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Narkowicz, Kasia, Before the Czarny Protest: Feminist activism in Poland, 2018 pp. smaller than 0

Abortion in Poland was legal under Communism and became illegal (with a few exceptions) after the political shift to multi-party democracy. Feminists opposing the abortion law had little impact. This changed in 2016, when hundreds of thousands of Poles across the country took to the streets in the Czarny Protest, or Black Protest. They opposed a bill that would remove some of the exceptions in the existing legislation and impose criminal sanctions on abortion. The scale of the protest meant that the proposal was stalled, despite the newly elected right-wing populist government. It was a surprising victory for the feminist movement, especially after a similar proposal in 2011 received almost no public attention and failed to mobilise resistance even among feminists. This paper looks back at the pro-choice movement before the mass mobilisation in 2016. It draws on interviews and focus groups conducted with pro-choice activists in Poland between 2011 and 2012, when the feminist movement was predominantly active online rather than on the streets. The paper concludes with questions about the success of the mass mobilisation that took place five years later in 2016, which was largely mobilised from online platforms. It asks whether there has been a shift within the pro-choice feminist movement or a sudden interest in feminist politics among the Polish public or whether the 2016 protest reflected a broader dissatisfaction with the current regime. If the third exploration is correct, what are the implications for feminist activism in Poland and the wider resistance to right-wing politics?

Intondi, Vincent, African American Against The Bomb. Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism And The Black Freedom Movement, Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press, 2015 , pp. 224

Historian Vincent Intondi describes the long but little-known history of Black Americans in the Nuclear Disarmament Movement from 1945, when some protested against the A- bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to today. He shows how those black activists who fought for nuclear disarmament connected the nuclear issue with the fight for racial equality. Intondi also shows that from early on, blacks in America saw the use of atomic bombs as a racial issue, asking why such enormous resources were being spent building nuclear arms instead of being used to improve impoverished communities.

Bock, Pauline, Why the French are Revolting against Emmanuel Macron's National Service Programme, June 2019 , pp. smaller than 0

France, which abolished conscription in 1997, reintroduced a new form of universal national service for 16 year olds in 2018, which extended to women as well as men and included forms of social as well as military service.  Bock's article discusses the national debate at a time when the new form of service was being tested by over 2,000 young  volunteers in a pilot programme. The eventual service will be compulsory, with no exceptions recognized, and penalties envisaged included being banned from taking the academic qualification the baccalaureat or a driving  test.

See also: Williamson, Lucy, 'France's Macron brings back National Service', BBC News, 27 June 2018.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44625625 

This report stresses that Macron's original plan had been 'softened and broadened' with less focus on military experience and with an emphasis on fostering social cohesion.

Raines, Howell, My Soul is Rested: Movement Days in the Deep South Remembered, 1977 New York, Penguin, 1983 , pp. 496

A range of recollections from 1955 to MLK’s assassination in 1968.

Rossabi, Morris, Modern Mongolia: From Khan to Communism to Capitalism, Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh Press, 2005 , pp. 418

Includes assessment of the post-Communist economy: the end of state assistance and role of international finance agencies, leading to growing inequalities.

, Women in South African History, ed. Gasa, Nomboniso, Cape Town, Human Sciences Research Council, 2007 , pp. 456

Part Three – ‘War: armed and mass struggles as gendered experiences’ – includes Jacklyn Cock, ‘”Another mother for peace”: Women and peace building in South Africa, 1983-2003, pp. 257-280, and Janet Cherry ‘”We were not afraid”: The role of women in the 1980s’ township uprising in the Eastern Cape’, pp. 281-313, and Pat Gibbs, ‘Women, labour and resistance: Case studies from the Port Elizabeth/Uitenhage area, 1972-94’, pp. 315-343.

Parajulee, Ramjee, The Democratic Transition in Nepal, Lanham MD, Rowman and Littlefield, 2000 , pp. 382

Assessment drawing on survey data and giving weight to analysis of impact of external factors on internal forces. See Chapter 2 for the people power movement.

Alther, Gretchen; Lindsay-Poland, John; Weintraub, Sarah, Building from the Inside Out: Peace Initiatives in War-Torn Colombia, Philadelphia PA, American Friends Service Committee and Fellowship of Reconciliation USA, 2006 , pp. 36

Castells, Manuel, Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age, Cambridge, Polity, 2012 , pp. 200

Well known theorist of global networks examines the mass uprisings across the world in 2011, giving account of events in ‘Arab Spring’ and the reaction to the bank collapse and austerity policies in the west in Iceland, Spain, Greece and the USA, and stressing the causal role of the internet.

, Revolt and Crisis in Greece: Between a Present Yet to Pass and a Future Still to Come, ed. Vradis, Antonis; Dalakoglu, Dimitris, Edinburgh and London, A.K. Press and Occupied London, 2011 , pp. 378

Wide range of contributors, including David Graeber, on economic meltdown in Greece and popular responses to government’s extreme austerity programme.

, European Peace Movements and the Future of the Western Alliance, ed. Laqueur, Walter; Hunter, Robert, New Brunswick, Transaction Books in association with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, Washington DC, 1985 , pp. 450

Generally critical contributions on the peace movements of the 1980s in various European countries and their impact on the Western alliance. Includes chapter on the US peace movement of the 1980s.

Kostovicova, Denisa, Kosovo: The Politics of Identity and Space, London, Routledge, 2005 , pp. 322

Primarily a study of education and on ethnic segregation.

Boers, Laurence, ”After the Revolution”: Civil society and the challenges of consolidating democracy in Georgia, 24 3 2005 , pp. 335-350

Analysis of the ‘revolution’ including some mention of role of nonviolence.

Zimbabwe Focus, , When to call black white: Zimbabwe’s electoral reports, 23 6 (December) 2002 , pp. 1145-1158

Analysis of March 2002 Presidential election and conflicting assessments of its fairness from organizations within Zimbabwe and teams of electoral observers from the west and Africa.

, The Argentine Reader, ed. Nouzeilles, Gabriele; Montaldo, Graciela, Durham NC, Duke University Press, 2002 , pp. 600

For background on Argentina’s politics.

Maathai, Wangaari, The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experiences, 1985 New York, Lantern Books, 2004 , pp. 117

, The Race Issue. Black and White, April 2018 , , pp. 79-149

In this special issue on race in the US, Michele Morris recounts how demographic changes across the US are challenging white Americans’ perception of their majority status. She also discusses attempts to re-create a narrative that could reflect more than white Christian ethnicity as the only identity framework of US history. Michael A. Fletcher reports the personal stories of people of colour who had suffered traumatic experiences of stop-and-search by police officers on the basis of their racial profile. Clint Smith examines two major and prestigious colleges that have experienced a recent surge in enrolment of black youth and the rise of new forms of Black activism. Finally, Maurice Bergers reports on the work by photographer Omar Victor Dopi on slave revolts, independence movements, social justice quests. The events represented range from 18th century’s Queen Nanny of the Maroons, known for her ability to lead Jamaican slaves to liberation from British colonialism, to 21st century’s 12 year-old Trayvon Martin, whose shooting by a white neighborhood watch volunteer inspired the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Bland, Ben, Generation H K: Seeking Identity in China's Shadow, London, Penguin, 2017 , pp. 140

(A Penguin Special and one in a series on Hong Kong)

The author charts the attitudes of the generation who grew up since 1997, arguing that they have a distinctive Hong Kong identity, detached from Britain's legacy and far from identifying with mainland China, but aware of pressure from Beijing. He follows the stories of 'activists turned politicians', 'artists resisting censorship' and. some connected with the world of high finance, making comparisons with other Asian countries he has covered as a journalist.

Chesney-Lind, Meda; Hadi, Syeda, Patriarchy, Abortion, and the Criminal System: Policing Female Bodies, 27 1 2017 , pp. 73-88

This paper argues for a conceptualisng denial of abortion as the patriarchal policing of women’s bodies and their sexuality. The authors briefly review international trends regarding abortion politics, including many thousands of abortion related deaths, injuries and loss of fertility, and then analyze women’s access to abortion in two countries, the United States and Bangladesh, which represent two very different contexts: the developed and developing world. They argue that abortion services are being constrained by misogynistic politics that deny women control over their bodies. Finally, the paper reviews recent international efforts to establish abortion rights in the context of human rights. In particular, a recent United Nation’s report describes moves to recriminalise both contraception and abortion in the U.S. and Europe as the deliberate denial of medically available and necessary services and hence a form of “torture.”

Walsh, Janet, South Korea’s abortion reform. A model for others, Human Rights Watch, 2019

A ruling by South Korea’s Constitutional Court in April 2019, that the country’s abortion laws were unconstitutional, effectively decriminalised abortion. The court required the National Assembly to reform the law by December 2020.

See also https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47890065; https://time.com/5567300/south-korea-abortion-ban-ruling/ and https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/south-korea-court-strikes-down-six-decade-old-abortion-ban/2019/04/11/0200f028-5c43-11e9-842d-7d3ed7eb3957_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.66acd94bf340

Bloch, Nadine; Olagbaju, Folabi, A Protest Master Class: A look inside the US struggle to defund the police, Edited version of article on Waging Nonviolence Website: wagingnonviolence.org 2642-2643 2020 , pp. 9-8

The authors comment on the impressive revival of Black LivesMatter in May/June 2020, reforms to policing already agreed in some cities and the new prominence of the demand to ‘defund the police’. They also discuss the importance of  combining a range of approaches and tactics to complement direct action: doing research; making the ‘invisible visible’; using symbolic ritual (for example turning the fence around the White House into a shrine); and encouraging artistic creativity to promote joy and healing.

Sémelin, Jacques, Unarmed Against Hitler: Civilian Resistance in Europe, 1939-43, 1989 in French Westport CT, Praeger, 1993 , pp. 198

Examines the main traits of Nazi occupation of Europe, the complexities of non-cooperation, and the role of social cohesion and public opinion in mounting effective opposition. Chapter on civilian resistance to genocide considers why the Final Solution was hampered, or even prevented, in certain countries.

Translations: French | German

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