La insumisión, un singular ciclo histórico de desobediencia civil

Author(s): Xavier Aguirre, Rafael Ajangiz, Pedro Ibarra, and Rafael Sainz de Rozas

Technos, Madrid, 1998, pp. 171

Primarily an account of the movement of conscientious objection and ‘insumision’ in Spain, but including analysis and proposals. It was written by university teachers who joined the movement and assisted from inside. Published in the final stage of the movement, when the end of conscription was announced. but there were still objectors jailed in military prisons.

Objeción e insumisión, claves ideológicas y sociales

Editor(s): Pedro Ibarra

Fundamentos, Madrid, 1992, pp. 319

This collective work analyzes the origins and early stages of conscientious objection and insumision in Spain, its ideological debates and evolution. It includes an analysis of the national and international political context, a chapter on alternative civilian service in the Federal Republic of Germany, and a guide to becoming an objector.

La utopía insumisa de Pepe Beunza. Una objeción subversiva durante el franquismo

Author(s): Pedro Oliver

Virus, Barcelona, 2002, pp. 174

A book about the beginning of the conscientious objection movement in Spain, which tells the story of Pepe Beunza, the first C.O. in Spain who embarked on disobedience under the Franco dictatorship. It is not only about Pepe’s personal experience, but also an account of the supporting campaigns and of the next conscientious objectors and the creation of MOC, the C.O. movement that still exists.

Thai Youth's Struggle for Democracy may Fizzle but Political Contention Continues

Author(s): Penchan Phoborisut

In: East Asian Forum Quarterly, Vol 13, No 2, 2021, pp. 21-24

Almost a year after protests began, the author reports on the detention of political activists, but also the evolution of decentralized networked forms of communication to promote mobilization against the Thai establishment.

Available online at:

https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2021/05/11/thai-youths-struggle-for-democracy-may-fizzle-but-political-contention-continues/

Incommensurate Russia

Author(s): Perry Anderson

In: New Left Review, Vol July-August 2015, No 94, 2015

Anderson discusses the nature of Putin’s regime, starting from two opposing assessments of it. The first, promoted by western journalists, stressed lack of legality, kleptocracy, thuggery and authoritarianism. The second, elaborated by some academic studies, suggested a more nuanced picture of gradual progress towards greater legal stability. Anderson then considers in some detail the implications of Russian policy in relation to the Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and situates Putin’s rule in the wider context of Russian and Soviet history. He concludes by noting the tension created by trying to combine traditional Russian emphasis on military power and regional domination with the logic of financial capitalism.

Available online at:

https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii94/articles/perry-anderson-incommensurate-russia

The Checklist to End Tyranny: How Dissidents Will Win 21st Century Civil Resistance Campaigns

Author(s): Peter Ackerman

International Center for Nonviolent Conflict Press, Washington D.C., 2021, pp. pb

This ICNC publication is designed to help opponents of autocratic regimes 'become more strategic and more skillful' in their struggle for democracy. The booklet is also directed towards professionals in democracy promotion and foreign policy to assist their understanding of the issues involved. Ackerman founded ICNC and is the author of important books on civil resistance.

China's Forced Labor Problem

Author(s): Peter Bengsten

In: The Diplomat

The author notes that forced labour is a sensitive and rarely publicized topic, although it has existed in China for decades, for example in construction work.  It sometimes surfaces, as in the 2007 scandal about children, the elderly and adults with disabilities who were kidnapped in Zhanxi province, often with the collusion of local authorities, and forced to work in brick kilns.  Later similar stories in other provinces came to light.  The article also covers other forms of exploitation, such as students forced to work cheaply as interns in order to graduate - a practice that received global attention in 2012 in relation to electronic supply chains.  The author notes the role of local NGOs and sometimes the local media in exposing abuses.  

See also: Bengsten, Peter, 'Hidden in Plain Sight: Forced Labour Constructing  China', openDemocracy, (16 Feb, 2018), https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/hidden-in-plain-sight-forced-labour-constructing-china/

Available online at:

https://thediplomat.com/2018/03/china-forced-labor-problem/

Students Lead New Wave of Democracy Protest in Thailand

Author(s): Peter Boyle

In: Green Left Weekly, 2020

Reports on the wave of student protests across the country since the July 18 rally in front of the Democracy Monument. Focuses particularly on a protest on 19 August by thousands at Thammasat University in Bangkok (which has iconic significance in the history of Thai pro-democracy struggles), the largest of many student-led protests that day.

Democracy and Student Discontent: Chilean Student Protest in the Post-Pinochet Era

Author(s): Peter Cummings

In: Journal of Politics in Latin America, 2015

Cummings notes that despite a significant reduction in poverty levels, and the establishment of political democracy since the end of the Pinochet regime in 1990, there were widespread high school and student protests in 2006 and 2011. These were supported by most of the population and indicated serious discontent. He suggests three main reasons: a gap between student expectations and ability to realize them; their collective sense of identity as a fearless new generation; and the specific interactions between the government and the students. 

The History of the German Resistance, 1933-1945

3rd edn

Author(s): Peter Hoffman

McGill-Queens University Press, Montreal, 1996, pp. 872

Originally published: 1977

Standard work covering all aspects of the internal German resistance, including various forms of nonviolent protest, though with a major focus on the 1944 Generals’ Plot.

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