Another world is possible / CHRONICLE 2001

.WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON THE MAJORITY WORLD

JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC
Click a month above to read an alternative view of the key events of that month.

ITALY A meeting of the Global Forum – a group of political and technology leaders – in Naples is opposed by thousands of globalization protesters.

UNITED STATES Christine Todd Whitman, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, announces that the US will remove its signature from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Rolling blackouts are imposed on California as demand for energy exceeds supply.

INDONESIA The Government accuses political activists in West Papua and Aceh of ‘masterminding’ a series of violent incidents in which, Amnesty International asserts, there is no evidence that they were involved. Muhammad Nazar, the chair of the Information Centre for a Referendum in Aceh, is tried under the Indonesian Criminal Code’s ‘Hate-Sowing Articles’. The repressive Articles, which were often used by the Suharto dictatorship, prohibit ‘expressing feelings of hostility, hatred or contempt towards the government’.

UGANDA Incumbent President Yoweri Museveni is re-elected with 69 per cent of the vote. His opponent, Kizza Besigye, obtains 28 per cent of the vote and claims he is the victim of ‘massive fraud’.

MOLDOVA A general election in the poorest state in Europe gives 70 per cent of parliamentary seats to the Communist Party. Life expectancy has fallen by five years in the last decade.

PAKISTAN The Government marks Pakistan Day by arresting political activists in Lahore and neighbouring towns, preventing a rally planned by the 18-party Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy.

TURKEY The trial begins of 14 women and 2 men, including victims of rape in custody, the father of a victim of sexual torture in custody and their lawyer. They are accused of insulting security forces at a conference in June 2000 where they spoke out against rape in custody.

BRAZIL A million gallons of crude oil spill from a burst oil-refinery pipe and spread down the Iguaçu River.

INDIA The country’s population passes the one billion mark.

BOSNIA A newly established Croat national congress calls for all Croats to abandon public office, leading to mutiny by the 7,500 Croat soldiers in the Muslim-Croat Federation army.

MOROCCO Amnesty International accuses the Moroccan judicial system of contravening international human-rights decrees by prosecuting members of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights and the banned Islamist association, al-’Adl wa’l-Ihsan.

AFGHANISTAN The Taliban leadership, in what they claim is an attempt to rid the country of ‘crude idolatry’, destroys two huge, ancient statues of Buddha – dating back to between the
second and fifth centuries – as well as most of the statues in the national museum. The Taliban also announce that they will ‘sacrifice’ their country rather than hand over accused terrorist Osama bin Laden to the US for trial.

SUDAN A Christian Aid report accuses foreign companies of assisting the Sudanese Government’s scorched-earth policy in the south of the country – where there are large oil reserves.