natural Heritage. The whole island is very beautiful and there are Korean fishing villages there that have been the same for many generations.

The construction of the Jeju naval base has met with numerous protests. The residents of the Gangjeong (강정), a small fishing village of about 2,000 people, have already suffered by the construction and the landscape is being destroyed, like the sacred rocky Gureombi (구럼비) coastline and the endangered coral forests. There is a rich and traditional culture subset on Jeju, and the island still remains as Korea’s top tourism spot.

Yang Yeook (양여옥), Choi Jungmin (최정민) (both activists of World Without War), and Reverend Im Bora (임보라) of Hyanglin Church were all arrested for ‘civil disobedience’ and fined a few thousand dollars each for their involvement in the protests. All three refused to pay the fines and were subsequently imprisoned. Yang, Choi, and Im claim that the building of the naval base is wrong and their imprisonment is in direct opposition to the Korean constitution and the Korean peoples’ right to assembly.

War Resister’s International has taken up their cause, helping with letters of support and fundraising. Petitions have been started to have the three activists released, and this has brought more attention on the problem of destroying part of a beautiful island to build a naval base. The Veterans for Peace have also taken up the cause against the base and in support of Yang, Choi, and Im.

The protestors (along with the three activists) see this naval base as just a ploy by Obama to build up a defense against China. This is also confirmed by the U.S. military expansion in Japan. Whatever the reason for such a base,
Yang, Choi, and Im have kept up the fight against the construction and have brought the attention of numerous activist groups on the naval base construction.

Such wonderful, natural scenery being destroyed by a naval base.

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Johanna Lohman

My activist

Pyotr Pavlensky is a thirty-one year Russian performance artist and political activist. He studied at the St. Petersburg Art and Industry Academy. He has gained worldwide attention in the last three years for his outrageous public performances, which usually involve some type of self-mutilation. The performances are intended to draw attention to political conditions in Russia. Each one is carefully planned and executed in public spaces with Pavlensky usually releasing statements of explanation after the fact. He has been arrested on multiple occasions for hooliganism and is currently in custody for vandalism after setting fire to a prominent government building.

Pavlensky has carried out six major performances since 2012, each in protest to specific government actions.  His first well-known performance, entitled Seam, was carried out in May 2012. He showed up near Petersburg’s Kazan Cathedral with his mouth sewn closed. This performance was in protest against the arrest of members of the punk group Pussy Riot, several of whom had worked with Pavlensky on past projects. Pavlensky was taken to a hospital after this stunt and given psychiatric evaluation. He was declared sane and released. The following year, Pavlensky performed two more acts of self-mutilation. Carcass was performed in May, when he lay naked in front of the Legislative Assembly Building wrapped in barbed wire, in protest of laws which had been enacted to suppress activism and other actions threatening to the government. In November of that year, Pavlensky sat naked in Red Square and nailed his scrotum to the ground in order to symbolize the helplessness of the Russian people in the face of political actions. This performance was called Fixation. His next performance, Freedom, occurred the following February, when he protested in support of the Ukrainian Revolution by building a small barricade and burning tires in the style of the Maidan protestors. Also in 2014, Pavlensky sat naked on top of the Serbsky Center and cut off his earlobe in an act entitled Segregation, this time protesting abuse of psychiatry for political reasons.

Pavlensky’s most recent act, which has been entitled Lubyanka’s Burning Door, happened early Monday morning, November 9, when he doused the front door of the building with gasoline and threw a match on it. The door sustained some damage before the fire was put out and Pavlensky was arrested. The Lubyanka building was the headquarters of both Lenin’s secret police and the later KGB, and Pavlensky’s attack was planned to call attention to the tortures and other atrocities that have been committed in that building, with the fire being lit to symbolize the gates of hell. Pavlensky posed in front of the burning door as he waited to be arrested, and he submitted to his arrest without incident. When his case was opened the following day as an act of vandalism, Pavlensky requested that his charge be changed to an act of terrorism. According to the Telegraph article “Controversial Russian Artist Arrested after Setting Fire to the Door of Secret Services Building,” Pavlensky had this to say about terrorism: “Terrorism can only exist thanks to the animal instinct of fear. A person resists this instinct by an involuntary defensive reflex. That is the reflex to fight for one’s life. And life is worth starting a fight for.”

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Inna Inic

246 E. Coast Dr.
Palm Harbor, FL 34683
3/9/1996
(727) 458-1311
University of Miami
Criminal Justice
 

Cindy Sheehan is known for her bravery for being an anti-war activist.  She lost her son during the war action in Iraq and she fought hard to stop the war against Iraq and to save the lives of others being put in danger.  She was arrested many times but she never gave up.

Cindy Sheehan states she initially questioned the urgency of the invasion of Iraq but did not become active in the antiwar effort until after her son’s death. Sheehan and other military families met with United States President George W. Bush in June 2004 at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, Washington, about three months after her son’s death. In a June 24, 2004, interview with the Vacaville Reporter, published soon after the meeting, she stated, “We haven’t been happy with the way the war has been handled. The president has changed his reasons for being over there every time a reason is proven false or an objective reached.” She also stated that President Bush was “sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis. I know [he] feels pain for our loss. And I know he’s a man of God.”

Sheehan gave another interview on October 4, 2004, stating that she did not understand the reasons for the Iraq invasion and never thought that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States. She further stated that her son’s death had compelled her to speak out against the war.

Sheehan continued to campaign against the Iraq war even if granted a meeting with Bush. She also announced the Bring Them Home Now Tour, to depart on September 1 and arrive in Washington, D.C., on September 24 for three days of demonstrations. The tour, which covered 42 cities in 26 states, was publicized by the Mintwood Media Collective, and garnered international media coverage. On the third day, Sheehan and about 370 other antiwar activists were arrested for demonstrating on the White House sidewalk. Sheehan was arrested with 60 others at the White House protesting President Obama’s continuation of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sheehan attracted international attention in early August 2005, when she traveled to President Bush’s Prairie Chapel Ranch, just outside Crawford, Texas, demanding a second meeting with the President. She told members of Veterans for Peace, “I’m gonna say, ‘And you tell me, what the noble cause is that my son died for.’ And if he even starts to say freedom and democracy, I’m gonna say. You tell me the truth. You tell me that my son died for oil. You tell me that my son died to make your friends rich…. You tell me that, you don’t tell me my son died for freedom and democracy.” She also vowed not to pay her federal income tax for 2004 because that was the year her son was killed.

Cindy became a member of the Peace and Freedom Party still doing what she is fighting for; trying to save innocent lives that are risking their own for the freedom of all.  She is a hero to many and brought peace to many families.  She believes that one person can make a difference and she has proved many wrong.

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