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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political control & freedoms > Political control & influence > Political oppression & persecution
'I beseech you to read this account' - Christopher Hitchens A
magnificent, harrowing testimony to the voiceless victims of North
Korea. Kang Chol-Hwan is the first survivor of a North Korean
concentration camp to escape the 'hermit kingdom' and tell his
story to the world. This memoir reveals the human suffering in his
camp, with its forced labour, frequent public executions and
near-starvation rations. Kang eventually escaped to South Korea via
China to give testimony to the hardships and atrocities that
constitute the lives of the thousands of people still detained in
the gulags today. Part horror story, part historical document, part
memoir, part political tract, this story of one young man's
personal suffering finally gives eye-witness proof to this
neglected chapter of modern history.
The diversity of Kurdish communities across the Middle East is now
recognized as central to understanding both the challenges and
opportunities for their representation and politics. Yet little
scholarship has focused on the complexities within these different
groups and the range of their experiences. This book diversifies
the literature on Kurdish Studies by offering close analyses of
subjects which have not been adequately researched, and in
particular, by highlighting the Kurds' relationship to the Yazidis.
Case studies include: the political ideas of Ehmede Xani, "the
father of Kurdish nationalism"; Kurdish refugees in camps in Iraq;
the perception of the Kurds by Armenians in the late Ottoman Empire
and the Turks in modern Western Turkey; and the important
connections and shared heritage of the Kurds and the Yazidis,
especially in the aftermath of the 2014 ISIS attacks. The book
comprises the leading voices in Kurdish Studies and combines
in-depth empirical work with theoretical and conceptual discussions
to take the debates in the field in new directions. The study is
divided into three thematic sections to capture new insights into
the heterogeneous aspects of Kurdish history and identity. In doing
so, contributors explain why we need to pay close attention to the
shifting identities and the diversity of the Kurds, and what
implications this has for Middle East Studies and Minority Studies
more generally.
Although often overlooked, anti-Polish sentiment was central to
Nazi ideology. At the outset of World War II, Hitler initiated a
process of 'depolonization' (Entpolonisierung) which resulted in
the death or displacement of a significant number of Polish people
living in Nazi-occupied territories. By examining policies of
indirect extermination through a detailed study of Szmalcowka, a
'displacement' camp located in Toru? in Reichsgau Danzig-West
Prussia, Tomasz Ceran explores the terrible consequences of Nazi
ideology. He provides both an in-depth historical account of a
little-known camp and an important analysis of Nazi practices and
policy-making in the Polish territories which were annexed. A
strong addition to World War II literature, Ceran's book is
essential reading for scholars and students interested in World War
II, Polish History, Nazi ideology and the nature of violence and
resilience.
**Winner of the Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical
Prose** 'A devastating front-line account of the police killings
and the young activism that sparked one of the most significant
racial justice movements since the 1960s: Black Lives Matter ...
Lowery more or less pulls the sheet off America ... essential
reading' Junot Diaz, The New York Times, Books of 2016 'Electric
... so well reported, so plainly told and so evidently the work of
a man who has not grown a callus on his heart' Dwight Garner, The
New York Times, 'A Top Ten Book of 2016' 'I'd recommend everyone to
read this book ... it's not just statistics, it's not just the
information, but it's the connective tissue that shows the human
story behind it. I really enjoyed it' Trevor Noah, host of Comedy
Central's 'The Daily Show' A deeply reported book on the birth of
the Black Lives Matter movement, offering unparalleled insight into
the reality of police violence in America, and an intimate, moving
portrait of those working to end it In over a year of on-the-ground
reportage, Washington Post writer Wesley Lowery traveled across the
US to uncover life inside the most heavily policed, if otherwise
neglected, corners of America today. In an effort to grasp the
scale of the response to Michael Brown's death and understand the
magnitude of the problem police violence represents, Lowery
conducted hundreds of interviews with the families of victims of
police brutality, as well as with local activists working to stop
it. Lowery investigates the cumulative effect of decades of
racially biased policing in segregated neighborhoods with constant
discrimination, failing schools, crumbling infrastructure and too
few jobs. Offering a historically informed look at the standoff
between the police and those they are sworn to protect, They Can't
Kill Us All demonstrates that civil unrest is just one tool of
resistance in the broader struggle for justice. And at the end of
President Obama's tenure, it grapples with a worrying and largely
unexamined aspect of his legacy: the failure to deliver tangible
security and opportunity to the marginalised Americans most in need
of it.
Combining the intimacy of memoir and the precision of history, the
story of psychologist Nicolae Margineanu's imprisonment and
survival conveys in striking detail the corrosive impact of
Communist rule in Romania. Nicolae Margineanu's journey started in
1905 in the village of Obreja in Transylvania and ended in 1980 in
Cluj-Napoca, Romania. He began his life under Austro-Hungarian
rule, was witness to the 1918 Union, lived under three
kings(Ferdinand, Carol II, and Mihai), and survived all of
Romania's dictatorships, from absolute monarchy to the
Legionnaires' rebellion, the Antonescian dictatorship, and finally
the years under Communist rule. Margineanu studied psychology at
the University of Cluj and attended postgraduate courses in
Leipzig, Berlin, Hamburg, Paris, and London. He was awarded a
Rockefeller Foundation fellowship that enabled him to do research
for two years in the United States, at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, the
University of Chicago, and Duke. He returned to Romania and became
chair of the psychology department at the University of Cluj. In
1948, Margineanu was arrested on a charge of "high treason," based
on his alleged membership in a resistance movement against
Communist rule. He was sentenced to twenty-five years'
imprisonment, of which he served sixteen, passing through the jails
at Malmaison, Jilava, Pitesti,Aiud, and Gherla. This book, his
autobiography, is a shocking testimony to the fate of the
intellectual elite of Romania during the Communist dictatorship. It
is a unique and invaluable addition to the literature in English on
the experience of political prisoners, not only in Communist
Romania but in authoritarian states in general. Nicolae Margineanu
(1905-1980) was a Romanian psychologist and writer who was a
political prisoner during theperiod of Communist rule. Dennis
Deletant is the Visiting Ratiu Professor of Romanian Studies at
Georgetown University. Calin Cotoiu is a translator based in
Bucharest, Romania.
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Ruin Star
(Paperback)
Matt Wright; Illustrated by James L. Cook
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R378
Discovery Miles 3 780
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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"Wyman's book is the only one that comprehensively, and
sensitively, depicts the plight of the postwar refugees in Western
Europe." M. Mark Stolarik, University of Ottawa "This is a
fascinating and very moving book." International Migration Review
"Wyman has written a highly readable account of the movement of
diverse ethnic and cultural groups of Europe's displaced persons,
1945-1951. An analysis of the social, economic, and political
circumstances within which relocation, resettlement, and
repatriation of millions of people occurred, this study is equally
a study in diplomacy, in international relations, and in social
history. . . . A vivid and compassionate recreation of the events
and circumstances within which displaced persons found themselves,
of the strategies and means by which people survived or did not,
and an account of the major powers in response to an unprecedented
human crisis mark this as an important book." Choice "Wyman
interviewed some eighty DPs as well as employees of various
agencies who served them; he cites a broad range of published
primary sources, secondary sources, and some archival material. . .
. This book presents a useful overview and should stimulate further
research." Journal of American Ethnic History"
'This elegantly written, erudite book is essential reading for all
of us, whatever our identifications' - Lynne Segal Antisemitism is
one of the most controversial topics of our time. The public,
academics, journalists, activists and Jewish people themselves are
divided over its meaning. Antony Lerman shows that this is a result
of a 30-year process of redefinition of the phenomenon, casting
Israel, problematically defined as the 'persecuted collective Jew',
as one of its main targets. This political project has taken the
notion of the 'new antisemitism' and codified it in the flawed
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's 'working definition'
of antisemitism. This text is the glue holding together an
international network comprising the Israeli government, pro-Israel
advocacy groups, Zionist organisations, Jewish communal defence
bodies and sympathetic governments fighting a war against those who
would criticise Israel. The consequences of this redefinition have
been alarming, supressing free speech on Palestine/Israel,
legitimising Islamophobic right-wing forces, and politicising
principled opposition to antisemitism.
Ingrid Betancourt's story - her exemplary courage, spirit and
resilience - has captured the world's imagination. A politician and
presidential candidate celebrated for her determination to combat
the corruption and climate of fear endemic in Colombia, in 2002 she
was taken hostage by FARC, a terrorist guerrilla organisation. She
was held captive in the depths of the jungle for six and a half
years, chained day and night for much of that time, constantly on
the move and enduring gruelling conditions. She was freed and
reunited with her children and relatives in 2008. It is
Betancourt's indomitable spirit that drives this important and
deeply moving book, telling in her own words the extraordinary
drama of her capture and eventual rescue, and describes her fight
to survive, mentally and physically. As she confronts the horror of
what she went through, her story also goes beyond the specifics of
her own confinement to offer an intensely intelligent, thoughtful
and compassionate reflection on what it means to be human.
Revelations about U.S policies and practices of torture and abuse
have captured headlines ever since the breaking of the Abu Ghraib
prison story in April 2004. Since then, a debate has raged
regarding what is and what is not acceptable behavior for the
world's leading democracy. It is within this context that Angela
Davis, one of America's most remarkable political figures, gave a
series of interviews to discuss resistance and law, institutional
sexual coercion, politics and prison. Davis talks about her own
incarceration, as well as her experiences as "enemy of the state,"
and about having been put on the FBI's "most wanted" list. She
talks about the crucial role that international activism played in
her case and the case of many other political prisoners.
Throughout these interviews, Davis returns to her critique of a
democracy that has been compromised by its racist origins and
institutions. Discussing the most recent disclosures about the
disavowed "chain of command," and the formal reports by the Red
Cross and Human Rights Watch denouncing U.S. violation of human
rights and the laws of war in Guantanamo, Afghanistan and Iraq,
Davis focuses on the underpinnings of prison regimes in the United
States.
'Anyone interested in the future of autocracy should buy it' Anne
Applebaum, author of Twilight of Demoracy **Shortlisted for the
Moore Prize for Human Rights Literature** A devastating account of
China's genocide of the Uyghurs, by a leading Uyghur activist and
Time #100 nominee Nury Turkel was born in a 're-education' camp in
China at the height of the Cultural Revolution. He spent the first
several months of his life in captivity with his mother, who was
beaten and starved while pregnant with him, whilst his father
served a penal sentence in an agricultural labour camp. Following
this traumatic start - and not without a heavy dose of good fortune
- he was later able to travel to the US for his undergraduate
studies in 1995 and was granted asylum in the country in 1998
where, as a lawyer, he is now a tireless and renowned activist for
the plight of his people. Part memoir, part call-to-action, No
Escape will be the first major book to tell the story of the
Chinese government's terrible oppression of the Uyghur people from
the inside, detailing the labour camps, ethnic and religious
oppression, forced sterilisation of women and the surveillance tech
that have made Xinjiang - in the words of one Uyghur who managed to
flee - 'a police surveillance state unlike any the world has ever
known'.
Published in Poland after World War II, this collection of concentration camp stories shows atrocious crimes becoming an unremarkable part of a daily routine. Prisoners eat, work, sleep, and fall in love a few yards from where other prisoners are systematically slaughtered. The will to survive overrides compassion, and the line between the normal and the abnormal wavers, then vanishes. Borowski, a concentration camp victim himself, understood what human beings will do to endure the unendurable. Together, these stories constitute not only a masterpiece of Polish - and world - literature but stand as cruel testimony to the level of inhumanity of which man is capable.
This vivid diary of life in a Japanese internment camp during World War II examines the moral challenges encountered in conditions of confinement and deprivation.
At the heart of racist attitudes and behaviors is anti-Black
racism, which simply put, is the disregard and disdain of Black
life. Anti-Black racism negatively impacts every aspect of the
lives of Black people. Edited by renowned scholar and psychologist
Kevin Cokley, Making Black Lives Matter: Confronting Anti-Black
Racism explores the history and contemporary circumstances of
anti-Black racism, offers powerful personal anecdotes, and provides
recommendations and solutions to challenging anti-Black racism in
its various expressions. The book features chapters written by
scholars, practitioners, activists, and students. The chapters
reflect diverse perspectives from the Black community and writing
styles that range from scholarly text supported by cited research
to personal narratives that highlight the lived experiences of the
contributors. The book focuses on the ways that anti-Black racism
manifests and has been confronted across various domains of Black
life using research, activism, social media, and therapy. In the
words of Cokley: "It is my hope that the book will provide a
blueprint for readers that will empower them to actively confront
anti-Blackness wherever it exists, because this is the only way we
will progress toward making Black lives matter." Making Black Lives
Matter is a book that is meant to be shared! The goal for Cognella
for publishing this book is to amplify the voices of those who need
to be heard and to provide readers free access to critical
scholarship on topics that affect our everyday lives. We're proud
to provide free digital copies of the book to anyone who wants to
read it. So, we encourage you to spread the word and share the book
with everyone you know.
Palestine Book Awards Lifetime Achievement Winner 2022 'Roy is
humanely and professionally committed in ways that are unmatched by
any other non-Palestinian scholar' - Edward W. Said Gaza, the
centre of Palestinian nationalism and resistance to the occupation,
is the linchpin of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the key to
its resolution. Since 2005, Israel has deepened the isolation of
the territory, severing it almost completely from its most vital
connections to the West Bank, Israel and beyond, and has
deliberately shattered its economy, transforming Palestinians from
a people with political rights into a humanitarian problem. Sara
Roy unpacks this process, looking at US foreign policy towards the
Palestinians, as well as analysing the trajectory of Israeli policy
toward Gaza, which became a series of punitive approaches meant not
only to contain the Hamas regime but weaken Gazan society. Roy also
reflects on Gaza's ruination from a Jewish perspective and
discusses the connections between Gaza's history and her own as a
child of Holocaust survivors. This book, a follow up from the
renowned Failing Peace, comes from one of the world's most
acclaimed writers on the region.
"When the plane landed, they untied my blindfold. I found there
were women and children on one side and men on the other side of
the plane. They were saying, 'They are talking us to Mogadishu.'
The Kenyans who brought me there were still here. I was crying and
screaming and telling them to let me go as I had my passport and
that I was from Dubai and they should send me back. One man tried
to keep me quiet by saying, 'You are coming with us.' In total
there were twenty-two women and children. Apart from me and another
lady, everyone else was three to eight months pregnant."--2007
statement to Cageprisoners
Following the 2005 bombing of London's transportation
infrastructure, Tony Blair declared that "the rules of the game
have changed." Few anticipated the extent to which global
counterterrorism would circumvent cherished laws, but profiling,
incommunicado detention, rendition, and torture have become the
accepted protocols of national security. In this book, Asim Qureshi
travels to East Africa, Sudan, Pakistan, Bosnia, and the United
States to record the testimonies of victims caught in
counterterrorism's new game. Qureshi's exhaustive efforts reveal
the larger phenomenon that has changed the way governments view
justice. He focuses on the profiling of Muslims by security
services and concurrent mass arrests, detaining individuals without
filing charges, domestic detention policies in North America, and
the effect of Guant?namo on global perceptions of law and
imprisonment.
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