With military vehicles patrolling Lhasa and monasteries surrounded by troops following the biggest protests in Tibet since 1989, unrest is spreading to other cities with substantial Tibetan populations. Protests are reported at Lutsang monastery in Qinghai (known in Tibetan as Amdo), with hundreds of monks chanting slogans calling for return of their exiled leader, the Dalai Lama. According to the Free Tibet campaign, 100 monks from Myera monastery in Gansu also staged a protest. Scattered gunfire was reported around Lhasa March 13. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the protesters are "seeking to spark social turmoil." He told a press conference: "This was carefully planned by the Dalai clique in a bid to separate Tibet and sabotage Tibetan people's normal life of stability and harmony." (The Guardian, March 13)

WHAT ABOUT KRISTEN?
New York Sex Worker Organizations Respond to Spitzer Scandal
New York, NY - In the last few days, Governor Eliot Spitzer has publicly admitted to being associated with an escort agency and is considering resignation. As sex worker advocates, we are concerned about the representation and fate of "Kristen" and sex workers who are being thrust into the spotlight because of the investigation into the Governor. We also share the widespread concern for Governor Spitzer's family.

Almost 30 years after the Aug. 8, 1978 confrontation in Philadelphia, the eight remaining "MOVE 9" prisoners are now eligible for parole (see Philadelphia Inquirer and Metro articles). In early April, they will be interviewed by the Parole Board. With the hearings just weeks away, MOVE is asking for support by contacting the Parole Board and signing the online petition (already signed by Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky). A new video series features interviews with MOVE members Ramona Africa (the sole adult survivor of the May 13, 1985 police bombing of MOVE headquarters) and Mike Africa Jr. (the son of MOVE 9 prisoners Debbie and Mike Sr.).

From the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), March 11:

Central American Solidarity Activists Dispute Department of Justice Order
Washington DC — The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), illegally targeted in the 1980's by the largest FBI Internal Security investigation of the Reagan era, has in recent months again received threatening communications from the US Department of Justice. Citing the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, a letter sent to CISPES in January questions the organization's relationship with the leftist Salvadoran political party known as the Farabundo Marti Front for National Liberation, or FMLN. CISPES received similar inquiries in the 1980s which eventually led to an illegal FBI investigation into its activities.

German activist Martin Kramer, en route to Japan to prepare for the Hokkaido G8 summit protests, was arrested by police in the city of Vanino in the Habarovsk region of the Russian Far East March 3. He was turned over the FSB agents, in whose hands he was harshly interrogated and beaten. Martin was accused of carrying "extremist" and "secret" documents. These included archival materials from the 1920s, long since made public, that Kramer had for research purposes. Also included were a copies of the Ukrainian anarchist paper Liva-Sprava and Udar, the paper of Vladivostok's Autonomous Action. After a few hours, he was put in a car and thrown out in a strange part of the city. On March 10, arriving in Sapporo via ship from Sakhalin, he was denied entry by Japanese authorities. As of the 11th, he remained on board the ship, while local activists appealed to the authorities. (Via No-G8 Action Japan mailing list)

A Chinese passenger jet en route to Beijing from the Xinjiang region (known as Uighurstan or East Turkestan to its indigenous inhabitants, the Turkic and Muslim Uighur people) was forced to make an emergency landing March 7 after the flight crew prevented at least two passengers from trying to crash the airplane, state media reported. Meanwhile, Chinese officials announced that a police raid in January against an alleged terrorist group in Xinjiang had uncovered materials that proved the group was plotting an attack on the upcoming Beijing Olympics. (IHT, March 9)

The Israeli government March 9 approved construction of a 330-unit housing project in Givat Zeev, a West Bank settlement already home to about 10,000 settlers. The project began in 1999 but was suspended when the second Intifada broke out the following year. Palestinian official Saeb Erekat called the project "another slap in the face of the peace process." Defending the decision, Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said: "We've said all along that there won't be a complete freeze in construction in the large settlement blocks. We've been very consistent and upfront."

With a boycott of the March 9 election called by parties barred from participation because of their presumed links to the armed separatist group ETA, abstentionism in Spain's Basque Country was at 35%—ten points higher than the national average. Elections in the three provinces that make up the semi-autonomous Basque region (Álava, Biscay and Guipúzcoa), the Socialist Party for the first time won power, ousting the long-ruling Basque Nationalist Party (PNV)—a "moderate" party which was not among those barred. The March 7 slaying of Isaias Carrasco, a former Socialist town councilor in Mondragón (known in Basque as Arrasate) was widely attributed to ETA.