A latest briefing on religious freedom in Cuba prepared by Christian Solidarity Worldwide organization.

This paper flows from the traditional notion that it is in the interests of the United States, and the international development community within which the U.S. has long played a leadership role, to promote progressive economic reforms, however gradual and partial, in countries opening to international trade and investment and seeking to enhance market mechanisms and empower a domestic private sector. While there is no automatic, linear relationship between market-oriented economic reform and political liberalization, political theory and recent history suggest that one trend tends to reinforce the other, especially in the Western Hemisphere and in the long run.

This little book published by Lech Walesa Institute on 30th anniversary of the events that had led to establishing of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union Solidarnosc is a historical document.

On 14 June 2010 the European Union announced the postponement of its evaluation of the EU Common Position on Cuba until September, apparently in reaction to recent development in the area of human rights in Cuba. The Europe-Cuba NGO network reiterates its call to the EU to set clear and transparent criteria for any change to the Common Position.

The Cuban Commission of Human rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) made available to the public the most recent list of Cuban political prisoners corresponding to the first semester of 2009.  Together with the prisoner’s list, the CCDHRN presented to the international media a press release where stated the sad realities that shape the commonness of the Cuban society.

Under the auspices of the Brookings Institution’s project “U.S. Policy toward a Cuba in Transition,” nineteen distinguished academics, opinion leaders, and diplomats committed themselves to seeking ways to improve our policy so that it would better serve the interests of our country, the Cuban people, and the Hemisphere. Together, over the past eighteen months, we have carried out simulations and discussions on the complex realities of the United States and Cuba. Although we all come from different backgrounds and political orientations, we arrived at the same conclusion.

In recent years, diplomacy as practiced by many democratic nations has taken on more of a human face. Whereas once the conduct of diplomatic relations was strictly on a state-to-state basis, today, Ambassadors and diplomats are much more likely to engage the publics of the host countries and not exclusively government officials. Embassies and Consulates are ready vehicles and brokers promoting contact and communications between the peoples and nongovernmental organizations and groups of the sending and host countries. Democracy development and human rights are among the most active topics of such communications.

A report from the three-day conference that was organized on the occasion of 25^th anniversary of the events that unfolded in August 1980 in Poland and the birth of Solidarity - a truly unique social movement and the first trade union independent of the communist authorities.

Published: 1993, May 2002, June 2003

From Dictatorship to Democracy is a serious introduction to the use of nonviolent action to topple dictatorships.