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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political activism > General
.cs676C7CC9{text-align: left;text-indent:0pt;padding:12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;margin:0pt 0pt 12pt 0pt}.csA62DFD6A{color: #000000;background-color: transparent;font-family: Times New Roman; font-size:12pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; }.cs5EFED22F{color: #000000;background-color: transparent;font-family: Times New Roman; font-size:12pt; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; }Political Action in Vaclav Havel's Thought: The Responsibility of Resistance, by Delia Popescu, examines resistance to oppression and individual responsibility in political action, all in the context of Vaclav Havel's political philosophy. The famous anti-communist dissident, acclaimed playwright, former President of the Czech Republic, and eminent political thinker argues that there is a certain tendency in modern humanity towards the creation, or at least toleration, of a political system that is invasive and controlling. Not unlike Tocqueville and Arendt, Havel claims that modern liberal democracy contains potential tendencies toward a new form of despotism that capitalizes on modern alienation and social atomization. Political Action in Vaclav Havel's Thought suggests that Havel's theory of individual opposition can be used to secure political freedom under the conditions of modernity. Popescu demonstrates that Havel's idea of attaining true political participation and freedom requires a strong connection between an individually constructed ethics and the realm of politics. On this basis she reveals that a thick notion of morality can be usefully integrated into an account of both private and public accountability. Vaclav Havel's essays, plays, speeches, and letters can therefore be integrated into a coherent political theory which contributes significantly to some of the central debates in modern political thought. Delia Popescu concludes that Havel's theory of individual opposition to totalitarianism may also serve as the foundation for a conception of responsible participation in modern liberal democracies.
Unlike most teenagers her age, in the face of danger and adversity, Valliamma Mudaliar, showed no sign of fear. Under the hardship of white oppression in South Africa during the early 1900’s, Valliamma and her Satyagrahi sisters are desperate to carry out their mission as they bravely march along endless dirt roads, pressing on across forbidden provincial borders. The Regime’s brutal and unforgiving law enforcement waiting for them – weapons in hand. “Valliamma, you do not regret having gone to jail?” Mohandas Gandhi asked the ailing girl. ”I am now ready to go to jail again, if arrested, even in my fragile state.” Valliamma replied, peacefully. Undaunted, Valliamma felt privileged to be a part of Gandhi’s South African Satyagraha force. But can such dedication sustain her strength and courage to complete her treacherous journey? At sixteen, Valliamma digs deep to undertake a dangerous course that unimaginably changes her life - as well as the lives of a Nation. Valliamma found herself no longer a child, not yet a woman, but an activist.
A collection of personal stories, history, poetry, and art A Land With a People is a book of stories, photographs and poetry which elevates rarely heard Palestinian and Jewish voices and visions. Eloquently framed with a foreword by the dynamic Palestinian legal scholar and activist, Noura Erakat, this book began as a storytelling project of Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City and subsequently transformed into a theater project performed throughout the New York City area. Stories touch hearts, open minds, and transform our understanding of the "other"--as well as our comprehension of own roles and responsibilities-- and A Land With a People emerges from this reckoning. It brings us the narratives of secular, Muslim, Christian, and queer Palestinians who endure the particular brand of settler colonialism known as Zionism. It relays the transformational journeys of Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, queer, and Palestinian Jews who have come to reject the received Zionist narrative. Unflinching in their confrontation of the power dynamics that underlie their transformation process, these writers find the courage to face what has happened to historic Palestine, and to their own families as a result. Contextualized by a detailed historical introduction and timeline charting 150 years of Palestinian and Jewish resistance to Zionism, this collection will stir emotions, provoke fresh thinking, and point to a more hopeful, loving future--one in which Palestine/Israel is seen for what it is in its entirety, as well as for what it can be.
Since 1999 when Turkey was declared a candidate country for European Union membership, Turkish nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have found themselves at the heart of the EU pre-accession process. Not only is the development of a vibrant and strong civil society key part of the Europeanization process Turkey is expected to undertake, but NGOs also have an important role in facilitating broader socio-political changes through a range of EU-funded projects. These claims, however, are based on normative assumptions on how Turkish NGOs should behave, rather than on empirical evidence of how they experience and respond to the Europeanization project. This book examines the (dis)connections between EU civil society policy and Turkish NGOs in detail. Through interviews with key actors from the NGO sector, and policymakers from the EU and Turkish government the book draws a picture of a complex and intricate relationship. Turkish NGOs do not passively accept the top-down agenda set by the EU civil society funding framework but often find creative ways to circumvent and resist the EU's objectives.
This book brings together activists, artists and scholars of colour to show how Black feminism and Afrofeminism are being practiced in Europe today, exploring their differing social positions in various countries, and how they organise and mobilise to imagine a Black feminist Europe. Deeply aware that they are constructed as 'Others' living in a racialised and hierarchical continent, the contibutors explore gender, class, sexuality and legal status to show that they are both invisible - presumed to be absent from and irrelevant to European societies - and hyper-visible - assumed to be passive and sexualised, angry and irrational. Through imagining a future outside the neocolonial frames and practices of contemporary Europe, this book explores a variety of critical spaces including motherhood and the home, friendships and intimate relationships, activism and community, and literature, dance and film.
Scholarly work in many fields has shown the important and changing role played by experts in international and national policymaking. Historical studies have revealed how Soviet scientists figured in politics in unexpected ways. However, no comprehensive study of the interplay between scientific expert knowledge and contemporary Russian policymaking has been carried out. This book argues that in order to understand Russia's position on complex policy challenges, like climate change, we must understand how experts and scientific knowledge factor into Russia's policymaking processes. Russia is still among the world's top five emitters of greenhouse gases (GHG) and its emissions are once again on the rise. Addressing questions of expert knowledge is of key importance to understanding the climate-related policies Russia pursues domestically and the positions it takes in international climate negotiations. This volume presents case studies of media debates, national policymaking and Russia's engagement in the international politics of climate change.
First published in 1998, this book, through a combination of theoretical and empirical research, tries to advance beyond the available literature to an understanding of the links between strike activity and the political process. Although its primary focus is upon the long-term impact of the 1984/85 Miners' Strike, it discusses other industrial settings and 'political' disputes. By linking the political socialisation process with strike activity in a refreshing and thought-provoking manner, this book provides an insight into why some people are more interested and involved in political activity in comparison with the population at large.
Against a backdrop of advancing neoliberalism and globalisation, this timely book examines nine prominent Australians from diverse backgrounds - "global citizens" who have each enhanced public life through promoting universal values and human rights. The book charts over 50 years of campaigning, and espouses perennial causes such as peace, social justice, ecological sustainability and gender and racial equality. Ultimately, this inspiring volume sends a message of hope for Australian society and provides a benchmark for all proponents of change.
ABOLISHING STATE VIOLENCE is an urgent and accessible analysis of the key structures of state violence in our world today, and a clarion call to action for their abolition. Connecting movements for social justice with ideas for how activists can support and build on this analysis and strategy, this book shows that there are many mutually supportive abolition movements, each enhanced by a shared understanding of the relationship between structures of violence and a shared framework for challenging them on the basis of their roots in patriarchy, racism, militarism, settler colonialism, and capitalism. This book argues that abolition is transformative. It is about defunding, demilitarizing, disbanding, and divesting from current structures of violence, but also about imagining new ways to organize and care for each other and our planet, and about building new systems and cultures to sustain ourselves in a more equitable, free, and peaceful way. It shows that change is possible.
"France, Social Capital and Political Activism" deals with the theme of political participation in France, focusing on conventional and unconventional forms of political activism over the last three decades. Measures of social integration and political involvement are used to question the validity of social capital theory. The French model of political participation supports the interpretation that countries do not need necessarily to focus on the development of social capital to increase people's political involvement and consequently the quality of their participatory democracies.
How did African Americans gain the ability to apply Gandhian nonviolence during the civil rights movement? Responses generally focus on Martin Luther King s pilgrimage to nonviolence or favorable social contexts and processes. This book, in contrast, highlights the role of collective learning in the Gandhian repertoire s transnational diffusion. Collective learning shaped the invention of the Gandhian repertoire in South Africa and India as well as its transnational diffusion to the United States. In the 1920s, African Americans and their allies responded to Gandhi s ideas and practices by reproducing stereotypes. Meaningful collective learning started with translation of the Gandhian repertoire in the 1930s and small-scale experimentation in the early 1940s. After surviving the doldrums of the McCarthy era, full implementation of the Gandhian repertoire finally occurred during the civil rights movement between 1955 and 1965. This book goes beyond existing scholarship by contributing deeper and finer insights on how transnational diffusion between social movements actually works. It highlights the contemporary relevance of Gandhian nonviolence and its successful journey across borders.
This book is about the building of alliances and about joint activities between two groups of social movement actors ascribed increasing relevance for the functioning and the eventual amendment of democratic capitalism. The chapters provide a well-balanced mix of theoretical and empirical accounts on the political, social and economic catalysts behind the changing motives finding expression in a multitude of novel types of joint collective action and inter-organizational alliances. The contributors to this volume go beyond attempting to place unions, movements, crises, precariousness, protests and coalitions at the centre of the research. Instead, they focus on actors who themselves transcend clear-cut social camps. They look at the values and motives underlying collective action by both types of actors as much as at their structural and strategic properties, and inter-organizational relations and networks. This creates a fresh, genuine and historically valid account of the incompatibilities and the commonalities of movements and unions, and of prospects for inter-organizational learning.
This book is a personal account of the daily lives of the people of the frontline of the Palestine / Israel conflict, giving us an insight into the deadly, seemingly never-ending rounds of violence. Ramzy Baroud tells his father's fascinating story. Driven out of his village to a refugee camp, he took up arms and fought the occupation at the same time raising a family and trying to do the best for his children. Baroud's vivid and honest account reveals the complex human beings; revolutionaries, great moms and dads, lovers, and comedians that make Gaza so much more than just a disputed territory.
This edited volume advances our understanding of urban activism beyond the social movement theorization dominated by thesis of political opportunity structure and resource mobilization, as well as by research based on experience from the global north. Covering a diversity of urban actions from a broad range of countries in both hemispheres as well as the global north and global south, this unique collection notably focuses on non-institutionalised or localised urban actions that have the potential to bring about radical structural transformation of the urban system and also addresses actions in authoritarian regimes that are too sensitive to call themselves "movement". It addresses localized issues cut off from international movements such as collective consumption issues, like clean water, basic shelter, actions against displacement or proper venues for street vendors, and argues that the integration of the actions in cities in the global south with the specificity of their local social and political environment is as pivotal as their connection with global movement networks or international NGOs. A key read for researchers and policy makers cutting across the fields of urban sociology, political science, public policy, geography, regional studies and housing studies, this text provides an interdisciplinary and international perspective on 21st century urban activism in the global north and south.
Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Italy among political activists of the LGBTIQ movement and the traditionalist movement during the "anti-gender" campaign, this book provides a dynamic picture of their sustained interactions. Through an analysis of the contentious strategies, discourses, and performances of both the LGBTIQ and the traditionalist movements from a strategic interactionist perspective, it considers the key actors involved in this struggle over normative and social change, showing how activists on both sides are confronted with different dilemmas, influencing each other's choices, practices and identities at the individual and collective levels. Approaching social movements as interactive processes, the author deploys the concepts of social performance and gender performativity to illustrate the ways in which activists interact with and within gender norms, and how they reproduce or contest gender hierarchies as they protest, thus revealing the centrality of gender to the analysis of processes of recruitment and mobilization, strategies, frames and forms of organization. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology and political science with interests in social movements and gender.
What can contemporary activists and political theorists learn from the life and work of Rosa Luxemburg? Examining her contribution to radical democracy and revolutionary socialism, Jon Nixon shows why Red Rosa's legacy lives on. Luxemburg's political and intellectual formation was in itself a 'long revolution', conceived of over time and in response to world events; her groundbreaking ideas around internationalism and spontaneity were formulated in the context of revolution. Returning to her thinking on global capitalism, democratic renewal, state militarism, and the social question, Nixon draws out the enduring nature of her work, using her framework of ideas as a lens through which to view the contemporary debates. By establishing a rich and distinctive account of Luxemburg, Nixon makes the argument for why her struggle for democratic renewal is as relevant as ever.
Performance Action looks to advance the understanding of how art activism works in practice, by unpacking the relationship between the processes and politics that lie at its heart. Focusing on the UK but situating its analysis in a global context of art activism, the book presents a range of different cases of performance-based art activism, including the anti-oil sponsorship performances of groups like Shell Out Sounds and BP or not BP?, the radical pedagogy project Shake!, the psychogeographic practice of Loiterers Resistance Movement, and the queer performances of the artist network Left Front Art. Based on participatory, ethnographic research, Performance Action brings together a wealth of first-hand accounts and interviews followed by in-depth analysis of the processes and politics of art activist practice. The book is unique in that it adopts an interdisciplinary approach that borrows concepts and theories from the fields of art history, aesthetics, anthropology, sociology and performance studies, and proposes a new framework for a better understanding of how art activism works, focusing on processes. The book argues that art activism is defined by its dual nature as aesthetic-political practice, and that this duality and the way it is manifested in different processes, from the building of a shared collective identity to the politics of participation, is key towards fully understanding what sets apart art activism from other forms of artistic and political practice. The book is aimed at both specialist and non-specialist audiences, offering an accessible and engaging way into new theoretical contributions in the field of art activism, as well as on wider subjects such as participation, collective identity, prefiguration and institutional critique.
International Perspectives on Social Work and Political Conflict provides an important basis for readers to recognise and understand the unique and specialist role that social workers have played and continue to play in international contexts of political conflict. Social workers make an important contribution in these difficult and sometimes dangerous situations across all continents. This book highlights the importance of social work in these very challenging contexts. The first part of this book includes four chapters that summarise the existing knowledge base. The second part focuses on a case study of Northern Ireland where, for the first time, a detailed examination of the social work role was completed which involved researching the views of social work practitioners, managers and educators. Part three then draws together international experts in the field who have written chapters on those regions where social workers have been dealing with long standing periods of political conflict. At a time when violent conflagrations are currently a feature of many countries and regions across the continents of the world, this book offers a critical view of the social work role in these contexts and should thus be considered essential reading for all social work academics, students and professionals working in conflict-affected societies.
Just because there has been a crisis does not necessarily mean there is going to be a change. And yet why, exactly, did nothing change in the face of global resistances and movements which followed the financial meltdown of 2007/8? Based on ethnographic research with the Occupy movement in London - as a case study of one post-crash attempt to bring alternatives about - this book argues that change was ultimately foreclosed by widespread 'common sense' limitations of what was considered possible after the crash. Offering a critically constructive analysis of the Occupy movement in London and incorporating both activist praise and self-criticism of their movement, Occupying London discusses both the political potential suggested by the occupation of space and the slogan 'we are the 99%', as well as the problematic extension of post-crash normativity into the movement through issues of organisation, repetitions of wider norms, and an inadvertent acceptance of wider distributions of possibility. Such positives and negatives are shown to have played out in a wide-range of arenas: from the occupation of space itself, through attempts to organise collective appearance and voice, as well as 'authentic' constructions of resistance and 'cynical' framings of power. The author's intention is to provoke thought on behalf of any 'half-fascinated, half-devastated witnesses' of the financial crash and the political disappointments which followed. It is argued that such movements possess the potential to bring about progressive change, but only if they intervene into wider distributions of 'common sense' by embracing collective symbolic efficiency and avoiding binary framings of 'authentic' resistance vs. 'hidden' power.
The women's league has played a large but little understood role in the history of the ANC. Over the years it has been headed by some powerful women including Albertina Sisulu and Winnie Mandela and has often gained public and media attention. But what role has it actually played in black political life and what influence has it had on national and gender politics in the country? This book provides a revealing insight into the connections between gender, sex and politics in the history of South Africa.
This book offers a sociocultural and interdisciplinary understanding of the impact of political violence on youth behaviour. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the Kashmir valley and reports from conflict areas across the globe, the volume brings into focus the ways in which violence affects social and psychological dynamics within the individual and the community. It develops a social psychological approach to the study of youth and violent conflict in South Asia, and offers new insights into the intricacies within the discourse. Focussing on the emotions and behaviour of people in largescale conflict, it expands the discourse on the psychological dimensions of hope, aggression, emotion regulation and extremist mindset to inform policy and intervention for peacebuilding. Moving beyond Western psychiatric models, this book proposes a more culturally and historically rooted analysis that focusses on collective experiences of violence to de-colonise psychological science and expand the understanding of youth's experiences with political violence. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of politics, psychology, peace and conflict studies, sociology and social anthropology.
The number of extremists and extremist groups in the United States has increased dramatically in the last 20 years. This encyclopedia, the only one of its kind, provides the most up-to-date information on 275 of the most influential and significant homegrown extremists and extremist groups that have operated in the U.S. since 1950, as well as entries on important extremist events, terms, and concepts. More than 75% of the coverage deals with the period since the 1980s, including subjects unavailable in other sources. Objective entries focus on left-wing and right-wing individuals and groups who take extreme positions on political, economic, religious, or social issues. Included is the latest information about the workings and agendas of established groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, and hard-to-find information on a variety of recent militia groups, cults, survivalists, and separatist movements. Each entry is followed by a useful bibliography of books and articles for further research. A timeline of events in American extremism and a selection of photos accompany the text. Current through the end of 2001, this work is a valuable tool for authoritative information on what has become a growing problem in the United States.
This book approaches the Scottish women's suffrage campaign from the point of view of the popular press. It investigates how the press engaged with the women's suffrage movement; how suffragettes were portrayed in newspapers; and how different groups attempted to use the press to get their message into the public sphere. Scottish suffrage campaigners acknowledged the need for press coverage from the start of the campaign in the 1870s, but the arrival of the militant suffragettes completely transformed newspaper coverage. The Scottish newspapers were particularly interested in suffragette activities during local by-elections and their hounding of local anti-suffrage MPs such as Herbert Asquith. The book also investigates the impact of the First World War on the movement.
Now available for the first time in paperback, Photography and social movements is the first thorough study of photography's interrelationship with social movements. Focusing on photographic production and dissemination during the student and worker uprising in Paris in May 1968, the Zapatista rebellion, and the anti-capitalist protests in Genoa in 2001, the book argues that at times of political uprisings, photographic documentations, often contradictory, strive to prevail in the public domain, extending the political or economic struggle to a representational level. Photography plays a central role in this representational conflict, by either reproducing or challenging stereotypical narratives of protest. This groundbreaking interdisciplinary analysis of a wide range of practices - amateur and professional - and of previously unpublished archival material will add considerably to students', researchers' and scholars' knowledge of both the visual imagery of political movements and the developing history of photographic representation. -- . |
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