Mediaboss Marketing

View of Hong Kong's IFC tower as students mass in front of the Chief Executive's office on Oct. 2, 2014. (Ishaan Tharoor/The Washington Post)

HONG KONG -- Last Thursdayas tens of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators massed in Hong Kong's streets, a parallel rally took place 500 miles to the east in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Thousands of Taiwanese chanted "Go Hong Kong" in a public park and held up banners in support ofHong Kong's students seekingdemocratic reforms in the Chinese territory. One bannerread, "Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow Taiwan," echoing a larger fear among Taiwanese of what may happen to their island's democracy should it reunify with China in decades to come.

Hong Kong's protests may be fizzling out -- on Monday, crowds at the main protest site around the government's headquarters were sparse -- but their cause has resonated elsewhere in a region where Beijing looms large. "We know we're not alone," said Quincy Fung, a student protester in Hong Kong's Admiralty district, on Saturday night. "We know that there are many people nearby who have our same hopes for democracy and anger with the communists in Beijing."

Student-led protests for democratic reforms in Hong Kong subsided Monday, but a few hundred demonstrators are still camped out, vowing to keep up the pressure on the government. (AP)

The student-led occupations began after it became clear that China's rulers had no intention of allowing Hong Kong the right to full democracy. In 2017 elections, voters in the city will only be able to choose from a slate of candidates vetted in Beijing. The former British colony returned to China in 1997, but maintained its own political structure and civic freedoms under a pact dubbed "one country, two systems." Beijing's critics in Hong Kong fear it is trying to dismantle that understanding.

Hong Kong has long had an image of being a peerless financial center, a rock of stability and rule of law amid the corruption and political turmoil that exists elsewhere in Asia.While many of the protesters' demands have gone unmet, theirnon-violent uprising has signaled the emergence of a new generationof politicized youth in this bustling city of 7.2 million people.

And their efforts have been noticed. Unlike in mainland China, state media controlled byVietnam's authoritarian communist government published numerous articles about the Hong Kong protests, including an extensive profile of 17-year-old Hong Kong protest leader Joshua Wong. Relations between Hanoi and Beijing have been rocky, with the two governments sparring over longstanding territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

In the Philippines, protesters also rallied in solidarity with Hong Kong's demonstratorslast week and picketed the Chinese consulate in Manila. But the government soon issued a stern warning to the many Filipinos working in Hong Kong to avoid protests and potential arrest. Filipinos and Indonesians make up the vast majority of the city's more than 300,000 domestic workers, a workforce that remains, legally and socially, something of an underclass in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong democracy protests illustrate a strange irony: Someof the students at occupy sites, fighting for democracy,have been raised by domestic workers who come from societies with far greater politicalfreedoms. "My boy is out there in the protest," said Jozy Subag, 38, a Filipina maid who spend a day off on Thursday with friends in a public park not far from the Hong Kong government headquarters, which was then blockaded by protesters.Subag was referring to the son of her employers. "I don't want to get involved, but I think it's good he cares so much about democracy," she said.

That sentiment was probably not shared by officials in Singapore, a city-state that is often likened to Hong Kong. A modest solidarity protest last week saw a few hundred people turn up in support of Hong Kong's protesters. Not long thereafter, reports emerged of Singaporean police questioning foreigners who attended the rally.It's hard to imagine Singapore allowing thetype of demonstrations that took place in Hong Kong.Its authoritarian government makes such mobilizations far more difficult and the city's civil society and media arefar more fettered than theirequivalents in Hong Kong.

Original post:
WorldViews: Hong Kongs protests cast a shadow across Asia

The Bloody History of Communism Part 6 of 14
Description.

By: Eirkr inn sigrsli

See the article here:
The Bloody History of Communism Part 6 of 14 - Video

The Bloody History of Communism Part 5 of 14
Description.

By: Eirkr inn sigrsli

Read more:
The Bloody History of Communism Part 5 of 14 - Video

BERLIN For three decades the Berlin Wall stood as a reminder of a country sliced in two, a barrier trapping millions inside the so-called Iron Curtain. Its fall was hailed around the world as a victory of democracy over tyranny.

As officials prepare to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the peaceful revolution that made the symbol of oppression porous, Germans, tourists and experts alike complain that remnants of the wall have been sold, defaced or simply bulldozed.

More parts of the wall should have been preserved as a reminder of the lives that have been lost, said Lydia Okutoyi, a doctor from Kenya on her first visit to Berlin, referring to the more than 125 people thought to have died trying to cross from East to West.

Long seen as a hero in the struggle that culminated in fall of communism, capitalism is playing a role in the wall's demise.

The predominant feeling in those days was that the wall has to go quick, said Wieland Giebel, who owns the Berlin Story shop and publishing house near Brandenburg Gate. He is selling four wall segments on eBay for nearly $10,000 each.

Six concrete remnants of the infamous wall stand at Potsdamer Platz, the German capitals modern center dominated by glass and steel structures. Along with a small photo exhibit, the slabs were positioned as a Cold War landmark, a reminder of Germanys divided past.

But the historic monument has been scarred by hundreds of bits of used chewing gum, which deteriorated the wall parts into a disgusting, undignified tourist attraction, according to an editorial in Berlins Der Tagesspiegel newspaper.

Chewing gum covers graffiti on a segment of the Berlin Wall at Potsdamer Platz.

We came to see what is left of the Berlin Wall, but we are a little irritated by the bubble gum that people stuck all over the original graffiti, Canadian tourist Rachel McAllister, 27, told NBC News.

At one of Berlins most visited spots the infamous Checkpoint Charlie border crossing hordes of visitors search futilely for remains of the structure in an area now dominated by shops selling kebabs, Asian food or the local delicacy currywurst. Travelers from abroad often end up taking photos of a plaque and the lines of cobblestone that identify the former barrier's path.

Original post:
Sold, Defaced or Bulldozed: The Berlin Wall Is Vanishing

PyroFalkon #39;s Sims 4 Socialism Challenge Day 14
Let #39;s play The Sims 4! Jon "PyroFalkon" Michael, the writer of the IGN Entertainment strategy guide wiki for The Sims 4, has created a set of house rules to ...

By: PyroFalkon #39;s Let #39;s Play Extravaganza

Read the original here:
PyroFalkon's Sims 4 Socialism Challenge Day 14 - Video