Biblio

Covers period from February 2019, when proposals for extradition to China were made by Hong Kong's Security Bureau, to May 28 2020, when China's parliament endorsed the decision to impose national security legislation on Hong Kong.

Account of the growth of the grassroots campaign against legalised abortion in the US. Whilst other socially conservative movements have lost young activists, the pro-life movement has successfully recruited more young people to its cause. Jennifer Holland explores why abortion dominates conservative politics. She studied anti-abortion movements in four US western states since the 1960s and argues that activists made foetal life feel personal to many Americans. Pro-life activists persuaded people to see themselves in the pins, images of embryos, and dolls and made the fight against abortion the primary day-to-day issue for social conservatives. Holland concludes that the success of the pro-life movement derives from the borrowed logic and emotional power of leftist activism.

This 'long read' article focuses on the nature and goals of Hindu nationalism and the role of the extremist Hindu organization the RSS.  It also makes comparisons with the rise of right wing populism. See also: ‘Subcontinental Drift: Danger – One Party State’, Economist, 28 November, 2020, pp.20-22. This article examines in some detail the erosion of judicial independence and the Modi government’s stringent measures against state governments run by parties opposed to the BJP. critical journalists and NGOs, thousands of which have been closed down for receiving foreign funds. It also notes Modi’s emphasis on his role as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and his aspirations to rebuild Delhi to symbolize imperial-style power.  It compares the autocratic trend under Modi to developments in Hungary, Poland and Turkey.

This article appeared on the day of the 2020 referendum on whether there should be a new constitution, and if so how it should be drawn up.  Cruz explains that voters can choose between two kinds of convention, one based solely on members elected by voters (the option generally favoured by the left), and the other composed half of elected members and half of parliamentarians (many of whom did not want a new constitution). an option seen as favouring the right wing government of Sebastian Pinera. The article then looks back at Chilean politics since the fall of Pinochet.

Full statement by the WRI affiliate Ukrainian Pacifist Movement condemning  the bill introducing 'intolerable elements of military dictatorship'. The bill required mandatory military registration for employment and draconian fines and imprisonment for COs and those showing solidarity with them.  It also empowered police to hunt for draftees on the streets and transfer them forcibly to army recruiting centres. See also: 'The Brutality of Military Commissariats in Ukraine: Reaction of  UN and MPs', Truth Seeker, 23 September 2019 This article explores the practice of arbitrary detention of conscripts in Ukraine.  It includes footage (in Russian) of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement that opposes compulsory military service. See also: Harding, Luke, 'Ukraine reintroduces conscription to counter threat of pro-Russian separatists', The Guardian, 1 May 2014. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/01/ukraine-military-conscription-pro-russia-separatists-donetsk 

This article examines how the historical and class character of Nigeria has fueled repression and exploitation, and contributed to the indiscriminate violence used by SARS and its lack of accountability. It also explains how the #EndSARS movement developed.

This book, edited by a climate journalist, features accounts from young activists around the world.  Individuals in very different social and environmental contexts, and with varying motives and goals, recount their contributions to reducing climate change.

The article begins by describing the Sumud Freedom Camp in May 2019, where over 300 Palestinians, Israelis and international activists set up camp in the destroyed village of Sarura, with the aim of rebuilding it.  Despite raids b y the Israeli Defence Forces the rebuilding had some success.  The author as the title indicates queries the nature of power relations between the volunteers.  Her main example of unequal power relations (seen as form of structural violence) is, however, based on her analysis of a nonviolent protest at the Erez checkpoint into Gaza held in January 2008, promoted as a joint Palestinian-Israeli protest, but in fact only involving Israeli Arab and Jewish citizens (plus a few international participants), and planned and controlled by veteran Jewish Hebrew speaking activists.

Interview with indigenous human rights defender, Virginia Pinares, from Peru, who came to London to represent communities in the Andes actively resisting - for example by blockades - mining for copper concentrates and molybdenum, which is controlled by the Chinese company MMG. Pinares argues that her community is not against all mining, but against the environmentally reckless way operations are conducted and the minerals transported, and they also demand a stop to the violence used against environmental and human rights activists.  She stressed the need for environmentally protected zones, which could be used f or sustainable tourism. 

Examines Putin's strength both in terms of his personal power and the effectiveness of his policies measured by economic growth, social stability and international standing. The article compares Putin's record with that of governments in other former Soviet states, and concludes that his achievements are not especially impressive. See also: White, David, 'State Capacity and Regime Resilience in Putin's Russia', International Political Science Review, 2018.  https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512117694481 White argues that although state capacity in Russia is 'relatively weak', the Putin regime has achieved relative stability through enriching elites, controlling civil society and opposition, and promoting public support through 'economic benefits and national-patriotic appeal'.

Discusses the dilemma posed by Covid, which arrived in Algeria in February 2020, for the year-long movement of regular protests against the regime, and the shift by movement networks towards promoting local assistance during the pandemic.  But the authors note that activists are still offering legal help to those arrested and put on trial, and  maintain an online presence for the movement. See also: Parks, Robert, 'From Protest to Hirak to Algeria's New Revolutionary Moment',  Middle East Report, vol. 292, no.3 (Fall/Winter2019).

Elhassan regularly uses her social media platform to raise awareness of social and political conditions in Sudan. She became well known after the December 2018 protests led to the demand for Bashir to be deposed. See Elhassan, Sara, ‘Revolution in Sudan: on the verge of civilian rule?’, Afropunk, 12 July 2019, available at https://afropunk.com/2019/07/revolution-in-sudan-on-the-verge-of-civilian-rule/

In this ‘Long Read’ article Younge discusses how protests for racial justice in the US from the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter have prompted expressions of European solidarity, but argues that the European continent must face its own predominant role in the history of slavery. (Also available on The Guardian, 11 June 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/11/what-black-america-means-to-europe-protests-racism-george-floyd) For an overview on how the BLM 2020 protests have erupted across the African continent see also: O’Dowd, Peter and Allison Hagan, ‘Black Lives Matter Movement Resonates Across Africa’, WBUR, 12 June 2020 (https://www.thenation.com/article/society/kkk-all-black-baseball-monrovians/) and Wallace, Julia, ‘Africa Declares Black Lives Matter’, Left Voice, 26 June 2020. (https://www.leftvoice.org/africa-declares-black-lives-matter)

Notes that the movement for divestment from fossil fuels has grown 'from picket signs and petitions to a multi-trillion dollar crusade involving more than 350 institutions worldwide'. Cites Norway's Sovereign Wealth fund, the Episcopal Church and the British Medical Association as some of the important bodies that have divested, and that investment firms such as Blackrock have begun to withdraw support from climate polluting industries, as have universities and various companies. But also notes that divestment still often initiated by pressure from below. 

Forbes discusses with Ashoka fellow, Gbenga Sesan, how both offline and online mobilization contributed to the build-up of the End SARS protests. The discussion also includes the intersection of police brutality and digital rights in the light of accusations that SARS officials were arresting individuals working in start-ups and stealing their data. See also:  https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/endsars-young-nigeria-protest-police-brutality

Journalist Nina Lakhani draws on numerous interviews, including with Caceras herself, legal files and corporate records to recount the years of environmental protest by this indigenous Honduran activist, who received the Goldman Prize in 2015 for her successful campaign to halt the hydroelectric dam being built on a river sacred to her people, and was assassinated in 2016. She had been under threat for years, and many colleagues had been killed or forced into exile. Lakhani attended the trial of Caceres' killers in 2018, when employees of the dam Company and state security were implicated in the murder by hired gunmen. But the trial failed to reveal who had ordered and paid for the assassination.

The authors examine violence against women and gender-based discrimination around the world, today. They provide a global perspective on the history, causes, and complex underpinnings of gender and violence from a multidimensional and cross-disciplinary perspective. The regions covered are North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, and Oceania. Each chapter begins with an overview of its world region, and then focuses on particular forms of violence against women in the more specific contexts of particular countries and in relation to the wider region.

This comparative study of 16 countries documents women's political resistance during and since 2011, with essays by both activists and scholars.  The book stresses the diversity of the social groups and attitudes of the women involved, and gives a voice to often marginalized groups such as housewives and rural women. After an introductory chapter 'Advancing Women's Rights in the Arab World', the book is divided into five parts: What They Fight For; What They Believe; How They Express Agency; How They Use Space to Mobilize; and How They Organize.

This is a special issue on women’s organized resistance to the extraction of natural resources that has a damaging impact on their lives and environment. Articles cover movements in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Mexico and also Ghana, focusing on the importance of water as a vital resource, and also on women’s embodied experience of suffering from water pollution and scarcity. The articles also discuss gendered critiques of extraction.

This article by an Algerian feminist activist explains how the 2019 movement, triggered by rejection of Boutifleka being nominated (despite his physical incapacity) to run for the presidency for a fifth term, began in the city of Kherrata on 16 February. It then spread to other cities, and became a rejection of the whole regime. She sets the movement in its historical context, noting how the success of the movement in forcing Boutifleka's resignation from the presidency was used by the army to take over. She concludes by stressing the resilience of the movement, despite the impact of Covid-19 in 2020 which enabled a 'political lockdown'.  But she also argues that the lack of a political leadership able to draw the ideological strands of the movement together is its chief weakness.

Survey of youth climate activism in schools and universities in Canada, focused on the climate impacts of excess consumption and fast fashion, symbolized by the November 2019 'Black Friday' shopping spree. Based on interviews with six young Canadians involved in a rang e of environmental activism. 

Compares the September 2020 Friday strikes (in about 3,500 places worldwide) which were constrained by Covid related social distancing measures, with the 2019 week of action involving at least six million. The article also provides a link to a 24-hour global zoom call covering regional issues and links to forms of activism, especially digital activism.

The author notes that almost 60 per cent of Africa's population was under 25 by 2019 and that they are deeply discontented due to unemployment and a sense of marginalization, and  often very critical of governments. They are therefore prominent in political protests.  This article examines both the causes and successes of these demonstrations since the Arab Spring of 2010, as well as drawing lessons from the movement in Sudan in 2019.

Ojewale argues that the EndSARS protests, which incorporate demands for human rights and greater democracy, provide an outlet for marginalized young Nigerians to express their grievances against the government. The excesses of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad and the failure of the government to address them, despite promises of reform, are at the top of the list. This blog provides an in depth analysis of the movement and its causes, and discusses how the protests might affect the 2021 election. See also: https://www.chathamhouse.org/2020/10/police-protest-power-and-nigerias-young-democrats

Investigates the history of the forced sterilization of Native American Women as a practice that reflects the history of U.S. colonialism. See also on forced sterilization of Latino men and women: Novak, Nicole and Natalie Lira, ‘Forced sterilization targeted Americans of color, leaving lasting impact’, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 23 March 2018. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/health/forced-sterilization-targeted-americans-of-color-leaving-lasting-impact-20180323.html The link to the documentary ‘No Más Bebés’ (No More Babies), which tells the story of immigrant mothers who sued county doctors, the state, and the U.S. government after they were pushed into sterilizations while giving birth at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center during the 1960s and 70s can be found here http://www.nomasbebesmovie.com/