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Examination of the grass roots work of the MKSS in developing campaign for right to information as part of their wider campaigning and their use of jan sunwals (public hearings) in communities where official documents regarding public works, anti-poverty programmes etc. are read out and people are encouraged to add their own testimony about diversion of funds and fraud. The article also covers the MKSS use of public protest, such as a 52 day sit-in in the capital of Rajasthan, Jaipur, in 1997. See also:  2005 Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Right to Information. State Level: Rajasthan, 2005 2005 . Brief elaboration and update on work of MKSS and Right to Information Acts up to 2005.

Webcast sponsored by the Iving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by alumni UBC with Equity and Inclusion. #MeToo. #IWill. Awareness is important, but how do we move beyond hashtags and words to making real change for women in the workplace? New accusations of harassment keep coming to the fore – from Hollywood to Wall Street to Commercial Drive. In response, thousands of women have posted “#MeToo” on social media. Men have since responded with #IWill, signaling their individual commitment to take action in order to prevent harassment in their midst. But what next? How do we go beyond awareness to actual – and more permanent – change? This video includes a panel discussion that examines this issue and explore options for moving forward.

Falk assesses the nature of the 1989 revolutions, which she delineates as the collapse of communist regimes across Eastern Europe in a context of commitment to nonviolence by key players (with the exception of Romania) and of restraint by both Gorbachev in the USSR and western leaders. Year 1989 appeared to usher in a new concept of peaceful revolution, which could be applied to challenge other repressive regimes. But, Falk argues, these attempts, as in the '2009 Green Revolution' in Iran and the 'Arab Spring' in 2011 in Egypt and elsewhere, have resulted in defeat.  The author also notes other factors, which militate against successful nonviolent revolution. These include the greater ruthlessness (compared with the East European Communist regimes of the 1980s) of many of today's dictatorships, the declining respect for the US and for liberal democracy as an ideal, a rise in barbaric violence (represented by ISIS) and the complex role of today's communication technologies, which can mobilize protest but promote lack of leadership capable of formulating negotiable demands. The article references a number of other interesting recent perspectives on revolution today.   

In Brazil, which has the second largest Black population in the world, Brazilian police kill at least six times more people annually than the US police, and most of those dying are young Black men.  In the video an interdisciplinary panels of Brazilian and US scholars examine the development of Black Brazilian mobilization against police violence, and compare police violence in Brazil with the position in the US and South Africa.  The video then focuses on how Black LGBTQ+ Brazilians are affected by police violence.   

See also: https://www.thedialogue.org/events/online-event-race-and-policing-in-the-us-and-brazil/

Reports on Inter-American Dialogue event 'Race and Policing in the US and  Brazil' examining what recent cases of  police violence revealed  about systemic racism in both countries.

Discusses 1999 student demonstrations against the NATO bombing of Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, comparing them with earlier 1919 and June 1989 protests. Argues that, despite official support and encouragement, the 1999 protests did reflect significant degree of student autonomy and included allusion to 1989.

Account by City Press reporters and photographers, supplemented by edited evidence from official Enquiry, and including analyses of labour migration.