Biblio

This paper analyses conceptual and tactical approaches adopted by Las Fuertes, a feminist organization that campaign for abortion rights in the conservative Mexican state of Guanajuato. Since a series of United Nations agreements throughout the 1990s enshrined reproductive rights as universal human rights, Mexican feminists have adopted the human rights platform as the basis for lobbying the government to reform restrictive abortion laws. This strategy has been successful in Mexico City in 2007 when abortion was legalised. Rather than seeking to implement abortion laws through legalistic channels, Las Fuertes has effectively challenged Mexican reproductive governance in an adversarial political environment.

Compares the evolution of the role of women in the Japanese and Chinese society from the 19^th Century to today.

To celebrate the first anniversary from the repeal of the Eight Amendment of the Irish Constitution that prevented women accessing abortion even in cases of rape and incest, Ailbhe Smyth, the co-director of the ‘Together for Yes’ campaign in Ireland, is interviewed on First Person and describes what it was like for women in Ireland to live under the ban, and how the predominantly Catholic country managed to overturn it. She also talks about the laws passed in 2019 in Alabama and other parts of the United States that ban most abortions. See also https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/world-reaction-ireland-historic-vote-abortion-rights/

This study examines of how religion (Christianity, Islam and indigenous religions) influences the laws and policies on African women’s reproductive rights. Using South Africa as a case study, this paper elaborates on the influence of religion on South African women’s reproductive rights and the African world in general.

Feldman attended a conference on anti-corruption organized by the new government in 2018 with judges, prosecutors and investigators. The focus of the article is an examination of how far the nature of the rebellion (and its wider context) might be expected to promote a more democratic government committed to end corruption. After making comparisons with other countries, they provisionally conclude that the prospects for a transition to a government respecting the rule of law are positive.

Describes in some detail the first symbolic demonstration by 150 people on 29 March and the preparations for the major protests on March 30 and examines how the Great March and the Israeli reaction evolved.   See also: Darweish and Rigby, Popular Protest in Palestine (E.V.A.3.)

The author, a former Royal Hong Kong Police officer living in Hong Kong, provides a detailed chronological account of the protests in 2019. He examines both the protesters' tactics and the Hong Kong police strategy and tactics in dealing with the protests, as well as critically assessing the political responses by the Hong Kong government and Beijing.

Rossdale has studied a range of British campaigning groups taking radical forms of direct action to resist militarism and the arms trade, including the Campaign against Arms Trade and the broad coalition involved in Stop the Arms Fair. He describes some of their protests over the previous 15 years, such as peace camps, auctioning off a tank outside an arms fair and protesters supergluing themselves to the London offices of Lockheed Martin, and argues for the 'radical and ethical potential of prefigurative direct action'. He also develops a depiction of militarism from the standpoint of those resisting it, and examines the disagreements and debates between protesters, including the interpretation of nonviolence. Chapters cover feminist and queer anti-militarism, and the lack of racial diversity among the protesters.

A brief overview of the factors that led to the revolution in April 2019 and the toppling of Omar al-Bashir.

The article discusses the significance of the UN Working Group Opinion no.40/2018 for securing the right to conscientious objection and freedom of thought internationally.

Briefly explores the development of the feminist movement in South Korea in response to the country’s sexism, which is pervading different aspects of society. See also https://www.economist.com/asia/2018/12/08/south-korean-women-v-the-patriarchy and https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46478449

Highlights important challenges that women face in the Kurdish part of Syria; Tunisia; Morocco; Egypt; and the Persian Gulf in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.

Although President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Gender-Based Violence Declaration in April 2019, promising that the government would strengthen its fight against gender-based violence (GBV), which he called a national crisis, activists say that little has been done to tackle the issue. This article includes the requests advanced by the movement, links to other national campaigns and data regarding gender-based violence since 2016. See the report on Gender-Based Violence Declaration here https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/gender-based-violence-declaration-south-africa/

Ms Saffaa is a Saudi artist who paints murals to support feminists in Saudi Arabia and transmits her art and political messages through the Internet. She is in exile in Australia (where she had a scholarship to study), having refused to return to Saudi Arabia to renew her passport, and campaigns against the 'guardianship laws', declaring 'I am my own guardian'. The article reproduces one of her murals.

This is the third, substantially revised and updated, edition of the volume first published in 2005 and reissued in a 2nd edition in 2009, by two US professors, specialists in atmospheric sciences and environmental law respectively. It explores climate change as a new type of environmental problem, the interplay of science and politics, the policy debates about climate change and possible approaches to tackling the problem. The book is designed to be suitable for undergraduate courses. 

The author examines the context surrounding the #MeToo movement in China, how hashtags were used to circumvent censorship, and the role that Chinese diasporic communities played in the process. The results demonstrate the practice of disguised collective action, and the choices made by different actors in attempting to circumvent censorship.

Blain traces the vital role women played in shaping Black nationalist politics between the 1920s and 1960s. It is addressed to anyone wanting to better understand the history of race, empire, and imperialism in the twentieth century. See also https://www.aaihs.org/feminism-gender-politics-and-black-nationalist-women/; https://africanarguments.org/2017/03/08/how-african-feminism-changed-the-world/; https://iycoalition.org/what-is-african-feminism-an-introduction/; https://thedailyaztec.com/90741/opinion/african-feminism-is-on-the-rise/ and https://www.msafropolitan.com/2017/12/what-is-african-feminism-actually.html

Exposes the widespread abuse of young women by lecturers and professors in Universities in Nigeria (as well as Ghana).  You can read the support statement by African Feminist Initiative here http://africanfeminism.com/sex-for-grades-solidarity-statement-by-african-feminist-initiative/, retrieve the different episodes on BBC’s website https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=sex+for+grades and read an interview with Kiki Mordi, the journalists behind the BBC documentary here https://www.okayafrica.com/interview-with-kiki-mordi-nigerian-journalist-behind-sex-for-grades/

Since the end of 2017, many controversies and social media campaigns, especially the “#MeToo” movement, have kept the issue of sexual harassment in the public eye, intentionally, but its impact in Japan has been limited. This is surprising as sexual harassment is prevalent in many social spheres in Japan, including in educational institutions. This article outlines the extent of the problem and provides suggestions for classroom activities and educational initiatives to raise awareness for the transformation of currently toxic conditions.

Widely reviewed and recommended account by the two journalists who wrote the New York Times article that exposed and documented Harvey Weinstein’s systematic abuse of women actors and employees over decades. The book reveals the unfolding story they uncovered, exposes in detail the mechanisms of power that silenced many women, and reveals those who resisted these pressures. The second part of the book covers the Senate hearings for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanagh and Blasey Ford’s accusation against him.

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.

This 'long read' article provides a detailed account of the notorious rape of an 18-year-old woman at the Pamplona bull run festival in 2016 and the five man 'wolf pack' responsible.  It assesses the impact of the trial, which in April 2018 found the men guilty of 'sexual abuse', instead of rape, because the woman had not been violently coerced. The rape and the verdict sparked widespread anger among women, who demonstrated across the country, and journalist Cristina Fallaras tweeted about her own experiences of sexual violence and launched the hashtag #Cuentalo (tell your story). The five men were released from jail in June 2018 on bail whilst appealing their prison sentences. Beatley describes the impact on the feminist movement - police estimated 350,000 demonstrated in Madrid and 200,000 in Barcelona and many thousands in other cities and towns on International Women's Day 2019.  But the case has also mobilised the far right party Vox to attack feminists and to claim that the danger of violence against women comes from non-European immigrants.

This article focuses primarily on the Ugandan Women’s Parliamentary Association (UWOPA) as a key part of the wider women’s movement in Uganda. It considers how women members of parliament were able to give more prominence to women’s concerns in policy debates, but also how they were strengthened, when pressing for gender-sensitive laws and policies, by women’s collective backing. The findings also show that success in achieving laws such as Domestic Violence Act and Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation was due to collaborating with male legislators, some of whom joined UWOPA.

Examines how nonviolent marches and rallies against the Extradition Bill developed into more militant protest and violent clashes after repressive use of police tactics, and how the protesters extended their political agenda to demand wider political reforms and police accountability.

Two authors with a longstanding interest in nonviolent alternatives to military force restate the case for social defence, given the damage caused by military systems, and summarize examples of popular resistance  in the past to coups and invasions. They also consider the relevance of political changes and social movements since the end of the Cold War.