Uber Drivers of the World, Unite

In: New Internationalist, 2019

This article, drawing on material from the online socialist publication Notes from Below, focuses on the increasing reliance of capitalism today, with the growth of internet retail and the 'gig' economy, on transnational supply chains, and migrant workers. It starts by noting the disruptive effects of the French 'Yellow Vests' demonstrations blocking roundabouts on such chains. It also comments on how Italian grass roots unions Si Cobas and ADL have since 2008 used strikes and blockades to target the chain of distribution centres., leading  to the arrest of the national coordinator of Si Cobas in 2017, and how workers in Amazon distribution centres in Italy, Spain and Germany have coordinated strike action. Concludes by noting how Uber drivers, mostly migrants, communicating via mobile phones have coordinated resistance. (See 'The wave of worker resistance in European food platforms 2016-7', Notes from Below, Jan 2018, nin.tl/FoodPlatforms) 

Available online at:

https://newint.org/features/2019/02/11/uber-drivers-world-unite

Ireland: one year since vote to end abortion ban

In: amnesty International, 2019

Amnesty International pays tribute to the Irish campaigners that led to the revolutionary referendum that repealed the Eight Amendment (25-26 May 2018), thus legalising abortion. It also highlights the human rights violation that women in Northern Ireland faced because of the harsh and restrictive anti-abortion law then applicable.

Available online at:

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/05/ireland-one-year-since-vote-to-end-abortion-ban/

'International Slut’ activist Li Maizi is one of China’s loudest feminist voices

In: Broadly, 2017

Explores the struggles and campaigns on anti-sexual harassment and gender equality led by Li Maizi in China - where she was arrested for more than a month as part of the Feminist Five – and the UK, where she came visiting on the occasion of the Million Women Rise demonstration in London.

See also https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/blood-brides-feminist-activists-cracking-chinas-patriarchal-order/

Available online at:

https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/ywmpkv/international-slut-activist-li-maizi-is-one-of-chinas-loudest-feminist-voices

Abortion in Ireland and Northern Ireland

In: Amnesty International, 2019

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

Available online at:

https://www.amnesty.org.uk/issues/Abortion-in-Ireland-and-Northern-Ireland

From Paris to 2030: A Call for Climate Change Leadership

In: The Elders, 2020

The Elders, a lobbying group for the environment chaired by Mary Robinson (former President of Ireland) joined leading climate experts to mark the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement at a virtual conference. This was also hosted by Project Syndicate and the European Investment Bank and includes a two hour video clip of  the panel discussion.

Available online at:

https://theelders.org/news/paris-2030-call-climate-leadership

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

New Approaches: #MeToo in Japan and the UK

In: Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, 2018

In this seminar, the impact of #MeToo was discussed in relation to the UK and Japan. The speakers outlined the implications and effects that the movement has had across each society and the extent to which it may impact government policies and legislation. The discussion also noted the challenges that the movement faces in both Japan and the UK.

A link to the video of the Conference can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XqL--SOaJI

A summary of two presentation can be read here http://dajf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Metoo-event-write-up.pdf

Available online at:

http://dajf.org.uk/event/new-approaches-metoo-in-japan-and-the-uk

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

Bolivia revolutionises the fight against femicide

In: YouTube, 2018

This short video shows Bolivian President, Evo Morales announcing the creation of a Defence Cabinet specialised in tackling violence against women and in supporting grassroots efforts. This video situates Bolivia’s move within the wider international context of governments integrating women’s liberation into the executive branch, taking inspiration from countries such as Cuba and Vietnam, which have done the same. In the video, RT producer, Cale Holmes, analyses how, despite an increase in femicide, violence against women and reactionary backlash in Bolivia, the government under Evo Morales was supporting women’s struggle.

Available online at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtYCRbnNsZ8

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.

India’s #MeToo movement’ documentary

Now This World

2018

The short documentary explores the rise of the #MeToo movement in India. It also shows how the accusations on sexual harassment extended from the media industry to academia and the political sector, alongside campaigning for women to speak up when harassment happens in the private sphere as well. Men and women in India have been speaking up against violence against women since 2012-2013, following the death of a 23 year-old young woman. This episode initiated a more grounded conversation on sexual assault against women and especially against women of lower castes. In fact, according to Indian’s Crime National Bureau, more than four Dalit women – the ‘untouchable’ - are raped every day. In 2018, India was rated the most dangerous country in the world for women by the Thompson Reuter Foundation because of high rates of sexual violence. Reports attested that in 2016, India had 338,954 reported crimes against women (38,947 were rapes).

For first hand interviews with survivors, please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13w-CJRoi30&vl=en.

See also: India was highlighted as one of the worst country for sexual violence, human trafficking, and for cultural and religious discrimination by Thomson Reuters Foundation’s 2018 survey (http://poll2018.trust.org/country/?id=india).

Available online at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuBDhN3NP7A

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. 

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