Guerrilla Movement Research Articles

Powermapping “Stop Cop City”: abolition ecology for possibilities beyond enclosure

ABSTRACT This essay brings the analytic of abolition ecology into conversation with the critical rhetorical study of social movements, to emphasize the ecological dimensions of racialized violence, settler colonialism, and abolitionist liberation struggles. We do so by advancing the method of rhetorical powermapping, as one way to constellate the rhetorical labor of activists/protectors as they unearth the depth and textures of power temporally and spatially. Putting rhetorical powermapping into practice, we follow the contours of recent insurgent movements to “Stop Cop City” as they unsettle power from within the urban forests of Atlanta, Georgia to broader national and global regimes. Such a practice emphasizes the need for multi-scalar and multi-species systems thinking in any vision of an abolitionist future. Stop Cop City insists we contend more deeply with the ecological dimensions of violence and the indispensability of life amid climate chaos, global militarism, and racialized and gendered repression. It also demands, we argue, that rhetorical scholars adopt alternative methods and analytics to make sense of emerging, decentralized movements on their own terms, the histories and relations that ground them, and the human and more-than-human solidarities they require.

Maternity and the Armed Struggle in the Global South

Abstract Studies on the participation of women in guerrilla conflicts suffer from an in-depth study of the key aspects of women’s lives, such as motherhood and relations between the sexes. The analysis focuses on the Central and South American guerrilla movements, although open to a comparative study with organizations from other geographical spaces. In these pages these issues are analyzed to consider to what extent the revolutionary objectives that in economic and political aspects are maximalist, forget to question the issue of motherhood and the co-responsibility for the maintenance of offspring that continues to fall exclusively on women. Using the testimonies of the guerrilla women, the helplessness of women in the guerrilla environment, the abuses and the situation of subjugation and inequality in relations between the sexes is observed.

To Sever the Limbs of US Imperialism: North Korean Support for Latin American Guerrilla Movements in the 1960s

Abstract During the 1960s North Korea was connected to at least nine armed leftist rebel groups in seven countries in Latin America. Pyongyang primarily supported the revolutionary aims of these groups by providing them with military training inside the dprk. This agenda stemmed from the dprk leadership’s analysis of the international situation, one heavily influenced by its experience in the Korean War and Lenin’s theory of imperialism. This analysis identified the defeat of US imperialism as the primary task of the international Left, and that this could be achieved by the proliferation of armed insurgencies throughout the global South. By contrast, the Latin American militants who travelled to the dprk to undergo intensive military training were in search of personal transformation. Inspired by the Cuban Revolution and its doctrine of foquismo, these young radicals sought a transformative experience that would facilitate their evolution from “ordinary” civilians into revolutionary guerrillas.

Collectivisation in Lithuania 1947–1952: Decisions and Control by the CC of the All-Union CP

The profound Soviet economic, social and cultural transformation of the rural life was supposed to take place in agrarian Lithuania as well, but in the first post-war years it was postponed for some time because of the strong anti-Soviet armed resistance and the weakness of the communist government in the province. By the beginning of 1949, the guerrilla movement had already weakened considerably, the authorities in the rural areas had become stronger, the radical land reform of 1944–1948 had been completed, and in 1948 the buožės (wealthy farmers) were exiled from the villages. The conditions were favourable for the big break, i.e. the general forced collectivisation.

A role played by the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Central Committee Bureau for Lithuania in suppressing resistance of partisans (November 1944–March 1947)

By a decision of the Organisational Bureau of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Central Committee, Mikhail Suslov was dismissed as chairman of the ACP(B) CC Bureau for Lithuanian Affairs and appointed a member of the Organisational Bureau, which had an impact on changes in the distribution of power within the Communist Party of Lithuania and in its relations with Moscow. The changes in the composition of the Bureau for Lithuanian Affairs in the summer of 1946 affected the organisation of the fight against the guerilla movement, which was gradually taken over by the professional security officers of the centre.

Municipal Politics and the PKK in the early 1970s: A citizenship perspective

This paper examines the Kurdistan Workers Party’s (PKK) municipal politics in the late 1970s through the lens of citizenship politics. The article introduces two concepts—activist citizenship and fugitive citizenship to analyse the PKK’s mobilisation in this period, before the 1980 military coup in Turkey. Activist citizenship challenges the restrictive boundaries of state-sanctioned citizenship, while fugitive citizenship creates alternative political spaces for marginalized groups. Both concepts highlight how individuals and groups, such as the PKK, can assert their political agency in contexts where they are denied formal citizenship. The research questions linear understandings of the PKK’s emergence as a political movement inevitably destined to become an insurgent movement.

FEATURES OF CONDUCTING INFORMATION WARS IN THE XXI CENTURY

The transformation of the world order has led to a rather serious change in the issues of war and peace in the XXI century. The development of competition between states leads to the search for new tools for implementing policies and their goals on the world stage. Information wars are the use of information and related technologies to gain an advantage over the enemy and are becoming more widespread in the world every year, which undoubtedly indicates the relevance of the topic. In this regard, the author of the study set a goal to identify the main features of waging information wars in the XXI century. New threats and challenges, such as cyber warfare, global terrorism, hybrid conflicts, proxy wars, environmental conflicts and insurgent movements are closely interconnected with information wars. Questions of warfare have long gone beyond simple technological innovations and are rather a rethinking of the ways in which the actors involved interact. The leap in information technology leads to a modification of the means that information wars have. All this undoubtedly speaks to the importance of critically understanding the consequences of these new ways of conducting information wars, especially with regard to their ability to distort the global and political dynamics of the development of international relations.

Understanding the Role of Agriculture in the Nature of Insurgency in Manipur

The state of Manipur in India has been in a state of turmoil and militarization since the time it lost its princely status in 1949. And over the years since then it has witnessed mushrooming of various insurgent groups among the numerous ethnic communities in the tiny state. In as much as the causes for such state of insurgent movements, the nature and dimensions of insurgency in the state is diverse. It would be of paramount importance to understand the nature of insurgency in Manipur rather than just see all groups from the prism of “Law and order” problem but perhaps the root cause of it could be related to an ancestral agriculture practice and its ownership. This will surely enable the government to have a multi-prone approach to finding a lasting solution to the prolonged narrative of insurgency issue which is socially divisive, economically expensive and politically national integration is at stake.

The Morality of Schooling: Women's Education as an Arena for Social Tension in Cabo Delgado

In this article, I reflect on education as a continuing arena of tension for people in Cabo Delgado. The tension between formal (state-sponsored) and religious education as a backdrop of the conflict in Cabo Delgado has been widely mentioned but largely misunderstood. Scholars have consistently mentioned poverty and people's lack of access to formal education as drivers of the disenfranchisement that has led to violent extremism in the province. There are also references to how the insurgent movement has shunned formal education in favour of Islamic teachings. The existing literature about the insurgent's rejection of state-sponsored education, especially for girls, fails to address a trajectory whereby formal (state-sponsored) education has been a field of tension for a long time. Similar tensions happened across the Swahili coast in both English and French colonies. From interviews focused on women's relationships and experiences with both the colonial and postcolonial state, it emerged that Muslim populations in Cabo Delgado, particularly on the coast, have a long history of suspicion towards state-sponsored education. This includes showcasing a locally established practice for women's education that predated and existed alongside formal education. This follows that cultural and religious dynamics do not preclude women's influence in society, particularly education. In fact, it relies on her active participation. At the same time, despite potential violent cooptation, in the context of the conflict, the insurgent movement is able to tap into the existing tensions, including that around state-sponsored education. Evidence from the field indicates that, despite the disadvantages of resisting formal education, religious education remains central to most people, not just those following the extremist movement. What may appear to be an extremist rupture from mainstream practice should be understood within a logic operating on shared and familiar values.

«В Коауиле провозглашается коммунизм». Эпизод из истории Мексиканской революции (1912 г.)

The article deals with a little-known and little-studied episode from the history of the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1917, the proclamation of communism by anarchist guerrillas in the state of Coahuila in 1912. A brief but vivid history of the guerrillas, organized by the Magonists from the Mexican Lib-eral Party (PLM) at one of the key moments of the revolution, is considered in the context of the general role of the anar-chist movement at various stages of the revolution in Mexico, of evolution of its ideology, strategy and tactics. An attempt has been made to assess the significance of the events under consideration for the development of the anarchist movement in the world. PLM, led by brothers Riсardo and Enrique Flo-res Magon, was in 1906-1908 the first political force that launched a rebel movement against the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, and in 1910-1911 made a significant contribu-tion to the overthrow of the regime. However, after this, the leadership of the Mexican Liberal Party officially switched to the position of anarchism, and its supporters tried to organize a guerrilla movement with the aim of carrying out a social revolution in Mexico. Although the PLM rebel forces were crushed by superior government forces in 1912, and many of their members were killed, the proclamation of anarchist communism by a group of guerrillas on February 9, 1912 in the Mexican state of Coahuila, one of the traditional areas of influence of the Magonists, was the first act of this kind in the history of world anarchist movement and served as an example for anarchists in other countries.

Love and Care in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda

Abstract Dominant storylines about armed conflicts and rebel groups, such as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group in Uganda, typically focus on violence, suffering, harm, and abuse. Without a doubt, life within insurgency groups, including in the LRA, is characterized by immense social suffering, typically portrayed to be beyond the pale of humanity. Yet, what of the connections of compassion, joy, love, and care that emerged in the context of cohesion and alongside these aspects and experiences of violence, suffering, and abuse? Over the years, our interlocutors narrated to us what can be understood as meaningful forms of kinship, social connections, or intimacy during and after their time with the group; in the context of conjugal spousal relations, among fellow recruits, or between abductees and their families and communities. This article focuses on these practices of love and care within and in the wake of life in the LRA, and how they are entangled with and sit alongside experiences of violence. The simultaneities of care and suffering constitute a key aspect of this analysis; not intending to negate, downplay, ignore, or trivialize the detrimental impact of violence within rebel groups in general, nor to idealize the relations of compassion, love, or care that emerged within this context. This dual focus, we maintain, is important for unearthing the complexities, intricacies, and nuances of peoples’ lived realities in the context of insurgency movements, and in the context of armed conflict more broadly, holding important analytical and ethical implications.

Morphological responses of filamentous fungi to stressful environmental conditions.

The filamentous growth mode of fungi, with its modular design, facilitates fungal adaptation to stresses they encounter in diverse terrestrial and anthropogenic environments. Surface growth conditions elicit diverse morphological responses in filamentous fungi, particularly demonstrating the remarkable adaptability of mycelial systems to metal- and mineral-rich environments. These responses are coupled with fungal biogeochemical activity and can ameliorate hostile conditions. A tessellated agar tile system, mimicking natural environmental heterogeneity, revealed negative chemotropism to toxic metals, distinct extreme growth strategies, such as phalanx and guerrilla movements and transitions between them, and the formation of aggregated re-allocation structures (strands, cords, synnemata). Other systems showed intrahyphal growth, intense biomineralization, and extracellular hair-like structures. Studies on submerged mycelial growth, using the thermophilic fungus Thielavia terrestris as an example, provided mechanistic insights into the morphogenesis of two extreme forms of fungal submerged culture-pelleted and dispersed growth. It was found that the development of fungal pellets was related to fungal adaptation to unfavorable stressful conditions. The two key elements affecting morphogenesis leading to the formation of either pelleted or dispersed growth were found to be (1) a lag phase (or conidia swelling stage) as a specific period of fungal morphogenesis when a certain growth form is programmed in response to morphogenic stressors, and (2) cAMP as a secondary messenger of cell signaling, defining the implementation of the particular growth strategy. These findings can contribute to knowledge of fungal-based biotechnologies, providing a means for controllable industrial processes at both morphological and physiological levels.

Whether and to what extent does international law allow states to use military force against armed non-state actors on the territory of another state?

The relevance of the article is due to the importance of understanding the legal boundaries of state actions in the context of the growth of transnational terrorism, insurgent movements and asymmetric wars. Recent conflicts and military interventions highlight the urgent need to clarify international law regarding the acceptable use of force against armed non-state actors located in the territory of another state. Finding the delicate balance between respecting state sovereignty and ensuring the right to self-defence poses a significant challenge. The subject of the research is primarily the contemporary attribution concepts that may be used during the justification of the use of military force by states against armed non-state actors on the territory of another sovereign state. The purpose of the research is to critically examine legal aspects and state practice relating to the aforementioned concepts. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that by bringing together legal developments, state practice and some issues in using force sphere, the article offers new insights into the complex interralation between state sovereignty and the right to self-defence. Brief conclusions: 1) According to some states and experts, using military force against armed non-state actors on the territory of another state violates the sovereignty of that state, whereas others claim that it may be justified under the right of self-defence. In this regard, state practices have been inconsistent. 2) Nowadays, the «effective control» test is the only legally justified approach that triggers the right to self-defence against armed non-state actors on foreign soil. 3) There is no well-established state practice and opinio juris relating to other examinded attribution tests or the «Unable or Unwilling» doctrine.

Rebel governance without territorial control: The experiences of the PKK in 1970s Turkey

Insurgent movements rely on popular support using varying strategies to build supportive constituencies, including forms of rebel governance. The rebel governance literature explicitly limits its scope to insurgent cases with territorial control, excluding all groups that did not obtain territorial control, areas of weaker insurgent presence and early phases of mobilisation. This article focuses on Kurdistan Workers Party’s (PKK) use of rebel governance (1977–1980) through municipal politics prior to the launch of its insurgency. The article makes two important contributions: firstly, it demonstrates the need to broaden the scope of the rebel governance literature to include phases where insurgent movements do not control territory. Secondly, it critiques the linearity of retrospective readings of insurgent trajectories that downplay the role of interactions and contingency in early mobilizational phases. It is based on original data including primary source documents and qualitative interviews with people involved in the PKK’s municipal politics between 1977 and 1980.

Stalin’s Empire in the Fight Against the Ukrainian Insurgent Movement at the Final Stage of the Second World War 1944–1945): The Role of the Red Army

This article, based on a wide array of archival documents, presents the anal­ysis of military confrontation between the Stalinist Empire and the Ukrainian insurgent movement in Western Ukraine. Special attention is paid to the role of the Red Army, which, in addition to joint military punitive operations together with the NKVD itself resorted to organising anti-insurgency military measures and took an active part in such activi­ties aimed at destroying the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukraiinska povstanska armia – hereafter UPA) and the underground Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (hereafter – OUN) using such measures as deportation and resettlement of the local population from the front-line zone, military mobilisations and repressions against the families of UPA members. The author concludes that the war of the Red Empire against the Ukrainian na­tional liberation movement embroiled significant masses of civilian population into its merciless millstones, which led to its barbarisation, so this war by its nature and devas­tating consequences can be considered in essence as the genocidal extermination of the Ukrainian people.

Stalino imperijos kova su Ukrainos sukilėlių judėjimu paskutiniajame Antrojo pasaulinio karo etape (1944–1945): Raudonosios armijos vaidmuo

This article, based on a wide array of archival documents, presents the anal­ysis of military confrontation between the Stalinist Empire and the Ukrainian insurgent movement in Western Ukraine. Special attention is paid to the role of the Red Army, which, in addition to joint military punitive operations together with the NKVD itself resorted to organising anti-insurgency military measures and took an active part in such activi­ties aimed at destroying the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukraiinska povstanska armia – hereafter UPA) and the underground Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (hereafter – OUN) using such measures as deportation and resettlement of the local population from the front-line zone, military mobilisations and repressions against the families of UPA members. The author concludes that the war of the Red Empire against the Ukrainian na­tional liberation movement embroiled significant masses of civilian population into its merciless millstones, which led to its barbarisation, so this war by its nature and devas­tating consequences can be considered in essence as the genocidal extermination of the Ukrainian people.

Military Loyalty in Britain’s Withdrawal from Aden, 1960–1967

This article argues an understanding of the British withdrawal from Aden in 1967 requires greater attention to be paid to the loyalty of the local security forces who were supposed to help repress the insurgency in south Arabia, and then secure a friendly state when Britain left. The Federal Regular Army (FRA), the most important formation, proved to be consistently unreliable through behaviours ranging from the attempted murder of British personnel, to desertion and political activism. However, disbanding the FRA might have made matters even worse, so British officers sought to manipulate its loyalty through various mechanisms, including pay rises, ignoring disloyal incidents and directing propaganda at the soldiers. These endeavours succeeded in holding off a mutiny until June 1967, but only by creating a force which became infiltrated by the insurgent movements and lacked the capacity to play any meaningful role in defending the federation. This analysis suggests studies on British counter-insurgency should investigate further the role of local allies in strategy and operations.

Ideology and Rifles: The Agrarian Origins of Civil Conflict in Colombia

We investigate the relationship between the historical dispossession of peasants’ lands by landlords that led to the rise of peasant grievances and the origin of the rural guerrilla movement – Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) – during the first stage of the Colombian civil conflict (1964–1985). We propose two sequential mechanisms through which previous land dispossession resulted in the emergence of rebel-armed groups. First, the ideological cohesion stemming from radical liberals and communists exacerbated the grievances and helped to shape the political objectives of the rebel armed groups. Once revolutionary ideology had spread in the rural areas, the exposure to violent events that gave military training, access to weapons, and military experience to the rural population, ended up facilitating the formation of rebel groups. Using a matching-pair instrumental variable approach and a novel municipal-level data set, the study documents that municipalities experiencing floods between 1914 and 1946 were more likely to experience land dispossession than municipalities that did not. Floods temporarily worsened the conditions of the land and its value, facilitating the dispossession of peasant land by large landowners and the rise of grievances.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC RELATIONS IN CENTRAL UKRAINE ON THE THRESHOLD OF AND DURING THE UKRAINIAN REVOLUTION (1881–1922): THE AGRARIAN QUESTION

The subject of the study is the analysis of economic development (agrarian relations) in Central Ukraine in the 80s of the XIX century – the first quarter of 1922. The problematic nature of the article is stipulated by the insufficient attention of specialists to the economic history of this region. The publication deals with the socio-economic sphere of regional history. Methodology. The study is based on the use of interdisciplinary methodological optics: economics, history, geography, and law. The purpose of the article is to analyse the approaches to solving the agrarian issue in Central Ukraine in the post-reform period and during the liberation struggle of 1917-1922. The article focuses on various aspects of socio-economic development in the late XIX century – the first quarter of the XX century. Conclusions. In the 80s and 90s of the XIX century, significant economic experiments took place in Central Ukraine aimed at solving the agrarian issue and meeting the economic needs of the peasantry. They were initiated by both representatives of the authorities – zemstvo officials – and public figures, such as M. Levytskyi. These attempts were partially successful economically: the peasantry of Kherson, Yekaterinoslav, Kyiv, and Poltava provinces had larger land holdings than in other areas, and were more entrepreneurial, as evidenced by their support for the cooperative movement. The second part of the article deals with the analysis of socio-economic relations during the liberation struggle of 1917-1922. The analysis of this struggle suggests that the peasantry of Central Ukraine was the driving force behind various insurgent movements. There were several major uprisings on socio-economic grounds in these areas, which were caused by the Ukrainian peasantry's rejection of the economic experiments of the Russian occupiers: the Bolsheviks and their opponents, the White Guards. The interests of the Ukrainian peasantry were partially satisfied by the introduction of a new economic policy in 1921, which contributed to the gradual decline of the insurgency.

Insurgent movements and paths to negotiation: a case study of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) in India’s northeast

ABSTRACT What drives insurgent groups to negotiation? The paper examines the conditions that facilitate insurgents to negotiate with governments. It examines the case of National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), in Assam, India’s northeast. Factors that may have contributed to the process of negotiation were change in relative costs and capabilities of insurgents. The paper argues that state’s unwillingness to concede to the insurgent demands of territorial separation affect the outcomes of insurgencies that further contribute to the fragile peace process. Drawing on qualitative interviews of former insurgents, civil society organizations and government officials, this article contributes to studies on peace negotiations.