#MeToo offers lessons for Arabs too

Author(s): Jumana Al-Tamini

In: Gulf News, 2018

This article describes the difficulty of talking about sexual harassment in conservative Arab societies, which have made the ‘MeToo’ movement in the Arab world less significant than in the West. However, it also points to the fact that the activism of Arab women is becoming less of a taboo and mentions the legislative reforms that took place in countries such as Morocco, Jordan, and Lebanon.

For another thorough analysis of the cultural impediments to openly discuss sexual violence and sexual harassment within Arab societies, see also http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2017/10/22/Why-aren-t-more-Arab-women-saying-MeToo-.html and https://www.albawaba.com/loop/harvey-weinstein-scandal-and-metoo-hit-nerve-arab-women-1035238.

Available online at:

https://gulfnews.com/opinion/op-eds/metoo-offers-lessons-for-arabs-too-1.2195348

Civil Disobedience: Litmus Test for the Democratic Constitutional State

Author(s): Jürgen Habermas

In: Berkeley Journal of Sociology, Vol 30, 1985, pp. 95-116

Habermas, one of today’s major social theorists, is associated with the concept of ‘new social movements’ in the 1970s, and developing the theory of ‘deliberative democracy’. Argues for the potential value of civil disobedience as a means of upholding democratic principles.
Other important essays by Habermas are: ‘Hannah Arendt’s Communicative Concept of Power’ in Steven Lukes ed., Power, Oxford, Blackwell, pp. 75-93, arguing for a structural interpretation of power.
And Jürgen Habermas, What does Socialism Mean Today? The Rectifying Revolution and the Need for New Thinking on the Left, 1990 , pp. 3-21 , an interpretation of the nature and significance of the 1989 revolutions from a democratic socialist perspective.

Shiori Ito, symbol’s of Japan’s MeToo movement, wins rape lawsuit damages

Author(s): Justin McCurry

In: The Guardian, 2019

Japanese journalist Shiori Ito was awarded damages after publicly accusing Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a famous TV presenter, of rape in 2017. Her case became a symbol of Japan’s MeToo movement and of the country’s failure to investigate allegations of rape and sexual assaults. After Shiori Ito went public, the documentary ‘Japan’s Secret Shame’ was released by the BBC, covering violence towards women, and structural inequality and discrimination against women in Japan, as well as on her individual case.

Available online at:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/18/shiori-ito-symbol-of-japans-metoo-movement-wins-lawsuit-damages

The Vietnam Wars

Author(s): Justin Wintle

Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1991, pp. 202

A brief history and analysis of the wars in Vietnam from the 1945 declaration of independence to the US withdrawal in 1973.

Perfect Hostage: A Life of Aung San Suu Kyi

Author(s): Justin Wintle

Hutchinson, London, 2007, pp. 480

Part Three ‘Sixteen Months’ pp. 225-326 covers March 1988 to July 1989, the evolution of the protests and the regime clamp down; Part Four, pp. 329-429 covers Suu Kyi’s house arrest, the 1990 elections, subsequent attempts to mobilize international pressure, and her defiance when released from arrest in 1998 and 2003.

Visa for Poland

Author(s): K. S. Karol

MacGibbon and Kee, London, 1959, pp. 259

Account by a Polish journalist (who left in 1949) of the evolution of destalinization from above and demands for democratization from below in 1955-56, and the October 1956 revolution. Karol explains the background context of Poland’s wartime experiences and the Communist seizure of power and in Part Two assesses Poland a year after October 1956.

Gandhian Views on Democracy

Author(s): K.P. Mishra

In: Gandhi Marg, Vol 34, No 2-3 (Jul-Dec), 2012, pp. 205-216

Primarily an exposition of Gandhi’s theory of democracy, but commenting on Hazare’s anti-corruption movement as a starting point.

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