Popular Protest in China

Author(s): Teresa Wright

Polity Press, Cambridge, 2018, pp. 256

Wright's survey of protest covers the whole of the post-Mao period, examining the range of different types of protest by farmers, workers and urban homeowners, as well as environmentalists, dissidents, and ethnic minorities. She notes that popular protest has often achieved some positive response, though protesters also often suffer. The book includes consideration of Xi Jinping's more repressive policy and suggests this could lead to much greater tensions that might threaten regime stability.  Wright also covers protest in Hong Kong in the rather different political context there.

See also:

Wright, Teresa, (ed.) (2019), Handbook of Protest and Resistance in China, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishers, pp. 480.

Survey of various forms of protest in China since 1989 by a range of social groups (for example urban, rural, workers, religious minorities and ethnic minorities), with 29 chapters by experts in the field. The book begins with two overviews of the prospects for regime survival, and the whole gamut of social unrest. It includes sections on environmental protest, information and communication technologies, and also on Hong Kong. 

Rewriting History: Key Moments and Issues of the Last 50 Years of British LGBT History

Author(s): Terrence Higgins Trust

Terrence Higgins Trust, London, 2010, pp. 22

Divided into sections on 1. Campaigns against homo/transphobia; 2.Law and change; 3. Health and wellbeing; and 4. Community and diversity (covering Pride, representation in the media and LGBT communities and spaces). Includes coverage of policing, Section 28, civil partnerships and HIV/AIDS and mental health issues.

Available online at:

http://www.tht.org.uk/~/media/Files/Publications/Resources/rewriting-history-resource.ashx

Rosia Montana and Romania’s Decade Long “Gold War”

Author(s): Tessa Dunlop

In: BBC News, 2012

See also: Earthworks ‘No Dirty Gold: Rosia Montana’: http://nodirtygold.earthworksaction.org; Solly, Richard ‘Festival of Resistance to Romanian Gold Mine’, London Mining Network, 18 Aug . 2014: http://londonminingnetwork.org
Sources for 15 year long local resistance in Romania to open-pit gold mine (which would use cyanide), proposed by Toronto-based Gabriel Resources, and for the evolution of government policy and legal challenges. The mine became a focus of national resistance in September 2013. The local opponents propose that the site should become a UNESCO heritage area (the open cast mine would destroy the original Roman gold mine) and a centre for farming.

Available online at:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-19428193

The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism and the Crisis of Democracy

Author(s): Thant Myint-U

W. W. Norton , New York, 2019, pp. 320 pb

This well-received book by a Burmese historian (and grandson of UN Secretary General U Thant) explores the complexities of the ethnic and religious composition of Burma/Myanmar, which has never fully cohered as a country since it acquired independence from the British Empire after the Second World War.  The book focuses particularly on the period since the cyclone of 2008, which killed almost 400,000 people and exposed the ineffectiveness of the military regime when constructive action was needed.   

Resistance to Military Regime in Myanmar Mounts as Nurses, Bankers Join Protests - Despite Bloody Crackdown

Author(s): Tharaphi Than

In: The Conversation, 2021

A report on the resistance movement six weeks after the coup. This is one of a number of relevant articles carried by The Conversation (an independent international source of news and analysis run by academics) on the coup and resistance to it and on the wider context in Myanmar. 

Available online at:

https://theconversation.com/resistance-to-military-regime-in-myanmar-mounts-as-nurses-bankers-join-protests-despite-bloody-crackdown-155452

Rentier state and Shi’a Islam in the Iranian Revolution

Author(s): Theda Skocpol

In: Theory and Society, Vol 11, No 3, 1982, pp. 265-283

Skopcol is well known for her theoretical contribution to the theory of revolution, stressing the role of the state (States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia and China, Cambridge University Press, 1979), here she applies her framework to the Iranian Revolution of 1977-79.

Soziale Verteidigung

Author(s): Theodor Ebert

2 volumes, Waldkircher Verlagsgesellschaft, Waldkirch, 1981, pp. 387

  • Vol. 1: Historische Erfahrungen und Grundzuege der Strategie, 1981, 193pp;
  • Vol. 2. Formen und Bedingungen des Zivilen Widerstands, 1981, 194 pp.

Ebert has researched important examples of earlier nonviolent resistance, e.g. the 1953 East German uprising, and has been a leading theorist of nonviolent action and civilian defence since the 1960s. Both books are compilations of articles Ebert wrote on the subject in the 1970s.

Gewaltfreier Aufstand. Alternative zum Bürgerkrieg

(4th edition)

Author(s): Theodor Ebert

Waldkircher Verlagsgesellschaft, Waldkirchen, 1981, pp. 253

Analysis of nonviolent resistance by leading German scholar of nonviolent uprisings, based on his dissertation. In this book Ebert outlines an often quoted series of steps in the escalation of nonviolent action.

Erfolg durch zivilen Ungehorsam?

Author(s): Theodor Ebert

In: Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegung, Vol 25, No 1, 2012, pp. 60-65

Social movements come into being due to contradictions within a society.  They create a growing  number of people that fear a social catastrophe or believe they can change the current situation.  These motives also provide legitimation for people to protest, resist or, in some circumstances, even promote a radical change in their society.

Rose, Orange and Tulip: The failed post-Soviet revolutions

Author(s): Theodor Tudoriou

In: Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Vol 40, No 2 (Sept), 2007, pp. 315-342

Argues that civil society (despite its role in the opposition ) was too weak in these cases to achieve basic change, and that the democratic revolutions ‘proved to be little more than a limited rotation of ruling elites within undemocratic political systems’.

The World Peace Brigade: Vision and Failure

Author(s): Theodore Olson

In: Our Generation Against Nuclear War, Vol 3, No 1, 1961, pp. 34-41

The World Peace Brigade was founded in 1962 to develop the potential of transnational action. Its first project in Central Africa was planning a march in support of Zambian claims to independence (the march became unnecessary); the second was the Delhi Peking Friendship March to promote understanding at the time of the brief border war between India and China.

For more on the Brigade, see Prasad, Devi, War is a Crime Against Humanity: The Story of War Resisters’ International, London, War Resisters’ International, 2005, pp. 325-31.

Facing domestic violence against women in Brazil: advances and challenges

Author(s): Thiago De Avila

In: International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy (IJCJ&SJ),, Vol 7, No 2, 2018, pp. 15-29

This article offers a critical overview of the Brazilian legal framework for confronting domestic violence. Intimate partner homicides are epidemic in Brazil: there are four deaths of women per day. In 2006, the Maria da Penha Law (MPL) introduced integrated polices and transformed criminal procedures to deal with the complexities of gender violence. Reforms included the establishment of The House of Brazilian Women, women‐only police stations, specialised courts, intervention orders, interdisciplinary experts, and perpetrator programs. In 2015, a new law established the crime of femicide and was designed to prevent ‘honour killings’ defences in cases of intimate partner homicides and to avoid impunity. Despite the legal reforms, the structure and articulation of the networks of services remains a challenge. The MPL led to great social change in Brazil by raising awareness of violence against women, and facilitating a broader discussion about gender equality.

Democratizing the roles of women: Reading feminist voices

Author(s): Thianlalmuan Ngaihte

In: Asian Journal of Women's Studies, Vol 24, No 4, 2018, pp. 526-539

This article explores some feminist voices from India, especially one of a Dalit feminist, and two Northeastern feminists, and identifies certain views on common issues that bind them together. It also looks into the different priorities of each of these feminists, in order to understand the contexts, cultures and experiences that have shaped their primary concerns.

Slow to start, Japan is finally having a #MeToo moment

Author(s): Thisanka Siripala

In: PRI, 2018

Addresses the development of the #MeToo movement in Japan that captured the nation's attention in April 2018 after a top-ranking Finance Ministry official was accused by a female reporter of repeated sexual harassment. A secret recording published online revealed the bureaucrat asking the reporter, “Can I kiss you?” and “Can I hug you?” and “Can I touch your breasts?” during an interview.

See also https://qz.com/1697589/japans-kutoo-movement-rejects-mandatory-high-heels-for-women/

Available online at:

https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-04-30/slow-start-japan-finally-having-metoo-moment

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