Showing posts with label anthony shelley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anthony shelley. Show all posts
Sunday, June 21, 2009

Iran: Hope for the Green Revolution


As the situation in Iran deteriorates, we can only hope and wish that a positive outcome will result for this conflicted country: a complete reversal from the dictatorial clutches of its suffocating theocracy.

Recent reports show that the brutal death of 16-year-old Neda Soltani, an innocent bystander who was shot during a street rally, is pushing the Iranian people onto the brink - the brink of a revolution that this region so desperately needs.

Iranians are hungry for democratic reform. They are tired of being dismissed as a rogue state that threatens nuclear destruction by the international community. The Iranians are denouncing their crazed leader President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with shouts of "death to the dicator!", particularly shocking in a nation that brutally supresses free speech and executes individuals for infidelity.

The Iranian leadership scoffed at President Obama's previous overtures for open dialogue, but the images and footage of protests online indicate that the people think otherwise.

We need to continue to support the Iranian people by providing them with today's weapons: access and resources to the Internet, online support groups, blogs, anything that will give them a voice for the rest of the world to hear, the voice that truly represents the real Iran boiling beneath the grip of a Hitlerish madman and his brainwashed minions.

- Anthony Shelley

Image courtesy of Daily News.
Posted by UWJHR at 7:04 PM | 0 comments  
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Saturday, May 30, 2009

Back on Track


First and foremost, I would like to thank our readers for waiting earnestly for UWJHR to return with updates and activities. For the past eight months, enormous changes have occurred throughout the world that have been both extremely positive and disappointing.

Our current goal is to provide somewhat of a bulletin board that will expose blatant attacks (from all over the globe) against journalistic freedom alongside our regular blog entries. Below is an example of a bulletin board update.

  1. Journalists accompanying President Obama on his trip to Saudi Arabia were threatened with "arrest and detention by Saudi authorities" if they reported on anything other than the president's visit.




Image courtesy of AFP/Getty
Posted by UWJHR at 12:30 PM | 0 comments  
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Sunday, September 14, 2008

A New Direction

Dear Readers,

Please bear with us as the University of Washington Journalists for Human Rights chapter undergoes changes in terms of the online newsletter and the overall direction of the group. We hope to keep the newsletter constantly updated and expand our activities in advocacy, collaboration, and raising funds for the causes that we support.

Thank you for patience.

- Anthony Shelley
Posted by UWJHR at 9:41 AM | 0 comments  
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Monday, June 23, 2008

The World Around Us: The Philippines


"Philippine Ferry Deaths Reveal More than Typhoon Tragedy"
Anthony Shelley


Reuters reported that rescue efforts for the 800 people missing from the capsized Princess of the Stars ferry near Sibuyan Islands in the Philippines ended today. Only 20 were mentioned to have survived the tragic trip.

What makes this incident especially provoking is the sad fact that safety precautions are rarely taken during inter-island ferry travel in the Philippines. As a predominately poor nation, the lower class are forced to use this method of transportation which usually involves the use of dilapidated ferries.


I've ridden those ferries, traveling from the main island of Luzon to Samar - the experience is very fresh in my memory. Witnessing a typhoon in action is also an event that I won't soon forget either; fortunately, I wasn't present on a boat and traveling out to sea during such bad weather conditions.


The Philippines is a country of great beauty but danger as well. There are basically no rules while traveling the roads. Children constantly risk the chance of getting struck of a vehicle by playing in the streets.

Bus drivers speed recklessly to reach their intended destinations before zipping off to other locations and packing on as many people and objects (to the point of excess) on the bus without regards to safety and security.


As long as the Filipino government continues to allow its suffocating atmosphere of corruption to exist, much-needed transportation funding will continue to be ignored, streets will crumble, old ferries will sink, and innocent lives will be lost.



Images courtesy of Reuters.
Posted by UWJHR at 11:53 AM | 0 comments  
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