No name
Comments on decline in the neighbourhood assemblies that arose in 2011, but argues widespread willingness to take part in local initiatives survives, and is (for example) strengthening the campaign against eviction of those unable to pay their mortgage.
The schoolgirl Pakistani campaigner for girls’ education who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 tells her story.
Examination from a socialist perspective of key issues by three Northern Ireland academics. Includes a chapter on the reform of the RUC in the 1970s.
Popovic and his student friends formed Otpor, that developed into the movement that forced the dictatorial President Milosevic in Serbia to accept defeat in the 2000 election. Since then Popovic has advised civil and democratic movements around the world . In this book he provides suggestions and strategies for organizing nonviolent protests, for example how to gain favourable media coverage and find the right allies.
By taking into consideration the impact of social and political unrest and conflicts over natural resources and the environment on the lives and livelihoods of Thai women, this paper proposes four areas through which gender issues can be strategically politicized and based on feminist principles and approaches: 1) Public communication through social media to deconstruct gender mystification; 2) Educational programs to uncover intersectional strife (e.g., involving gender, national origin and class) in care work from a feminist perspective; 3) Application of gender diversity as an analytical framework for sustainable national economic and social development policy-making; 4) Creation of spaces for women’s political participation and for legitimizing women’s political participation outside the formal political system to ensure women’s right to self-determination as dignified members of society.
Discusses major crisis of water scarcity in India, due not only to climate change (failures of monsoons since 2012) but commercial exploitation of water sources, which leaves small farmers and citizens without water supplies and often reliant on tankers run by 'water mafia'. The government still tends to favour dams rather than localised measures to preserve water, and political pressures promote crops such as sugar cane in unsuitably environments. The author also notes an example of local good practice. The women's organization, the Mann Deshi Foundation, has in last few years promoted rehabilitation of streams and the local river in a semi-desert area of Maharashtra, before creating a reservoir which was handed over to the local village council.
Detailed analysis by an investigative US reporter of attempts by the George W. Bush Administration and Israel to prove that Iran was developing nuclear weapons. Porter scrutinizes the evidence cited and throws doubt on much of it.
Chapters on: Western Sahara, West Papua, Palestine, South Africa (in 1980s), the Zapatistas. Egypt, Nepal and on indigenous armed struggle and nonviolent resistance in Colombia.
Account by student leader and founder of Kmara. Discusses background of Shevardnadze regime, comments on why protesters and the government avoided violence, assesses role of internal media (especially Rustavi-2) and argues that the role of foreign support was limited by lack of information and by caution. Summary and full report available online.
Especially chapters 4 to 7.
As a journalist in Argentina the author tried to compile a day-to-day chronicle of violence and repression – he was forced into exile in 1976.
Pays special attention to Ekta Parishad (an Indian land rights organization), the Assembly of the Poor in Thailand and MST in Brazil.
Translation and abridgement of La prophetie anti-nucleaire.
Account of how a nonviolent fleet of canoes and kayaks blocked Pakistani shipping at East Coast ports of the USA to oppose US support for Pakistan’s repression in East Bengal. Part 2 is a manual for direct action.
In this critique of both idealism and realism the authors argue that, in the atomic era, the former should incorporate some aspects of realist thinking and the latter should incorporate some idealist concepts if it is to escape the negation of itself. The work focuses on the exploration of pacifism. The authors distinguish ‘humanitarian pacifism’ - centered on the human conscience; ‘democratic pacifism’ - centered on peace as a process resulting from the exercise of popular sovereignty; and ‘socialist pacifism’ - centered on the labour movement and its main characteristic: nonviolence as a tool for achieving change. By arguing on the limits of idealism and realism the authors reach the conclusion that the only way forward is international cooperation, solidarity and the solidification of a culture of peace that focuses on faith in humankind.
Comparison of the Umbrella Movement with the Sunflower Movement in Taiwan is relevant for a number of reasons. Taiwan is under pressure to move closer to China, and although it is politically more independent than Hong Kong, the Taiwanese government since 2010 has entered into a close trading relationship with China, making it economically more dependent. Moreover, many smaller Taiwanese businesses have suffered. The protests occurred between 18 March and 10 April 2014 and took the form of an occupation of the legislature, which spiraled into a mass occupation of the surrounding district. Young people, who feel distinctively Taiwanese rather than Chinese, were prominent in the occupation, but it included a wide section of the population (an estimated 500,000 taking part at one point) and many others gave food, water and money to the demonstrators. This book includes contributions from a range of distinguished scholars from Hong Kong, Taiwan and other parts of Asia who explore, in particular, issues relating to democracy, the rule of law and freedom of speech. Contributors also discuss the legal and political implications of mass occupation as a protest tactic and seek to draw lessons for the future.
Abortion is a hotly debated topic among Muslim communities. In this paper, the author examines how both anti-abortion and abortion rights groups deploy ideas about Islam. She analised the language used by these groups when describing Muslim communities and Muslim views and found that a majority of them did not include arguments from both sides. Almost all the Anti-Abortion Websites included generalizations about the Muslim community, and also used the conservative elements in Islamic Religion to persuade more Muslims to join their stance on abortion.
Brief but illuminating account, by the founder and chair of the National Women’s Movement for the Nurturance of Democracy in the Philippines, of the role played by her organization and two related civil society groups between 1983 and 1986.
The President of the Christian Democratic Party discusses the 1987 National Civic Crusade to coordinate the protest movements and formulate its key demands: for justice, removal of Noriega and democratiization. Explains background to protests, notes the 1,500 arrests and numerous shootings of protesters, and comments on changing attitudes inside the USA.