Biblio

Hussein argues that although many aspects of Algerian politics combined to prevent a major uprising in 2011, subsequent developments such as Boutifleka's 2013 stroke and the constitutional amendment of 2016 (lifting again the two term limit on holding the presidency) heightened opposition to the regime by 2019.  The article starts by contrasting 'oil rich Algeria' with 'poor Algerians'.

The authors examine how restrictive policies force women to travel both within and across national borders in order to reach abortion providers, often at great expense, over long distances and with significant safety risks. Contributors, who adopt both historical and contemporary perspectives, examine the situation culturally and politically diverse in regions that include Australia, Canada, Eastern Europe, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, Prince Edward Island, Spain, Sweden, Texas, and post-Brexit referendum UK.

Explores the criminalization of abortion in Argentina and its implications for the lives of women, such as maternal mortality and clandestine practice. The article also covers the struggle of feminist activists to include reproductive rights within the framework of human rights.

This link includes some of the campaigns and articles on abortion advocacy by Amnesty International. The most interesting articles have been selected to give a sense of how the campaigns developed since 2017. But users should keep accessing it to look for further material Amnesty International will upload in the future. See a poll conducted by Amnesty International on whether Northern Ireland should change its abortion law published on 30 November 2018 https://www.amnesty.org.uk/northern-ireland-abortion-law-poll. See also https://www.amnesty.org.uk/abortion-poll-research-majority-people-northern-ireland-want-decriminalise for a poll conducted in May 2017 on the same issue. See the open letter to Prime minister Theresa May to change ‘cruel’ Northern Ireland abortion law published on 21 November 2018 https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/kate-beckinsale-claire-foy-jodie-whittaker-and-olivia-colman-call-theresa-may-change Link to pro-abortion campaigns led by Amnesty International, including links to the 2019 campaign #NowForNI, a campaign organised on the occasion of the celebration of the first anniversary of the repeal of the Eight Amendment in Ireland which led to the legalisation of abortion in the Irish Republic. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/safe-abortions-northern-ireland See the petition for obtaining the legalisation of abortion in Ireland published on 16 February 2017. https://www.amnesty.org.uk/ireland-abortion-laws-repeal-eighth-amendment

Highlights the different legal consequences that women might face in Alabama, where a ban on abortion was enacted in May 2019 (likely to be challenged in the courts), and compares them to those then existing in Northern Ireland. Although Northern Ireland passed the Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2018 that allows abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, women could still face life sentences because the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 remained in place. See also https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2019/05/alabama-abortion-rights-are-under-threat-northern-ireland-they-never and https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/alabama-abortion-ban-georgia-northern-ireland-dup-theresa-may-a8915141.html

Draws comparisons between the Trump Administration’s isolationist and disunited foreign policy and its consistent approach, both nationally and internationally, towards restrictive sexual and reproductive rights.

Compares protests in Iraq and Lebanon after seven weeks, noting the youth of demonstrators and their demands: for jobs and housing, investigation of corruption and the resignation of their governments. Jenkins also observes that so far the movements have bridged religious divides.  But he is cautious about prospects for success and notes the brutal repression of protesters in both countries.

The 2018 referendum to overturn Ireland’s abortion ban had worldwide significance. The campaign to repeal the Eight Amendment succeeded against a background of religious and patriarchal dogmatism, representing a major transformation of Irish society itself. This work explores both the campaign and the implications of the referendum result for politics, identity and culture in the Republic of Ireland. It explores activism, artwork, social movements, law, media, democratic institutions, and reproductive technologies in the country and beyond.

Detailed account of the Sudanese women activists who supported the revolution and contributed to ousting Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. See also: Awad, Nazik, ‘Women’s stories from the frontline of Sudan’s revolution must be told’, OpenDemocracy, 20 March 2019. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/womens-stories-from-the-frontline-of-sudans-revolution-must-be-told/ Provides background on socio-economic conditions in Sudan and highlights women's leading  role in the revolution. Includes a direct link to  #SudanUprising which is relevant to understanding how the discourse about the revolution developed on social media.

This article by a professor of sociology, written a month after the outbreak of the revolution on 22 February, stresses that the 'gigantic rallies are peaceful and socially mixed'. The article  traces the background of the uprising since 1988, claimed by many Algerians as their 'Arab Spring', since it ended one party rule. Addi explains why this democratic experiment failed and led to a decade of civil war - the context in which Boutifleka came to power in 1999 promising to bring peace

Report on an online survey of over 9,000 Algerians, including 4,200 who identified as protesters, and 1,700 who stated they were military personnel.  The survey therefore drew out how the military attitudes compare with those of the protesters. The authors found 'very high support' for Boutfileka's resignation and the protest movement, including among those not involved in the protests and among  soldiers and junior officers in the military. Senior officers were much more critical of both democracy and popular revolution.  But even junior officers and soldiers believed there was a role for the military to 'referee the political arena' and were opposed to investigation of military excesses during  the 1990s.

Celebrates UK government decision to halt fracking because of size of seismic shocks caused by drilling, but stresses role of nearly a decade of campaigning, especially at the Cuadrilla fracking site in Sussex, where local residents from the village of Balcombe were joined by activists in resistance, and at the Cuadrilla site in Lancashire. See also: McWhirter, Kathryn, Frack Free Balcombe Residents' Association, 'The biggest thing since the arrival of the railway', pp. 85-90 in Rodriguez, Global Resistance to Fracking (listed below) See also: ‘How summer fracking protest unfolded in Sussex village’, BBC, 17 April 2014. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-26765926 Detailed account of the the protests in Balcombe that centred on oil company Cuadrilla's attempt to drill a 3,000ft (900m) vertical well to test for oil. See also: Vaughan, Adam, ‘Fracking firm gets green light to test for oil at Balcombe … again’,The Guardian, 9 January 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jan/09/fracking-firm-gets-green-light-to-drill-for-oil-at-balcombe-again See also Perraudin, Frances and Helen Pidd, Anger and blockades as fracking starts in UK for first time since 2011’, The Guardian, 15 October 2018 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/15/fracking-protesters-blockade-cuadrilla-site-where-uk-work-due-to-restart Reports on Reclaim the Power campaign’s against fracking in Lancashire.

Article discussing Kyrgyz protests in 2019 against migrant Chinese workers (both illegal and legal), in the context of alarm about Chinese government treatment of ethnic Kyrgyz inside China.  The author considers how far fears of large numbers of migrants could be substantiated and what the relationship was between protesters and state bodies.

Features brief but interesting comments by three scholarly experts on the Middle East on parallels and differences with 2011 and the implications of Algeria, Sudan, Iraq and the Lebanon  being at the forefront in 2019.  

Dr Fahmi outlines the early months of protest in both Sudan and Algeria, and discusses parallels with 2011 in terms of being 'nationwide, sustained over time, political in nature and interconnected', with the movements encouraging each other.

Discusses Senate vote against legalising abortion in Argentina. See also https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/10/argentina-women-abortion-hollow-senate-victory

This article argues that the movement that led to the imprisonment of Bashir can only be properly understood in terms of the grassroots struggle that defined it. Elnaiem also argues that it was a multi-layered struggle and discusses the composition of the broader resistance and the historical legacy it built upon, as well as the obstacles to further progress. See also: Elnaiem, Mohammed, (2019) ‘Sudan’s uprising a ‘people revolution’, Green Left Weekly, Issue 1209, pp. 14-15. See also: de Waal, Alex, ‘What’s Next for Sudan’s Revolution’, Foreign Affairs, 23 April 2019. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/sudan/2019-04-23/whats-next-sudans-revolution Analyses the Sudanese revolution with an emphasis on its non-violent forms of resistance.

The author argues that comparison with the 'Colour Revolutions' are misleading since these were promoted by civil society organizations and opposition parties and focused on regime distortion of elections. Success in Armenia did demonstrate the power of civil society, but relied on 'grassroots organizing via social media' rather than on official NGOs, which are widely distrusted. The 2018 revolution drew on experience of earlier protests focused on limited issues. Hoellerbauer also speculates about future prospects for democracy under Pashinyan without a strong civil society to hold him accountable, and in the light of Armenia's dependence on Russia and the problem of the 'frozen conflict' over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Grigoryan argues that a ‘kleptocratic regime’ has been ousted by the revolution, but a more radical conservative agenda is being promoted in this new context.

The article compares the 2018 revolution with earlier unsuccessful political protests in Armenia since 2003-4, to try to determine what made success possible. Grigoryan also makes comparisons with some other examples of regime change, and considers the implications of the nature of the 2018 revolution for post-revolutionary politics and society.

The authors, both from the National Endowment for Democracy, note that political revolution in other post-Soviet states have been followed by 'back sliding'. But they note how Armenia differs from Georgia and Ukraine. After exploring the background and context of the 2018 revolution, they conclude with a relatively optimistic assessment of the prospects for the Pashinyan government after the December 2018 election.

Feminist legal scholar, writer, teacher, and activist Catharine A. MacKinnon discusses the #MeToo movement with Durba Mitra, professor of women, gender and sexualities studies. They discuss the origins of sexual harassment law and the relationship between the law and social movements. Other topics include the particular vulnerabilities faced by women of colour, immigrant women and trans people, and harassment in international law.

Official website of ‘Back From the Brink’, a grassroots movement that aims to involve local councils and Members of Congress in the U.S. and pressure them to change U.S. nuclear policies. Their demands are: -       Renounce ‘first use’ option; -       End the sole presidential authority to launch a nuclear attack; -       Take U.S. nuclear weapons off ‘hair-trigger’ alert; -       Cancel U.S. plan to replace its entire nuclear arsenal with enhanced weapons; -       Pursue total abolition. See also http://www.nuclearban.us/back-from-the-brink-a-call-to-prevent-nuclear-war/ and https://www.wagingpeace.org/.

Covers the demonstrations by school children and students in an estimated 185 countries with a photo of a protest in Nairobi, Kenya, and an overview of the protests in their environmental and political context. Coverage also includes brief statements from young activists in Australia, Thailand, India, Afghanistan, South Africa, Ireland and the US; the speech by Greta Thunberg to the UN Climate Action summit in New York; and 10 charts explaining the climate crisis. See also: Milman, Oliver, 'Crowds Welcome Thunberg to New York after Atlantic Crossing ', The Guardian, 29 Aug. 2019, p.3. Reports on Thunberg's arrival in New York where she was to address the UN Climate Action summit on reaching zero carbon emissions.

Covers the origins of the School Strike Movement in Greta Thunberg's solitary protest outside the Swedish Parliament, charts 'The snowball effect' prints Thunberg's speech at the Davos Economic Forum in January 2019, and summarizes a week of bad climate news.