Biblio

This blog post received criticisms for the failure to include the voices of migrants, people of colour, trans and non-binary people in the Irish referendum campaign. The original blog post is preserved for transparency and accountability. It includes, however, a more recent response acknowledging the criticisms that have been made against it.  It is a good source of information for activists on how to establish a more inclusive type of communication on issues related to abortion rights.

Article following the Court of Appeal judgement that the British government had unlawfully approved arms sales to Saudi Arabia despite a clear risk that they would be used in Yemen contrary to international humanitarian law. Wearing comments on t he UK's historic support for Saudi Arabia since the 1920s and central role in providing military aircraft and weapons under both Conservative and Labour governments, despite a major fraud scandal under Mrs Thatcher over an arms deal. See also:: Smith, Andrew, 'Saudi Arms Sales were Illegal Says Court', Peace News, 2632-26 33, Aug.-Sept. 2019, p. 5. The media coordinator of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) sets out the case against arming Saudi Arabia to fight in Yemen - tends of thousands killed as result of bombing over previous four years and at least 4.7. billion pounds worth of fighter jets, bombs and missiles licensed for sale from the UK. Notes the British government has appealed against the verdict to the Supreme Court. See also: 'About CAAT: Ending  the Arms Trade', https://www.caat.org.uk/issues/introduction/ending-the-arms-trade Sets out aims of campaign and details of organization and provides links  to the UK Court of Appeal ruling and other relevant issues See also: 'Unions and  NGOs  Block Saudi Arms Ship', Peace News, 2630-2631, June-July 2019, p. 5. Brief report on direct action by Italian dock workers from the CGiL union and activists from Potere al Popolo and peace groups in Genoa, who prevented generators being loaded onto the Bahri Yanbu, because they could be used in Yemen. The ship had previously been deterred from loading weapons  in France by two court cases launched by human rights groups against the shipment.

The author, who was a member of the Mexican government delegation throughout the negotiations for the Treaty, explains the significance of detailed provisions of the Treaty, and its overall importance as a multilateral arms control treaty. He also notes the close links between the Mexican and US delegations during the talks.

France, which abolished conscription in 1997, reintroduced a new form of universal national service for 16 year olds in 2018, which extended to women as well as men and included forms of social as well as military service.  Bock's article discusses the national debate at a time when the new form of service was being tested by over 2,000 young  volunteers in a pilot programme. The eventual service will be compulsory, with no exceptions recognized, and penalties envisaged included being banned from taking the academic qualification the baccalaureat or a driving  test. See also: Williamson, Lucy, 'France's Macron brings back National Service', BBC News, 27 June 2018. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44625625  This report stresses that Macron's original plan had been 'softened and broadened' with less focus on military experience and with an emphasis on fostering social cohesion.

As there is an anti-abortion majority on the Supreme Court, and several states only have one abortion clinic, many reproductive rights activists are on the defensive, hoping to hold on to abortion in a few places and cases. This book explains abortion access in the United States, and makes the argument for building a militant feminist movement to promote reproductive freedom. Also watch the launching of the book and related conference at this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhZfC0tGBpc

The authors note that the Cameroon government had announced the goal of restoring 12 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 and had applied for support from the Bonn Challenge and AFR100 initiatives. They argue that women, who constitute over 60% of the rural workforce in Central Africa, have a crucial role to play, and examine some forms of restoration so far undertaken by women’s groups in Cameroon.

Report on the signing of the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment (WEEE) Act by President Trump in the midst of the US Government shutdown, which aims at promoting opportunities for female entrepreneurs worldwide.

The writer, educator and environmentalist Katharine Wilkinson illustrates the need for climate leadership that is 'more conventionally feminine and more faithfully feminist'.

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

By tracing everyday breadwinner practices from the early industrial period to the democratic period (largely between 1960s and 2000s) in Korea, and by observing that the Confucian hierarchy of male supremacy continued into the early industrial period, despite the significant contributions of women to earning a living for their families, this study illustrates the changes in dynamics relating to women’s subordination.

Distinguished British economist Vicky Pryce examines how discrimination against women is built into the free market system, both in terms of the pay gap, glass ceiling and obstacles to entering work; and also in the implications of the growing role of robots. She argues that equality for women requires ‘radical changes to contemporary capitalism’.

Letter published by The Guardian on International Women’s Day 2019, signed by women activists and actresses, as a public statement advocating the protection of women’s rights worldwide. Another letter addressed to an international audience was published by The Guardian and was signed by prominent African women from all spheres titled ‘Equality for African women’. It can be accessed on here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/08/equality-for-african-women.

Report monitoring the political participation of women in Honduras, and investigating the causes and implications of women’s absence from institutions and public decision-making processes.

This report analyzes substantive decisions on workplace sexual harassment at each of the BC and Ontario Human Rights Tribunals from 2000-2018, to ascertain how the law of sexual harassment is understood, interpreted and applied by the Tribunals’ adjudicators. In particular, the report examines whether, and to what extent, gender-based stereotypes and myths, known to occur in criminal justice proceedings, arise in the human rights context. It also examines substantive decisions on sexual harassment in the workplace from 2000-2018.

Account of preparation by indigenous communities to resist the destruction of the rainforest by farmers, miners and loggers backed by far right President Jair Bolsonaro. The article focuses on the discussions, held in the small riverine community Manolito in Terro do Meio, between indigenous people and international activists, including Extinction Rebellion UK organisers, Belgian activists in the School Strike and from the Russian feminist punk group Pussy Riot. Watts outlines the wider Brazilian context, and discusses how international participants revised their ideas and campaigning plans as a result of the meeting, which was named 'Amazon: Centro do Mundo'.

Account of preparation by indigenous communities to resist the destruction of the rainforest by farmers, miners and loggers backed by far right President Jair Bolsonaro. The article focuses on the discussions, held in the small riverine community Manolito in Terro do Meio, between indigenous people and international activists, including Extinction Rebellion UK organisers, Belgian activists in the School Strike and from the Russian feminist punk group Pussy Riot. Watts outlines the wider Brazilian context, and discusses how international participants revised their ideas and campaigning plans as a result of the meeting, which was named 'Amazon: Centro do Mundo'.

Describes the ‘Stand To End Rape Initiative’ and the #ArewaMeToo campaign in Nigeria (‘Arewa’ means ‘northern’) to combat the widespread sexual harassment of young women in the country. Provides background on the difficulty of achieving accountability, due to the very conservative culture.

This special supplement in the paper focusing especially on the homeless (and sold by them) takes up the climate crisis and the role of youth activism. Features young people arguing for climate change to be on the school curriculum, and interviewing the UK Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, Caroline Lucas (the sole Green MP in the UK Parliament), and representatives of Marks and Spencer about their clothing and recycling policies. Includes interviews with young naturalists and activists in different parts of the country.

The author draws on a data set of 1,418 protests in China to argue that the  state does allow a limited space for protest and that most protesters operate within these limits.  Therefore 'contention' in China is a non-zero sum game, as opposed to the extremes of revolt and repression often studied in the past.

A comprehensive report on the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign held from 25 November 2018 (the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) to 10 December 2018 (Human Rights Day) to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world. The report provides links to previous years’ campaigns.

Downing demonstrates how on 9 November 1983 the USSR put its nuclear  forces on high alert in fear of a pre-emptive US nuclear strike, bringing the world close to nuclear war. (Fortunately the US did not react rapidly.) Whereas in 1962 both sides in the Cuba crisis knew it could trigger nuclear war (and tried frantically to avert it), in 1983 the Reagan Administration had no idea that its renewed Cold War anti-communist rhetoric and military build-up (including  'Star Wars' plans) were seen by Moscow as a rationale and strategy for an attack. A NATO exercise and change in codes were therefore interpreted as a prelude to attack. Downing revealed the main lines of this story in a TV documentary in 2008.

This online report includes up-to-date links to the status of the legislation on sexual harassment in every state in the US.

This article, which draws on fieldwork in Andalusia in 2015 and 2016, examines the general position on abortion there. It traces earlier history: before 1983, when abortion was illegal; and developments up to the 2010 law (passed by the Socialist government) which allowed termination of pregnancy in the early stages at a woman’s request. When the Conservative government under Mariano Rajoy introduced the very restrictive ‘Gallardon’ bill in December 2013, it prompted widespread and ultimately largely successful opposition, in which feminists were prominent. The author, who interviewed gynaecologists in public hospitals and certified private clinics, health service staff, and pro-abortion and feminist activists, examines the ‘discourses’ used in the debate over the Gallardon bill. She also assesses the impact of that debate on provision of abortion in Andalusia, with particular reference to the role of conscientious objection by medical staff and the stigma of abortion. 

On the 23rd March 2018, tens of thousands of Polish citizens demonstrated against the right-wing populist government’s renewed attempt (after its defeat in 2016) to make the existing abortion laws even more restrictive. In what has become known as the #BlackProtest movement, people dressed in black to show their opposition to attempts to restrict abortion. This paper explores the laws, regulations and policies related to abortion in Poland within a wider global context.

This book, which covers the period from the early peace process in the 1980s to 2017, is a comprehensive study of abortion politics and policy in Northern Ireland. Adopting a feminist institutionalist framework, the author illustrates the ways in which abortion has been addressed at both the national level at Westminster and the devolved level at Stormont.