Welcome to the Carnival of Revolutions. This week the Carnival is hosted by Oneworld Multimedia direct from the Republic of Armenia. As there are some vacant slots to fill for coming weeks, please contact Will Franklin to help continue the dissemination of this digest of democracy-related news in the blogosphere.

In this time, in our time, we’re witnessing history unfolding every day, a spontaneous explosion of political activity breaking out around the world. We’ve seen it in Ukraine. We’ve seen it in Lebanon. But it’s happening in countless other (often neglected) places. There is so much happening, it’s often hard to keep up. The Carnival of Revolutions tries to provide a useful summary of the past week’s progress on the march of freedom in the world.

Not all of the news is great. Some is even depressing. But we’re here to tell the stories of the democratic reformers around the world, struggling for free and fair elections and/or other basic rights necessary for any democracy. We are conservatives, we are liberals, we are Democrats, we are Republicans, and we are everything in between.

We share one powerful goal, however: the advance of liberty in the world.

To start this week’s Carnival, I’d like to begin with the South Caucasus Region if only because I’m based here. In a sense, perhaps, it’s quite fitting because before Ukraine and Lebanon was Georgia. After that, “democracy” and “revolution” have become watch words in any coverage of elections in developing countries, and especially in the post Soviet space.

Please click on the “more” link below to view the full Carnival if you haven’t come directly to this page.

ARMENIA

As Azerbaijan prepares for November’s parliamentary elections, Armenia also faces its own democratic challenges. Hovakim over at Blogrel posts a link to a story reporting that the Council of Europe considers that the referendum on ammending the constitution is vital for Armenia’s democratization. Unfortunately, however, apathy towards the ammendments prevails in Armenian society and many analysts suspect that most people will not even bother to turn out to participate, let alone vote for or against the changes.

One reason for this is because the last few elections have been considered undemocratic by both local and international observers. Money and power are the only issues for many candidates rather than serving the public interest. Ara Manoogian at Martuni or Bust highlights one such MP, the brother of the powerful Armenian Defense Minister. According to recent reports, while 44 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line, Ara says that Alexander Sargsyan is worth $30 million.

And as if to highlight the reality of elections in Armenia, ahead of last weekend’s local elections in the regions of the country, the incumbent Mayor of a town just outside of Yerevan shot dead the head of the local electricity network, who was also backing a rival candidate, in full view of the police. Amazingly, Armen Keshishian was re-elected on Sunday with 50 percent of the vote. As his rival was close to one of Armenia’s richest oligarchs, perhaps this shows how divided part of Armenian society is, and how apathetic the remainder are.

Meanwhile, Indymedia Armenia says that a classical concert staged at the Armenian National Assembly for “the people” was attended mainly by foreigners. Hosted by the daughter of an Armenian businessman from the Diaspora close to the President, Anahit asks who the parliament is meant to serve and represent.

AZERBAIJAN AND GEORGIA

Staying in the South Caucasus, Registan.net has posted some photographs of clashes between police and protestors in Baku. One of the comments on the post mentions that a producer from Associated Press was also assaulted by police although it would appear that journalists were able to document everything. In Armenia, the police made sure that no record of last year’s dispersal of protestors survived, as did thugs working for Armenia’s oligarchs a week earlier.

In Georgia, local elections saw victory for the ruling party in the country. NewEurasia posts the results while Raffi at Cilicia.com reports that things are getting tense again with the republic’s largest ethnic minority, the Armenians living in Georgia’s Samtskhe Javakheti region.

RUSSIA

And it isn’t just Armenia and Georgia holding local elections. Siberian Light reports on local elections in Russia. From reading the blog it sounds as though it’s only Armenia and Azerbaijan that are unable to hold democratic elections in the former Soviet space — outside of Central Asia, that is. Siberian Light also carries what is perhaps the quirkiest of posts this week. Apparently, the Russians invented blogging… in 1837!

TURKEY

Interestingly, the latest blows to Turkey’s hopes for accession to the European Union are Armenian related. Blogrel reports that Hrant Dink, the editor of an Armenian newspaper in Istanbul, has been found guilty of ““insulting and weakening Turkish identity in the media.” Dink’s sentence however, is suspended. At the same time, Reseaunate.90 says that this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature could be awarded to Ohan Pamuk, a Turkish writer who is due to stand trial for saying that the 1915 massacre of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey was Genocide.

When I was living in London I knew quite a few Turkish human rights lawyers who believed that acknowledgement of the massacres and deportation of Armenians is crucial if Turkey is ever to become a democratic state where minority and human rights are respected.

UZBEKISTAN

Olesya at NewEurasia.net says that Uzbekistan now has new regulations that prevent students from attending conferences co-sponsored by international organizations. Shows you how much authoritarian states fear youth becoming active and opening their minds to new ideas, and especially those related to democracy and human rights.

CHINA / SINGAPORE

Publius Pundit identifies property rights as coming under attack throughout the world, and as China modernizes, it’s the same there. Rightly, Publius Pundit says that property rights are key to personal freedom and the “only basis for the rule of law.” It’s also probably the most poignant example of corruption and human rights violations in Armenia today.

Publius Pundit also says that ethnic Chinese bloggers have been imprisoned in Singapore.

Gateway Pundit also documents pro-democracy protests in the village of Kaishi and murder of a leading Chinese pro-democracy activist. Lu Banglie was apparently found dead in a ditch drenched in the urine of his attackers.

INDONESIA

The blog also carries a link to a story in the Washington Post about a young Indonesian rock band who sing anti-terrorism songs. Apparently, the band have received threats from Islamic fundamentalists but continue regardless. Publius Pundit says that the band are already changing mentalities in the country. Interestingly, the same kind of thing appears to be happening in Armenia although the following for rock music is still small. An article and photo essay on this aspect of youth culture in Armenia should be going out on Eurasianet.org on Friday.

CUBA

Publius Pundit says that Guantanamo Bay is a “tropical resort” when compared to Fidel Castro’s variant.

LIBERIA

A former football star is running for President in Liberia in today’s elections. More than 700 candidates are also running for Parliament and Gateway Pundit says that if conducted properly will mark a new direction for the country away from war and poverty. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has visited Liberia and will be leading international observers monitoring the vote.

UNITED STATES

Rebecca Solnit’s essay demonstrates that when the chips are really down, and when the government is broken in its fragility and helplessness, people will naturally, without prompting and certainly without guns at their backs, come together in spontaneous community to take care of each other � and that this gives them joy � and that part of this joy comes from discovering in their own power to be useful and helpful a “sense of potency and purpose that everyday life lacks.”

Stephen at On Beyond presents Marriage, the Constitution, the Courts, and the Congress

ECONOMICS

Ironman at Political Calculations looks at the most recent report on economic freedom in the world, and finds that the presence of Marxist-inspired leaders in power presents what may be the greatest barrier to promoting the economic freedom of a country’s people.

END NOTE

Thanks for reading this Carnival of Revolutions, and thanks to Will Franklin for allowing me to host it. Apologies if it seems too Armenian centric, but it has been interesting that most issues relating to democratization and the rights of citizens the world over are the same wherever you live. The only difference is in their severity. Apologies also for making this less comprehensive than it probably should be, but email problems and a heavy workload prevents me from doing more.

Will still needs more people to host future Carnivals so if you would like to help support democratization throughout the world access the Carnival of Revolution Home Base and drop Will a note.