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2. Building bridges for nonviolent change: Women as insider mediators during the October 2019 protests in Iraq
- Author:
- Ilham Makki Hammadi
- Publication Date:
- 09-2024
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Berghof Foundation
- Abstract:
- The October 2019 protests in Iraq were notable for their scale, spontaneity, and widespread participation, particularly by young people and women. This report documents the roles of Iraqi women as insider mediators within the movement, highlighting their efforts to maintain peace and build trust among protesters, police, and other stakeholders. Based on interviews with activists across five governorates, the report also examines the gender dynamics and challenges these women faced in mediation, offering insights into their capacity-building needs.
- Topic:
- Women, Protests, Mediation, and Nonviolence
- Political Geography:
- Iraq and Middle East
3. Building bridges for non-violent change: Women as insider mediators within the pro-democracy movement in Venezuela
- Author:
- Isabella Picón Ball
- Publication Date:
- 10-2024
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Berghof Foundation
- Abstract:
- As the social, humanitarian and political crises become more acute in Venezuela, social actors who were previously marginalised have acquired more prominent roles within the pro-democracy movement– among them, women. Moreover, for the first time in its history, the Venezuelan opposition has a woman –María Corina Machado – as its main leader. This study stems from the need to understand the strengthened roles of civil society and women in these negotiations and explores the roles of women as insider mediators within the Venezuelan pro-democracy movement.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Social Movement, Women, Democracy, Mediation, and Nonviolence
- Political Geography:
- South America and Venezuela
4. Nonviolent Protest Movement in Suweida Continues to Resurrect Calls from the Syrian Revolution
- Author:
- Ishtar Al Shami
- Publication Date:
- 12-2023
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
- Abstract:
- On December 8, residents of Suweida city and the surrounding areas came out to protest the Assad regime yet again. Days later, as the movement entered its sixteenth week, a long line of protesters appeared in the town of Salkhad in the south of Suweida province. On these streets, waves of protesters chant “the people want the downfall of the regime,” echoing cries of the Arab Spring that has in the past sparked swift military backlash from the Syrian Regime. Syrian opposition flags are common, along with the Druze flag—the community to which the large majority of Suweida’s inhabitants belong. Meanwhile, several residents of Salkhad and nearby Shahbaa city broke into their local Baath party offices to either close down or take documents from an already closed building. These offices joined the fate of other Baath party offices throughout the province that have been shut down in towns including Melh, Arman, al-Qurayya, and Sama al-Bardan. In videos posted to social media, these protesters tore up pictures of Bashar al-Assad in a clear challenge and explicit rejection of the regime’s legitimacy, demanding its departure. In the events of this one week, Syrians following the protests could see a microcosm of the larger Suweida protest movement, now over a hundred days in and with no signs of stopping. Although the peaceful demonstrations in Suweida are no longer in the international spotlight since the outbreak of the Gaza war, the movement is remarkable for its longevity and continued open articulation of so many of the ideas that initially motivated Syrians to take to the streets in 2011, and that the Syrian regime has tried so desperately to repress in the intervening years. These protests are the means through which the demonstrators communicate with the world, and have become a symbol for many Syrians both within the country and outside of it. When they began in mid-August 2023, their unprecedented scope meant that they were almost immediately hailed as a second wave of the Syrian revolution. At the time, many wondered: Will Suweida be the turning point? Will this movement be able to oust the Assad regime and usher in a democratic political process that could make reconstruction possible, allowing the return of refugees and the displaced? While protesters in Suweida have not yet accomplished these admittedly audacious goals, neither have they been silenced or forced into submission in the intervening months. This in itself should be seen as a victory; the Suweida movement has become the longest, most organized, widespread, and participatory movement since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, a mixed-gender civilian movement with broad and influential participation from all segments of Suweida’s society.
- Topic:
- Reform, Democracy, Protests, and Nonviolence
- Political Geography:
- Middle East, Syria, and Suwayda
5. VIEWPOINT: IS MILITARY AID REALLY THE BEST WAY TO HELP UKRAINE?
- Author:
- Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, Molly Wallace, and Ned Dobos
- Publication Date:
- 05-2023
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Political Violence @ A Glance
- Abstract:
- Ukraine has received tens of billions of dollars worth of military aid since the Russian invasion began one year ago. The international consensus seems to be that supporting Ukraine means financing its war effort. But a few dissenting voices have emerged of late, more ambivalent about the prudence—and ethics—of the current policy. Colonel Douglas MacGregor, a former advisor to the US Secretary of Defence, has warned that the choice of cure could turn out to be worse than the disease. At least 7,000 Ukrainian civilians have already perished in the war. Thousands more have been injured, and millions have been displaced. MacGregor’s primary concern is that the bleeding will continue for as long as the fighting does. Russian forces advance, Ukrainian forces resist with violence, Russia responds with counter-violence, and the bodies continue to pile up. The Ukrainian state retains its sovereignty, but eventually we get to a point where, to quote MacGregor, “There are no longer any Ukrainians left!” This is hyperbole, of course, but that should not distract from the valid point MacGregor is making. States exist for the sake of their citizens, not the other way around. Therefore, if a given method of defending the state is causing its citizens to be killed or to flee en masse, that is a compelling reason to explore alternatives.
- Topic:
- Resistance, Armed Conflict, Nonviolence, Military Aid, and Russia-Ukraine War
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Ukraine, and United States of America
6. Attentive, assertive, supportive EU support to nonviolent movements
- Author:
- Sergio Rodriguez Prieto
- Publication Date:
- 09-2022
- Content Type:
- Research Paper
- Institution:
- Berghof Foundation
- Abstract:
- Recent years have seen a dramatic increase of mass nonviolent movements around the globe, taking the street and the online space to demand radical reforms towards greater democracy, justice, peace or equal rights. External support to nonviolent movements can help prevent violent escalation, mitigate repression, protect civic space, facilitate conflict transformation and foster sustainable peace. In a global context where the shrinking of civic space is coupled with the proliferation of protests, the European Union needs to develop a strategy to deal with nonviolent movements consistently and effectively. This paper explores the role that different EU institutional actors can play in supporting nonviolent movements and puts forward some basic recommendations to develop a more coherent conceptual framework and factor peaceful protests into the EU’s external action.
- Topic:
- Regional Cooperation, Social Movement, European Union, and Nonviolence
- Political Geography:
- Europe
7. The Great Pertinence of Gandhi to India in the 75th Year of Its Independence
- Author:
- Alan Nazareth, Gita Dharampal, M. Hamid Ansari, and Shyam Saran
- Publication Date:
- 07-2022
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- India International Centre (IIC)
- Abstract:
- In this paper, I present the gist of two of my books: Gandhi’s Outstanding Leadership and Gandhi: The Soul Force Warrior. In the first book, I focused on Gandhi’s transformation from a timid youthful barrister in India into the fearless leader he became in South Africa after his racial humiliation at Pietermaritzberg. I presented the spiritual and other inputs (especially the Bhagwat Gita) that brought about this transformation, the nature, components and stature of his leadership, its diverse achievements, its impact on India and the world, and assessments of him, his leadership and achievements made by his contemporaries.
- Topic:
- Leadership, History, Nonviolence, and Mahatma Gandhi
- Political Geography:
- South Asia and India
8. Armenia Adapts to New Postwar Realities
- Author:
- Richard Giragosian
- Publication Date:
- 01-2022
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Baku Dialogues
- Institution:
- ADA University
- Abstract:
- To many observers, Armenia’s non‑violent change of government in 2018 represented an unusual victory of “people power.” In what became heralded as Armenia’s “Velvet Revolution,” Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan surprised many with the relative ease with which he displaced an entrenched elite and emerged as the new Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia. After an important free and fair election in December 2018 cemented Pashinyan as Armenia’s new leader, the country ushered in a new period of democracy and reform. Endowed with a rare degree of legitimacy bolstered by popular support, the new democratically‑elected government promised a critical reassessment of a number of critical issues, ranging from Armenian relations with Russia to its policy regarding the conflict over Karabakh. Yet despite these important gains in democratic change and advances in reform, the Armenian leadership faced a looming challenge that was largely obscured by a legacy of arrogance and complacency. With a focus overwhelmingly devoted to domestic reform priorities, the Pashinyan government seemed increasingly ill‑prepared for the inescapable geopolitical and foreign policy demands that loomed large over Armenia. And through much of the period between mid‑2018 and early 2020, Armenia embarked on a foreign policy course characterized more by overconfidence than any realistic reassessment, marked by sporadic mistakes and missteps in its approach toward Russia but also Azerbaijan. Although somewhat explainable by a combination of inexperience and simplistic idealism, Armenia greatly overvalued the advantages of democracy and reform while also overstating its strategic significance. Against that backdrop, such diplomatic overconfidence only exacerbated a mounting crisis over Karabakh, as tensions increased and vulnerability intensified.
- Topic:
- Conflict, Violence, Peace, and Nonviolence
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Armenia
9. The Role of External Support in Nonviolent Campaigns: Poisoned Chalice or Holy Grail?
- Author:
- Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan
- Publication Date:
- 02-2021
- Content Type:
- Book
- Institution:
- International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)
- Abstract:
- This monograph is based on an ICNC-sponsored multi-year research project that examines the effects of different forms of external aid on the outcomes and longer-term impacts of civil resistance campaigns. Very little research has systematically investigated the impacts of external support on the effectiveness of nonviolent resistance. Existing research reaches somewhat contradictory conclusions, with some finding that external support for nonviolent campaigns is harmful, that external support is sometimes helpful, or that external support has little observable effect. This study assesses different types of external assistance—material and non-material—to civil resistance movements offered by state and non-state actors at different stages: pre-, during and post-conflict periods. It further evaluates the impact of the specific type of aid, its timing and provisions by different actors on the overall trajectories of civil resistance campaigns and their outcomes.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Foreign Aid, Non State Actors, Resistance, and Nonviolence
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
10. Civil Resistance Tactics in the 21st Century
- Author:
- Michael Beer
- Publication Date:
- 03-2021
- Content Type:
- Book
- Institution:
- International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC)
- Abstract:
- Civil Resistance Tactics in the 21st Century belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who is studying or practicing nonviolent action. For scholars of civil resistance: This monograph updates Gene Sharp’s 1973 seminal work The Methods of Nonviolent Action, reworking Sharp’s classifications to include 148 additional tactics (methods). For trainers and teachers: Brief yet comprehensive, this overview explains the mechanisms by which nonviolent tactics succeed and allows students to differentiate the immense field of nonviolent action from institutionalized lobbying, electioneering, legal fights, and armed conflict. For activists: This resource, in conjunction with Nonviolence International’s voluminous Nonviolent Tactics Database and Organizing & Training Archive, enlarges the activist toolbox and focuses on the central role of tactics in organizing strategic campaigns for success and power. This monograph will serve as a foundational text not only “in the field” of action, but also in classrooms studying nonviolent action, civil resistance, peacebuilding, and creative conflict resolution around the world.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Social Movement, Resistance, and Nonviolence
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus