Dawn in Nyasaland: The Test Case in Africa

Author(s): Guy Clutton Brock

Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1959, pp. 192

Clutton Brock, a member of the African National Congress, worked with a village cooperative in Southern Rhodesia. Puts the political and economic case against the Federation, justifying strikes and ‘disorderly conduct’ in Nyasaland, because 20 years of constitutional tactics had been unsuccessful. Chronology of political events in Nyasaland from 1859 (coming of Livingstone) to proposed conference on constitution of Federation in 1960.

I’m gonna lay down that Atom Bomb: A Scottish peace initiative focused on the power of money

Author(s): Micheal Orgel, Linda Pearson, and Guy Johnson

In: Peace News, No 2628-2629, 2019, pp. 7ff

This article describes the ‘Don’t Bank on the Bomb’ campaign to promote disinvestment in companies that have a role in producing nuclear weapons. Some of these, for example BAE Systems, have factories in Scotland and others have benefited from Scottish funding, including investment by Scottish pensions schemes.  Notes that this investment is inconsistent with opposition of many Scottish MPs and the Scottish government to renewal of Trident, and suggests campaigning tactics.

Spring in Winter: The 1989 Revolutions

(Preface by Vaclav Havel)

Editor(s): Gwyn Prins

Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1990, pp. 251

Includes reflections by leading participants in revolutions from Hungary, Poland, East Germany and Czechoslovakia, a journalist’s view of ‘Why Romania could not avoid bloodshed’, and an essay by J.K. Galbraith on dangers of the triumph of a simplistic economic ideology, and a comparative chronology of 1988-1990.

For the Sake of Wales: The Memoirs of Gwynfor Evans

Updated edition, with Foreword by Dafydd Elis Thomas, and epilogue by Steve Dubè

Author(s): Gwynfor Evans

Welsh Academic Press, Caernarfon, 2001, pp. 281

Originally published: 1986

Memoirs of this key figure in the nationalist movement and committed advocate of nonviolence.

Dominican protesters call attention to femicide, urge New Yorkers to take action

Author(s): Gwynne Hogan

In: WNYC, 2018

Briefly reports on ex-pats from the Dominican Republic who marched on the streets of Washington Heights, denouncing an epidemic of gender-based killings in their home country, where an average of 200 femicides per year occur. The protest in New York was called “March Against the Plague of Femicide”.

See also https://www.vibe.com/2018/03/new-york-marches-against-dominican-femicide  and https://borgenproject.org/challenges-for-women-in-the-dominican-republic/

Available online at:

https://www.wnyc.org/story/dominican-protesters-decry-femicide-dominican-republic-womens-day/

Czechoslovakia’s Interrupted Revolution

Author(s): H. Gordon Skilling

Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1976, pp. 924

Especially chapters 21-22 (pp. 659-758). Charts the background to and evolution of the Prague Spring, international reactions to it and mounting Soviet and Warsaw Pact pressure, before outlining the August 1968 invasion and popular and official unarmed resistance to it. Skilling also discusses reasons for the gradual end to resistance and acceptance of the replacement of Dubcek by Husak.

Contextualising street sexual harassment in Morocco: a discriminatory sociocultural representation of women

Author(s): Habiba Chafai

In: The Journal of North African Studies, Vol 22, No 5, 2017, pp. 821-840

This study seeks to reveal the relationship between the stereotypical images of Moroccan girls and women and the violence that is often committed against them. It suggests that women’s location in the power structures of the family, school, media and the law, as well as their unequal access to the economic and political spheres, all contribute to fostering violent attitudes and practices against women in the public arena. The evolution of the status of women requires changes in their freedom-of-movement, security and emancipation. Future research should address women’s discourse and experiences of street harassment as well as its social meaning, prevalence, severity and impact.

Behind Lebanon's Protests

Author(s): Hajar Alem, and Nicas Dot-Poullard

In: Le Monde Diplomatique, 2020

Two months after the mass demonstrations started, the authors note that protests are continuing, despite the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri on 30 October. Many of the demonstrators did not approve of his replacement Hassan Diab, appointed on 19 December to head a government of technocrats. The article comments on the evolution of a left wing economic agenda and the groups within the movement who support it. But the main focus is on the longer term and recent causes of the financial crisis which prompted the outbreak of major protests.

The Queer African Reader

Author(s): Sokari Ekine, and Hakima Abbas

Pambazuka Press, Cape Town, 2013, pp. 220

Wide ranging reader including poetry and analysis, personal testimonies, and activist accounts and discussions of strategy. Testament to resistance of LGBT communities across the continent.

Iraqi Youth Protesters: Who They Are, What They Want, and What's Next

Author(s): Haley Bobseina

Middle East Institute2019

This analysis, written at an early stage of the 2019 protests, comments on the combination of longstanding grievances and the recent sources of anger, such as repression of protests calling for jobs for university graduates in September, which led to the mass eruption onto the streets of 'unemployed and underemployed youth' in Shia majority areas. It notes that there was little immediate response in Sunni-majority areas, because of the recent violence of the war against ISIS and fear of being targeted as pro-ISIS, or as supportive of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. The author also examines why Shia protesters reject the existing political parties and often criticize Iran's role in Iraqi politics.

Available online at:

https://www.mei.edu/publications/iraqi-youth-protesters-who-they-are-what-they-want-and-whats-next

The Arab Spring: The End of Postcolonialism

Author(s): Hamid Dabashi

Zed Books, London, 2012, pp. 272

An ambitious attempt to explain 2011 in historical context. Starts from the Green Movement in Iran to chart the difference between ‘political modernity’ and the ‘social modernity’ which is supplanting it. Chapter 1 explores the ‘unfolding’ of the Arab Spring and other chapters include discussion of ‘A New Language of Revolt’ and ‘Race, Gender and Class in Transnational Revolutions’.

The People Want Independence!

Author(s): Hamza Hamouchene

In: New Internationalist, 2020

The author notes that Covid brought a halt in March 2020 to the weekly Friday demonstrations since February 2019, and the parallel student protests every Tuesday. She notes the Hirak's achievements: forcing the Military High Command to distance itself from Boutifleka's political power centre and preventing presidential elections in both April and July 2019, because they were seen as a means to provide legitimacy for military control. The article also comments on the very broad social base of the movement, primarily led by the young, but including 'the working poor', independent trade unions, professional bodies and a prominent role for women.  It then assesses the 'counter-revolution' involving repression of the media and arrests of activists.

Chinese labour struggles

Author(s): Han Dongfang

In: New Left Review, No 34 (July/August), 2005, pp. 65-85

Interview with a former railway worker involved in trade union activity at time of Tiananmen, who now directs the China Labour Bulletin and broadcasts from Hong Kong to promote independent union activity in China.

Anti-sexual violence movement against punitive measures: The feminist activism of Korean WomenLink

Author(s): Hana Choi-Kim

In: Asian Journal of Women's Studies, Vol 24, No 2, 2018, pp. 283-294

In South Korea, punitive measures in response to extreme sex-crimes against children have emerged since the mid-2000s. Some scholars have argued that this punitive turn is a result of the feminist movement against sexual violence and so has been labeled as “carceral feminism.” In this paper the author argues that the Korean feminist movement against sexual violence in fact offers a counter-example to the discourse of “carceral feminism” with respect to their activities and the dynamics surrounding the movement.

#MeToo in the East? Women's rights in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe

Author(s): Hana Srebotjnak

In: OpenDemocracy, 2019

The article discusses the high levels of harassment endured by women in South-East and Eastern Europe, revealed in a 2019 OSCE survey, and the difficulty of speaking out. It gives the example Marija Lukic, who accused the former president of a  municipality in Serbia and was insulted by 50 of his supporters when she went to court. The author also comments very briefly on short but ultimately unsuccessful social media MeToo campaigns in Poland and Romania and suggests that in Hungary the response has been confined to 'liberal and cultural circles'. She records that the Council of Europe's 2011 Istanbul Convention on preventing violence against women was ratified by Serbia in November 2017 and Croatia in 2018, but has not been ratified by the Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Moldova, Ukraine or Russia.   

Available online at:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/democraciaabierta/international-civil-society--week/metoo-east-womens-rights-south-eastern-and-eastern-eur

Pages