2017
Report on meeting held in conjunction with the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature which was part of mobilization around People's Climate march and UN Climate summit in New York City 2014.
Scottish delegation to Nuclear Ban Treaty negotiations
In: Peace News, No 2608-2609, 2017, pp. 7-10
This is a detailed day by day account of the activities of the Scottish civil society team at the negotiations in New York from 15 June to 24 June and 29 June to 7 July based on the blog kept by the Scottish delegation. The group received regular briefings and lobbied delegates involved in the negotiations, but also attended external meetings and protests organized by peace activists.
In: The Economist, 2019, pp. 16-19
Notes that two thirds of then world's large cities in 140 countries are close to the sea, that a billion people live only 10 metres above sea level. and that scientific reports show that the rate of sea level rise is accelerating. Discusses different estimates of rising sea levels and the inadequacies of engineering measures to create adopted by many countries.
In: BBC, 2020
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.
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.
In: Foreign Policy, 2019
To celebrate the first anniversary from the repeal of the Eight Amendment of the Irish Constitution that prevented women accessing abortion even in cases of rape and incest, Ailbhe Smyth, the co-director of the ‘Together for Yes’ campaign in Ireland, is interviewed on First Person and describes what it was like for women in Ireland to live under the ban, and how the predominantly Catholic country managed to overturn it. She also talks about the laws passed in 2019 in Alabama and other parts of the United States that ban most abortions.
See also https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/world-reaction-ireland-historic-vote-abortion-rights/
In: The New York Times, 2018
Following the kidnapping of more than 200 girls in April 2014 by the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram, the campaign #BringBackOurGirls started and was supported worldwide. In this New York Times’ special more than a hundred girls who have been released four years later are photographed and some of their stories are narrated.
See also https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/boko-haram-returns-some-of-the-girls-it-kidnapped-last-month; https://www.dw.com/en/inside-boko-haram-chibok-girls-as-status-symbols/a-18677263;
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/women-and-girls/meet-metoo-activists-one-worlds-hostile-environments/; https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vbpxn9/boko-haram-has-kidnapped-another-110-teenage-girls and https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/07/john-simpson-can-anyone-bring-back-nigeria-s-lost-girls
In 2018, the documentary ‘Stolen Daughters: Kidnapped by Boko Haram was released. To purchase the documentary, visit HBO official website https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/stolen-daughters-kidnapped-by-boko-haram
See the official website of #BRingBackOurGirls campaign here https://bringbackourgirls.ng/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/11/world/africa/nigeria-boko-haram-girls.html
In: The Economist, 2019
Issue focusing on climate change: Contains an analysis of rising carbon dioxide emissions, articles on the role of China and Russia, forest fires in Indonesia, flood prevention plans in low lying Asian cities, and the climate diplomacy of small island states.
In: Al Jazeera, 2018
Reports on the revival of the #NiUnaMenos movement following the acquittal of two men accused of sexual violence and the murder of 16-year old Lucia Perez in the coastal city of Mar del Plata. It also provides data on femicide since 2008.
For the same event, see also http://time.com/5472053/argentina-protest-lucia-perez-ni-una-menos/.
In: Observer, 2018, pp. 1-3
Analyses the referendum and the 66.4 per cent vote to repeal the amendment to the Irish Constitution forbidding abortion.
See also:
Emma Graham Harrison '"The future is safe" - a long fight pays off', Guardian Weekly, 10/06/18, p. 4-5, which looks back at 35 years of courageous campaigning, and Karl McDonald, 'Irish battle goes global: Abortion campaigners from around the world are intervening in referendum', the i, 19 May 2018, p.35.
22-28 April 2019
In: The Big Issue, 2019, pp. 19-39
This special supplement in the paper focusing especially on the homeless (and sold by them) takes up the climate crisis and the role of youth activism. Features young people arguing for climate change to be on the school curriculum, and interviewing the UK Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, Caroline Lucas (the sole Green MP in the UK Parliament), and representatives of Marks and Spencer about their clothing and recycling policies. Includes interviews with young naturalists and activists in different parts of the country.
In: Horizons, 2018
Exlores femicide in Guatemala with particular reference to violence experienced by indigenous women.
See also https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/femicide-in-mexico-and-guatemala/
2020
Provides a brief and interactive timeline on the history of abortion in Northern Ireland.
See also https://humanism.org.uk/campaigns/public-ethical-issues/sexual-and-reproductive-rights/ and the submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women on mistreatment and violence against women during reproductive healthcare in Ireland and Northern Ireland by the Abortion Rights Campaign in May 2019.
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/abortion-rights-northern-ireland-timeline
Sept-Oct 2019
In: New Internationalist, 2019, pp. 16-26
Covers issues of both climate change and biodiversity: loss of fish stocks, plastic pollution and role of oceans as climate regulators, and dangers of planned seabed mining. These issues are framed by a legal and political analysis of the Law of the Sea, the role of the International Seabed Authority and the negotiations between 190 countries in the Intergovernmental Conference on the Protection of Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction, intended to lead to a new Global Ocean Treaty.
There are a number of timelines on the evolving scientific research and the political context of climate change:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15874560 (1712-2013)
Sources for the evolving scientific understanding of climate change include:
IPCC Reports (comprehensive assessment reports, special reports on specific issues and methodology reports); there are also summaries for policy makers. The IPCC releases very much shorter summaries to the press.
NASA provides climate change and global warming information on its website: climate.nasa.org
The Scientific American carries material on the science and politics relating to climate change. www.scientificamerican.com
The New Scientist provides accessible news reports and analyses on scientific issues, including climate change. https://newscientist.com
In: Guardian Weekly, 2018, pp. 8-8
Describes a new generation of student activists who are waging a struggle against harassment and sexual discrimination in universities through strikes, occupations and protests. When the article was published many university buildings were still being occupied. Polls showed public support and the government promised to meet some (but not all) of the students’ demands.
In: The Economist, 2021, pp. 59-60
Provides a well informed summary of the context and nature of the October military coup.
See also: 'Sudan: Coup de Grace', The Economist, 27 November 2021, p. 55.
This analysis of the coup leaders' decision to reinstate Prime Minister Hamdok interprets this move as' the army tightening its grip on Sudan's political transition.
In: LatinAmericanPost, 2018
Under the slogan "Now is the time: Rural and urban activists transform the lives of women", UN Women draw attention to the work of the movement of women activists in Colombia and the circumstances they have to face on a daily basis.
67th Session, 3-21 July 2017
Amnesty International , New York, 2017
Amnesty International report on legislative measures taken by Nigeria to ensure the protection of the rights of women and girls. It also highlights gender-based violence resulting from displacements and armed conflict; and forced evictions which led to the disproportionate loss of livelihoods for women, and to gender based violence. Finally, Amnesty reports the use of rape and other forms of sexual violence by the police.
Author(s): ' Mujeres Grabando Resistencia
In: NACLA Reports on the Americas, Vol 50, No 4, 2018, pp. 418-422
The initative of 14 women of capturing the feminist struggles through artistic production within the #VivaNosQueremos campaign. Many cities throughout the world joined the campaign and printmaking appeared in cities like Ciudad Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico State, Puebla, New York, Chicago, Montreal and Barcelona as well as other countries like Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Italy.
Author(s): ' Starhawk'
New Society Publishers, Gabriola Island BC, 2003, pp. 288
Part 1: the author, an activist and ecofeminist, chronicles the global justice movement from Seattle to Genoa. Part 2 explores the future of the movement and debates between advocates of violent and nonviolent tactics.
Author(s): ' Starhawk'
Harper Collins, San Francisco, 1988, pp. 384
Often cited exploration of issues from an eco-feminist perspective by activist drawing on experiences in 1980s peace movement affinity groups. Explores power along three axes – power-over, power-within and power-with, and provides materials on individual and group empowerment.