Biblio

Bulgarian reporter Martin Dimitrov explains the events which sparked the 2020 mass protests in Bulgaria against the Borissov government and corrupt political system.

An assessment, by a US academic, of Navalny's role and impact in the immediate aftermath of his poisoning.   See also: Nikitin, Vadim, ‘As Alexei Navalny’s Life Hangs in the Balance, So Does the Fate of the Russian Opposition’, The Nation, 2 September, 2020. Analysis of Navalny’s changing political stance that discerns ‘an unexpected but unmistakable left turn’ in recent years. See also: Gorokhovskaia, Yana, 'The Navalny Case may Weaken the Idea that Putin is in Total Control', Guardian Weekly, 4 September 2020, p. 47.

Discusses how Tebboune, the president elected in December 2019, had campaigned during the referendum on an amendment the constitution drafted to increase its democratic content, hoping to shore up his legitimacy. But Anser notes that under 24 per cent of the electorate turned out to vote in 2020, though the amendment passed by 66.8 per cent of those voting. The article also looks at the earlier history of constitutional amendments in Algeria.

Oxfam provides a very useful analysis of developments in Malawi by Nic Cheeseman and Golden Matonga, who argue that two key lessons are that change results from a combination of pressures and that 'people power is critical to strengthening the independence and effectiveness of democratic institutions'.  There are also 10 comments on this analysis by Malawi citizens. See also: Corcoran, Bill, 'Malawi One of the Few Wins for Democracy in 2020:', Irish Times, 28 December, 2020. Corcoran comments on Chatham House awarding their 2020 prize in December to the judges of Malawi's Constitutional Court in recognition of their bravery in annulling the presidential poll of 2019.  He then elaborates on the evolution of the campaign to annul t he election and to celebrate the upholding of democracy in Malawi when it was under threat in many other parts of the world. See also: Swift, Richard,  'Introducing Lazarus Chakwera', New Internationalist, September-October 2020, p.11. Brief but useful summary of events leading to the election of the opposition leader Chakwera in June 2020.

The article starts with protests about police killing of an Afro-Columbian man in Bogota the same week George Floyd was killed, noting the general impact of the BLM movement on anti-racist and Afro-Latino organizations. The author also sketches in the historical background of the Spanish colonies enslaving millions of Africans, and subsequent treatment of racial issues, including the 'myth' of multiculturalism. See also: Valencia, Jorge, 'Black Lives Matter Protests Renew Parallel Debates in Brazil, Columbia', The World, 15 June 2020 https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-06-15/black-lives-matter-protests-renew-parallel-debates-brazil-colombia Across the Americas police violence disproportionally targets young Black men.  The protests sparked by Floyd's death in Minneapolis shone a light on police brutality in South America and led to demonstrations in Brazil and other countries.

In the context of discussing the importance of public spaces where citizens can protest and make public speeches, this article examines how the Lebanese demonstrators have used and reshaped multipupose public spaces such as streets, open public spaces such as gardens, and abandoned urban facilites such as a partially built cinema.

European Studies graduate Charlotte Killeen outlines the national and Europe-wide reactions to Poland’s near-total ban on abortion, ’after a 2020 Constitutional Court ruling that excluded foetal abnormalities (previously recognized as a ground for abortion) from exemption to the general ban.

Dainov analyzes Borissov's style of government, noting that democracy can be destroyed not only by far right ideologues, but also by non-ideological 'macho males' like Borissov.

After surveying the scope of the problems caused by climate change, the article provides a useful critique of the UK government's approach to fulfilling its target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, drawing on points made by the UK Committee on Climate Change (the independent statutory body set up in 2008 under the Climate Change Act). The authors conclude that so far the government has failed to make definite plans for housing and heating, industrial emissions, carbon capture and storage, agriculture, aviation and shipping. The article notes also the excessive reliance on electric vehicles to solve road transport emissions, as this could create a dangerous demand for relatively rare minerals like cobalt and lead to new ecological problems. The authors point to the potential of hydrogen fuel cells, but they also argue for simply reducing car use.  

A critical assessment of the campaign on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons and the gains and limitations of the resulting 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which is best seen as a stigmatization rather than a disarmament treaty. While the treaty may strengthen the taboo on using nuclear weapons, the ultimate challenge is to undermine nuclear weapons as a currency of power. The author examines four themes: processes of stigmatization, the democratization of disarmament politics, the advantages and disadvantages of codification, and normative strategies of disarmament more broadly.

A history of resistance to US wars and military policy from the War of Independence to the 21st century, including wars against Native Americans. It also covers mutinies and protests over mistreatment of soldiers, including Jim Crow laws after the Civil War, and abuse of women and gays. The emphasis is on telling stories and assumes knwoledge of US history. 

The author begins by recalling the death of 20 year-old Rashan Charles in a London shop in July 2017 whilst he was being violently restrained by two police officers, who were cleared of misconduct. She argues that though the scale of police violence may be smaller in the UK, it is not very different. The cause is structural racism.

This article was written in response to the All India General Strike of 26 November 2020, organized by 10 trade unions and over 250 farmers' organizations, that mobilized over 250 million to protest against the new farm and labour laws passed by the BJP dominated coalition government.  It examines the protests and the laws which gave rise to them.

Brief account celebrating victory after years of campaigning by Indigenous Climate Action against Teck Resources, the company pressing for permission to build the tar sands Frontier Mine in Canada, which would have produced 3.2 billion barrels of oil over 40 years. Teck withdrew early in 2020, after 12 years of lobbying (indigenousclimateaction.com). The journal also reports very briefly that the Great Australian Bight Alliance, led by Aboriginal elders and local activists has in succession prevented Chevron, BP and (most recently) Equinor to abandon plans to drill for oil in the Bight (fightforthebight.org.au.)

Explores the rise of Black Lives Matter protests in Australia in solidarity with the international response to the death of George Floyd, and also to highlight the long running tragedy of Aboriginal deaths in custody. See also: Allam, Lorena and Nick Evershed, ‘The killing times: the massacres of Aboriginal people Australia must confront’, The Guardian, 3 March 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/04/the-killing-times-the-massacres-of-aboriginal-people-australia-must-confront Special report on the killing, incarceration and forced removal from their land of Indigenous Australians over 140 years. The article offers an interactive map that shows the locations and date of massacres between 1794 and 1928. See also: Dovey, Ceridwen, ‘The mapping of massacres’ The New Yorker, 7 December 2017. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/mapping-massacres The article reports on how historians and artists turned to cartography to record the widespread killing of Indigenous people in Australia.

Reports on three-day demonstration spearheaded by the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) calling for an end to fossil fuel subsidies.

This article explores how the protests against racial injustice and police violence brought millions to the streets under the banner of Black Lives Matter, giving the international movement significant corporate and political muscle, which US leaders used to launch a nationwide voter mobilization effort. It also briefly explores the initiatives the movement proposed towards police reform.

Palestinian activist el-Baghdadi, based in Oslo, speaks about his role in providing news about the Arab Spring to the international media, and publishing his ideas about securing radical change in the longer term. He also explains why he now seeks to counter disinformation online and to campaign in particular against the autocratic model of Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia.

The author argues that social mobilization in Iraq, especially since 2011, has been politically significant, but not seriously analyzed. Her focus is to investigate 'nonviolent means to promote social and political change in violent contexts', which Iraq amply illustrates.  She compares waves of protest since 2011 and concludes that cyclical violence and political dysfunction are a major limitation on the effectiveness of protest, but that social mobilization also holds out the possibility of more positive political change.

One year after the outbreak of mass protests in October 2019, the authors note that thousands turned out to mark the anniversary, but that this time the protests were brief.  The Covid-19 lockdown, 'protest fatigue' and suspicion of infiltration of the movement have combined to reduce active support.  The main focus of this analysis is a survey commissioned by Chatham House of over 1,200 Iraqis to gauge public opinion about the October 2019 protests.  It finds that 83 per cent of those surveyed believed most or all the demonstrations were justified, and only 10 per cent strongly disapproved, and suggests that most Iraqis support the main complaints of the activists.

This paper reports on a #MeToo campaign by a mainstream news organisation. The ‘Me Too’ campaign led to a large number of disclosures adopted a survivor-led approach to minimise potential harm. It offers lessons for reporting on #MeToo issues, including the best practice for dealing with survivors, campaign management and ultimately the implications for changing editorial news values. Journalists showed greater awareness of the feelings of survivors and were able to reconcile this with traditional journalistic norms.

John Lewis represented the links between the Civil Rights struggle of the 1950s-60s and Black Rights Matter in 2020.  Elected to Congress in 1986, he continued to campaign in Washington for racial and social justice (including organizing nonviolent direct action) until his death.  His last political act was to view a Black Lives Matter mural.  His obituaries elaborate on the details of his lifelong political activism. (See also details of his memoir under Vol.1.A.3.) See also: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53454169

Vinthagen provides  a useful brief introduction to Scott's pioneering work on forms of small scale or 'hidden' resistance by subjugated classes. The interview then seeks clarification about the development of Scott's research and key elements in his theory.

Provides an overview of the reasons for the protests and the initial government response.      See also: Akinwotu, Emmanuel, 'Nigeria Tried to Ban Bitcoin. How Did It Work Out?', Guardian Weekly, 13 August 2021, pp.25-6. Akinwotu explains the rising use of bitcoin by the tech-savvy young, and notes how the government clamp down after October 2020 on bank accounts of those supporting the anti-SARS protests fueled this trend.

This article by a sociologist at the American University of Beirut examines the movement after a year of 'struggle, crisis and destruction'. It summarizes  the causes of  the October 2019 uprising, its unprecedented scale (an estimated 2 million out of a population of 4.8 million), and its transcendance of all regional, social class and sectarian political divisions. It also notes that the protesters rejected both the political system based on 'sectarian clientelism', and the banking sector. Since October the financial crisis has intensified, leading to the rapid growth of extreme poverty. Majed argues that the lack of clear leadership of the movement, though it initially encouraged wide participation, by early 2020 meant that there was no strong organization or clear goals. This lack of focus contributed, together with growing financial hardship, political fatigue and regime violence against protesters, to undermine the movement.