Adventures of Isabel

In the latest in a long string of outrageous human rights and civil liberties violations perpetrated by the Thai government, political scientist Giles Ji Ungpakorn is facing prison for lese majeste — insulting the king — in a recent article about the 2006 Thai coup.
You can read the offending paragraphs here and judge for [...]

More than two years after the families of two murdered human rights activists filed a complaint against the Philippine government, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled the Arroyo government is guilty of violating the activists’ right to life, and was negligent in providing remedy after they were killed.
Eden Marcellana, photo courtesy Karapatan

On April 21, 2003, [...]

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer:
Human bone in Bataan camp by Nikko Dizon LIMAY, BATAAN—Braving rains, a fact-finding team Tuesday dug up a yellow rubber slipper, a laced shirt and burned fragments of what they suspected was a human [...]

Mountain Province, Luzon, Summer 2006
I finally have a confirmed ticket to and from the Philippines this summer. Philippine Airlines certainly made me sweat a bit (I didn’t know until this morning whether I had to be ready to leave on Sunday) but in the end, I got exactly the itinerary I wanted — [...]

Flo — activist, photojournalist, friend and inspiration — has just posted a beautiful new photoessay from the Spanish-Moroccan border at Melilla.http://www.lightstalkers.org/galleries/slideshow/9398
“This portfolio is part of a bigger project focused on the look of borders become manifest, the look of the land and the people when the arbitrary line in the sand takes form. These shots [...]

The first section of Steev Hise’s film “On the Edge: The Femicide in Ciudad Juarez” can now be viewed online at  http://panleft.net/cms/ote-podcast1
He will be poisting a new segment every Monday for the next 8 weeks — definitely a film worth checking out.

For more information about the film, visit http://political.detritus.net/juarez

President Arroyo was just awarded the “Medalla de Oro” from Universidad de Alcala in Spain, in recognition of her work to improve the human rights situation in the Philippines.
This makes me, quite literally, feel sick.
Yes, she abolished the death penalty. But to me, that seems a little irrelevant when she has condoned hundreds of extrajudicial [...]

Yet another bizarre, poorly-planned coup attempt in the Philippines. This has basically become an annual event. In fact, it may have been a bit behind schedule.I don’t really have the mental energy right now to wrap my head fully around this one, although it’s worth noting that one of the coup leaders was Antonio Trillanes, [...]

The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (now there’s a job title) has just released his report on the Philippines. I realize that some of you may have actual lives, but I’m pretty excited it’s out, and I know human rights activists in the Philippines are too. The report doesn’t say anything [...]

An explosion Friday afternoon in a Metro Manila shopping mall left at least 9 dead and more than 100 injured. Investigations into the cause of the explosion are ongoing, but authorities have announced traces of high explosives were found on the scene and fingered the Abu Sayyaf Group as a prime suspect.
I was shocked [...]