Police in Bucharest fired tear gas to disperse thousands of demonstrators who blocked traffic in the city's University Square Jan. 14 to protest austerity measures and poor living standards. Protesters called for President Traian Basescu's resignation and early elections, carrying signs reading "Liberty" and "Down with President Basescu." In 2009, Romania took a two-year $27.5 billion loan from the EU, IMF and the World Bank, which imposed harsh austerity measures, reducing public wages by 25% and increasing taxes. The catalyst for the protests was the resignation of popular health official Raed Arafat, a Palestinian with Romanian citizenship who opposed health "reforms" proposed by the government. (AlJazeera, AP, CNN, Jan. 15)

Thousands of followers of the far-right Jobbik party protested against the EU in Budapest Jan. 14. Two Jobbik MPs set an EU flag on fire at the protest in front of the European Commission offices. "This week the EU declared war on Hungary in a very harsh and open way," Csanad Szegedi, a Jobbik member of European Parliament told the crowd of some 2,000. The EU had threatened legal action against Prime Minister Viktor Orban's conservative government over new constitutional measures that centralize power in the hands of the executive, and that European leaders say undermine the independence of Hungary's central bank. On Jan. 2, tens of thousands of socialists, Greens and other leftists marched against the constitutional changes, which include imposition of flat tax, accusing Orban of being a "Viktator." They massed outside the Budapest opera house as Orban's ruling Fidesz party held a gala celebration inside.

Internet restrictions passed in February 2010 are set to go into effect in Belarus on Jan. 6, amid international criticism. The law creates several tiers of limitations on use of the Internet. Anyone who owns a shared connection, or a cyber-cafe, must monitor all users to insure that they do not visit a "blacklisted" site, or, in some cases, simply a site hosted off of Belarus servers. Users are required to identify themselves, and the owners of shared connections must keep a surfing history of each user for at least a year. Violations of any of these provisions may result in fines.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), successor to the good ol' Soviet-era KGB, applies pressure on the VKontakte social networking site—in a bid to snuff post-electoral protests, and put a long-escaped genie back into the totalitarian bottle. Good luck with that, guys. From Reuters:

Thousands of workers across Greece walked off the job on Dec. 1, in the seventh general strike this year to protest government austerity measures. The strike came two days after the new Greek emergency government won European Union approval for a crucial sixth installment of bailout aid, without which the country would have faced default. National rail service was halted, and ferries were moored in their ports. Courts and schools closed, hospitals were operating with only emergency staff and customs officials walked out. Thousands of workers marched in central Athens, while youths clashed with riot police in the Exarchia district. Public transportation ran a limited service to enable workers to attend protest marches. (NYT, Dec. 2)

German police on Nov. 27 battled thousands of anti-nuclear protestors—many chained to railroad tracks—who blocked the shipment of radioactive waste returning from a French treatment plant. The rail convoy was halted for 18 hours outside its final destination at Dannenberg, including overnight, amid mass demonstrations. Protesters boasted that the blockade's duration now topped the record set during a shipment one year ago. Police said they detained about 1,300 people. The 150 tons of uranium waste, originally from German nuclear plants, was being moved in 11 containers from a facility run by the French nuclear giant Areva in Valognes, Normandy. It was the last of 12 shipments, because of a German move away from nuclear power.

A 24-hour strike in Portugal against proposed austerity measures grounded flights and halted public transport Nov. 24, in what labor leaders called a "red card" for the government. Austerity measures adopted in return for a 78 billion euro ($104 billion) bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Hundreds of thousands of workers took part in the action, including air traffic controllers, trasnportation workers, teachers and hospital staff. The strike was called by Portugal's two leading labor unions, the General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers (CGTP) General Workers Union (UGT) (BBC News, AP, Nov. 24)

The hegemonic media line that Greece's new "austerity" government is being staffed by non-ideological "technocrats" is deflated by Mark Ames on the Naked Capitalism blog Nov. 16. Ames documents that in fact this "technocratic" government includes figures from the old-line Greek fascist right, spawn of the military junta that ruled from 1967 to 1974. The post sports a photo of three men walking on a college campus—one armed with a club, another with an axe. The text explains: