In Nigeria, what began as a peaceful protest by a motley of interest groups against key issues ranging from the rising unemployment and inflation, inequitable distribution of the palliative, increasing insecurity, and the excesses of officials of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in some part of the country snowballed into violence after the police fired tear gas and live bullets to disperse protesters.
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The EndSARS Protests of 2020
In October 2020, after a summer of massive global protests surrounding the issue of police brutality, Nigeria found itself in the midst of a similar watershed moment. After a video of an extrajudicial killing committed by an officer of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) went viral, young Nigerians joined together in country-wide peaceful protests calling for the disbandment of the unit. The protests were completely decentralized, youth-led, and, utilized the power of social media to create global awareness.
When it Rains it Pours: The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong
In 2014, the world saw Hong Kong stop in its pace to make way for the Umbrella Movement. The protest started in response to a decision made by China that would allow elections in Hong Kong in 2017, but only from a list of candidates pre-approved by the Chinese government.
An overview of the Mifflin Street Block Party: A political statement.
I know plenty of people who plan to spend their Saturday drinking the day away between Dayton St and W Washington Ave. Yet many of the students who will be spending their day at Madison’s largest annual “darty” are unaware that the event started as a political protest.
From Pandemonium to Peace: East Timor’s Struggle for Self-Determination
The country of East Timor, now better known as Timor-Leste, had been occupied by Indonesia until their independence on May 20th, 2002. The occupation can only be described as violent and brutal, while the resistance focused on a strategy of nonviolent campaigns, both in East Timor and internationally, in order to push forth their agenda for independence.
The Systematic Silencing of Human Rights Defenders in Venezuela
It is no secret in the international community that the humanitarian situation in Venezuela is dire. A history of detrimental governance has driven Venezuela into political and economic ruin. Former President Hugo Chávez’s populist political ideology was characterized by a desire to nationalize Venezuelan industries and a rejection of U.S. imperialism.
The Chipko Movement: Treehuggers of India
Resistance in India has been commonly characterized by nonviolent tactics for centuries. Mahatma Gandhi popularized this nonviolence globally and coined the term, “satyagraha,” a form of nonviolence resistance in place of using force as a political weapon. The Chipko Movement comes from the word, “chipko,” which means to hug or to cling to. During the 1970s rural villagers held on to trees as a way to protest tree felling in regions, notably in Uttar Pradesh.
The Black Lives Matter Movement in Cuba
In June of 2020, the killing of an unarmed young Black man received widespreadmedia attention and sparked calls for protests across Cuba. However, 52 local activists were preemptively arrested for planning such protests that called for racial justice on the island. Additionally, the state-owned communications company blocked phone and internet access the night before participants and journalists were planning to cover the protests.
Serbia in the 1990s: An Introduction to [Nonviolent] Protest in Eastern Europe
There is a prevailing idea that social beliefs are determined by political boundaries. In the US, pundits often talk about the difference between red states and blue states and an increasingly divided and polarized America. It promotes a level of antagonism between traditionally liberal and conservative states, yet every state is made up of a wide array of people with beliefs from every point on the political spectrum.
Ready, Willing, and Able to Fight – How Judy Heumann Advanced the Disability Rights Movement
For the last three decades, millions of American parents have been able to park their minivans between parallel white lines – avoiding the spaces with the blue and white logos that depict a stick figure in a wheelchair – and usher their child into a stroller, which they can push up a portion of the curb gradually sloped from the asphalt up to the sidewalk, before guiding the stroller up a concrete ramp and through an entrance wide enough to fit it.