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(Accord is published by the London-based Conciliation Resources. Issue 13 was entitled ‘Owning the process: Public Participation in Peacemaking’, edited by Catherine Barnes.)
The Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition (NIWC) was initiated by women of various political affiliations, religious beliefs and occupations. It was institutionalized as a political party in 1996 so that its members would be eligible to take part in the all-party talks that culminated in the Good Friday Agreement. It also campaigned for the acceptance of the GFA in the referendums which followed its signing.
Numerous protests took place round the world contemporaneously with the global economic crisis, but the left in Europe as a whole failed to organize. This gap should be filled by Blockupy, a European network of activists composed of trade unionists, political parties and different social movements. The article traces the history of this organization and assesses how far Blockupy has the power to create a new left movement in Germany.
This book draws on a range of theoretical traditions emerging from feminism, criminology, and sociology, to challenge the narrow idea that domestic violence and sexual assault are phenomena of interpersonal violence perpetrated by men. The authors highlight the diversity of women’s experience, discuss the role social structures play, and include discussions of workplace and state violence. The first section develops the conceptual and contextual framework, and the following three sections focus on types of victimization: interpersonal, in the workplace, and by the state. Accounts of individual experiences are used throughout to personalize the issues discussed.
Describing China’s feminist activists in relation to their political and historical circumstances, the author elucidates the development of China’s feminist movement and discusses China’s history from a feminist perspective.
Arendt is one of the most eminent political philosophers often cited by theorists of nonviolent resistance, especially in relation to her 1963 book On Revolution, and also a major theorist of totalitarianism. This book contrasts Arendt's concept of total domination under totalitarianism with the testimonies of both well known and lesser known intellectuals and writers who survived the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, as well as those of unknown survivors of the holocaust. Aharony argues that Nazi domination was less total than Arendt posited (in her 1951 book On Totalitarianism), and that morality and individual choice exist even in the most extreme conditions.
General analysis of evolution of movement in the US and the groups and organizations involved. Chapter 4 examines direct action groups and their protests.
Reviews development of Yugoslav feminism from 1978 and notes strains created by vigils against the war in Croatia and later in Bosnia. See also: Women in Black, Compilation of Information on Crimes of War against Women in ex-Yugoslavia – and Actions and Initiatives in their Defence, Belgrade, Women in Black, 1993
Article discusses why, despite major role of young people using social media in the first three weeks of protests, columnists in the major Turkish daily Hurriyet (Liberty) often failed to mention, or underplayed, the significance of the young demonstrators.
Balducci examines fundamental ethical questions from a global perspective following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of Cold War and the attack on the U.S. on 11th September 2001. His analysis draws upon Catholicism and the necessity of pursuing a secular, nonviolent renovation that – as he argues - all religions must face.
This article (following on the previous article by Davis analysing China's role in sparking the protest) focuses on the role of the Hong Kong government in opposing greater democracy and allowing excessive use of force by the police, so fuelling public anger.
The book notes the long history of pro-choice activism, and explores new limits on abortion in the United States under the Trump/Pence Administration, as well as the global impact of US policy. The author then charts the pro-choice movements led by women in Canada, Ireland, and Poland; the interconnection between diversity and abortion; and the fight against abortion stigma. It also includes testimonies of women who have had abortions.
Rossdale has studied a range of British campaigning groups taking radical forms of direct action to resist militarism and the arms trade, including the Campaign against Arms Trade and the broad coalition involved in Stop the Arms Fair. He describes some of their protests over the previous 15 years, such as peace camps, auctioning off a tank outside an arms fair and protesters supergluing themselves to the London offices of Lockheed Martin, and argues for the 'radical and ethical potential of prefigurative direct action'. He also develops a depiction of militarism from the standpoint of those resisting it, and examines the disagreements and debates between protesters, including the interpretation of nonviolence. Chapters cover feminist and queer anti-militarism, and the lack of racial diversity among the protesters.
This survey of regional elections for governors and assemblies in 2015, 2016 and 2017 finds that the regime has switched from a strategy primarily reliant on manipulating election results (liable to cause criticism and protest) to focus on manipulating the registration of candidates, so preventing serious opposition candidates from standing. Whilst this approach has strengthened Putin's United Russia party in regional elections up to 2017, it has also resulted in widespread apathy and low turn- out, which could undermine the regime.
Chapters on Christian Peacemaker Team, Voices in the Wilderness project in Iraq, Peace Brigades International and the International Solidarity Movement. Descriptions by participants of work done by these groups, who runs them and what is involved in joining them.
Study of Shanghai home owners’ resistance that suggests that fragmentation of state power at local level provides opportunities for resistance, and that its success may be helped by social networks between participants in collective action and officials or media workers. See also Shi Fayong, Social Capital and Collective Resistance in Urban China Neighborhoods: a comunity movement in Shanghai, Singapore, Dept of Sociology, National University of Singapore, 2004 , pp. 43 , online.
Argues that the July election represented a choice between continuing economic liberalization and a return to the past, but neither provided a solution to Mexico’s problems.
(new edition in preparation)
Account of how the strike developed differently in Wales from other parts of Britain, and grew into a national movement involving community groups, churches and Welsh nationalists and fostered a greater national consciousness with a lasting impact on Welsh politics.
Covers cultural protests relating to presentation in museums, returning sacred objects and naming of national days in both USA and Canada. Includes discussion of call by Lubicon Lake Band of Cree in Northern Alberta for a boycott of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Canada over land claim and related boycott of exhibition on Canada’s First People.
Account of 1973 decision by American Psychiatric Association to stop listing homosexuality as a mental disorder and attempts by some psychiatrists to overturn this decision.
Focuses on the contribution to the peace process in the lead-up to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement of three ecumenical Christian peace centres in Northern Ireland – the Corrymeela Community, the Christian Renewal Centre, and the Columbanus Community. The author, in contrast to the majority of commentators, identifies religious differences as the main cause of the conflict, though he argues that religion can be ‘both cause of and cure for social conflict’.
The number of women in positions of power and authority in Japanese companies has remained small despite the increase in the number of educated women and the laws on gender equality. Kumiko Nemoto challenges claims that the surge in women’s education and employment will logically lead to the decline of gender inequality and eventually improve women’s status in the Japanese workplace. Interviews with diverse groups of workers at three Japanese financial companies and two cosmetics companies in Tokyo reveal the persistence of vertical sex segregation as a cost-saving measure. Women’s progress is impeded by corporate customs such as pay and promotion, track-based hiring of women, long working hours, and the absence of women leaders. Gender equality for common businesses requires that Japan fundamentally depart from its postwar methods of business management. Comparison with the situation in the United States makes the author’s analysis of the Japanese case relevant for understanding the dynamics of the glass ceiling in U.S. workplaces as well.
Clements comments on the success of the peace movement in the 1980s in achieving the Nuclear-Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act of 1987, and the later waning of its influence on New Zealand’s foreign policy.