In: Council on Foreign Relations, 2019
A report tracking women’s participation in peace negotiations from 1990 to the present. It reveals that women comprise only two percent of mediators, five percent of witnesses and signatories, and eight percent of negotiators around the world.
See also https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/03AWomenPeaceNeg.pdf
In: TeleSur, 2019
Human rights activists have opposed President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s plan to cut funding for women’s shelters in Mexico. The scheme is still not properly defined, but the money will instead be given directly to the victims of domestic violence. While the government’s decision does not intend to withdraw support for victims, human rights activists point out the risk of nullifying years of activism and initiatives led by civil society. In fact, they stress that giving money directly to victims can further expose them to violence.
Kōsei Publishing, Tokyo, 1986, pp. 206
First hand account of 25 hibakushas, survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. They include soldiers, doctors, nurses, students, housewives, small children, Koreans brought to Japan for forced labour, and victims who were yet unborn.
In: Human Rights Watch, 2021
Critical account of the Indian government's response to the farmers' protest in central Delhi on Independence Day. This response included shutting down the internet, charging six journalists with sedition, promoting communal disharmony and making statements prejudicial to national integration.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/02/india-journalists-covering-farmer-protests-charged
Grassroots movement aiming at preventing nuclear war.
2019
Official website of ‘Back From the Brink’, a grassroots movement that aims to involve local councils and Members of Congress in the U.S. and pressure them to change U.S. nuclear policies. Their demands are:
- Renounce ‘first use’ option;
- End the sole presidential authority to launch a nuclear attack;
- Take U.S. nuclear weapons off ‘hair-trigger’ alert;
- Cancel U.S. plan to replace its entire nuclear arsenal with enhanced weapons;
- Pursue total abolition.
See also http://www.nuclearban.us/back-from-the-brink-a-call-to-prevent-nuclear-war/ and https://www.wagingpeace.org/.
In: BBC News, 2017
Reports on death in custody of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who was prominent in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstration and continued to defy the regime. He was serving an 11-year sentence for his role in promoting Charter 08 in 2008, calling for multi-party democracy. The report elaborates on his life and the responses to his death.
In: Journal of Democracy, Vol 28, No 4, 2017, pp. 60-116
This supplement contains a number of articles exploring the nature of 'Putinism', the degree of regime stability, the extent of genuine popular support, and the implications of Putin’s post 2014 international policy for Russia internally. Authors provide varied perspectives, including an assessment of increasing popular frustration, especially among young people.
In: Socialist Worker, 2019
A comprehensive exploration of the development of feminist movements in the Middle East, despite the wars led by authoritarian states, western imperialistic powers, and reactionary fundamentalist forces.
https://socialistworker.org/2019/02/22/metoo-in-the-middle-east
In: RUSI, 2020
Compilation of historic documents recording the negotiations during the 1960s published by the Royal United Services Institute on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The documents can be found in pdf at the link provided.
https://rusi.org/rusi-news/marking-50th-anniversary-nuclear-non-proliferation-treaty
In: The Economist, 2019, pp. 48-48
This article was prompted by the Supreme Court's ruling in November 2018 that refusing to accept 21-14 months of military service for religious or conscientious reasons would no longer be a crime (overturning its own earlier 2003 ruling). The author notes that the small number of past objectors have usually been Jehovah's Witnesses, and that courts would in future judge the sincerity of pacifist convictions which they might reject, and that, if CO status were accepted, three years alternative service as a prison guard was required. But recognition of the right to be a CO makes it a more socially acceptable position, and might also help to mitigate the harsh conditions of military service.
In: Peace News, 2020
On 23 January, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved its Doomsday Clock (created in 1947) from two minutes to midnight to 100 seconds to midnight, which is the closest that it has ever been to the prospect of human destruction. This article makes the case for Britain unilaterally dismantling its nuclear weapons programme; firstly, from a legal perspective, and secondly, from a practical perspective.
https://www.peacenews.info/blog/9616/case-unilateral-nuclear-disarmament
In: Broadly, 2017
Explores the struggles and campaigns on anti-sexual harassment and gender equality led by Li Maizi in China - where she was arrested for more than a month as part of the Feminist Five – and the UK, where she came visiting on the occasion of the Million Women Rise demonstration in London.
In: Amnesty international, 2018
After summarizing the dire economic and social conditions among the 1.9 million Palestinians in Gaza (70 per cent of whom are registered as refugees from other parts of Israeli territory) after years of blockade and damage from military attacks, Amnesty focuses on the destructive Israeli military reaction to the Great March.
See also: Wispelwey, Bram and Yasser Abu Jamel. 'The Great March of Return: Lessons from Gaza on Mass Resistance and Mental Health', HHR: Health and Human Rights Journal, vol. 22 no. 1 (June 2020), pp. 179-86.
The article describes how the blockade and Israeli attacks have undermined mental health in the community. The authors assess the positive impact on communal mental health created initially by the March of Return resistance movement. But they argue that this has been offset by the impact of death, disability and trauma many have suffered as a result, and by the longer-term failure to achieve better conditions. The authors then examine what health workers can learn about the 'psychosocial consequences of community organizing’.
Feb-Mar 2019
In: Peace News, No 2626-2627, 2019, pp. 11ff
Reports that after years of resistance by German green activists against open cast coal mining, which had already destroyed much of the Hambach forest, the rest of the forest seemed to be safe. A government-appointed 'coal exit commission' recommended in January 2019 that Germany should stop using coal-fired energy by 2038 and that it was 'desirable' to preserve the Hambach forest. A court order requested by the German Friends of the Earth (BUND) had already temporarily halted expansion of the mine, after major protests by the campaign Ende Gelaende, which included occupying coal train tracks
See also: Polden, David, '4,000 Activists Block German Coal Trains for 24 Hours', Peace News, 2624-2625, Dec.2018-Jan.2019, p.5.
Very brief report on Ende Gelaende direct action.
United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), New York, 2016, pp. 76
This publication focuses on the role of the Japanese hibakusha’s (atomic bomb survivors) experience in advocating for a Treaty that could ban nuclear weapons. It also discusses the impact of nuclear weapons on the environment as well as the human body, and offers arguments that delegitimise nuclear violence.
In: The Guardian, 2021
The Guardian spoke to six young indigenous activists from the Ecuadorian Amazon, Chad, Alaska, Sweden, Indonesia and Australia about what they think about COP 26.
In: Economist, 2018
Brief overview on the recent rise in feminist activity, on the advances of women in jobs and their role within the judiciary. It focuses especially on the new role for women religious scholars.
In: Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, 2018
In this seminar, the impact of #MeToo was discussed in relation to the UK and Japan. The speakers outlined the implications and effects that the movement has had across each society and the extent to which it may impact government policies and legislation. The discussion also noted the challenges that the movement faces in both Japan and the UK.
A link to the video of the Conference can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XqL--SOaJI
A summary of two presentation can be read here http://dajf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Metoo-event-write-up.pdf
http://dajf.org.uk/event/new-approaches-metoo-in-japan-and-the-uk
May-June 2020
In: New Internationalist, 2020, pp. 51ff
Brief account celebrating victory after years of campaigning by Indigenous Climate Action against Teck Resources, the company pressing for permission to build the tar sands Frontier Mine in Canada, which would have produced 3.2 billion barrels of oil over 40 years. Teck withdrew early in 2020, after 12 years of lobbying (indigenousclimateaction.com). The journal also reports very briefly that the Great Australian Bight Alliance, led by Aboriginal elders and local activists has in succession prevented Chevron, BP and (most recently) Equinor to abandon plans to drill for oil in the Bight (fightforthebight.org.au.)
In: TeleSur, 2018
Records the approval of the Micaela Law in December 2018, which made the training on gender and violence against women mandatory for all state officials and workers. It also summarises the key points of the Law.