"This book", says Tim Gee at the start of the first chapter, "will make a bold claim. That a single idea helps explain why social movements past and present have succeeded, partially succeeded, or failed. Strategically applied, it has helped win campaigns, secure human rights, stop wars and even bring down governments."
The central idea is Counterpower, which he describes as "the resistance of the oppressed". There are three types of Counterpower: Idea Counterpower which challenges…
OCCUPY MOVEMENT (United Kingdom)
Categories covered: City; County; Location in City; Date started ; Population; Website(s); Phone Contact; Email Contact; Twitter; Other notes
London Greater London Location in City: WEB
http://theoccupytimes.co.uk; email contact: olsx.indymedia@gmail.com; twitter .@occupytimes
Britain …
The website had asked people to assemble in front of St Paul’s cathedral at 12 noon precisely (“not early or late”), so of course everyone turned up at 11.45am, milling aimlessly with their banners. At noon a sound system was turned on, pumping out a furious electronic beat... and we continued to mill.
It was Saturday 15 October, and “Occupy London” were acting in solidarity with “Occupy Wall St”, initiated by Adbusters in New York on 17 September. The Wall St occupation, which is…
By any means neccessary. Occupy activists use all forms of magic to oust evil at St Paul’s Cathedral
Here I am. Do I really need to do this? Well, yes. Why? Because in the end, it always comes down to the streets. When the greed, the hypocrisy, the assaults on our freedoms, our pockets, our future and our common sense go so far beyond the level of toleration, there’s no substitute for the outrage of the…
On 17 September, 5,000 people arrived in the financial district of Manhattan in New York, bearing banners, tents and sleeping bags. They had been drawn in by the idea, originally mooted by the Canadian anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters, of occupying Wall Street and demanding economic justice. The proposed occupation was described as “a fusion of Tahrir with the acampadas of Spain”, making clear that it was inspired by the Arab Spring, and in particular the Tahrir Square protests in Egypt…
"A group of eight activists blockaded the entrance to AWE Aldermaston this morning at 6.45am. Using steel lock-on tubes the group have completely blocked the road. Thus stopping all construction traffic entering or leaving the site. This has caused a large tailback and the police turned all traffic away from the site.”
(“Aldermaston shut down”
The Arab Spring appears to be having positive results for Palestinians, notably the rapprochement between the main Palestinian political parties Fatah and Hamas, and the re-opening, after four years, of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
However, the antipathy between Fatah and Hamas persists and it remains to be seen whether they will indeed form a joint government and hold elections in 2012. And the re-opening of Rafah on 28 May was only partial: commercial traffic is not…
"On December 23, April 6 activist xxxxxxxxxxxx ... alleged that several opposition parties and movements have accepted an unwritten plan for democratic transition by 2011; we are doubtful of this claim" – secret cable from the US Embassy in Cairo to Washington [1]
"Nonviolent action is not just about non-violence, but also about joy and happiness ... [People] saw in Tahrir what Egypt could possibly be in the future and they wanted to be part of this new Egypt" – Wael Adel, Academy for…
Originally published (for Burmese dissidents) in 1993, From Dictatorship to Democracy has since been translated into at least 28 other languages, and has now been reprinted in English by Housmans Peace Bookshop.
Sharp’s analysis – and this short book in particular – has reportedly played a significant inspirational role in a whole series of nonviolent uprisings, from Serbia to Egypt. Nonetheless, his leaden prose, the extremely general nature of much of the analysis and the lack of…
“On December 23, April 6 activist xxxxxxxxxxxx … alleged that several opposition parties and movements have accepted an unwritten plan for democratic transition by 2011; we are doubtful of this claim” – secret cable from the US Embassy in Cairo to Washington [1]
“Nonviolent action is not just about non-violence, but also about joy and happiness … [People] saw in Tahrir what Egypt could possibly be in the future and they wanted to be part of this new Egypt” – Wael Adel,…
Can a book of “tweets” (140-character-or-less micro-messages) really be readable? The answer is a resounding yes (and don’t worry if you’re not Twitter-savvy, I certainly wasn’t).
Through careful selection the editors have created an inspiring and coherent narrative that not only explains the evolving strategies of both sides but also allows personalities to shine through. Nonviolence played a crucial role throughout, especially in the early decisive confrontations with the police (“…
Well, we didn't totally return to our normal life, there still are some incidents here in the capital. There are people who didn't accept the second transient government and are protesting peacefully in “El Kasba”.
But there are also unknown persons who want to make us feel unsafe and turn the capital upside down, so they pay offenders to rob, ransack and burn ... but our police and military arrested most of them. Finally, thousands of Libyan and Egyptian refugees are now in the south…
Former British prime minister Tony Blair’s justification for the Iraq war is now that, for all the devastation it caused, launching the invasion was better than leaving dictator Saddam Hussein and his sons in charge of the country for decades to come. The peoples of Tunisia and Egypt have delivered a comprehensive rebuttal to this colonialist argument, overthrowing two entrenched dictators in the space of a month.
Two central factors in both countries were uncontainable popular rage…
Former British prime minister Tony Blair’s justification for the Iraq war is now that, for all the devastation it caused, launching the invasion was better than leaving dictator Saddam Hussein and his sons in charge of the country for decades to come. The peoples of Tunisia and Egypt have delivered a comprehensive rebuttal to this colonialist argument, overthrowing two entrenched dictators in the space of a month.
Two central factors in both countries were uncontainable popular rage…
The “jasmine revolution” in Tunisia was sparked by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, 26, on 17 December in the seaside town of Sidi Bouzid. Mohamed set himself on fire in protest at harassment and corruption by council officers, and the confiscation of goods and scales from his unlicensed vegetable street stall. By the time of his death on 4 January, the uprising he triggered had spread across Tunisia, with fearless mass demonstrations confronting the dictatorship of president Zine El…
