Commemoration in Havana of 40 years of advancement of women’s equality and rights with a focus on pending challenges

Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean – ECLAC2017

Joint initiative between the government of Cuba, ECLAC and the Federation of Cuban Women that saw government authorities, international officials and representatives of civil society in Havana assess the existing policies in favour of gender equality and women’s rights that have been implemented over the past 40 years in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. They also debated the main challenges that lie ahead.

Available online at:

https://www.cepal.org/en/pressreleases/commemoration-havana-40-years-advancement-womens-equality-and-rights-region-focus

Country Profile: Kyrgyzstan

In: New Internationalist, 2021, pp. 38-39

Brief but informative overview of the historical background and socio-economic conditions in the country, plus a summary of political developments since 1991.

Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Veterans For Peace

2017

Campaign by Veterans For Peace (founded in the US in 1985) to support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons for divestment from corporations manufacturing nuclear weapons, and their endorsement of the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017. Their campaigns include: ‘The Golden Rule’ educational project, ‘Disarm Trident’, and ‘Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.

Available online at:

https://www.veteransforpeace.org/take-action/abolish-nuclear-weapons

Peace Insight

Originally published: 2007

Peace Insight, lunched in 2007 by Peace Direct, links local groups engaged in peacebuilding in conflicts around the world - about 2,000 in 2021- with each other and with international bodies.  It also provides expert analysis and commentary on conflicts.

Available online at:

https://www.peaceinsight.org/en/about/our-story/

Fridays for Future: How the Young Climate Movement Has Grown since Greta Thunberg's Lone Protest

In: The Conversation, 2020

Explores briefly the Fridays for Future movement and its interconnection with the struggle against systemic racism.

See also: FridaysforFuture website page: https://fridaysforfuture.org/what-we-do-/activist-speeches 

See also: 'Young voices on the Frontlines of Climate Change', The Elders' Blog, https://theelders.org//intergenerational-climate-blogs

An update of experiences of climate activists from both the Global North and the Global South.

Available online at:

https://theconversation.com/fridays-for-future-how-the-young-climate-movement-has-grown-since-greta-thunbergs-lone-protest-144781

Thousands protest in South Africa over rising violence against women

In: The Guardian, 2019

In response to the rising murder and rape of women in South Africa (41,000 rapes and 2,700 murders between March 2018 and March 2019), and the rape and killing of university student Uyinene Mrwetyana by a Cape Town post office employee, women all over the country responded by blocking the entrance to the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, launching the #AmINext movement and the #SandtonShutdown (or #TheTotalShutDown) protest. They rallied outside Johnnesburg Stock Exchange on 13 September 2019, forcing South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa to cancel a trip to the UN world leaders’ gathering.

See also https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2019-09-13/south-african-leader-drops-un-visit-as-women-protest-attacks, https://www.africanews.com/2019/09/13/south-africa-activists-protest-gender-based-violence// and https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/protest-against-gender-based-violence-emerge-in-sa/

Available online at:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/05/thousands-protest-in-south-africa-over-rising-violence-against-women

Against Her Will. Forced and Coerced Sterilization of Women Worldwide

Open Society Foundations2011

This Open Society Foundations fact sheet provides information on instances of forced sterilization of racial and ethnic minorities, poor women, women living with HIV, and women with disabilities in Chile, Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Hungary, India, Mexico, Namibia, Kenya, Peru, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uzbekistan. It also provides recommendations for governments, medical professionals, UN agencies, and donors on how to end the practice of forced and coerced sterilization.

Indigenous Anti-nuclear Summit Declaration

Indigenous Environmental, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1996

The Indigenous Anti-Nuclear Summit declaration that brought together a network of Indigenous Peoples from different areas that have been negatively impacted by the nuclear chain. This includes Uranium mining in the Grants Mineral Belt; northern Saskatchewan; the areas near the Sequoyah Fuels Uranium Processing Plant, and the Prairie Island Power Plant.

Available online at:

https://www.ienearth.org/indigenous-anti-nuclear-summit-declaration/

Opinion Special. The George Floyd Protests

In: Guardian Weekly, 2020, pp. 7-16

Six brief commentaries on key issues relating to the resurgence of Black Lives Matter in both the US and Britain. Philip V. McHarris, 'Property damage is not real violence'; Malaika Jaball, 'Police brutality is ingrained in America'; Jericho Brown, 'We need the rage that abolished slavery'; Kojo Koram, 'Systemic racism is a British problem too'; David Olusoga, 'Toppling a slave trader's statue is history being  made'; Patricia J. Williams, 'The corrupt language used to describe black pain'.

See also: ‘The Big Story: Black Lives Matter: Do Look Now’, Guardian Weekly, 19 June, pp. 7-14.

Covers protests in the UK against statues honouring slave traders and imperialists; anti-racist demonstrations in Belgium and a petition to remove all statues of King Leopold, who presided over a particularly brutal colonial rule in the Congo; protests against police violence and racism against indigenous and black citizes in Canada; and demonstrations in the Dominican Republic about racist discrimination against those of Haitian descent. There is also an article reflecting on lessons to be learned from how Germany has confronted its Nazi past. 

We Will Make a New Chile: Interview with Isidora Cepeda Beccar

In: Jacobin Magazine, 2019

An interview with a political activist in Santiago in the context of 'the largest demonstrations in Chile since the return of democracy', which had developed into demands for a new constitution and comprehensive political reform.  Beccar argues that the post-Pinochet reforms had primarily benefited a small elite.  

Available online at:

https://jacobinmag.com/2019/10/chile-protests-fare-hike-pinera-demands

Successes and Shortcomings: How Algeria's Hirak can inform Lebanon's Protest Movement

Vol 03/06/2020, Middle East Institute2020

The author summarizes the beginning  of the two movements, but notesthat despite significant victories, given the political power structure has not been overthrown the goals of regime change 'remain elusive'. She considers the successes in Algeria - the wide range of social groups involved and 'ethos of peacefulness' - and the shortcomings of lack of leadership and of a clear strategy to achieve change. Using the Algerian example she suggests lessons for Lebanon, such as maintaining nonviolence and avoiding political partisanship and sectarianism. 

Available online at:

https://www.mei.edu/publications/successes-and-shortcomings-how-algerias-hirak-can-inform-lebanons-protest-movement

Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)

WECAN is a climate justice body which stresses that indigenous women, women of colour, women on low incomes and from Global South countries live on 'the front lines of climate change'. Therefore solutions to climate change require not only ending extraction of oil and gas, but 'building a new economy' based on communal and women's rights, right of nature and the rights of future generations. WECAN aims to mobilise women around the world in policy advocacy (for example at UN climate conferences) and in movement building.

Available online at:

https://www.wecaninternational.org

A Cold War cast of thousands. Anti-nuclear activists and protest-action

In: National Park Service, 2017

Discusses the anti-nuclear weapons movements in the late 1950s, for example the Committee for Non-Violent Action, and the shift of focus, from the mid-1960s until the early 1970s to the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War by many local and national peace groups in the United States. In the late 1970s and 1980s Europe and the United States experienced a resurgence of concern over nuclear weapons.

Available online at:

https://www.nps.gov/articles/antinuclearactivism.htm

Educating Girls: The Path to Gender Equality

Global Partnership for Education, Washington, D.C., 2019, pp. 11

Outlines the challenges faced by girls seeking an education, and provides data related to most of the African countries, alongside Afghanistan, Yemen, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste.

Murdered women can’t celebrate International Women’s Day

In: Foreign Policy, 2019

Looks at the expansion of political and legal rights on gender-related issues in Latin America. The article also discusses the overall progress of women in education; their role in the labour market; and women’s access to health-care and social security. Emphasises the predominance of gender-based violence and lack of reproductive rights in the region.

Available online at:

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/07/murdered-women-cant-celebrate-international-womens-day/

Mexicans petition Dia de Muertas, memorial to femicide victims

In: TeleSur, 2018

Describes Mexican activists that are collecting signatures to declare October 24 Dia de Muertas in order to create awareness of the three thousand femicides that occur every year. Human rights organizations hope the new commemorative day would draw international attention to the impunity surrounding the rising number of gender-based crimes.

Available online at:

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Mexicans-Petition-Dia-de-Muertas-Memorial-to-Femicide-Victims-20181024-0030.html

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