No name

This book examines the development and evolution of the Plowshares movement from a social science perspective, looking at issues such as ‘tactical legitimation’ and sustainability in relation to the US movement, and also analyzing ‘intermittent resistance’ in the German, Dutch and Australian movements, and ‘internal implosion’ in the Swedish movement.  It also  assesses the UK movement.

The author investigates two questions: How did the politics of disappointment unfold among female activists after the 2011 Egyptian uprising and specifically under the current regime? What were the effects of the strong sense of emotional disappointment on women’s activism and collective action? She argues that disappointment did not mark the end of politics and activism among women’s groups in Egypt. Although the situation is complicated and activism is restricted in Egypt, in this research participants affirm that their experience in the uprising has changed them, and that “things cannot go back to the old days.” A focus on hope and disappointment makes the experiences of activists central to the analysis. It allows researchers to reclaim the voices of female activists in explaining the challenges and opportunities that developed after the uprising, and how these developments influenced and shaped their experience, movement, and mobilization.

Wright's survey of protest covers the whole of the post-Mao period, examining the range of different types of protest by farmers, workers and urban homeowners, as well as environmentalists, dissidents, and ethnic minorities. She notes that popular protest has often achieved some positive response, though protesters also often suffer. The book includes consideration of Xi Jinping's more repressive policy and suggests this could lead to much greater tensions that might threaten regime stability.  Wright also covers protest in Hong Kong in the rather different political context there.

See also:

Wright, Teresa, (ed.) (2019), Handbook of Protest and Resistance in China, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishers, pp. 480.

Survey of various forms of protest in China since 1989 by a range of social groups (for example urban, rural, workers, religious minorities and ethnic minorities), with 29 chapters by experts in the field. The book begins with two overviews of the prospects for regime survival, and the whole gamut of social unrest. It includes sections on environmental protest, information and communication technologies, and also on Hong Kong. 

Randle was a full time organizer for the Committee of 100, which was created in 1960 to promote mass nonviolent direct action, such as sit-downs and occupations, as a strategy to promote unilateral nuclear disarmament by Britain. In this article he compares the Committee's experience with the tactics and aims of Extinction Rebellion, noting the greater acceptability of nonviolent direct action today and the differences between the two threats (nuclear war and major climate change). He also notes that the Committee of 100 ceased to exist after eight years, whilst the more conventional CND has lasted over 60 years. 

See also articles by Gabriel Carlyle 'Building the Climate Movement We Need', and Mya-Rose Craig, 'The Point of Striking is to Take Control over Our Futures' in Peace News, 2034-2035, Oct.-Nov. 2019 for further debate about strategy and focus. Carlyle makes a comparison with the US Civil Rights Movement and its localised, focused campaigns combining to create a national movement. Craig stresses the need to prioritize the Global South and when setting out alternatives, to advocate only actions that do not harm communities in poorer countries.

Examines why protesters failed to achieve regime change in the 2006 presidential election. Argues that the historical background of the regime, the popularity of the president, and electors’ concern with economic rather than democratic issues were all important. Also considers role of Russia and its ambivalence towards the Belarus regime.

Especially chapter 7, ‘From “conformism” to confrontation’, pp. 134-67, which covers not only regional, worker and student resistance, but also changes within the Catholic Church; and chapter 9 ‘The regime in crisis: Carrero Blanco and Arras Navarro 1969-1975’, pp. 189-206.

Author lived in squatter communities in Rio, Bombay, Nairobi (where squatting was linked to building new homes) and Istanbul.

Structured in sections covering key events and key individuals in movement against Vietnam War, and includes a chapter assessing strength and weaknesses of movement. Extensive footnotes and bibliography.

A book by long-term academic expert on the Soviet Union/Russia, which situates coverage of Euromaidan and the subsequent local rebellions in Crimea and other parts of eastern Ukraine within a context of different cultural and ideological strands in Ukrainian society, and within the wider context of Russian-Western relations. Sakwa is very critical of Western policies after 1991 and, more recently, towards Putin, and also challenges the bias of much western reporting on the evolving Ukrainian crisis.

Includes discussion of why the 1% have such a dominant economic position.