"The Singing Revolution" got a nice review/full article in the Wall Street Journal. Click the link below to read the article also on the website: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903596904576514322485299098.html?KEYWORDS=singing+revolution.
By ANTHONY SHADID
Published in the The New York Times July 21, 2011
HAMA, Syria -- As anthems go, this one is fittingly blunt. "Come on Bashar, leave," it declares to President Bashar al-Assad. And in the weeks since it was heard in protests in this city, the song has become a symbol of the power of the protesters' message, the confusion in their ranks and the violence of the government in stopping their dissent.
Although no one in Hama seems to agree on who wrote the song, there is near consensus on one point: A young cement layer who sang it in protests was dragged from the Orontes River this month with his throat cut and, according to residents, his vocal cords ripped out. Since his death, boys as young as 6 have offered their rendition in his place. Rippling through the virtual communities that the Internet and revolt have inspired, the song has spread to other cities in Syria, where protesters chant it as their own.
"We've all memorized it," said Ahmed, a 40-year-old trader in Hama who regularly attends protests. "What else can you do if you keep repeating it at demonstrations day after day?"
Tunisia can claim the slogan of the Arab revolts: "The people want to topple the regime." Egyptians made famous street poetry that reflected their incomparable wit. "Come on Bashar, Leave," is Syria's contribution to the pop culture of sedition, the raw street humor that mingles with the furor of revolt and the ferocity of crackdown.
Estonian Youth Sing Their Way into the Future
"Singing was a potent symbol of nationhood for Estonians throughout decades of Soviet rule. Now it's helping the country complete its journey into European integration....."
FULL ARTICLE:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15210489,00.html
Yemen on the Edge
Excerpt: "There was a sense that the people of Yemen were too poor or too tribal or too "backward" to engage in a nonviolent civil insurrection against their dictator. However, as other unarmed pro-democracy uprisings in the region have demonstrated, the desire of human freedom and the willingness face down the tanks, machine guns, tear gas, and truncheons to defend basic rights is indeed universal."
Why Estonia may be Europe's model country
By Isabelle de Pommereau, Correspondent / May 18, 2011
Tallinn, Estonia
An 82-foot-high billboard wrapping Estonia's finance ministry building in its capital, Tallinn, boasts: "The euro, my money." It stands just blocks from the city's cobbled, winding medieval streets and baroque churches, in a downtown where skyscrapers have replaced Russian bunkers, as a symbol of Estonia's transformation from poor Soviet republic to the European Union's rising star.
When Estonia was accepted into the eurozone in January, seven years after joining the EU and two decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, it was another big step for the small Baltic nation away from its imposing neighbor to the east, Russia.
Over the next five years, it's expected to have Europe's fastest-growing economy. It emerged from the global financial crisis wounded, but has rebounded after adopting austere measures few other countries would accept. It's given the world Skype and the only national volunteer cyberarmy, and is adding to the EU a rare sense of determination at a time when pessimism about the euro prevails - a consequence of the debt crises that have hit Greece, Ireland, and Portugal and the bailout plans that followed. Indeed, Estonia, which is still the eurozone's poorest country, has emerged as the darling of its beleaguered union. [Editor's note: The original version incorrectly stated that Estonia is the poorest European country. It is the poorest eurozone country.]
Gene Sharp
Evan McGlinn for The New York Times
Gene Sharp is an American intellectual whose ideas can be fatal to the world's despots. For decades, Mr. Sharp's practical writings on nonviolent revolution -- most notably "From Dictatorship to Democracy," a 93-page guide to toppling autocrats, available for download in 24 languages -- have inspired dissidents around the world, including in Burma, Bosnia, Estonia and Zimbabwe, and now Tunisia and Egypt.
When Egypt's April 6 Youth Movement was struggling to recover from a failed effort in 2005, its leaders tossed around "crazy ideas" about bringing down the government, said Ahmed Maher, a leading strategist. They stumbled on Mr. Sharp while examining the Serbian movement Otpor, which he had influenced.
When the nonpartisan International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, which trains democracy activists, slipped into Cairo several years ago to conduct a workshop, among the papers it distributed was Mr. Sharp's "198 Methods of Nonviolent Action," a list of tactics that range from hunger strikes to "protest disrobing" to "disclosing identities of secret agents."
Excerpt from article "The rise of a new nonviolent popularism in the Middle East may seriously undercut the viability of the jihadi image of violent social change"
Here's a great summary of how oppressive regimes are trying to control this new era of immediate online information sharing. The technology race takes on all new meaning, and who's going to be better/faster at it? Those desperate for freedom (and their international supporters) or those with the money to control it? Click here to read the full article "The 10 Tools of Online Oppressors" from CPJ - The Committee to Protect Journalists
News Digest on Nonviolent Conflict
The following articles take a look at nonviolent conflict around the world; check the link below to find out what's happening in your homeland.
"A revolution simply means great change, significant change, and that's how I'm defining it--great change for the better, brought about through non-violent means."
Please read article below:
I never heard of him before, but reading your story made clear he experienced a lot during the war.
RIP...
Remarkable story. I watched your film for the first time last night. A minister in Melbourne, Australia recommended it to my husband when we were there last December.
I will recite the Universal Peace Covenant in honor of Albert when I am in the Peace Dome on the campus where I live. One of the lines "Peace is our birthright." strikes me as appropriate to his story.
Sincerely,
Christine Madar
Russia's law to forbid "falsify" of its history (also in foreign countries) and creation of the Historical Truth Committee would be quite a funny act, if it wouldn't be so sad. I add here a link to a satirical video about deportation. I can't imagine how deportation will be described in Russia's official view on history, but the clip definitely gives them some ideas on that. Although a joke might not be appropriate to address a topic so serious I believe in a way it describes the deportations quite adequately.
The video: http://tinyurl.com/ybdo36b
Mattias
The scene with the excecution is really disturbing even for me who likes the gangster and mafia-related movies. I know that it is one second in the documental but one image could tell you more that thousands of words. Hopelly you will edit this scene.
Thanks
Hello!
I am really happy, that you made a fantastic film about Estonia's history.
I am estonian and I was born at the same time when Singing Revolution began in Estonia and when was Baltic Way in 23rd of August 1989.
I was too young to remember it. It's honour to be a part of a small country.
Merry Christmas!
I would caution - do not underestimate the power of graphic violence.
I remember as a young child coming across the very first Life article with photos of the holocaust. I was traumatized and haunted by them for years - still am to some extent.
Granted that these few scenes are short and in comparison to the violence in entertainment films, quite mild. But they are REAL. This is not fiction. There is something terribly disturbing about them.
I would personally avoid these scenes with anyone under High School age.
On a related note - I see you have compiled a package in your store for educators. I do not have a whole classroom, only my own children to teach...For those of us trying to share this story with our children at home, are there any materials available separately to accompany the film, or suggested activities? There's such a powerful story in this film, and it's such a big part of my children's cultural inheritance, so I definitely want to make this the best experience possible for them.
Gwendolyn,
wonderful site - thanks for the post!
maureen
I have just created a post about The Singing Revolution" on my blog , www.firefliesofhope.com. I am a musician and hope that more people can come to understand the power of music to bring unity. Thanks for all you do.
I think most children around the age of ten can handle such scenes. That is a personal opinion and then again depends on the maturity of the child and the wishes of the parents. Family dynamic play a big factor in what is acceptable or not.