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151-629: The term dissident was used in the Eastern Bloc , particularly in the Soviet Union , in the period following Joseph Stalin 's death until the fall of communism . It was attached to citizens who criticized the practices or the authority of the communist party . Writers for the non-censored, non-conformist samizdat literature were criticized in the official newspapers. Soon, many of those who were dissatisfied with Eastern Bloc regimes began to self-identify as dissidents. This radically changed

302-530: A New Ireland , is the proposition that all of the island of Ireland should be a single sovereign state . At present, the island is divided politically: the sovereign state of Ireland (legally described also as the Republic of Ireland ) has jurisdiction over the majority of Ireland, while Northern Ireland , which lies entirely within (but consists of only 6 of 9 counties of) the Irish province of Ulster ,

453-531: A " sovietization " of Central Europe. In addition to reparations, Stalin pushed for "war booty", which would permit the Soviet Union to directly seize property from conquered nations without quantitative or qualitative limitation. A clause was added permitting this to occur with some limitations. At first, the Soviets concealed their role in other Eastern Bloc politics, with the transformation appearing as

604-688: A "loophole" through which Eastern Bloc citizens could still move west. The 3.5 million East Germans that had left by 1961, called Republikflucht , totaled approximately 20% of the entire East German population. In August 1961, East Germany erected a barbed-wire barrier that would eventually be expanded through construction into the Berlin Wall , effectively closing the loophole. With virtually non-existent conventional emigration, more than 75% of those emigrating from Eastern Bloc countries between 1950 and 1990 did so under bilateral agreements for "ethnic migration". About 10% were refugee migrants under

755-640: A Protestant, became leader in 1880, and the organisation became the Irish National League in 1882. Despite the religion of its early leaders, its support was strongly associated with Irish Catholics. In 1886, Parnell formed a parliamentary alliance with Liberal Party Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and secured the introduction of the First Home Rule Bill . This was opposed by the Conservative Party and led to

906-610: A broader democratic basis in Poland. He stated that the new government's primary task would be to prepare elections. However, the 1946 Polish people's referendum (known as the "Three Times Yes" referendum) and the subsequent 1947 Polish parliamentary election did not meet democratic standards and were largely manipulated. The parties at Yalta further agreed that the countries of liberated Europe and former Axis satellites would be allowed to "create democratic institutions of their own choice", pursuant to "the right of all peoples to choose

1057-576: A claim which it made in respect of the entire island. Supporters of this Declaration fought in the Irish War of Independence . During this period, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 repealed the previous 1914 Act, and provided for two separate devolved parliaments in Ireland. It defined Northern Ireland as "the parliamentary counties of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone, and

1208-577: A death sentence and execution. A number of other high ranking Bulgarian officials were also jailed. Stalin and Hungarian leader Mátyás Rákosi met in Moscow to orchestrate a show trial of Rákosi opponent László Rajk , who was thereafter executed. The preservation of the Soviet bloc relied on maintaining a sense of ideological unity that would entrench Moscow's influence in Eastern Europe as well as

1359-419: A distance. In addition to emigration restrictions, civil society, defined as a domain of political action outside the party's state control, was not allowed to firmly take root, with the possible exception of Poland in the 1980s . While the institutional design of the communist systems were based on the rejection of rule of law, the legal infrastructure was not immune to change reflecting decaying ideology and

1510-482: A large-scale party programs to train personnel who would meet political requirements. Former members of the middle-class were officially discriminated against, though the state's need for their skills and certain opportunities to re-invent themselves as good Communist citizens did allow many to nonetheless achieve success. Communist regimes in the Eastern Bloc viewed marginal groups of opposition intellectuals as

1661-710: A late September 1947 meeting of all communist parties in Szklarska Poręba , Eastern Bloc communist parties were blamed for permitting even minor influence by non-communists in their respective countries during the run up to the Marshall Plan. In the former German capital Berlin, surrounded by Soviet-occupied Germany, Stalin instituted the Berlin Blockade on 24 June 1948, preventing food, materials and supplies from arriving in West Berlin . The blockade

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1812-561: A modification of Western " bourgeois democracy ". As a young communist was told in East Germany, "it's got to look democratic, but we must have everything in our control". Stalin felt that socioeconomic transformation was indispensable to establish Soviet control, reflecting the Marxist–Leninist view that material bases, the distribution of the means of production, shaped social and political relations. The Soviet Union also co-opted

1963-401: A passport, but not returning and (sometimes) applying for asylum abroad. Such persons' citizenship was usually revoked, and their left behind property (if there was any to their name) would revert to the state. Soviet dissidents were people who disagreed with certain features in the embodiment of Soviet ideology and who were willing to speak out against them. The term dissident was used in

2114-649: A position of becoming part of an existing EU member state, rather than seeking to join the EU as a new independent state." Enda Kenny pointed to the provisions that allowed East Germany to join the West and the EEC during the reunification of Germany as a precedent. In April 2017 the European Council acknowledged that, in the event of Irish unification, "the entire territory of such a united Ireland would [...] be part of

2265-419: A potential threat because of the bases underlying Communist power therein. The suppression of dissidence and opposition was considered a central prerequisite to retain power, though the enormous expense at which the population in certain countries were kept under secret surveillance may not have been rational. Following a totalitarian initial phase, a post-totalitarian period followed the death of Stalin in which

2416-408: A public relations campaign against the western policy change and communists attempted to disrupt the elections of 1948 preceding large losses therein, while 300,000 Berliners demonstrated and urged the international airlift to continue. In May 1949, Stalin lifted the blockade, permitting the resumption of Western shipments to Berlin. After disagreements between Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito and

2567-543: A report stating its findings, which claimed that the collective detention of political prisoners by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a violation of the country's international legal obligations, as the authorities are holding the detainees without charge and not allowing them a chance to challenge their imprisonment. The imprisonment has also risked the safety of the detainees by posing fatal risks to their health by keeping them behind bars without providing proper medical aid amid

2718-479: A report that she contributed to was falsified by the Biden administration. She said that the report falsely stated that Israel was not blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza. Dissidents and activists were among the earliest adopters of encrypted communications technology such as Tor and the dark web , turning to the technology as ways to resist totalitarian regimes, avoid censorship and control and protect privacy. Tor

2869-481: A resolution on Bahrain, especially concerning the cases of detained dissidents Nabeel Rajab , Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and Ibrahim Sharif . With 48 votes in favor, the MEPs condemned Bahrain for its human rights violations and called for an immediate release of all the political activists , prisoners in conscience , human rights defenders , journalists and peaceful protesters. The European Parliament also demanded that

3020-868: A split in the Liberal Party, the Liberal Unionist Party . Opposition in Ireland was concentrated in the heavily Protestant counties in Ulster. The difference in religious background was a legacy of the Ulster Plantation in the early seventeenth century. In 1893, the Second Home Rule Bill passed in the House of Commons, but was defeated in the House of Lords, where the Conservatives dominated. A Third Home Rule Bill

3171-583: A survey showed supporters of the Union in the minority in Northern Ireland for the first time, at 48.6%, while supporters of Irish unity were 33.76%. Article 3.1 of the Constitution of Ireland "recognises that a united Ireland shall be brought about only by peaceful means with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island". This provision

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3322-570: A unified Soviet command structure. Beginning in 1964, Romania took a more independent course. While it did not repudiate either Comecon or the Warsaw Pact, it ceased to play a significant role in either. Nicolae Ceaușescu 's assumption of leadership one year later pushed Romania even further in the direction of separateness. Albania, which had become increasingly isolated under Stalinist leader Enver Hoxha following de-Stalinization , undergoing an Albanian–Soviet split in 1961, withdrew from

3473-522: A united Ireland. In the 2017 Assembly election , the DUP lost ten seats and came just one seat ahead of Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin used this opportunity to call for a Northern Ireland referendum on a united Ireland. The Brexit Secretary , David Davis , confirmed to Mark Durkan , the SDLP MP for Foyle , that in the event of Northern Ireland becoming part of a united Ireland, "Northern Ireland would be in

3624-700: A united Ireland. It specifies that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland "shall exercise the power [to hold a referendum] if at any time it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland". Such referendums may not take place within seven years of each other. The Northern Ireland Act 1998 supersedes previous similar legislative provisions. The Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 also provided that Northern Ireland remained part of

3775-564: A world of democracy and peace". While meeting with Stalin and Roosevelt in Tehran in 1943, Churchill stated that Britain was vitally interested in restoring Poland as a politically independent country. Britain did not press the matter for fear that it would become a source of inter-allied friction. In February 1945, at the conference at Yalta , Stalin demanded a Soviet sphere of political influence in Central Europe. Stalin eventually

3926-492: Is a famous Myanmar dissident who also won the Nobel Peace Prize. The term dissident has become the primary term to describe Irish republicans who politically continue to oppose Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and reject the outcome of the referendums on it. These political parties also have paramilitary wings which espouse violent methods to achieve a United Ireland . Irish republican dissident groups include

4077-469: Is part of the United Kingdom . Achieving a united Ireland is a central tenet of Irish nationalism and Republicanism , particularly of both mainstream and dissident republican political and paramilitary organisations. Unionists support Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom and oppose Irish unification. Ireland has been partitioned since May 1921, when the implementation of

4228-681: Is passed the month begins in which we will have to make the choice either to vote out or remain within the Free State". He said it was important that that choice be made as soon as possible after 6 December 1922 "in order that it may not go forth to the world that we had the slightest hesitation". On 7 December 1922, the day after the establishment of the Irish Free State, the Houses of the Parliament of Northern Ireland resolved to make

4379-784: The 1918 election Sinn Féin won 73 of the 105 seats; however, there was a strong regional divide, with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) winning 23 of the 38 seats in Ulster. Sinn Féin had run on a manifesto of abstaining from the United Kingdom House of Commons , and from 1919 met in Dublin as Dáil Éireann . At its first meeting, the Dáil adopted the Declaration of Independence of the Irish Republic ,

4530-790: The Anglo-Irish Treaty , which led to the establishment of the Irish Free State the following year, a dominion within the British Empire . With respect to Northern Ireland, Articles 11 and 12 of the Treaty made special provision for it including as follows: The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland , Sir James Craig , speaking in the House of Commons of Northern Ireland in October 1922 said that "when 6 December [1922]

4681-730: The Arab Spring , widely used Tor in order to stay safe while exchanging their ideas and agendas. Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi American dissident and journalist. He was murdered inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul by agents of the Saudi government, allegedly at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman . Various other human rights activists from Saudi Arabia have been either silenced or punished. This also happens if

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4832-665: The Cold War (1947–1991). These states followed the ideology of Marxism–Leninism , in opposition to the capitalist Western Bloc . The Eastern Bloc was often called the " Second World ", whereas the term " First World " referred to the Western Bloc and " Third World " referred to the non-aligned countries that were mainly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America but notably also included former pre-1948 Soviet ally Yugoslavia , which

4983-592: The Comecon in accordance with Stalin's desire to enforce Soviet domination of the lesser states of Central Europe and to mollify some states that had expressed interest in the Marshall Plan , and which were now, increasingly, cut off from their traditional markets and suppliers in Western Europe. The Comecon's role became ambiguous because Stalin preferred more direct links with other party chiefs than

5134-661: The Derg / People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1974, and the Somali Democratic Republic from 1969 until the Ogaden War in 1977. Although not Marxist–Leninist , leadership of Ba'athist Syria officially regarded the country as part of the Socialist Bloc and established a close economic, military alliance with the Soviet Union. Many states were accused by the Western Bloc of being in

5285-535: The European Union (EU). The decision had increased the perceived likelihood of a united Ireland, in order to avoid the possible requirement for a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, though the imposition of a hard border has not, as yet, eventuated. Fine Gael Taoiseach Enda Kenny successfully negotiated that in the event of reunification, Northern Ireland will become part of

5436-516: The Government of Ireland Act 1920 created the states of Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, with the former becoming independent, and the other petitioning to remain a part of the UK. The Anglo-Irish Treaty , which led to the establishment in December 1922 of a dominion called the Irish Free State , recognised partition, but this was opposed by anti-Treaty republicans. When

5587-603: The Home Rule Movement , and advocated the end of partition. It had a continuous presence in the Northern Ireland Parliament from 1921 to 1972, but was in permanent opposition to the UUP government. A new Constitution of Ireland was proposed by Éamon de Valera in 1937 and approved by the voters of the Irish Free State (thereafter simply Ireland). Articles 2 and 3 of this Constitution claimed

5738-893: The Irish Parliamentary Party . It was signed into law in September 1914 in the midst of the Home Rule Crisis and at the outbreak of the First World War . On the same day, the Suspensory Act 1914 suspended its actual operation. In 1916, a group of revolutionaries led by the Irish Republican Brotherhood launched the Easter Rising , during which they issued a Proclamation of the Irish Republic . The rebellion

5889-693: The Irish Republican Socialist Party (founded in 1974 – its currently-inactive paramilitary wing is the Irish National Liberation Army ), Republican Sinn Féin (founded in 1986 – its paramilitary wing is the Continuity IRA ), and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (founded in 1997 – its paramilitary wing is the Real IRA ). In 2006 the Óglaigh na hÉireann emerged, which is a splinter group of

6040-496: The Mykonos restaurant assassinations , the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany actively silences exiled Iranian dissidents. Even so, in 2023, the Woman Life Freedom Movement won the Sakharov Prize and imprisoned anti-regime journalist Narges Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize . The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran condemned the decision. The UAE has been accused of imprisoning critics. Like many other Middle Eastern countries, it does not allow criticism of

6191-438: The Northern Ireland Act 1998 on the form of a future referendum on a united Ireland. In essence the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement provided the opportunity for self determination and mutual respect. Those born in Northern Ireland could identify as Irish, British or both and would be entitled to hold a passport from both, or either country. The freedom of movement, allowed citizens of either jurisdiction to live in which ever part of

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6342-443: The Northern Ireland Forum with the exception of the Democratic Unionist Party and the UK Unionist Party , and it was supported by all parties in the Oireachtas . It was also opposed by dissident republicans , including Republican Sinn Féin and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement . It was approved in referendums in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland . Included in the Agreement were provisions which became part of

6493-409: The Parliament of Northern Ireland sat from 1921 to 1972, the Parliament of Southern Ireland was suspended after its first meeting was boycotted by the Sinn Féin members, who comprised 124 of its 128 MPs. A truce in the War of Independence was called in July 1921, followed by negotiations in London between the government of the United Kingdom and a Sinn Féin delegation. On 6 December 1921, they signed

6644-437: The Republic of Mahabad (1946), as well as the Marxist–Leninist states straddling the Second and Third Worlds before the end of the Cold War: the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (from 1967), the People's Republic of the Congo (from 1969), the People's Republic of Benin , the People's Republic of Angola and People's Republic of Mozambique from 1975, the People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada from 1979 to 1983,

6795-409: The Soviet Union by the 1960s. Even though Yugoslavia was a socialist country, it was not a member of the Comecon or the Warsaw Pact. Parting with the USSR in 1948, Yugoslavia did not belong to the East, but it also did not belong to the West because of its socialist system and its status as a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement . However, some sources consider Yugoslavia to be a member of

6946-416: The Soviet Union in the period following Joseph Stalin 's death until the fall of communism . It was used to refer to small groups of marginalized intellectuals whose modest challenges to the Soviet regime met protection and encouragement from correspondents. Following the etymology of the term, a dissident is considered to "sit apart" from the regime. As dissenters began self-identifying as dissidents ,

7097-410: The Soviet sphere of influence . Lithuania was added in a second secret protocol in September 1939. The Soviet Union had invaded the portions of eastern Poland assigned to it by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact two weeks after the German invasion of western Poland, followed by co-ordination with German forces in Poland. During the Occupation of East Poland by the Soviet Union , the Soviets liquidated

7248-399: The Soviets occupied the territories . In June 1941, Germany broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact by invading the Soviet Union . From the time of this invasion to 1944, the areas annexed by the Soviet Union were part of Germany's Ostland (except for the Moldavian SSR ). Thereafter, the Soviet Union began to push German forces westward through a series of battles on the Eastern Front . In

7399-410: The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) and People Before Profit (PBP) had campaigned for a Leave vote. Irish politicians began the discussion regarding possible changes to the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The status and treatment of Northern Ireland and Gibraltar , the only parts under control of the United Kingdom which would have new land borders with the EU following

7550-432: The UK wrote a letter to the vice-chancellor of an educational institution, the University of Huddersfield , stating that it was at risk of “indirect implication in human rights abuse”. The university was running a master's course, MSc in security science, for the officers of Bahrain's Royal Academy of Policing, the building which was also being used for torturing dissidents. In April 2021, the European Parliament adopted

7701-471: The UK withdrawal , became important to the negotiations, along with access to the regional development assistance scheme (and new funding thereof) from the European Union. Sinn Féin cited these concerns as the basis for new discussion on a united Ireland. These calls were rejected by the British government and Unionist politicians, with Theresa Villiers arguing that there was no evidence that opinion in Northern Ireland had shifted towards being in favour of

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7852-404: The Warsaw Pact was formed partly in response to NATO 's inclusion of West Germany and partly because the Soviets needed an excuse to retain Red Army units in Hungary. For 35 years, the Pact perpetuated the Stalinist concept of Soviet national security based on imperial expansion and control over satellite regimes in Eastern Europe. This Soviet formalization of their security relationships in

8003-431: The current government and by extension the previous regime , instead seeking the establishment of democratic institutions. A partnership council called Mahsa had formed between Reza Pahlavi and other opposition groups in support of the future of Iran’s democracy movement  [ fa ] in 2022. The government in 2023 charged 107 exiled Mujahideen with treason. Dissidents have formed Iran Human Rights . Despite

8154-428: The peace process . The agreement acknowledged nationalism and unionism as "equally legitimate, political aspirations". In the Northern Ireland Assembly , all members would designate as Unionist, Nationalist, or Other, and certain measures would require cross-community support. The agreement was signed by the governments of Ireland and of the United Kingdom. In Northern Ireland, it was supported by all parties who were in

8305-400: The 'new' country are forced into it against their will and have no allegiance to it nor incentive for it to succeed. A fear of political, civil and economic turmoil and a lack of protection for minority rights, as experienced by the Catholic community in Northern Ireland and the Protestant community in the Republic of Ireland historically, is a key driver towards the desire for the maintenance of

8456-508: The Bahraini government take all necessary measures to respect the law and make sure that its actions remain in full compliance with the international standards of human rights. In March 2023, Bahrain hosted a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. However, on 8 March 2023, officials cancelled the entry visas issued to the HRW officials on 30 January 2023 to attend the 146th Congress of the IPU. Bahraini authorities have imposed restrictions on expression, association and assembly in violation of

8607-432: The Bloc were instructed to foster intra-leadership conflict and to transmit information against each other. This accompanied a continuous stream of accusations of "nationalistic deviations", "insufficient appreciation of the USSR's role", links with Tito and "espionage for Yugoslavia". This resulted in the persecution of many major party cadres, including those in East Germany. The first country to experience this approach

8758-434: The Comecon's indirect sophistication; it played no significant role in the 1950s in economic planning. Initially, the Comecon served as cover for the Soviet taking of materials and equipment from the rest of the Eastern Bloc, but the balance changed when the Soviets became net subsidizers of the rest of the Bloc by the 1970s via an exchange of low cost raw materials in return for shoddily manufactured finished goods. In 1955,

8909-415: The Conservative led government through the Brexit negotiation process. The 2020 Brexit withdrawal agreement included the Northern Ireland Protocol , which established different trade rules for the territory than Great Britain. While Northern Ireland would de jure leave the single market, it would still enforce all EU customs rules, while Britain would diverge. This would result in a regulatory "border in

9060-419: The Continuity IRA. Mark Smith was a mid-level British diplomat, who resigned as a counter-terrorism official at the British embassy in Dublin. He was protesting against the sale of British weapons to Israel and said that "the state of Israel is perpetrating war crimes in plain sight". Stacy Gilbert, who served in the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration resigned in protest because of

9211-472: The EU, just as East Germany was permitted to join the EU's predecessor institutions by reuniting with the rest of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall . The majority of Ulster Protestants , almost half the population of Northern Ireland, favour continued union with Great Britain , and have done so historically. Four of the six counties have Irish Catholic majorities, and majorities voting for Irish nationalist parties, and Catholics have become

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9362-429: The Eastern Bloc reflected Moscow's basic security policy principle that continued presence in East Central Europe was a foundation of its defense against the West. Through its institutional structures, the Pact also compensated in part for the absence of Joseph Stalin's personal leadership since his death in 1953. The Pact consolidated the other Bloc members' armies in which Soviet officers and security agents served under

9513-459: The Eastern Bloc when they were part of the Non-Aligned Movement . The most limited definition of the Eastern Bloc would only include the Warsaw Pact states and the Mongolian People's Republic as former satellite states most dominated by the Soviet Union. Cuba 's defiance of complete Soviet control was noteworthy enough that Cuba was sometimes excluded as a satellite state altogether, as it sometimes intervened in other Third World countries even when

9664-408: The Eastern Bloc, despite attempts by authorities to jam the airways. Under the state atheism of many Eastern Bloc nations, religion was actively suppressed. Since some of these states tied their ethnic heritage to their national churches, both the peoples and their churches were targeted by the Soviets. In 1949, the Soviet Union , Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia , Hungary, Poland, and Romania founded

9815-412: The Eastern Bloc. Others consider Yugoslavia not to be a member after it broke with Soviet policy in the 1948 Tito–Stalin split . In 1922, the Russian SFSR , the Ukrainian SSR , the Byelorussian SSR and the Transcaucasian SFSR approved the Treaty of Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, forming the Soviet Union . Soviet leader Joseph Stalin , who viewed

9966-732: The Eastern European countries into its sphere of influence by making reference to some cultural commonalities. Moscow-trained cadres were put into crucial power positions to fulfill orders regarding sociopolitical transformation. Elimination of the bourgeoisie 's social and financial power by expropriation of landed and industrial property was accorded absolute priority. These measures were publicly billed as "reforms" rather than socioeconomic transformations. Except for initially in Czechoslovakia, activities by political parties had to adhere to "Bloc politics", with parties eventually having to accept membership in an "antifascist bloc" obliging them to act only by mutual "consensus". The bloc system permitted

10117-446: The European Union." The SDLP manifesto for the 2017 UK general election called for a referendum on a united Ireland after the UK withdraws from the EU. However the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland at the time, James Brokenshire , said the conditions for a vote are "not remotely satisfied". After the 2017 election, the UK government was reliant on confidence and supply from the Democratic Unionist Party . The deal supported

10268-606: The Geneva Convention of 1951. Most Soviets allowed to leave during this time period were ethnic Jews permitted to emigrate to Israel after a series of embarrassing defections in 1970 caused the Soviets to open very limited ethnic emigrations. The fall of the Iron Curtain was accompanied by a massive rise in European East-West migration. Famous Eastern Bloc defectors included Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva , who denounced Stalin after her 1967 defection. United Ireland United Ireland ( Irish : Éire Aontaithe ), also referred to as Irish reunification or

10419-427: The Irish Derby." Under the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 , Ireland declared that the country may officially be described as the Republic of Ireland and that the President of Ireland had the executive authority of the state in its external relations. This was treated by the British Commonwealth as ending Irish membership. In response, the United Kingdom passed the Ireland Act 1949 . Section 1(2) of this act affirmed

10570-404: The Irish Sea" rather than a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and caused fears from unionist politicians about Brexit causing a weakening of the UK. The new UK prime minister Boris Johnson continued to claim no trade border would take form as late as August 2020, despite having negotiated its creation . Dominic Cummings later claimed that Johnson did not understand

10721-408: The Irish government in the future of Northern Ireland. Article 1 of the Agreement stated that the future constitutional position of Northern Ireland would be a matter for the people of Northern Ireland: (a) affirm that any change in the status of Northern Ireland would only come about with the consent of a majority of' the people of' Northern Ireland; (b) recognise that the present wish of a majority of

10872-777: The Irish nation cherishes its special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage. Article 3 In a referendum in June 2016, England and Wales voted to leave the European Union . The majority of those voting in Northern Ireland and in Scotland, however, voted for the UK to remain. Of the parties in the Assembly, only the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP),

11023-720: The Polish rejection of the Plan with a huge 5-year trade agreement, including $ 450 million in credit, 200,000 tons of grain, heavy machinery and factories. In July 1947, Stalin ordered these countries to pull out of the Paris Conference on the European Recovery Programme, which has been described as "the moment of truth" in the post- World War II division of Europe. Thereafter, Stalin sought stronger control over other Eastern Bloc countries, abandoning

11174-635: The Polish state, and a German-Soviet meeting addressed the future structure of the "Polish region". Soviet authorities immediately started a campaign of sovietization of the newly Soviet-annexed areas . Soviet authorities collectivized agriculture, and nationalized and redistributed private and state-owned Polish property. Initial Soviet occupations of the Baltic countries had occurred in mid-June 1940, when Soviet NKVD troops raided border posts in Lithuania , Estonia and Latvia , followed by

11325-552: The Republican Government remained as the legitimate government of the Irish Republic declared in 1919. Adherents to this theory rejected the legitimacy of both the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. The report of Boundary Commission in 1925 established under the Treaty did not lead to any alteration in the border . Within Northern Ireland, the Nationalist Party was an organisational successor to

11476-619: The Soviet Union as a "socialist island", stated that the Soviet Union must see that "the present capitalist encirclement is replaced by a socialist encirclement". In 1939, the USSR entered into the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany that contained a secret protocol that divided Romania, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland into German and Soviet spheres of influence. Eastern Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Bessarabia in northern Romania were recognized as parts of

11627-476: The Soviet Union opposed this. Post-1991 usage of the term "Eastern Bloc" may be more limited in referring to the states forming the Warsaw Pact (1955–1991) and Mongolia (1924–1991), which are no longer communist states. Sometimes they are more generally referred to as "the countries of Eastern Europe under communism", excluding Mongolia, but including Yugoslavia and Albania which had both split with

11778-670: The Soviet Union regarding Greece and Albania , a Tito–Stalin split occurred, followed by Yugoslavia being expelled from the Cominform in June 1948 and a brief failed Soviet putsch in Belgrade. The split created two separate communist forces in Europe. A vehement campaign against Titoism was immediately started in the Eastern Bloc, describing agents of both the West and Tito in all places as engaging in subversive activity. Stalin ordered

11929-478: The Soviet Union to exercise domestic control indirectly. Crucial departments such as those responsible for personnel, general police, secret police and youth were strictly Communist run. Moscow cadres distinguished "progressive forces" from "reactionary elements" and rendered both powerless. Such procedures were repeated until Communists had gained unlimited power and only politicians who were unconditionally supportive of Soviet policy remained. In June 1947, after

12080-511: The Soviets had refused to negotiate a potential lightening of restrictions on German development, the United States announced the Marshall Plan , a comprehensive program of American assistance to all European countries wanting to participate, including the Soviet Union and those of Eastern Europe. The Soviets rejected the Plan and took a hard-line position against the United States and non-communist European nations. However, Czechoslovakia

12231-626: The United Kingdom unless a majority voted otherwise in a referendum, while under the Ireland Act 1949 the consent of the Parliament of Northern Ireland was needed for a united Ireland. In 1985, the Anglo-Irish Agreement affirmed, while providing for devolved government in Northern Ireland, and an advisory role for the Republic of Ireland government, that any change in the status of Northern Ireland would only come about with

12382-467: The United Kingdom. The poll was overwhelmingly boycotted by nationalists, and the turnout was therefore 58.7%. The pro-UK vote did however represent 57.5% of the entire electorate, notwithstanding the boycott. In 1983, the Irish government led by Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald established the New Ireland Forum as a consultation on a new Ireland. Though all parties in Ireland were invited,

12533-734: The Warsaw Pact in 1968 following the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia . In 1917, Russia restricted emigration by instituting passport controls and forbidding the exit of belligerent nationals. In 1922, after the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR , both the Ukrainian SSR and the Russian SFSR issued general rules for travel that foreclosed virtually all departures, making legal emigration impossible. Border controls thereafter strengthened such that, by 1928, even illegal departure

12684-407: The West and Tito. Despite the initial institutional design of communism implemented by Joseph Stalin in the Eastern Bloc, subsequent development varied across countries. In satellite states, after peace treaties were initially concluded, opposition was essentially liquidated, fundamental steps towards socialism were enforced, and Kremlin leaders sought to strengthen control therein. Right from

12835-587: The aftermath of World War II on the Soviet-Finnish border , the parties signed another peace treaty ceding to the Soviet Union in 1944, followed by a Soviet annexation of roughly the same eastern Finnish territories as those of the prior interim peace treaty as part of the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic . From 1943 to 1945, several conferences regarding Post-War Europe occurred that, in part, addressed

12986-400: The anti-Treaty Fianna Fáil party came to power in the 1930s, it adopted a new constitution which claimed sovereignty over the entire island. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) had a united Ireland as its goal during the conflict with British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries from the 1960s to the 1990s known as The Troubles . The Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998, which ended

13137-455: The beginning, Stalin directed systems that rejected Western institutional characteristics of market economies , capitalist parliamentary democracy (dubbed "bourgeois democracy" in Soviet parlance) and the rule of law subduing discretional intervention by the state. The resulting states aspired to total control of a political center backed by an extensive and active repressive apparatus, and a central role of Marxist–Leninist ideology. However,

13288-411: The conflict, acknowledged the legitimacy of the desire for a united Ireland, while declaring that it could be achieved only with the consent of a majority of the people of both jurisdictions on the island, and providing a mechanism for ascertaining this in certain circumstances. In 2016, Sinn Féin called for a referendum on a united Ireland following Brexit , the decision by the United Kingdom to leave

13439-631: The consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland. The Kingdom of Ireland as a whole had become part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Acts of Union 1800 . From the 1870s, support for some form of an elected parliament in Dublin grew. In 1870, Isaac Butt , who was a Protestant, formed the Home Government Association , which became the Home Rule League . Charles Stewart Parnell , also

13590-584: The constitution and international human rights law. Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc , also known as the Communist Bloc ( Combloc ), the Socialist Bloc , and the Soviet Bloc , was the collective term for an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe , Asia , Africa , and Latin America that were aligned with the Soviet Union and existed during

13741-763: The continuation of the Parliament of Northern Ireland within a unitary Irish state. In 1946, former Prime Minister Winston Churchill told the Irish High Commissioner to the United Kingdom , "I said a few words in Parliament the other day about your country because I still hope for a United Ireland. You must get those fellows in the north in, though; you can't do it by force. There is not, and never was, any bitterness in my heart towards your country." He later said, "You know I have had many invitations to visit Ulster but I have refused them all. I don't want to go there at all, I would much rather go to southern Ireland. Maybe I'll buy another horse with an entry in

13892-470: The conversion of the Cominform into an instrument to monitor and control the internal affairs of other Eastern Bloc parties. He also briefly considered converting the Cominform into an instrument for sentencing high-ranking deviators, but dropped the idea as impractical. Instead, a move to weaken communist party leaders through conflict was started. Soviet cadres in communist party and state positions in

14043-462: The core of the system, with their names becoming synonymous with raw power and the threat of violent retribution should an individual become active against the State. Several state police and secret police organizations enforced communist party rule, including the following: The press in the communist period was an organ of the state, completely reliant on and subservient to the communist party. Before

14194-579: The countries aligned with the Soviet Union included Cuba from 1961 and for limited periods Nicaragua and Grenada . The term Eastern Bloc was often used interchangeably with the term Second World . This broadest usage of the term would include not only Maoist China and Cambodia , but also short-lived Soviet satellites such as the Second East Turkestan Republic (1944–1949), the People's Republic of Azerbaijan (1945–1946) and

14345-782: The country's international human rights obligations. On 31 March 2023, three men, Jalal Al-Kassab, Redha Rajab and Mohammed Rajab, were sentenced to prison for a year and faced a fine in Bahrain. They were prosecuted under a law criminalizing the "ridicule" of all books recognized as religious in Bahrain, including the Quran and the Bible . The men were members of a Bahraini religious and cultural society that promotes open discussion of Islamic issues. Human rights groups claimed that they were indicted for exercising his freedom of expression . Iranian dissidents are composed of scattered groups that reject

14496-594: The country's population who had accepted total obedience. Those who secured membership in this selective group received considerable rewards, such as access to special lower priced shops with a greater selection of high-quality domestic and/or foreign goods ( confections , alcohol , cigars , cameras , televisions , and the like), special schools, holiday facilities, homes, high-quality domestic and/or foreign-made furniture, works of art, pensions, permission to travel abroad, and official cars with distinct license plates so that police and others could identify these members from

14647-446: The deal at the time it was signed, while Ian Paisley Jr claimed that Johnson had privately promised to "tear up" the deal after it was agreed. In September, Johnson sought to unilaterally dis-apply parts of the Northern Ireland protocol, despite acknowledging that this broke international law. The bill was rejected by the House of Lords , resulting in several provisions being withdrawn before it passed in December 2020- shortly before

14798-480: The dissident movement created vivid awareness of Soviet Communist abuses. Soviet dissidents who criticized the state faced possible legal sanctions under the Soviet Criminal Code and faced the choice of exile , the mental hospital , or penal servitude . Anti-Soviet political behavior, in particular, being outspoken in opposition to the authorities, demonstrating for reform, or even writing books –

14949-406: The dissidents. Several human rights organizations and international leaders have consistently denounced Bahrain's poor human rights records. The Human Rights Watch World Report 2021 also highlighted that Bahrain continued its repressive actions against the dissidents, including acts against online activities, peaceful critics and opposition activists. In January 2021, forty cross-party MPs of

15100-525: The dominant party representing the nationalist community until the early twenty-first century. In 1972, the parliament of Northern Ireland was suspended , and under the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 , it was formally abolished. Section 1 of the 1973 Act stated, A border poll was held in Northern Ireland in 1973 . The SDLP and Sinn Féin called for a boycott of the poll. 98.9% of votes cast supported remaining part of

15251-485: The ensuing era of normalization , the unlikely dissident union of former Communists, counter-cultural youth and Christians formed a so-called underground or 'parallel' culture, which led Charter 77 and related movements eventually meeting success in the Velvet Revolution , in which the formerly imprisoned writer and Charter 77 spokesperson Václav Havel became a key political leader. Aung San Suu Kyi

15402-515: The entire country. The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland James Chichester-Clark rejected the proposal. In August 1971 Lynch proposed that the Government of Northern Ireland (Stormont) be replaced with an administration that would share power with Catholics. The next day the Northern Prime Minister Brian Faulkner rejected Lynch's statement and stated that "no further attempt by us to deal constructively with

15553-602: The following address to the King so as to exercise the rights conferred on Northern Ireland under Article 12 of the Treaty: The King received it the following day. These steps cemented Northern Ireland's legal separation from the Irish Free State. In Irish republican legitimist theory, the Treaty was illegitimate and could not be approved. According to this theory, the Second Dáil did not dissolve and members of

15704-495: The form of government under which they will live". The parties also agreed to help those countries form interim governments "pledged to the earliest possible establishment through free elections" and "facilitate where necessary the holding of such elections". At the beginning of the July–August 1945 Potsdam Conference after Germany's unconditional surrender, Stalin repeated previous promises to Churchill that he would refrain from

15855-503: The former believing Soviet leader Stalin to be a "devil"-like tyrant leading a vile system. When warned of potential domination by a Stalin dictatorship over part of Europe, Roosevelt responded with a statement summarizing his rationale for relations with Stalin: "I just have a hunch that Stalin is not that kind of a man. ... I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask for nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he won't try to annex anything and will work with me for

16006-587: The government. Many Emirati dissidents have been languishing in jail, some of them for a decade. A March 2023 report by HRW stated that Egyptian authorities systematically refused to issue or renew ID cards for dozens of foreign dissidents, journalists and human rights activists over the past few years. The denial was possibly intended to pressure them to return to near-certain persecution in Egypt. By arbitrarily denying citizens valid passports and other overseas identification documents, Egyptian authorities violated both

16157-518: The individual lives outside the country. If a dissident is not a Saudi citizen, they will probably face deportation . The Fact Finding Panel (FFP), an independent jury of British parliamentary members and international attorneys, was tasked with reviewing the detention of former Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Nayef and Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz . In mid-December 2020, the panel published

16308-515: The island they wanted, therby enabling them to choose which state they paid taxes to or claimed benefits from. The 'Two state' solution advocated for conflict resolution in other jurisdictions therefore applied. Provision within the Agreement allows for a simple majority to vote in favour of Irish Unification, but does nothing to explain how the dissolution of the two state solution, leads to a peaceful and prosperous new country when potentially 13% of

16459-419: The late 1980s, Eastern Bloc radio and television organizations were state-owned, while print media was usually owned by political organizations, mostly by the local communist party. Youth newspapers and magazines were owned by youth organizations affiliated with communist parties. The control of the media was exercised directly by the communist party itself, and by state censorship, which was also controlled by

16610-581: The liquidation of state administrations and replacement by Soviet cadres. Elections for parliament and other offices were held with single candidates listed and the official results fabricated, purporting pro-Soviet candidates' approval by 92.8 percent of the voters in Estonia, 97.6 percent in Latvia, and 99.2 percent in Lithuania. The fraudulently installed "people's assemblies" immediately declared each of

16761-538: The longest continuous deployment in British military history Operation Banner . The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) had begun a thirty-year campaign against British security forces with the aim of winning a united Ireland. In 1970, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) was established to campaign for civil rights and a united Ireland by peaceful, constitutional means. The party rose to be

16912-407: The meaning of the term: instead of being used in reference to an individual who opposes society, it came to refer to an individual whose non-conformism was perceived to be for the good of the society. In Hungary, the word disszidens was used in contemporary language for a person who had left for the West without permission (i.e. a defector), by illegally crossing the border or travelling abroad with

17063-566: The north erupted into outright violence in the late 1960s. In 1968 the Irish Taoiseach, Jack Lynch , raised the issue of partition in London: "It has been the aim of my government and its predecessors to promote the reunification of Ireland by fostering a spirit of brotherhood among all sections of the Irish people. The clashes in the streets of Derry are an expression of the evils which partition has brought in its train." He later stated to

17214-490: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic . Another monarchy of the Middle East , Bahrain , is known for violating the rights of peaceful critics of the government, including political activists and human rights defenders . A report released by Amnesty International in 2017 revealed that the country opted for several repressive tactics, including arbitrary detention, torture and harassment between June 2016 and June 2017 to crush

17365-548: The only ones to attend were Fine Gael , Fianna Fáil , the Labour Party and the SDLP . Its report considered three options: a unitary state, i.e., a united Ireland; a federal/confederal state; and joint sovereignty. These options were rejected by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher . In 1985, the governments of Ireland and of the United Kingdom signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement ; the British government accepted an advisory role for

17516-467: The parliamentary boroughs of Belfast and Londonderry" and Southern Ireland "so much of Ireland as is not comprised within the said parliamentary counties and boroughs". Section 3 of this Act provided that the parliaments may be united by identical acts of parliament: Sinn Féin did not recognise this act, treating elections to the respective parliaments as a single election to the Second Dáil . While

17667-549: The parties entered into an interim peace treaty granting the Soviet Union a portion of the eastern region of Karelia (10% of Finnish territory), and the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic was established by merging the ceded territories with the KASSR . After a June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum demanding Bessarabia, Bukovina , and the Hertsa region from Romania, the Soviets entered these areas, Romania caved to Soviet demands and

17818-525: The party. Media served as an important form of control over information and society. The dissemination and portrayal of knowledge were considered by authorities to be vital to communism's survival by stifling alternative concepts and critiques. Several state Communist Party newspapers were published, including: The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) served as the central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations. It

17969-559: The people of Northern Ireland is for no change in the status of Northern Ireland; In the Downing Street Declaration , Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and Prime Minister John Major issued a joint statement, in which Major, "reiterated on behalf of the British Government, that they have no selfish strategic or economic interest in Northern Ireland". The Good Friday Agreement in 1998 was a culmination of

18120-431: The plurality in Northern Ireland as of 2021. The religious denominations of the citizens of Northern Ireland are only a guide to likely political preferences, as there are both Protestants who favour a united Ireland, and Catholics who support the union. Two surveys in 2011 identified a significant number of Catholics who favoured the continuation of the union without identifying themselves as unionists or British. In 2024,

18271-517: The potential Soviet annexation and control of countries in Central Europe. There were various Allied plans for state order in Central Europe for post-war. While Joseph Stalin tried to get as many states under Soviet control as possible, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill preferred a Central European Danube Confederation to counter these countries against Germany and Russia. Churchill's Soviet policy regarding Central Europe differed vastly from that of American President Franklin D. Roosevelt , with

18422-654: The power of the local Communist elites. The port city of Trieste was a particular focus after the Second World War. Until the break between Tito and Stalin, the Western powers and the Eastern bloc faced each other uncompromisingly. The neutral buffer state Free Territory of Trieste , founded in 1947 with the United Nations, was split up and dissolved in 1954 and 1975, also because of the détente between

18573-421: The present Dublin government is possible." Later in 1971 British Labour Party leader (and future Prime Minister) Harold Wilson proposed a plan that would lead to a united Ireland after a 15-year transitional period. He called for the establishment of a commission that would examine the possibility of creating a united Ireland which would be agreed upon by all three parliaments. The northern Prime Minister rejected

18724-474: The press that the ending of partition would be "a just and inevitable solution to the problems of Northern Ireland." Lynch renewed his call to end partition in August 1969 when he proposed negotiations with Britain with the hope of merging the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland into a federal type state. Lynch proposed that the two parliaments continue to function with a Council of Ireland having authority over

18875-401: The primary method of Communist rule shifted from mass terror to selective repression, along with ideological and sociopolitical strategies of legitimation and the securing of loyalty. Juries were replaced by a tribunal of professional judges and two lay assessors that were dependable party actors. The police deterred and contained opposition to party directives. The political police served as

19026-525: The prior appearance of democratic institutions. When it appeared that, in spite of heavy pressure, non-communist parties might receive in excess of 40% of the vote in the August 1947 Hungarian elections , repressions were instituted to liquidate any independent political forces. In that same month, annihilation of the opposition in Bulgaria began on the basis of continuing instructions by Soviet cadres. At

19177-536: The proceedings. By the end of the First World War, a number of moderate unionists came to support Home Rule, believing that it was the only way to keep a united Ireland in the United Kingdom. The Irish Dominion League opposed partition of Ireland into separate southern and northern jurisdictions, while arguing that the whole of Ireland should be granted dominion status with the British Empire. At

19328-466: The proposal and reiterated the desire that Northern Ireland remain an integral part of the United Kingdom. The Irish Taoiseach indicated the possibility of amending the Irish constitution to accommodate the Protestants of Northern Ireland and urged the British government to "declare its interest in encouraging the unity of Ireland". In 1969 the British government deployed troops in what would become

19479-470: The provision in the Treaty that the position of Ireland remained a matter for the Parliament of Northern Ireland: Between 1956 and 1962, the IRA engaged in a border campaign against British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary outposts with the aim of ending British rule in Northern Ireland. This coincided with brief electoral success of Sinn Féin, which won four seats at the 1957 Irish general election . This

19630-593: The sharp 1953 increase was fear of potential further Sovietization with the increasingly paranoid actions of Joseph Stalin in late 1952 and early 1953. 226,000 had fled in just the first six months of 1953. With the closing of the Inner German border officially in 1952, the Berlin city sector borders remained considerably more accessible than the rest of the border because of their administration by all four occupying powers. Accordingly, it effectively comprised

19781-534: The status quo on both sides of the border. [...] Schedule 1 On the establishment of the institutions in 1999, Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland were amended to read: It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish nation. That is also the entitlement of all persons otherwise qualified in accordance with law to be citizens of Ireland. Furthermore,

19932-413: The substitution of autonomous law. Initially, communist parties were small in all countries except Czechoslovakia, such that there existed an acute shortage of politically "trustworthy" persons for administration, police, and other professions. Thus, "politically unreliable" non-communists initially had to fill such roles. Those not obedient to communist authorities were ousted, while Moscow cadres started

20083-417: The term came to refer to an individual whose non-conformism was perceived to be for the good of a society. Political opposition in the USSR was barely visible and, with rare exceptions, of little consequence. Instead, an important element of dissident activity in the Soviet Union was informing society (both inside the Soviet Union and in foreign countries) about violation of laws and of human rights. Over time,

20234-446: The three corresponding countries to be "Soviet Socialist Republics" and requested their "admission into Stalin 's Soviet Union". This formally resulted in the Soviet Union's annexation of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in August 1940. The international community condemned this annexation of the three Baltic countries and deemed it illegal. In 1939, the Soviet Union unsuccessfully attempted an invasion of Finland , subsequent to which

20385-442: The vestiges of democratic institutions were never entirely destroyed, resulting in the façade of Western style institutions such as parliaments, which effectively just rubber-stamped decisions made by rulers, and constitutions, to which adherence by authorities was limited or non-existent. Parliaments were still elected, but their meetings occurred only a few days per year, only to legitimize politburo decisions, and so little attention

20536-434: The whole island of Ireland as the national territory, while claiming legal jurisdiction only over the previous territory of the Irish Free State. The national territory consists of the whole island of Ireland, its islands and the territorial seas. Article 3 Article 15.2 allowed for the "creation or recognition of subordinate legislatures and for the powers and functions of these legislatures", which would have allowed for

20687-477: Was Albania , where leader Enver Hoxha immediately changed course from favoring Yugoslavia to opposing it. In Poland , leader Władysław Gomułka , who had previously made pro-Yugoslav statements, was deposed as party secretary-general in early September 1948 and subsequently jailed. In Bulgaria , when it appeared that Traicho Kostov, who was not a Moscow cadre, was next in line for leadership, in June 1949, Stalin ordered Kostov's arrest, followed soon thereafter by

20838-634: Was caused, in part, by early local elections of October 1946 in which the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) was rejected in favor of the Social Democratic Party, which had gained two and a half times more votes than the SED. The United States, Britain, France, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries began a massive "Berlin airlift", supplying West Berlin with food and other supplies. The Soviets mounted

20989-421: Was convinced by Churchill and Roosevelt not to dismember Germany. Stalin stated that the Soviet Union would keep the territory of eastern Poland they had already taken via invasion in 1939 with some exceptions , and wanted a pro-Soviet Polish government in power in what would remain of Poland. After resistance by Churchill and Roosevelt, Stalin promised a re-organization of the current pro-Soviet government on

21140-500: Was defined as being simultaneously a criminal act (e.g., violation of Articles 70 or 190–1), a symptom (e.g., "delusion of reformism"), and a diagnosis (e.g., " sluggish schizophrenia "). Czechoslovak dissidents emerged after the 1948 Communist coup and increased after the Warsaw Pact invasion that ended the liberalizing moment of the Prague spring and led to much of the elite being removed from political and intellectual positions. In

21291-521: Was eager to accept the US aid; the Polish government had a similar attitude, and this was of great concern to the Soviets. In one of the clearest signs of Soviet control over the region up to that point, the Czechoslovakian foreign minister, Jan Masaryk , was summoned to Moscow and berated by Stalin for considering joining the Marshall Plan. Polish Prime minister Józef Cyrankiewicz was rewarded for

21442-523: Was effectively halted in the early 1950s, with the Soviet approach to controlling national movement emulated by most of the rest of the Eastern Bloc. However, in East Germany , taking advantage of the Inner German border between occupied zones, hundreds of thousands fled to West Germany, with figures totaling 197,000 in 1950, 165,000 in 1951, 182,000 in 1952 and 331,000 in 1953. One reason for

21593-444: Was effectively impossible. This later included internal passport controls , which when combined with individual city Propiska ("place of residence") permits, and internal freedom of movement restrictions often called the 101st kilometre , greatly restricted mobility within even small areas of the Soviet Union. After the creation of the Eastern Bloc, emigration out of the newly occupied countries, except under limited circumstances,

21744-582: Was frequently infiltrated by Soviet intelligence and security agencies, such as the NKVD and GRU . TASS had affiliates in 14 Soviet republics, including the Lithuanian SSR , Latvian SSR , Estonian SSR , Moldavian SSR . Ukrainian SSR and Byelorussian SSR . Western countries invested heavily in powerful transmitters which enabled services such as the BBC , VOA and Radio Free Europe (RFE) to be heard in

21895-571: Was introduced in 1912, and in September 1912, just under half a million men and women signed the Ulster Covenant to swear they would resist its application in Ulster. The Ulster Volunteer Force were formed in 1913 as a militia to resist Home Rule. The Government of Ireland Act 1914 (previously known as the Third Home Rule Bill) provided for a unitary devolved Irish Parliament, a culmination of several decades of work from

22046-432: Was introduced in 1999 after implementation of the Good Friday Agreement , as part of replacing the old Articles 2 and 3 , which had laid a direct claim to the whole island as the national territory. The Northern Ireland Act 1998 , a statute of the Parliament of the United Kingdom , provides that Northern Ireland will remain within the United Kingdom unless a majority of the people of Northern Ireland vote to form part of

22197-550: Was its first electoral success since 1927, and it did not win seats in the Republic of Ireland again until 1997. The border campaign was entirely unsuccessful in its aims. In 1957, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan wrote that "I do not think that a United Ireland - with de Valera as a kind of Irish Nehru would do us much good. Let us stand by our friends." The Northern Ireland civil rights movement emerged in 1967 to campaign for civil rights for Catholics in Northern Ireland. Tensions between republican and loyalist groups in

22348-412: Was located in Europe. In Western Europe , the term Eastern Bloc generally referred to the USSR and Central and Eastern European countries in the Comecon ( East Germany , Poland , Czechoslovakia , Hungary , Romania , Bulgaria , and Albania ). In Asia , the Eastern Bloc comprised Mongolia , Vietnam , Laos , Kampuchea , North Korea , South Yemen , Syria , and China . In the Americas ,

22499-404: Was not successful and sixteen of the leaders were executed. The small separatist party Sinn Féin became associated with the Rising in its aftermath as several of those involved in it were party members. The Irish Convention held between 1917 and 1918 sought to reach agreement on manner in which Home Rule would be implemented after the war. All Irish parties were invited, but Sinn Féin boycotted

22650-460: Was paid to them that some of those serving were actually dead, and officials would openly state that they would seat members who had lost elections. The first or General Secretary of the central committee in each communist party was the most powerful figure in each regime. The party over which the politburo held sway was not a mass party but, conforming with Leninist tradition, a smaller selective party of between three and fourteen percent of

22801-412: Was widely used by protestors against the Mubarak regime in Egypt in 2011. Tor allowed Egyptian dissidents to communicate anonymously and securely, while sharing sensitive information. Also, Syrian rebels widely used Tor in order to share with the world all of the horrors that they witnessed in their country. Moreover, anti-government dissidents in Lebanon, Mauritania, as well as other nations affected by

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