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Laffin, Arthur, A History of the Plowshares Movement - a talk, Kings Bay Plowshares 7, 2019

Laffin, a Plowshares activist and member of the radical Catholic Worker organization, gave this talk to 100 supporters of the seven protesters on trial that week for entering the Kings Bay naval submarine base in Georgia in 2018 and symbolically damaging weapons systems. They were found guilty of conspiracy, damaging government property and trespassing. The first Plowshares protest in 1980 involved eight Catholics trespassing on the General Electric Nuclear Missile facility in the King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and taking  action that became characteristic of later protests: they damaged nuclear warhead cones and poured blood on files, before publicly announcing  their actions and being arrested. Laffin notes that Plowshares (drawing on the biblical injunction 'beat your swords into plowshares') grew out of the Catholic protests at draft offices during the Vietnam War, when draft records were destroyed. The Berrigan brothers took part in both.

See also: Cohen-Joppa, Jack, ‘They Came to Stop a Crime: The Trial of the Kingsbay Plowshares 7’, Peace News, 2636-2637, Dec. 2019-Jan. 2020, p.7.
(Article first published on 10 Nov. 2019, on Beyond Nuclear International: beyondnuclearinternational.org)

The article provides brief background on Plowshares and outlines the testimony by defendants during their trial. It also records the jury decision to convict each of the seven on four counts: trespass, destruction of government property, ‘depredation’ of government property on a military installation; and conspiracy to commit these illegal acts.

Garza, Alicia, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart, New York, Penguin/Random House, 2020 , pp. 336

One of the co-founders of the hashtag Black Lives Matter in 2013, Garza outlines in this book a long term strategy for social change.  It is based on her own years of experience in community organizing.  She has moved on from the Black Lives Matter organization (although still close to the other co-founders) to create the Black Futures Lab.  She has developed a policy platform (based on a major cross-party survey of Black people in the US in 2018) that focuses on central, widely supported demands. These include raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, broadening opportunities for Black home ownership, and removing the police presence from schools that often leads to pupils being jailed.  She has campaigned in the 2020 US election on her agenda.  Her book also argues the need to abandon outdated models of individual leadership from the Civil Rights Movement, as well as cautioning against over-reliance on celebrity activists and the role of the internet.

See also: Mahdawi, Arwa, ‘Move Fast and Fix Things’, Guardian Weekly, 23 Oct. 2020, pp. 34-7.

An extended interview with Alicia Garza.

Chambers, Paul, Book Review: Divided over Thaksin: Thailand's Coup and Problematic Transition, 2010 pp. smaller than 0

This review provides a useful overview of the deep divisions in Thai politics between the supporters of the radical populist Thaksin and the strongly opposed conservative royalist groups, leading to the 2006 coup and conflict between the 'Red Shirts' and 'Yellow Shirts'. 

See also: Funston, John, ed. ,  Divided Over Thaksin: Thailand's Coup and Problematic Transition, Singapore, Silkworm Books, 2009, pp. 203.

The book grew out of seminars on Thai politics at the Australian National University in 2006 and 2007; it has six chapters on the 2006 coup and constitutional issues arising, four on the sources of the growing radicalism in the rural and Muslim south of the country, and three on economic issues.

Parekh, Bhikhu, Gandhi’s Political Philosophy: A Critical Examination, Notre Dame IN, University of Notre Dame Press, 1989 , pp. 284

Political theorist and Gandhi scholar Parekh has also written a brief account of Gandhi’s life and work: Bhikhu Parekh, Gandhi, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1997 , pp. 111 .

, Environment and Society in Eastern Europe, ed. Tickle, Andrew; Welsh, Ian, London, Longman, 1998 , pp. 192

Examines contribution of environmental activism to ‘an immanent civil society’. Chapters on Hungary, Poland, Romania and Russia.

Smiljanic, Zorana, Plan B: Using Secondary Protests to Undermine Repression, St. Paul, MN, New Tactics in Human Rights/Centre for Victims of Torture, 2003 , pp. 23

Specifically on Otpor’s demonstrations at police stations to mark the arrest of activists.

Norman, Julie, Beyond Hunger Strikes: The 'Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement and Everyday Resistance, 6 1 2020 , pp. 40-68

Studies how the focal points of resistance by prisoners, hunger strikes, are made possible by longer term lower key strategies. These included  encouraging forms of communication between prisoners, development of  political education, and by less dramatic acts of ‘everyday’ noncooperation, for example with strip searches or some prison routines. The article is based on interviews with former Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank and some interviews with lawyers and NGOs supporting prisoners.

Yoon, Kate, Towards an Equitable and Effective Climate Deal: An Interview with Mary Robinson, 36 3 2015 , pp. 35-37

In this interview Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and UN Special Envoy on Climate Change, talks about the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice.  She discusses how climate change disproportionately affects women, especially through undermining food security, and notes that many women are farmers in developing countries.

See also: Editorial spotlight: Climate action with women, UN Women, 13 September 2019.

https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2019/9/spotlight-climate-action-with-women

Link to women-led initiatives in Bolivia, the Caribbean and Cambogia to tackle climate change.

See also: Empowering women on the frontlines of climate change, UN Environment Programme, 8 March 2019.

https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/empowering-women-frontlines-climate-change

Brief introduction to “Promoting Gender-Responsive Approaches to Natural Resource Management for Peace”, a Sudanese project implemented by UN Environment, UN Women and the United Nations Development Programme.

Kamila, Eshaliyeva, Is Anti-Chinese Mood Growing in Kyrgyzstan?, , pp. smaller than 0

Article discussing Kyrgyz protests in 2019 against migrant Chinese workers (both illegal and legal), in the context of alarm about Chinese government treatment of ethnic Kyrgyz inside China.  The author considers how far fears of large numbers of migrants could be substantiated and what the relationship was between protesters and state bodies.

Routledge, Paul, Terrains of Resistance: Nonviolent Social Movements and the Contestation of Place in India, Westport CT, Praeger, 1993 , pp. 196

Introduces radical geography perspective on spatial components to sites of resistance. Chapter 1 looks at the developing resistance to aspects of economic development (industrialization, dams, deforestation) and the numerous movements since independence among tribal peoples, peasants, women and squatters. Chapters 3 and 4 analyse the Baliapal movement against a missile testing range, and the Chipko movement against logging.

Lehman, Steve; Barnett, Robert; Coles, Robert, The Tibetans: A Struggle to Survive, New York, Powerhouse Cultural Entertainment Books, 2004 , pp. 125

, Popular Struggles for Democracy, ed. Anyang' Nyong'o, Peter, London, Zed Books, 1987 , pp. 288

Contributors provide case studies of Morocco, Uganda, People’s Republic of Congo, South Africa, Ghana, Liberia, Kenya and Swaziland.

Long, Simon, Taiwan: China’s Last Frontier, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1991 , pp. 264

After sketching in Taiwan’s earlier history and the evolution of the KMT, chapter 3 describes Taiwan’s political development up to 1986, including a brief summary of the birth of opposition (pp. 66-72). Chapter 8 looks at political reform in 1986-89, the founding of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party and the rise in protest.

Cannon, Barry, Coup or popular rebellion? The myth of a united Venezuela, 23 3 (July) 2004 , pp. 286-302

Coates, Ken, Work-ins, Sit-ins and Industrial Democracy, Nottingham, Spokesman Books, 1981 , pp. 175

An account of sit-ins or work-ins to prevent workplace closures in Britain in early 1970s, and an examination of subsequent experiments in workers’ control.

Gedicks, Al, International Native Resistance to the New Resource Wars, In Bron Raymond Taylor, Ecological Resistance Movements: The Global Emergence of Radical and Popular Environmentalism (C.1.a. General and International Studies) Albany NY, State University of New York Press, 1995 , pp. 89-108

Covers resistance by Cree and Inuit, supported by Kayapo Indians in Brazil and transnational green groups, to major hydro-electric project in Quebec.

, Vietnam and the Antiwar Movement: An International Perspective, ed. Dumbrell, John, Aldershot, Avebury, 1989 , pp. 182

Chapters include: ‘Kent State: How the War in Vietnam became a War at Home’; ‘Congress and the Anti-War Movement’; ‘US Presidential Campaigns in the Vietnamese Era’; ‘Opposing the War in Vietnam – the Australian Experience’; ‘Vietnam War Resisters in Quebec’; ‘Anger and After – Britain’s CND and the Vietnam War’.

, Cultural Memories of nonviolent Struggles: Powerful Times, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015 , pp. 260

This is an acadmeic contribution to memory studies, but shows how preserving knowledge and stories of past movements affects present politics, and how nonviolent activists can learn from past campaigns. Examples examined include the suffragettes, Greenham Common, Polish Solidarity, US struggles against racism and Australian aboriginal campaigns. The authors also illustrate how one movement can influence others and stress the need to make archival and other sources (films, music, etc.) available.

Lee, Paul; So, Clement; Long, Louis, Social Media and the Umbrella Movement: Insurgent Public Sphere in Formation, 8 4 2015 , pp. 356-375

The authors from the Chinese University of Hong Kong interviewed a random sample of 1011 to assess the role of social media in the Umbrella Movement. They found a positive correlation between support for the movement and reliance on social media for news and that this group also distrusted the Hong Kong authorities, the police and Chinese Government.

Fahmi, George, Are We Seeing a Second Wave of the Arab Spring?, March 2019 London, Chatham House, 2019

Dr Fahmi outlines the early months of protest in both Sudan and Algeria, and discusses parallels with 2011 in terms of being 'nationwide, sustained over time, political in nature and interconnected', with the movements encouraging each other.

Chibber, Ajay, Farm Protests in India. A New Menu Needed, Institute for International Economic Policy, 2021 , pp. 17

The author argues that Indian agricultural policy, devised in response to food shortages in the 1960s, relied on a mix of technological solutions to increase yields and a range of pricing measures to support farmers. These policies are out of date, but changing the overall policy is difficult as farmers believe their livelihoods are at stake. This paper considers the issues behind the protests and suggests ways forward.

D’Emilio, John, Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin, New York, Freedom Press, 2003 , pp. 568

Shows how Rustin’s gay lifestyle was repeatedly brought up by public enemies intent on discrediting the movement and by political rivals wanting to marginalize him.

Simpson, John, Dispatches from the Barricades: An Eye-Witness Account of the Revolution that Shook the World, London, Hutchinson, 1990 , pp. 320

By BBC reporter; includes a chapter on Romania.

Dobson, William, The Dictator’s Learning Curve: Inside the Global Battle for Democracy, New York, Harvill Secker, 2012 , pp. 341

Former editor of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy assesses the nature of various contemporary authoritarian regimes and discusses unarmed resistance. Chapter 1 ‘The Czar’ analyses the Putin regime including its control over the media; Chapter 2 ‘Enemies of the State’ gives prominence to a campaign to preserve the Khimki forest and the effectiveness of tactics used.

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