Activism

1 September 2002Review

Reaktion Books 2002. ISBN 1 86189 122 9, 164pp, £12.95

A familiar subject by now for this slim new volume in the sharp, intelligent publisher's personal and polemical strand FOCI (Focus on Contemporary Issues) it maybe, but Open University social scientist Tim Jordan's exploration of alternative ways of being, interacting, protesting and resisting is heartfelt and wide-ranging.

Employing a global reach, he considers the actions of groups as diversely motivated as eco-activists, squatters, anti-vivisectionists, neo-fascists and anti-…

1 March 2002Review

JustUs Productions 2001. VHS/PAL format. Running time 25 mins. Available from London Quaker Bookshop, http://www.quaker.org.uk; tel +44 20 7663 1070; or email bevb@quaker.org.uk

This timely and well-produced video (with notes) is a useful resource for peace, social justice, economic and environmental activists.

Using commentaries to camera, it shows details and direct footage of a variety of recent nonviolent direct actions which have taken place in Britain, using the words and witness of the activists themselves. Footage of the essential pre-action planning and training activities serve as useful guides for others considering taking such action.

As a…

1 September 2001Review

Zed Books, London, in association with Responding to Conflict, Birmingham, 2000. ISBN 1 85649 837 9. 185 pp

The organisation Responding to Conflict, based in Birmingham, Britain, which produced this excel-lent resource-guide, recently had its tenth anniversary celebration.

This book is based on what all the people coming to their courses over the years have learned. As described by Simon Fisher, founder and director of Responding to Conflict, the aim of the organisation and of this book is to help people solve their own problems, and in that it succeeds very well.

It is mainly…

1 January 2001Review

Published by War Resisters League, 339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012, USA. tel +1 212 228 0450; fax 228 6193; email wrl@igc.org. Price £8.99 from Housmans

As an antimilitarist and probably a feminist, I rather liked this diary. While it has, in some ways, quite a US orientation (national holidays, significant events, the relationship between days and dates etc), it is still perfectly usable for anyone using the Christian-derived calendar.

It has a one week to a page display, plus a directory of WRI members, and a list of national (US) peace organisations and publications. However I think the best thing about this diary is the profiles…