International

Governments create artificial barriers, but people around the globe share similar values.  Libertarian ideas of peace and freedom are flying over borders as people discover concepts of liberty, the Non-aggression Principle, and economics based on natural human action instead of  centralized control.  This page shares stories of awakening to liberty around the world. Update 8-26-11 ICELAND:  Why is Iceland’s revolution against banking debt kept secret by western media?  See below;  Update 7-25-11 COLUMBIA: Indigenous peoples of southwest Columbia have called a “minga” to protest militarization by the army and guerrilla force FARC;   5-25-11 SYRIA: Escapees and exiles use cyber-warfare to fight the regime; CUBA: Renowned artist & legislator takes a stand against the regime.

BAHRAIN 2-23-11: An estimated 100,000 demonstrators - 1/5 of the population —  are calling for regime change.  An absolute monarchy has ruled for two centuries, and protester outrage has increased since the army opened fire on unarmed demonstrators.  The king has been supported by the U.S. for decades because it is the regional home base of the American Fifth Fleet, maintained for oil interests.

BELGIUM: A study in contradictions, Brussels, the capital of Belgium and seat of the European Union  is a major force for European centralization.  Yet Belgium itself traditionally has a very weak central government and has peacefully, with little fuss, managed with no central government for the past eight months and life goes on happily, the national budget is smaller with no government to spend, yet services and infrastructure are unimpaired, as described colorfully HERE.  2-25-11: As the 249th day without a functioning central government, services are being handled efficiently by local administrations while saving costs of centralized governance; many  people are re-examining the role of centralization.

BRITAIN: Libertarianism evolved from the classical liberal ideas of British philosopher John Locke. When modern liberalism embraced the ideas of state socialism,  libertarians retained the principles of individual liberty and trended away from “liberal” left’s centralized statism.  Dr. Sean Gabb of Britain’s Libertarian Alliance, traces libertarian history in a speech at Warwick University in his VIDEO titled, Libertarianism:  Left or Right? Spoiler alert: his answer is “neither.”

CHILE 5-1-11: Workers this May Day enjoy a privatized social security model and receive far better returns that the U.S. government system.  Indeed, 30 countries have adopted plans based on Chile’s model.  Full ARTICLE HERE.

CHINA:  3-28-11: Microblogs, called weibo, are outdistancing China’s notoriously efficient censors, with more than a million posts every hour. One Shanghai professor says, ” In the past the public or hot topics were shaped by the elite…but now weibo has conquered the dominant position in shaping public opinion.” 3-6-11: Sunday Strolls are the latest tactic inspired by anonymous tweeters, to subtly mock and defy security forces; 2-5-11: CITIZEN-JOURNALISTS and bloggers are cracking the stranglehold the communist party has on information in China.  Individuals equipped with nothing but cell phones and internet connections are becoming increasingly difficult for the government to suppress.

COLUMBIA: Update 7-25-11: Indigenous people unite in a traditional “minga” for peaceful protest against militarization of the country, both by the national army and the guerilla FARC. 5-10-11: Driven to desperation by social problems, the people of Bogota elected a non-politician as mayor. Past rector of Columbian National University, a mathematician and philosopher, the new mayor set about inspiring the citizens and creating positive, voluntary incentives for cooperation.  the RESULTS have been spectacular.

CUBA 5-25-11: A prominent artist was removed from his seat in the national assembly and forced to close his studio for expressing his objection to one-party rule. “Societies where everyone thinks alike, especially in such controversial terrain as politics or ideology, do not exist — and what a good thing,” Oliva wrote. “Immobility of thought is the cancer of social processes.”

EGYPT: 4-8-11: Classically liberal Indian Dr. Gurcharan speaks in Tahrir Square to a warm reception; his trip was sponsored by the global libertarian Atlas Network. Update 2-12-11: Since the people successfully forced Mubarak out of office, the regime has curbed some of its excess corruption and reign of terror, and already it’s felt on the street, HERE. 2-2-11: Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com analyzes the origins of the people’s uprising, “The April 6 Youth movement, founded by a tech-savvy group of loosely-associated bloggers and activists who were earlier associated with campaigns to free imprisoned journalists and blogger, support labor actions, and organize protests over Israel’s invasion of Gaza. Utilizing Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, it was the April 6′ers who initiated the demonstrations that culminated in the “march of millions”: the other opposition groups clambered on board as the movement took off and grew to include virtually every sector of Egyptian society. Its founders and leaders have been continually harassed and many were arrested, and yet they endured and became the catalyzing force for Egypt’s democratic revolution. Neither a political party, nor even an ideological grouping, they are united around the- demands for civil liberties, freedom of speech and association, and the opening up of Egypt’s sclerotic authoritarian system.”  Read the full article HERE.

GAZA 2-23-11: The new military junta has officially REOPENED the Rafah border crossing to the Gaza Strip, allowing daily entry to the Sinai Peninsula for limited numbers of Palestinians, and access to modern medical facilities, humanitarian aid, and future trade.

ICELAND UPDATE 8-26-11:  The continuing people’s revolution against the banking elite in Iceland is kept secret in mainstream western media.  Here is the latest.    3-5-11: Journalist of the Year Award for 2010 is received by a Wikileaks spokesman and editor for the video footage of a 2007  U.S. Apache helicopter attack on Baghdad, and other of his work in defense of freedom on information.

IRAQ: An Arabic-language website, called LampofLiberty.org — MisbahAlHurriyya.org in Arabic — hopes to change the world by publishing translations of classical liberty books previously unavailable in Arabic.  One Baghdad scholar, who self-describes as libertarian, must be anonymous for fear of government or clerical reprisals; he has translated more than two dozen articles and nine books and booklets on classical liberalism and democracy. Enlightenment ideas are met alternately with shock and eagerness in this culture of authoritarian, sectarian, and tribal traditions. “Keep watching, in the Arab world the Enlightenment is going online,” states this ARTICLE, written before the recent demonstrations by Arabic people yearning for more freedom.

ISRAEL: One Israeli community is a small oasis of goodwill and peace within a garrison of war and tyranny.  Neve Shalom-Waht es-Salaam was settled by Jewish and Palestinian families 35 years ago and steadily holds a beacon of enlightenment to the populace outside the community. An experiment in conflict resolution based on good will, this community shows some success: ninety families want to join the 60 families now living there.

JAPAN: Japan’s constitution states, ” land, sea, and air forces as well as other war potential, shall never be maintained.” Since 1945, the majority of the public has never been in favor of revising this peace plank; indeed,the first article in the constitution states “the right to live in peace” is a universal right “for all peoples of the world.”  Japan’s peace is citizen-centered, considered too important to be left to the state.  The result?  For more than 70 years no Japanese soldier has killed another human being in war; there are no military courts; the state has no right to order citizens to kill citizens of another country.  Read more on Japan’s culture of peace HERE.  Update 4-11-11: And HERE is why the Japanese so thoroughly reject war but still took the terrible risk of nuclear power as a major fuel source,  given the frequency of earthquakes in their country.

JORDAN:  2-1-11: The latest of the mid-east dominoes to wobble.  King Abdullah fires the entire government and replaces the prime minister in a move widely seen as preemptive, to placate citizens so unrest does not build to the crescendo we see in Egypt.

KOREA (NORTH) 2-26-11: First the first time ever, the Kim regime was challenged by public protests, with no betrayal by a general public desperately short of food, energy, and other basic necessities. AsiaNews REPORTS that the younger Kim is feared as “bloodthirsty and mad” by much of the populace, willing to risk much to stop his succession.

KYRGYZSTAN: Is this the road that Homeland Security and the TSA is taking US citizens down?  Tom Palmer reports on efforts to reform the old Soviet legacy of the propiska: http://tomgpalmer.com/2011/01/05/freedom-of-movement-a-human-right/

LIBYA 3-13-11: Citizens rebuild for peace even as Gadhafi’s army attacks to take away their new freedoms. Despite decades of tyranny, volunteers are quick to take responsibility and learn new skills of organization and defense. 3-6-11: “I’ve not had any training, but I’ve seen plenty of action films,” sums up the attitude of many who substitute courage and determination for munitions against Gadhafi’s army. Update 3-5-11: The people’s revolution grapples with practical issues while battling the dictatorship. 2-26-11: An account of awesome heroism by many ordinary citizens who won against tanks and mortars is HERE.

MOROCCO 2-22-11: Led by youthful, tech-savvy activists, tens of thousands of peaceful protesters marched in major cities, demanding a new constitutional but not a revolution in this traditional monarchy.  Unlike demonstrations in Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and elsewhere, official permission was granted for the rallies.

NETHERLANDS: In the news, the Netherlands plans to close eight prisons because they don’t have enough prisoners to fill them.  In this land of tolerant policies for personal use of marijuana, it seems the crime rate has DECLINED precipitously.  This flies against the conventional beliefs of repressive governments such as the U.S. which leads the world in jailed citizens, mostly users or sellers of recreational drugs who have never committed an act of violence.

ROMANIA:  2-19-11; The Horia Rusu Foundation is a an educational outreach organization that  to help Romanians who grew up under the old Soviet model, learn and implement the concepts of freedom, a minimal state, and a free market.  To read more, click HERE.

SLOVAKIA: For a society that previously knew only communism, the Slovakia Institute for Economic and Social Studies is providing information on more efficient and prosperous ways to organize an economy.  This short video  by ReasonTV explains the work being done:

SUDAN: Another STORY of people inspired by increasing use of social networking media to inform, plan, and implement cooperative, peaceful citizen activism.  Sudanese youth called for a peaceful overthrow of the corrupt Khartoum regime; 2-1-11 A referendum by the South Sudanese was 99% in favor of secession from Sudan and the vote has been accepted by the the regime in the North. It is too early to know what form the new government will take, and the South awaits international recognition.

SWEDEN 1-11-11: “Stagnating Socialist Sweden,” by Per Bylund, debunks the popular myth of prosperous Swedish socialism.  The author shows that country’s relative success during the financial crises is due to  “a purposeful and politically painful program over a period of more than 15 years to clean up the mess of almost a century of Krugmanite (Keynesian) policies that were close to bankrupting the thousand-year-old nation. In case that hopeful link creates the impression that Sweden is substantially turning toward freedom, we must add this reality check by Britain’s John Pilger, describing the craven capitulation by Sweden to tyrannical US persecutionof Julian Assange.  He indicts his own country and the complicit, established media as well.

SWITZERLAND Update 2-17-11: “In many countries the government doesn’t trust its citizens and  feels it has to protect them. In Switzerland, because we have a system of popular referendums, the state has to have faith in its citizens…trusting ordinary, law-abiding citizens with guns is a sign of a free country, one in which the people are truly the sovereigns and not the subjects of the government…only a disarmed people can be oppressed.” These are a few quote from a recent ARTICLE about this modern, sophisticated democracy that has enjoyed the longest run of peace and very low rates of domestic violence, longer than any other EU country.

SYRIA: Update 5-25-11: Protesters use CYBER-WARFARE to fight the regime from abroad:  Those who fled the Syrian police work non-stop to support the protests at home; 4-24-11: Shopkeepers, students, neighborhood allies plan peaceful protests and strategies under the noses of secret police who are out of the loop.  The Syrian people are well practiced in deception after 48 years of repressive Baath Party rule.  Full article HERE.

TUNISIA: 3-8-11: In a major step toward freedom, the Interior Ministry announced it is dissolving the “political police” and entire state security division.  Tunisians are exploring the new taste of freedom including a free press.  ”Before, I didn’t buy newspapers — now I do.  It’s enriching to get different points of view,” exclaims one physician, HERE.  The successful overthrow of long-entrenched dictator Ben Ali inspired millions across the Arab spectrum and showed the importance of Facebook and other networking media.  As the country takes its first steps toward freedom, the IDEAS generatedby this rebellion are profound and hopeful.

YEMEN  4-2-11: Despite arrests,  beatings, and fatal shootings, more Yemenis are protesting dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh who is finding that violent oppression can be counter-productive; 2-26-11: Once made up of only student protesters in the capital and secessionists in the south, tribesmen Friday massed in PROTEST against long time dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh.