Biblio

A brief overview of how the MeToo movement started to get support in Israel as a consequence of the release of the song ‘Toy’ by Israeli singer Netta Barzilai and her victory at the Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon. The song points to issues around feminism and diversity, and has a strong emphasis on the harassment suffered by women. This article also addresses the lack of attention to the plight that Hindu and Christian women and girls in Pakistan suffer, the fact that they are compelled to convert to Islam and then subsequently forced to marry their captors.

This is a collection of articles authored in The Guardian by journalist Laura Bates, in which she uncovers the sexism underpinning personal relationships, the workplace, the media and society in general.

The authors start from the 2017-18 protests, significant for their 'geographical scope and range of grievances', but emphasize that local unrest linked to a range of economic grievances has been frequent - especially since the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988 - and largely ignored by western media. They consider why the goal of social justice, central to 1979, has not been achieved and the change in policy after 1988 towards 'commercial priorities and top-down policy making'.

Notes a new Moroccan law - Law 103.13 on the elimination of violence against women - that criminalises violence against women. The law was approved by Parliament on 14^th February 2018 and entered into force in September 2018 and punishes various types of violence committed both in the private and public spheres, including rape, sexual harassment and domestic abuse. However, it was criticized for not outlawing marital rape or spousal violence, and failing to provide a precise definition of domestic violence. See also https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/09/morocco-violence-women-law-effect-180912061837132.html and https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/violence-against-women-morocco-girls/

Malak Gharib reports the story of Egyptian-American activist and journalist, Mona Eltahawy, who was sexually assaulted during a pilgrimage at Mecca in 1982 when she was 15. Eltahawy initiated the hashtag #MosqueMeToo after other Arab women shared similar stories on social media. (For further reading, see also https://stepfeed.com/women-are-speaking-out-about-being-sexually-harassed-during-hajj-8156#.WnjdMR8gzo0.twitter)

Discusses ICAN’s work, principles and strategies in the context of the ‘stigmatise – prohibit’ approach that was effective for the signing of the TPNW at the UN General Assembly in 2017.

The year 2017 began with Trump’s presidency, sparking women’s marches in the U.S. and across the globe. This edited collection of empirical studies of the U.S. women’s movement focuses on sociological and historical data. It includes discussions of digital and social media, gender identity and the reinvigorated anti-rape climate, while also focusing on issues of diversity, inclusion, and unacknowledged privilege in the movement.

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

Analysis of the new small unions that are mobilizing workers not previously organized, such as domestic workers (often migrants), and older unions extending their reach to cover young workers in fast food chains, delivering food or driving for Uber. The contributors discuss what is distinctive about the style of the unionism - for example its decentralised leadership and willingness to en gage in occupations, and its support from other campaigning groups. The focus is on the UK but within a context of  global solidarity with similar campaigns. There is also a timeline from 2008 to 2018 highlighting key struggles including by the long established major unions.  

Discusses the development of a new wave of feminism in Latin America, with particular regard to the ‘Ni Una Menos’ movement, and notes its main differences from ‘Me Too’ in the US, particularly in the type of testimonies relayed, and the inclusion and diversity within the Latin American movement. Boesten also reports on the harsh backlash against the newly developing feminist movements, provoked by conservative Catholicism and pays tribute to Colombian writer Emma Reyes, who symbolises the hidden contribution to literature women in Latin America can offer, providing a different perspective on the pervasive violent misogyny in the country.

This paper explores twenty years of legislation to protect women and the progress made. It also examines the attitudes towards women and girls that have been fueled by the thirty-six year internal conflict (1960-1996).

This is the first volume in a study of Gandhi's role in relation to the broader history of Indian movements for justice and independence, by a British historian who has specialised in Indian history and peasant struggles. The book includes important and little known material on Indian 'passive resistance' movements from 1905-1909, charts Gandhi's role in the 'passive resistance' in South Africa 1906-14, and after his return to India his varied links to different forms of peasant resistance in Bijoliya, Champaran (often covered in literautre on Gandhi) and Kheda. This volume concludes with an assessment of Gandhi's evolving theory of nonviolence in relation to other theories of the time, and his leadership role in the 1919 resistance to the Rowlatt Acts.

Analysis of how ICAN, by choosing a precise discursive strategy to establish a categorical prohibition, helped to build the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, placing nuclear weapons in the same legal category as other pariah weapons. The article uses Mary Douglas’ landmark theorization of ‘purity’ and ‘danger’ to explore the development of the ‘nuclear taboo’ and ICAN’s creative manipulation of discourses of nuclear pollution.

Nukewatch focuses on monitoring road convoys carrying nuclear warheads from the Aldermaston Weapons Research Establishment near Reading to missile bases.  The campaign began in the 1980s, and in the 1980s and 1990s Nukewatch also tried to publicize the convoys to the local population by protests along the route. From the 2000s stricter Ministry of Defence controls to ensure secrecy and speed, and Nukewatch’s own concerns about possible acts of terrorism against convoys, led them to limit the information they put on the web.  However, given the growth of social media and publicity about convoys on it, they joined in from 2015, whilst still using information with discretion. See also article by Jane Tallents ‘Warhead Accidents on our Roads – Who’s Responsible?’, p.10. of the same issue of Peace News.

Journalist Giulia Dessi reports on the series of students’ occupations (particularly by young women) that started in Southern Chile on 17 April 2018 and prompted a new wave of feminist civil disobedience. These demonstrations were responding to a case of sexual harassment by a university professor, Carlos Carmona, former president of the Constitutional Court. He was suspended for lack of integrity for only three months after eight months of protests. The students wanted to raise awareness of the systemic character of sexism and they campaigned for the university to put in place policies against sexual harassment. In addition, the students voiced a broader theoretical challenge to free-market capitalism. Following the protest Chilean President, Sebatsian Piñera, announced the ‘Women’s Agenda’ consisting of measures that address gender inequality in the areas of harassment, childcare and health. In November 2018, Chile signed a joint agreement with Peru at the Second Binational Cabinet that established increased sanctions for gender violence and domestic abuse.

The authors draw on data on conflicts over oil production in the Ecuadorian Amazon to argue that not all these movements are primarily motivated by environmental concerns. The note the variety of motives involved. These varied motives also affect how these movements influence policy.

Hobbs explores the tradition of testimony over sexual assault allegations by women of colour – from Harriet Jacobs’ case in 1861 up to now - and how that has facilitated testimony today in the US. She advocates a more inclusive narrative that can overcome the gender-only or race-only approach to telling stories of sexual abuse.

Investigates this historical tradition of resistance to involvement in armed conflict. In particular, it discusses peacemaking efforts in the United States. It also examines the entirety of American history, from the colonial era to modern times and reveals the multiple religious and secular motivations of peace seekers in the US. Finally, it examines how war and those who oppose war have been portrayed in popular media over the centuries.

This article describes the initiative a young Palestinian-American took to confront patriarchy and sexism in the West Bank and the lack of protection for women, despite legal reforms formally taking place in its territories. Yasmeen Mjalli is the inventor of T-shirts, hoodies and jackets with the slogan ‘I Am Not Your Habibti (darling)’, an expression typically used for catcalling women and young girls. Sexual harassment is a taboo subject in Palestine, which is still dominated by a culture of victim blaming, like many other parts of the Arab World. It is moreover not considered a priority amongst Palestinians in comparison to the fight against Israeli occupation. The article also briefly cites minor reforms that occurred in Egypt, the Gulf Arab Region and Saudi Arabia.

The focus of this study is on how movements using nonviolent tactics can respond to repression, and increase the potential for repressive and violent measures to backfire.  The contributors include both social scientists and activists who have experienced repression, providing an analysis of the different forms of repression possible, and of methods protesters might use in response.

Marovic, who was prominent in the student resistance to Milosevic in Serbia, provides a guide to planning a campaign in stages, and suggests exercises for each stage.

Report on the first sentencing of a man to prison and to payment of damages to the victim for a case of aggravated sexual harassment toward a 15-year old young woman. It also recalls one controversial case that motivated the rise of the movement NiUnaMenos.

Massive demonstration in the Peruvian capital, Lima, organized by the Assembly of Women and Diversities and the NGO Ni Una Menos (Not One More), which involved 20 human rights groups demanding justice for women, following the acquittal of a man accused of rape who negotiated with the authorities for his release.

This thesis examines the personal, public and professional life of celebrated abortion rights activist, Patricia Goyette Miller. The first section is based on the writer’s own family relationship to Miller and explores larger questions of archival and biographical work. The second section explores Miller’s life, considering how she came to commit herself to abortion rights activism in Colorado and Pennsylvania. The final section looks towards the future, applying lessons and strategies from Miller’s life to consider the best next steps forward in the current US political context.

Describes the movement behind the 2017 election (by 93 per cent of the vote) of Chokwe Antar Lumumba as Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi.  He is committed to implement the 'Jackson Plan' for participatory democracy, promotion of public services and a local economy based on cooperatives and other forms of popular organization.  The Plan, which is promoted by the Jackson People's Assembly and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM), represents the kind of participatory local initiatives envisaged in the Black Lives Matter 2016 Platform.  A longer version of this article is available in Akuno, Kali and Ajamu Nangwaya, Jackson Rising: The Struggle for Economic Democracy and Black Self-Determination, Daraja Press, 2017, and at: www.mxgm.org