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

Extractivism In Latin America

Action Fund of Latin America2016, pp. 59

This report by the feminist civil society body, Urgent Action Fund of Latin America and the Caribbean, focuses on the role of women in protecting and defending nature, and warns of increasing risks to their lives and environment. The report discusses ‘the extractive model’ and the social-environmental conflicts it creates, and also the disturbing militarization and violations of women’s rights, including those defending their environment. The report outlines proposals made by women for defence of territory, and also stresses the diversity of the approaches, organizations and activities developed by Latin American women.

Women’s participation in Peace Processes

In: Council on Foreign Relations, 2019

A report tracking women’s participation in peace negotiations from 1990 to the present. It reveals that women comprise only two percent of mediators, five percent of witnesses and signatories, and eight percent of negotiators around the world.

See also https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/03AWomenPeaceNeg.pdf

Available online at:

https://www.cfr.org/interactive/womens-participation-in-peace-processes?utm_medium=earned&utm_source=redirect&utm_campaign=women-peace

Hibakusha. Survivors Of Hiroshima And Nagasaki

Kōsei Publishing, Tokyo, 1986, pp. 206

First hand account of 25 hibakushas, survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. They include soldiers, doctors, nurses, students, housewives, small children, Koreans brought to Japan for forced labour, and victims who were yet unborn.

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

Back From the Brink: A call to prevent nuclear war

Grassroots movement aiming at preventing nuclear war.

2019

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/.

Available online at:

https://www.preventnuclearwar.org/about

The Kremlin Emboldened

In: Journal of Democracy, Vol 28, No 4, 2017, pp. 60-116

This supplement contains a number of articles exploring the nature of 'Putinism', the degree of regime stability, the extent of genuine popular support, and the implications of Putin’s post 2014 international policy for Russia internally. Authors provide varied perspectives, including an assessment of increasing popular frustration, especially among young people.

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

Blessed are the Peacemakers: Military service in South Korea

In: The Economist, 2019, pp. 48-48

This article was prompted by the Supreme Court's ruling in November 2018 that refusing to accept 21-14 months of military service for religious or conscientious reasons would no longer be a crime (overturning its own earlier 2003 ruling). The author notes that the small number of past objectors have usually been Jehovah's Witnesses, and that courts would in future judge the sincerity of pacifist convictions which they might reject, and that, if CO status were accepted, three years alternative service as a prison guard was required.  But recognition of the right to be a CO makes it a more socially acceptable position, and might also help to mitigate the harsh conditions of military service.

Morocco: new violence against women law

2018

Notes a new Moroccan law - Law 103.13 on the elimination of violence against women - that criminalises violence against women. The law was approved by Parliament on 14th February 2018 and entered into force in September 2018 and punishes various types of violence committed both in the private and public spheres, including rape, sexual harassment and domestic abuse. However, it was criticized for not outlawing marital rape or spousal violence, and failing to provide a precise definition of domestic violence.

See also https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/09/morocco-violence-women-law-effect-180912061837132.html and https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/violence-against-women-morocco-girls/

Available online at:

https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/02/26/morocco-new-violence-against-women-law

The case for unilateral disarmament

In: Peace News, 2020

On 23 January, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved its Doomsday Clock (created in 1947) from two minutes to midnight to 100 seconds to midnight, which is the closest that it has ever been to the prospect of human destruction. This article makes the case for Britain unilaterally dismantling its nuclear weapons programme; firstly, from a legal perspective, and secondly, from a practical perspective.

Available online at:

https://www.peacenews.info/blog/9616/case-unilateral-nuclear-disarmament

Hambach Forest Saved

Feb-Mar 2019

In: Peace News, No 2626-2627, 2019, pp. 11ff

Reports that after years of resistance by German green activists against open cast coal mining, which had already destroyed much of the Hambach forest, the rest of the forest seemed to be safe. A government-appointed 'coal exit commission' recommended in January 2019 that Germany should stop using coal-fired energy by 2038 and that it was 'desirable' to preserve the Hambach forest. A court order requested by the German Friends of the Earth (BUND) had already temporarily halted expansion of the mine, after major protests by the campaign Ende Gelaende, which included occupying coal train tracks

See also: Polden, David, '4,000 Activists Block German Coal Trains for 24 Hours', Peace News, 2624-2625, Dec.2018-Jan.2019, p.5.

Very brief report on Ende Gelaende direct action.

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