Biblio

Sharkey, Professor of AI and robotics at Sheffield University, Chair of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control  and also spokesperson for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, sketches in the historical background to the evolution of Autonomous Weapons Systems, and dispels 'five myths about AWS'. He also briefly explains the evolution of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots and how it had been keeping the issue 'on the table' at the UN since 2014. See also: Chan, Melissa, 'Death to the Killer Robots', Guardian Weekly, 19 April 2019, pp. 30-31. Report on role of Jody Williams and Mary Wareham, two leading activists in the Campaign to Ban Landmines, in promoting the new movement, the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, which they recognize to be a much harder goal to achieve. Chan notes that Israel is already using advanced autonomous technology, for example to patrol the Gaza border. the US is testing advances in the technology, and Russia wants to create a battalion of killer robots. The campaigners were in Berlin because the German government had indicated concern about the issue, but had not been consistent, so their aim was to put pressure on Germany to act. 

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.

This follows-up to his eralier book The Lady and the Peacock and covers thew 2015 lanslide election and the expressions of intolerance against minorities, especially the Muslim Rohingya.

Comparison of the Umbrella Movement with the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan is relevant for a number of reasons. Taiwan is under pressure to move closer to China, and although it is politically more independent than Hong Kong, the Taiwanese government since 2010 has entered into a close trading relationship with China, making it economically more dependent. Moreover, many smaller Taiwanese businesses have suffered. The protests occurred between 18 March and 10 April 2014 and took the form of an occupation of the legislature, which spiraled into a mass occupation of the surrounding district. Young people, who feel distinctively Taiwanese rather than Chinese, were prominent in the occupation, but it included a wide section of the population (an estimated 500,000 taking part at one point) and many others gave food, water and money to the demonstrators. This book includes contributions from a range of distinguished scholars from Hong Kong, Taiwan and other parts of Asia who explore, in particular, issues relating to democracy, the rule of law and freedom of speech. Contributors also discuss the legal and political implications of mass occupation as a protest tactic and seek to draw lessons for the future.

Discusses major crisis of water scarcity in India, due not only to climate change (failures of monsoons since 2012) but commercial exploitation of water sources, which leaves small farmers and citizens without water supplies and often reliant on tankers run by 'water mafia'. The government still tends to favour dams rather than localised measures to preserve water, and political pressures promote crops such as sugar cane in unsuitably environments. The author also notes an example of local good practice. The women's organization, the Mann Deshi Foundation, has in last few years promoted rehabilitation of streams and the local river in a semi-desert area of Maharashtra, before creating a reservoir which was handed over to the local village council.

This paper discusses the hegemony of U.S. White middle-class feminism and examines seven limitations that make it inapplicable in non-Western societies, and specifically in Middle Eastern countries. These limitations include (a) ignoring the cultural, historical, and political systems that shape women in the Middle East; (b) misinterpretation of some religious practices; (c) generalizing women's conditions; (d) universalizing Western values; (e) playing the role of the savior; (f) ignoring the influence of Western imperialism; and (g) ignoring women's strengths and actual needs. Finally, this paper included suggestions that can be taken into consideration to reduce the gap between U.S. White middle-class feminism and other types of feminisms in the Middle East.

This article explores how activism in the protests influenced how students saw their role and their identity. It also argues that the Umbrella Movement needs to be understood within the context of other Asian student movements from the last century (such as student activism leading to Tiananmen) as well as the recent (March 2014) Sunflower Movement in Taiwan opposing greater economic integration with China. Partaken stresses the impact of the movement on the educational world of Hong Kong and also beyond its borders.

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.

'Power from below through nonviolent action' is the latest contribution from German's best known proponent of civilian defence and nonviolent resistance.  Aware that he is 80 years old, Ebert sums up his experiences and elaborates on new ideas for future research

Journalist Elly Draking interviews Isabel Agatón, human rights lawyer and director of CIJUSTICIA (Centre for Research in Justice and Critical Studies of Law) to highlight her key role in the creation and implementation of Law 1761 in 2015 in Colombia, which made femicide a legally defined crime, punishable with up to 50 years in jail. It also highlights the obstacles the Colombian government still faces in implementing this law, fully.

Lebron explores the rhetoric and activism that laid the foundations for the Black Lives Matter movement, drawing on earlier Black intellectuals such as Fredrick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, Langston Hughes, Zora Neal Hurston, Anna Julia Cooper, Audre Lourde, James Baldwin and Martin Luther King Jr.  His aim is to convey the ideas, demands and emotions of African Americans to illuminate their activism, and to show how the history of Black thought influences resistance to anti-Black law enforcement today. 

The authors assess how women’s empowerment in the political sphere on a global scale can best be conceptualized and measured. This work argues that women’s political empowerment is a fundamental process of transformation and provides a benchmark for understanding all gains in political empowerment across the globe.

A collection of essays by a leading feminist, that responds to the rapid social change resulting from the latest renewal of feminism both in North America and worldwide. It starts with a long new essay ‘Silence is broken’, which explores the many ways in which not only women but other vulnerable groups have been silenced. The author notes that this is a book that ‘deals with men who are ardent feminists as well as men who are rapists’ and that ‘this is a feminist book, yet it is not about women’s experience alone.’

Abortion by Black women is often blamed on white women and their feminist ideology is seen as an insidious tool to further eradicate Black people in America, a view held by some anti-choice and self-proclaimed anti-racists, as well as some Black anti-choice activists. This article explores the myth of abortion as Black genocide as it pertains to Black women and their reproductive rights and the arguments used to promote this belief. After defining genocide and the stereotypes used by proponents of the abortion as Black genocide myth in Part I, Part II identifies and describes the past and current proponents of the myth. In Part III, the myth is placed within the ‘herstory’ umbrella, while part IV explores the myth in its current form, including examples of outreach and advertisements by its proponents. Finally, Part V showcases Black women's robust response to this myth and highlights their continued participation in the struggle for Black liberation.

This is a detailed day by day account of the activities of the Scottish civil society team at the negotiations in New York from 15 June to 24 June and 29 June to 7 July based on the blog kept by the Scottish delegation. The group received regular briefings and lobbied delegates involved in the negotiations, but also attended external meetings and protests organized by peace activists.

A large scale survey conducted in a representative sample of households throughout India. It reports that 30% percent of women aged 15-49 in India have experienced physical violence since age 15, amongst many other forms of violence or discrimination, and the social context that makes it difficult to challenge. The National Family Health Survey 2018-2019 is yet to be published.

Account of resistance to the TransCanada Corporation's Keystone XL oil pipeline to protect ancestral lands and the environment against oil spillage. President Obama halted the project in 2015, but President Trump gave TransCanada the go-ahead in March 2017. In response two Native American communities launched a lawsuit against the Administration in 2018. See: 'Native American Tribes File Lawsuit Seeking to Invalidate Keystone XL Pipeline Permit', npr, 10 Sept. 2018. https://www.npr.org/2018/09/10/646523140/native-american-tribes-file-lawsuit-seeking-to-invalidate-keystone-xl-pipeline-p?t=1595266018021

Explores the rise of feminism and feminist activism in Jordan following December 2016, when women's rights activists protest in front of Parliament in Amman, Jordan calling for an end to violence against women. See also https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-59291-0_22

Frames gender equality as a social and economic issue, rather than merely a female issue. It also touches upon three campaigns for gender equality: Feminism 1.0 launched by activist Gloria Steinem under the slogan ‘She For She’; Feminism 2.0 led by actress Emma Watson at the UN under the slogan ‘HeForShe’; and Modern FeMENism 3.0 developed under the slogan ‘We For We’ aimed at bringing men and women together to recognise that equality is in everyone’s best interest.

Provides historical background to the formation of the #NiUnaMenos movement in Argentina in 2015, which extended to other parts of Latin America, and gives an account of the demands, which were taken up by the government. See also a more recent article on the development of the movement https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/while-u-s-has-metoo-latin-america-s-ni-una-n875091.

Polly Terzian did a study on the development of the ‘NiUnaMenos’ movement in Argentina and raises issues about the historical participation of women in politics. Gender violence and femicide are connected to the analysis of legal issues surrounding them. She also considers the mobilisation of women and the visibility of violence against women in the media landscape.

Amnesty International report on legislative measures taken by Nigeria to ensure the protection of the rights of women and girls. It also highlights gender-based violence resulting from displacements and armed conflict; and forced evictions which led to the disproportionate loss of livelihoods for women, and to gender based violence. Finally, Amnesty reports the use of rape and other forms of sexual violence by the police.

Account of some of the most important nuclear disarmament movements, specifically the Aldermaston march in Easter 1958; the development of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and the main activities they led in the 1980s; and the European Nuclear Disarmament Campaign.

The article examines accidentally the emergence of the TPNW, including how, and to what degree, efforts to alter states’ framing of nuclear weapons have influenced the treaty’s emergence and negotiation. It also examines the humanitarian perspective on the consequences of nuclear weapons, the activities of ICAN and the role played by transnational institutions like the UN and the Red Cross Movement to highlight lessons and limits on transnational advocacy network models of norm emergence.

Rich discusses whether public attitudes in Japan to maintaining strict constitutional constraints on use of its military 'Self-Defence Forces' are changing. (The postwar constitution includes a clause to renounce war and Japanese policy has been based on a refusal to fight outside its borders, although it is closely allied to the US.) The article notes the consistent pressure from Conservative Prime Minister Abe to strengthen Japanese military power through increasing the budget, and his role in passing new security laws in 2015 that permitted for the first time Japanese troops to take part in combat overseas. It also notes there was strong popular resistance to the new security laws and that there are regular protests against US bases in Okinawa. See also: 'Stop War': Thousands protest in Japan over military expansion law change', RT World News, 30 June  2014.   https://www.rt.com/news/169448-japan-protest-military-law/