Nearly sixty years after Freedom Summer, its events-especially the lynching of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Mickey Schwerner-stand out as a critical episode of the civil rights movement. The infamous deaths of these activists dominate not just the history but also the public memory of the Mississippi Summer Project. Beginning in the late 1970s, however, movement veterans challenged this central narrative with the shocking claim that during the search for Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner, the FBI and other law enforcement personnel discovered many unidentified Black bodies in Mississippi's swamps, rivers, and bayous. This claim has evolved in subsequent years as activists, journalists, filmmakers, and scholars have continued to repeat it, and the number of supposed Black bodies-never identified-has grown from five to more than two dozen. In Black Bodies in the River: Searching for Freedom Summer, author Davis W. Houck sets out to answer two questions: Were Black bodies discovered that summer? And why has the shocking claim only grown in the past several decades-despite evidence to the contrary? In other words, what rhetorical work does the Black bodies claim do, and with what audiences? Houck's story begins in the murky backwaters of the Mississippi River and the discovery of the bodies of Henry Dee and Charles Moore, murdered on May 2, 1964, by the Ku Klux Klan. He pivots next to the Council of Federated Organization's voter registration efforts in Mississippi leading up to Freedom Summer. He considers the extent to which violence generally and expectations about interracial violence, in particular, serves as a critical context for the strategy and rhetoric of the Summer Project. Houck then interrogates the unnamed-Black-bodies claim from a historical and rhetorical perspective, illustrating that the historicity of the bodies in question is perhaps less the point than the critique of who we remember from that summer and how we remember them. Houck examines how different memory texts-filmic, landscape, presidential speech, and museums-function both to bolster and question the centrality of murdered white men in the legacy of Freedom Summer.

Constitutions and Religion is the first major reference work in the emerging field of comparative constitutional law and religion. It offers a nuanced array of perspectives on various models for the treatment of religion in domestic and supranational legal orders. Arranged into five main sections, the Research Handbook addresses a range of topics through the lens of comparative constitutional law, including history, concepts and theories; models of managing religion; the politics of religion; supranational constitutionalism and challenges and controversies. The contributors take an interdisciplinary approach to survey historical, legal, political and philosophical views of the contemporary multifaceted treatment of religion within the constitutional order. Chapters explore in depth the interplay between domestic, European and international law, the interaction of the traditions of the major religions with the constitutional ordering of religion and the state, as well as the key challenges brought about by the repoliticizisation of religion. This innovative Research Handbook will be a definitive resource for academics and students interested in religious studies, international and European Union law, international relations, comparative constitutionalism, history, legal and political theory, and sociology.

'An intelligent, sensitive writer' - Financial Times Palestine has been under attack for three quarters of a century. The 'peace process' that has favoured the two-state solution for more than forty years has now been internationally exposed as masking the expansion of Israel's apartheid regime. 75 years ago, Ghada Karmi and her family in Jerusalem were among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were exiled during the Nakba. She has since become one of the most vocal proponents of the single democratic state in Palestine-Israel. In this book, Karmi powerfully argues that this is the best possible settlement for the Palestinians, including the refugees; imagining a single secular state in historic Palestine, all of whose inhabitants would enjoy the same rights. Uniting the land - from the Mediterranean Sea to the River Jordan - and allowing the Palestinian right of return is the only way to end the exclusive and antidemocratic character of the Israeli state. Ghada Karmi's eloquent and moving writing shows that Palestinians refuse to meekly accept the fate created for them by others, and that they will never give up fighting for their home.

In this incisive and razor-sharp analysis of one of the most important issues facing us today, leading Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt draw on their combined expertise of over 40 years to examine how dictators come to power, and how they help to foster a poisonous culture of polarisation, fear and suspicion that persists even after their time in power is over.

Using contemporary examples including the Capitol riots and voter suppression in the US, as well as global examples from history including post-1945 Germany and Brazil and Chile during the '60s and '70s, the authors dissect conservative resistance to pluralism and modern threats to multiracial democracy (including the unwillingness of political parties to adapt to modern times, and a growing disregard for constitutional norms and free and fair elections) while imploring readers to stand up in its defence.

Focusing on the forthcoming American election as an essential case study, Saving Democracy offers us imperative tools for implementing urgent democratic reform, brilliantly illuminating how we can respond to the political battles ahead.

From 1955 to 1975, Vera Pigee (1924-2007) put her life and livelihood on the line with grassroots efforts for social change in Mississippi, principally through her years of leadership in Coahoma County's NAACP. Known as the "Lady of Hats," coined by NAACP executive secretary Roy Wilkins, Pigee was a businesswoman, mother, and leader. Her book, The Struggle of Struggles, offers a detailed view of the daily grind of organizing for years to open the state's closed society. Fearless, forthright, and fashionable, Pigee also suffered for her efforts at the hands of white supremacists and those unwilling to accept strong women in leadership. She wrote herself into the histories, confronted misinformation, and self-published one of the first autobiographies from the era. Women like her worked, often without accolade or recognition, in their communities all over the country, but did not document their efforts in this way. The Struggle of Struggles, originally published in 1975, spotlights the gendered and generational tensions within the civil rights movement. It outlines the complexity, frustrations, and snubs, as well as the joy and triumphs that Pigee experienced and witnessed in the quest for a fairer and more equitable nation. This new edition begins with a detailed introductory essay by historian Francoise N. Hamlin, who interviewed Pigee and her daughter in the few years preceding their passing, as well as their coworkers and current activists. In addition to the insightful Introduction, Hamlin has also provided annotations to the original text for clarity and explanation, along with a timeline to guide a new generation of readers.

This is a concise and accessible introduction to fundamental rights in Europe from the perspectives of history, theory and an analysis of European jurisprudence. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the book equips readers with the tools to understand the foundations and the functioning of this complex and multi-layered topic. Key Features: A combination of historical and philosophical approaches with analysis of significant legal cases A multidisciplinary outlook, in contrast to the strict legal approach of most textbooks on the subject A European perspective which refers throughout to central European values such as freedom, equality, solidarity and dignity A specific focus on fundamental rights, which have received less attention in the fields of legal history and theory in comparison to human rights This textbook will be an important resource for both undergraduate and postgraduate students in law, philosophy and political science. It will be particularly useful to those studying the law of fundamental rights or human rights as a complement to more traditional legal approaches.

In Rock | Water | Life, Lesley Green examines the interwoven realities of inequality, racism, colonialism, and environmental destruction in South Africa, calling for environmental research and governance to transition to an ecopolitical approach that could address South Africa's history of racial oppression and environmental exploitation.

Green analyses conflicting accounts of nature in environmental sciences that claim neutrality amid ongoing struggles for land restitution and environmental justice.

Offering in-depth studies of environmental conflict in contemporary South Africa, Green addresses the history of contested water access in Cape Town; struggles over natural gas fracking in the Karoo; debates about decolonising science; the potential for a politics of soil in the call for land restitution; urban baboon management, and the consequences of sending sewage to urban oceans.

This timely book sets out how ordinary citizens can reform our broken economy.

Politicians curry favour with interest groups such as trade unions, public service workers, teachers and the unemployed, instead of serving the general public. Trade unions exploit labour laws to get benefits for their members without increasing productivity. Teachers enjoy sheltered employment without producing properly qualified learners. Formal employees abuse the bargaining-council system to push up labour costs imposed on employers and employees outside the system. Notoriously unproductive “public servants” enjoy above-market salaries in a growing sector that creates little to no economic value. Unemployed people, of whom there are 11 million, form the bedrock of our community of 18 million recipients of welfare grants. They produce nothing in return. The glue holding together all these forms of rent-seeking, is centralised government power, undergirded by laws and government spending.

The author highlights that the system of rent-seeking has damaged moral fabric in this country, eating at it like a virus. It does not let go, because it contains the seed of destruction of any argument deployed towards dismantling it. Rent-seeking is embarked upon – invariably almost – in the name of some noble cause or other. And noble causes demand that we be on the right side of them, or risk being tainted as unfair, oppressive, right-wing or simply bad.

Who in their right mind doesn’t want to protect workers against unemployment or exploitation, advance previously disadvantaged black citizens, improve the matric pass rate, help the poor with housing and money, build a strong public service?

This book examines the possibility of creating new ways of existing beyond human rights. Multiple socio-political crises and the dominance of neoliberal and capitalist policies have led legal and political theorists to question the emancipatory promise of human rights and to reconceptualise human rights in theory and practice. The possibility of creating new ways of existing beyond human rights has been left significantly under examined, until now. Having as its starting point the ferocious, yet brief, critique on human rights of one of the most prominent French philosophers of the 20th century, Gilles Deleuze, the book argues that Deleuze's critique is not only compatible with his broader thought but that it has the potential to give a new impetus to the current critiques of human rights, within the 'disciplinary borders' of legal and political theory. The book draws upon Deleuze's broader thought, but also radical legal and political theory and continental philosophy. In particular, it investigates and expands on two of Deleuze's most important notions, namely those of 'immanence' and 'becoming' and their relation to the philosopher's critique of human rights. In doing so, it argues that these two notions are capable of questioning the dominant and dogmatic position that human rights enjoy.

'This work has come at an important time in the wake of the so-called Arab spring when the fluctuating patterns of state-citizen relations were rethought with varying success. Looking at citizenship in the region from multi-disciplinary and content related perspectives, this collection of essays discusses the variety of ways in which citizenship operates - and is thought about - in the contemporary Middle East and beyond. In looking at the contested dimensions of citizenship, this book is an important and timely work for anyone interested in the processes by which what it means to be a citizen is made and remade.' - Rachel M. Scott, Virginia Tech, US The Middle East is currently undergoing its most dramatic transition since World War I. The political order, both within individual countries and on the regional level, has been in turmoil ever since the Arab Uprisings in 2011. Analysts are struggling to identify conceptual frameworks that capture the complex nature of the developments that we observe. The Middle East in Transition demonstrates how citizenship understood as a social contract between citizens and the state is a key factor in current political crises in the region. The book analyzes three distinct dimensions of citizenship in the Middle East: the development of citizenship in specific countries, including Morocco, Israel Turkey and Iraq; Islam and the writings of twentieth-century Islamic thinkers; and the international dimension of citizenship, particularly regarding EU policies towards the region and the rights of Syrian refugees. This timely book provides a comprehensive insight into the current implications of the changing relationships between the citizen and the state in the Middle East. Discussing the topic with clarity and detail, it will be essential reading not only for researchers but also for policy makers and government officials. Contributors include: S. Ahmadou, Z. Alsabeehg, Z. Babar, S.I. Bergh, N.A. Butenschon, L.C. Frost, B. Ince, M. Kanie, R. Meijer, V.M. Moghadam, Z. Pall, S. Saeidi, R.H. Santini, P. Seeberg, M.M. Shteiwi

Despite the empowering pride culture that has evolved globally in the past half-century, the LGBTQAI+ community continues to face widespread discrimination. They are often subjected to cruelty and discrimination and are the bearers of a heavy psychological burden and frustration that stems from not coming out and expressing their concerns freely. Today, the invisibility of this community and its concerns have become enormous challenges for the world as their interests often go unrepresented and unaddressed by governments due to various barriers. Global LGBTQ+ Concerns in a Contemporary World: Politics, Prejudice, and Community considers the harsh realities of the LGBTQAI+ community and draws attention to key issues such as violation of their rights and disparities in access to basic amenities such as healthcare, employment, and security. Covering key topics such as inclusion, mental health, queer communities, and human rights, this reference work is ideal for activists, advocates, politicians, sociologists, gender studies specialists, policymakers, government officials, industry professionals, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.