Peace Movement Research Articles

STOP WARS

STOP WARS

Peace Movements in Islam: History, Religion, and Politics, Juan Cole (ed.) (2022)

Review of: Peace Movements in Islam: History, Religion, and Politics, Juan Cole (ed.) (2022) London: I.B. Tauris (Bloomsbury Publishing), 224 pp., ISBN 978-0-75564-317-2, p/bk, $25.95

The Peace Movement in Salian Germany: Manuscripts and Meaning

In the 1080s, the Peace and Truce of God took root in the Kingdom of the Germans, and over the following decades a variety of powerful actors established peace associations, adapting and transforming the peace to their own ends in the disputes shaking the kingdom. This article investigates a series of texts stipulating the terms of some of the peaces. These texts mostly survive as marginalia or additions to the end or beginning of seemingly unrelated manuscripts. It is argued that the peaces are evidence of how local actors connected with the larger-scale conflicts of the time; and that the apparently informal survival of the peaces relates to performative practices of inscribing short texts into important codices. The conclusion situates the peaces in a broader discussion about sacralised conflict and political communication during the so-called Investiture Contest and includes a comparison with equivalent texts in the later 12th century.

Logic of Home: Resistance and Logic in Post-Truth Times

Expanding globalization and the recent nationalistic backlash in the West presents a pedagogical threshold of opportunity for inquiry and transformation. We explore how these movements are pedagogical from the philosophical perspective of feminist pragmatism informed by the logic of home, a Native philosophical and political perspective. This offers a significant contribution to the conversations surrounding social democracy and political transformation to education as well as educational inquiry characterized by dialogue, social justice, civility, equity, and growth. Specifically, in this paper we examine the logic of home as presented in the life experiences and work of Lydia Child, an early 19th Century American journalist, abolitionist, and ancestor to the women’s rights movement, and Jane Addams, prominent and influential 19th century interdisciplinary feminist pragmatist, and global leader in the early in the women’s rights and peace movements. We forward feminist pragmatism as a relevant empowering and educative framework for philosophical reasoning and political activism, especially when materialized in the lives of Child and Addams.

Peace movement responses to Russia's invasion: For limited war and restraints on militarism

AbstractThe “pragmatic pacifist” tradition, exemplified by the transition of many peace activists in the 1930s to critical support for the Allied war effort during World War II, can provide a nuanced path for Western peace activists in responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This essay examines how several voices of the American peace movement have addressed this situation, offering a variety of levels of critical support to Ukraine's fight for self‐defense and the US involvement in the conflict.

Peace movements and the war in Ukraine: The opportunity

AbstractThe February 2022 Russian invasion into Ukraine is the largest land attack in Europe since World War II. Threats of the use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russian President Putin has raised the eyebrows of nations throughout the world. The possibility of another world war and prospects for nuclear annihilation has provided an opportunity for non‐governmental international peace organizations to work together collectively to educate citizens about the importance of peace movements as agencies of humanitarian relief. More than opposing war peace movements are reform instruments, which highlight the importance of peace by providing aid and assistance to the innocent victims of armed aggression. Presently, peace organizations are doing their part by providing food, shelter, clothing, first aid, and other forms of non‐lethal aid to the Ukrainian people caught in the crosshairs of this violent conflict. This is how peace movements can demonstrate the real meaning of peace in the current situation and serve the larger task of nonviolence beyond political dialogue and nationalistic rhetoric.

Fulda Gap: A board game, West German society, and a battle that never happened, 1975–85

This article explores the reception of the American-made board game Fulda Gap: The First Battle of the Next War in the Federal Republic of Germany in the early 1980s. The German peace movement used the game, which depicted conventional, chemical, and nuclear war on German territory, as a potent symbol of what they believed to be American and NATO disregard for German lives and sovereignty. The controversy over the game reflected the changing character of German-American relations during the ‘Second Cold War’ and increasing concerns among Germans about the possible consequences of superpower conflict in Central Europe.

The war in Ukraine underscores the need to strengthen the international security system

AbstractThe Ukraine war and the response to it are profoundly troubling. Russia’s military assault upon its neighbor clearly constitutes a major war of aggression that shares many features with such wars of the past. Neither the Russian peace movement nor the Western peace movement has been able to affect it—the former because of government repression and the latter because of divisions within is ranks. Consequently, the war has already been immensely destructive and might well become far more so. As in the past, this kind of tragic situation illustrates the necessity for an effective international security system. Although the United Nations is supposed to provide that system, it lacks authority to do so thanks to the crippling control the great powers have exercised over the world organization. Therefore, the Ukraine war highlights the need to strengthen the United Nations as a force for peace.

Arguing against Political and Religious Discriminations: Critical Discourse Analysis of Indonesian Ahmadiyya

Abstract This article examines resistance discourses created and disseminated by a religious minority in Indonesia called Gerakan Ahmadiyah Indonesia (GAI) to counter any negative portrayals and religious-based discriminations. Ahmadiyah is a self-defined sect of Islam that has been the target of physical attacks and discursive discrimination in Indonesia. This analysis focuses on identifying discourse topics raised and strategies employed by one of the Ahmadiyya groups in the country called GAI to reveal their resistance and defend their ‘Islamic’ faith. Various texts produced in different genres namely statements and comments published in media, books, speeches and various articles published online in GAI’s official websites are used as the data which were collected during field research in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The analysis found that, in order to counter discriminatory discourses, the GAI Ahmadis present various resistance discourse themes such as distinguishing themselves from Jemaat Ahmadiyah Indonesia, justifying their Islamic understanding by highlighting religious freedom discourse, including themselves as Muslims and presenting themselves as peaceful movement.

"Notes on Exterminism" for the Twenty-First-Century Ecology and Peace Movements

In 1980, the great English historian and Marxist theorist E. P. Thompson wrote the pathbreaking essay "Notes on Exterminism, the Last Stage of Civilization." Although the world has undergone a number of significant changes since, Thompson's essay remains a useful starting point in approaching the central contradictions of our times, characterized by the planetary ecological crisis, COVID-19 pandemic, New Cold War, and current "empire of chaos"—all arising from features deeply embedded in the contemporary capitalist political economy.

KEHIDUPAN DAMAI DI DESA BENGKAREK KECAMATAN SUNGAI AMBAWANG KABUPATEN KUBU RAYA

AbstractThe community in Bengkarek Village consists of various ethnicities, including those whohave had a history of conflict, namely Dayak and Madurese. As a heterogeneouscommunity group, peace can also be created in this society, although their lifestyle is stillthick with their respective cultural identities, this does not reduce the totality of behavioras a large group that has the same desire for peace. This study uses an ethnographicmethod, examining the phenomenon of peace in the Bengkarek Village community. Theresults of this study are a form of negative and positive peace that moves continuously insociety, prevention and management of conflict and violence is successfully carried outby the community through the role of structural community leaders as well as communityleaders and all residents of Bengkarek Village through a cultural approach (kultutal).These two forms of the peace movement are still in a sustainable phase, especiallypositive peace building in creating a better quality of life from various aspects, suchdevelopment processes still have obstacles so that they are relatively slow.Keywords: Negative and positive peace, Bengkarek Village Community

중일전쟁 초기 周化人의 대아시아주의 이해와 대일협력

This article analyzed the logical structure of the Wang Jingwei regime’s collaboration with Japan with clarification of Zhou Huaren’s understanding of Great Asianism. Under the pursuit of investigating the characteristics, theoretical reactions and reflections of Chinese intellectuals, particularly upon the Discourse of New East Asian Order, the article paid attention to how the Wang regime took possession of the Discourse as its recipient and took advantage of strengthening the internal authority. The article also focused on the innovative vision and potentials that the Discourse by Japan had connoted, and on the fact that the very vision and potentials catalyzed the Peace Movement by the Wang Jingwei group. By that, the conception of criticism of modernity was recognized. Following such focuses, the article first offered critical examination on the main traits of Great Asianism that the Wang group had reorganized. And it analyzed the Great Asianism by Zhou Huaren in the viewpoint of the history of thoughts, his understanding of the thought, its traits and logical structure, and his plan on the East Asian Confederation.

The World Union of Documentary and the Early Cold War

This essay traces the evolution of the idea of “international documentary” during the early Cold War through the history of the World Union of Documentary (1947–50), an association spearheaded by documentarian Joris Ivens that aimed to articulate a common purpose for postwar documentary and to facilitate the international exchange of films, professionals, and knowledge in the field. I investigate the links between the association and contemporaneous international initiatives, chiefly film festivals and the peace movement, focusing throughout on Eastern Europe, where the World Union was headquartered for most of its existence. Indeed, the association's history is inextricable from that of Ivens's 1949 film about the East European “new democracies,” The First Years (Pierwsze lata). Both projects, I argue, were impeded not only by the polarized political atmosphere of the period but also by complex political, administrative, and generational dynamics within the documentary community and the international Left.

From Internationalism to Postcolonialism: Literature and Cinema between the Second and the Third Worlds

From Internationalism to Postcolonialism: Literature and Cinema between the Second and the Third Worlds

Soldiership, Christianity, and the Crimean War: The Reception of Catherine Marsh’s Memorials of Captain Hedley Vicars

Abstract Recent scholarship has done much to illuminate the cultural significance of Catherine Marsh’s popular evangelical biography of Hedley Vicars, a British officer killed during the Crimean War (1853–1856). However, scholars have not systematically examined the ways in which Marsh’s hagiographical portrait of this officer – who, in the eyes of many contemporaries, was the epitome of the ‘Christian soldier’ – was drawn into religious debates following its publication in December 1855. A crucial part of its reception history thus remains incomplete. Building on secondary literature which has recently opened new avenues for the fruitful investigation of the interface between religion and war in Victorian culture, and employing hitherto untapped sources, this article advances fresh perspectives on the place of Vicars’s ‘Christian soldiership’ in wartime religious thought. The article situates Marsh’s Memorials of Captain Hedley Vicars within the context of debates on the lawfulness of war for Christians in general, and on the justice of the Crimean War in particular, before tracing the deployment of the religious and heroic themes of the Memorials by pro-war clergy against peace advocates. The article then explores the peace movement’s critiques of Marsh’s Memorials which sought to undercut the idea of the ‘Christian soldier’ and to demolish the argument that Vicars’s martial valour and fervent piety affirmed the compatibility of war, soldiering, and Christianity. The result is an account which demonstrates the centrality of religious debate to contemporary understandings of a war which helped to define the Victorian era.

La economía popular y la lucha por el reconocimiento como actor sindical en la Argentina

In recent decades, social movements have experienced transformations since the beginning of the Internet and the development of social network sites for digital activism and movement organizations. This article initially considers a theoretical review of the relevant aspects that are considered for the evolution of social movements through the use of the Internet and social network sites, considering their scope and limitations. This study analyses, through a qualitative methodology of thirteen in-depth interviews with experts, activists and a journalist, how the social movements for peace in Mexico were formed and how their causes were displayed through the social network sites, beyond the technological determinism about the potential of these digital tools, considering the complexity of sociocultural factors that made possible the formation of these social movements in the context of the war on drugs. This article also analyses the change in the status quo of Mexican politics for peace, emphasizing the role of civil society and the work of peace groups in Mexico to generate transformations in Mexican politics peace.

20세기 초 팬데믹 시대에 움튼 여성들의 우정: YWCA를 중심으로

The World YWCA, based on the Christian spirit of “by young people, by young women, for young women” is a faith movement that started with the passion of the gospel and a service movement based on the ecumenical spirit. It seeks peace and the reconciliation of humankind, and has long established itself as a major player in the peace movement. Inheriting that spirit, YWCA Korea will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of YWCA Korea in April, 2022. However, the Korean academic community does not have much interest in YWCA, regardless of general or Christian history. The Korean YWCA also lacks information about the Hangzhou World YWCA Committee, which was held for the first time in Asia. The 1947 Hangzhou World YWCA Committee tells the story of the friendship of women who helped to heal and reconcile the weeping world after the war. This study will solve the missing piece of the puzzle in historical research and suggest a way for the Korean church to become a peace-church in the future.

The Rehabilitation Movement over the 2.28 Incident under KMT Rule (1987-1997): Reexamining the transition from “confrontation” to “reconciliation”

ABSTRACT This article reexamines the turning point from “confrontation” to “reconciliation” in the rehabilitation movement over the 2.28 Incident which began in the late 1980s, with a special focus on the role and accomplishments of Christians without any party affiliation. The initial action to accuse the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and launch a redress campaign against the KMT government was driven by an anti-government movement. Following the establishment of the 228 Peace Day Association in 1987, the “2.28 Justice and Peace Movement” was carried out from 1989. However, the “2.28 Shalom Service” initiated by Su Nan-chou in 1990 opened the initial gate toward reconciliation. The first victims’ family association, the World Alliance for Concerned Citizens and Surviving Victims and Families, was set up by Su together with Lin Tsung-yi. Both played a significant role in transforming the rehabilitation movement from “confrontation” to “reconciliation.” Lastly, Lin’s five requests to President Lee Teng-hui (1. Publish an investigation report, 2. Issue a public apology and compensate families of victims, 3. Build a memorial monument and museum, 4. Establish February 28th as a national memorial day, 5. Establish a foundation) were achieved in the form of government-private sector joint task forces until 1997. As “practical idealists,” Lin and Su devoted their efforts to achieve maximum results. What they chose was dialogue, not confrontation, and they transformed the rehabilitation movement from “confrontation to reconciliation,” from their standpoint of being practical idealists.

Memory and Protest in the West German Peace Movement of 1960s

When thinking the West German 1960s, the focus is often on the student movement and its radicalization after 1968. Nevertheless, the 1960s was a period of continuous political fermentation in country, that evolved connected to social and protest movements. This paper explores the role memory and historical culture had in these movements, especially to the extent that it was connected to recent, Nazi, past. It raises the argument that historical and memory culture shaped the environment within which protest movements evolved and at the same time was a main component of the political contestation they were part of. In order to do so, the paper will trace the process of memory work, especially as far as the conceptualization of the recent past was considered. More specifically, it will do so by examining the journal Informationen zur Abrüstung, which was published by the peace movement that developed in the political and cultural environment of the extra-parliamentary left, and focusing on the its references to the past, their contextualization and the meanings attributed to them.

Peace and Nuclear-free Advocacy Revisited: Lessons from New Zealand and Implications for Japan

Although there are multiple pathways of conditions leading to desired policy outcomes, the viability of peace and nuclear-free advocacy can be related to the convergence of a strong, diverse, and active civil society, where leadership and a responsive political environment are well-integrated. We discuss that sociopolitical mobilizations (e.g. peace and nuclear-free advocacy), active civil society, and democratic institutions are not only linked to each other but are also co-existent. In this essay, we look at the case of New Zealand (Aotearoa) with its unique nuclear-free peace movement and find some implications for contemporary Japan, which is the only country which was subjected to atomic bombing but which does not support nuclear disarmament in its official policies, despite the presence of a long-standing peace movement and substantial majorities in favor of steps like Japan signing the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).