Well-known Activist Research Articles

POLITICAL AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF ALASH FIGURES IN 1920-1930

This article highlights the Alash intelligence's political and educational efforts between 1920 and 1930 .The article investigates the current role of Kazakhstan's national intelligence in education and science .The writers examine the impact of political and social developments on the activities of the Alash intelligence, as well as their involvement in educational reform and scientific research .Special attention is paid to the initiatives and achievements of Alash movement figures, including well-known activists, and Kazakh women scientists, their contribution to the formation of national culture and society during this period .As a result of the study, conclusions are drawn about the importance of intelligence as a driving force in the development of education and science in Kazakhstan at the beginning of the twentieth century .Keywords:Kazakhstan, Alash, intelligence, Education, Science, Reform, University, State, Politics, History, party, civil society.ISRTI: 03.203POLITICAL AND EDUCATIONAL

Analysis of Women's Participation in the Political and Social Processes of Afghanistan

Purpose: This study examines the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security in Afghanistan, focusing on the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's action plan.Methodology:The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative analysis, and is a field study. The sample consisted of 100 well-known activists in women's participation studies and advocacy, chosen based on their professional experience and interactions over the past fifteen years. Data collection involved distributing 110 questionnaires with 35 closed-ended and three open-ended questions, resulting in 101 valid responses. The study utilized books, reports, surveys, and existing scientific studies to categorize and present the findings.Findings: The study revealed that since adopting the National Action Plan for Women, Peace, and Security to implement Resolution 1325, the Afghan government and national and international partners have undertaken various initiatives to enhance women's social and political participation.Implication:Numerous challenges and obstacles remain, necessitating severe attention from the government, legislative bodies, and their.

Repertoires of sanctuary: building a network of safety at the French–Italian border

ABSTRACT Sanctuary cities have experienced a strong political and theoretical revival in the last decade. However, the focus on cities and their policies restricts the idea of sanctuary to its urban, legal and – to a certain extent – North American enactments, leaving dispersed and rural forms of sanctuary understudied. In this paper, I examine the sanctuary spaces and practices in the Roya Valley, at the border between Italy and France, and more particularly the journey of its most well-known activist, the farmer Cédric Herrou. Although Herrou’s first actions could be best described as humanitarian and hospitable help towards migrants, they gradually evolved into more structured solidarity actions. These led to a decision by the Constitutional Council that strengthened the French constitutional value of fraternity to better distinguish disinterested support from human smuggling motivated by profit. I argue that these three concepts of fraternity, hospitality and solidarity identify different repertoires of sanctuary that respectively fulfil functions of signalling, protecting and community-building. These different functions, when articulated together, constitute a sanctuary or network of safety. By reconstructing this series of practices and justifications, I aim to clarify the conceptual vocabulary and normative appeal of sanctuary.

Polska ludowa – chłopska wizja systemu społeczno-politycznego w myśli politycznej Aleksandra Bogusławskiego – działacza i polityka ruchu ludowego

The concept of people's Poland was created during the partitions. It was one of the instruments of the "struggle for the soul" of the serfdom peasant. The slogan "People's Poland" met the criteria of propaganda function, being formulated as the antithesis of gentry-ruled Poland and conveyed many hopes. The peasants believed that independent Poland would be a just homeland for them. The idea of people's Poland had a significant impact on the political thought of members of the people’s movement. One of them was Aleksander Bogusławski, a well-known activist and people's movement politician, who saw the embodiment of a strategic political and social goal in the idea of People's Poland.

#NEVERAGAIN: Framing in Community and National News Coverage of the Parkland Mass Shootings

ABSTRACT This study examined the salience and valence of frames in community and national newspaper coverage of the 2018 Parkland shootings, after which several survivors became well-known activists. Of the most common frames found in previous coverage of mass shootings (gun control, popular culture, school safety), only gun control was prominent following the shootings in Parkland. Newer frames (partisan divide, activism, mental health) instead followed gun control in popularity, likely because these were utilized by the activist Parkland survivors themselves. With a few important exceptions (e.g., community newspapers used community change, law responsibility, and family responsibility more; national used gun control, activism, and partisan divide more), local and community newspapers were similar in their use of frames. Perhaps most importantly, the findings indicate the survivors’ activism seemed to disrupt the “settling” of news coverage into well-established frames for mass shootings. This suggests the ongoing conversation about mass shootings remains complicated and more dependent on shootings’ specific circumstances than may have been previously assumed.

Strony życia – o „Dworcu Gdańskim. Historii niedokończonej” Henryka Daski

The article discusses the autobiographical volume by Henryk Dasko – a writer, journalist and well-known activist among the Polish émigrés in Canada. The book, although it was produced in tragic circumstances of Dasko’s strugglle with terminal illness, describes his childhood in communist Poland, forced emigration in 1968 and the years spent later on in Canada.

Eradicating Female Genital Mutilation: A UK Perspective

The author of this book is a well-known activist in the field of women’s rights and, in particular, female genital mutilation (FGM). Her style is at times confrontational and challenging, but this makes the book thought-provoking and memorable.

Seek to Trouble

Seek to Trouble Sarah Deer (bio) Violence Against Indigenous Women: Literature, Activism, Resistance Allison Hargreaves Wilfrid Laurier University Press www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books 288 Pages; Print, $29.99 “I seek to trouble” is a common refrain in Allison Hargreaves’s monograph about violence against Indigenous women in Canada. And “trouble” she does—providing hard hitting but thoughtful critiques of several common, contemporary activist efforts to address the tragedy of widespread violence in the lives of Indigenous women. A self-described “settler-scholar,” Hargreaves analyzes how some mainstream efforts to address the disproportionate rates of violence experienced by Indigenous women can actually be detrimental to the cause. She repeatedly problematizes many well-known activist efforts by consulting and analyzing the perspectives of Indigenous women as expressed in film, art, and literature. As such, this volume is highly recommended for Indigenous studies and gender studies scholars. Moreover, it offers significant insight for activist communities of any stripe, who will benefit from Hargreaves’ interrogation of common activist tactics. In the Introduction, Hargreaves establishes a bold proposition—that the most widely-recognized strategies for addressing violence against Indigenous women in Canada are deeply problematic and potentially counter-productive. Seeking to understand how activism “can bring about the social and political transformation required to end violence,” she begins by questioning the mainstream “awareness” campaigns that have come to be the hallmarks of anti-violence activism in Canada. As a literature scholar, Hargreaves proposes that the creative works of Indigenous women offer insights into the limitations of these mainstream projects. Thus, the book is structured by juxtaposing a strategy of anti-violence activism with a corresponding perspective as voiced through film, poetry, or fiction produced by Indigenous women. Hargreaves uses Indigenous film and literature as the window to critique and question the value of the liberal nation-state’s most well-known efforts to acknowledge and resolve the historical oppression and colonial violence experienced by Indigenous women today. In Chapter One, Hargreaves critiques the British Columbia Missing Women Commission of Inquiry (MWCI), a 2010–2012 government effort to solicit testimonies from families, activists, service providers, and law enforcement agencies about missing and murdered Indigenous women, with a narrow focus on Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside, a common site of disappearance. Hargreaves critiques the MWCI efforts through the lens of Metis filmmaker Christine Welch’s 2006 documentary Finding Dawn. Because the official MWCI activities were artificially conscribed and constrained as to scope and depth, many observers, including Hargreaves, saw the efforts as being a “missed opportunity to link the specific circumstances…to broader colonial patterns of systemic displacement and violence.” Finding Dawn, on the other hand, offers an expansive perspective on the nature of missing and murdered Indigenous women. The film tells the story of three missing indigenous women by exploring themes of “hope, resilience, and transformation.” By critiquing MWCI through the lens of an Indigenous filmmaker, Hargreaves is able to see a much larger and expansive project, one that focuses on the interrelationships between Indigenous women and the violent history of settler colonialism. One of the most important aspects of Violence Against Indigenous Women is that Hargreaves’s critiques transcend the Canadian experience and become applicable in other settler nation-states. Several subjects explored by Hargreaves have striking parallels in the American context. Beginning in Chapter Two, she describes and critiques the Canadian Stolen Sisters report from Amnesty International issued in 2004. Amnesty International released a similar report in the United States (Maze of Injustice) in 2007, which explored the failure of the United States to adequately respond to sexual violence in Indian country. (In the interests of full disclosure, it should be noted that this reviewer collaborated with Amnesty International to research and write Maze of Injustice.) Hargreaves’s criticism of the Stolen Sisters human rights report is cogent and much of her insight can be applied to Maze. For example, both reports assume “the legitimacy of the colonial nation-state to protect Indigenous women’s rights” and utilize the stories of individual Indigenous women in a “certain narrative mould” that requires the primacy of victimhood to achieve reform. While not categorically condemning [End Page 8] Amnesty...

A Mighty River Flowing Eastward

This article attempts to interpret the narratives presented in the autobiography of Situ Hua (Szeto Wah, 1931–2011), well-known activist and leader of pressure-group movements in modern Hong Kong, in order to understand his ethnic and national identities. This exploration can illustrate the interaction between collaborative nationalism, critical nationalism and colonialism that is ongoing and constantly changing in modern Hong Kong. The article suggests that during his childhood and youth, Situ ethnically identified himself as being Chinese and, in terms of his national identity, he longed for a strong communist Chinese state. Second, it argues that Situ’s national identity was hollowed out by the Chinese Communist Party while his ethnic identity remained unchanged from his youth. Finally, Situ’s success in promoting pressure-group movements in Hong Kong led him to believe in democracy. His belief in democracy resulted in the convergence of his ethnic and national identities. He still wanted to build a strong Chinese state, but believed that this state should be democratic. It was his democratic Chinese nationalism that propelled him to embark on such a political pursuit.

Hedge Fund and Private Investor Activism: Evidence from Hong Kong

This paper provides the first evidence to hedge fund and private investor activism in Hong Kong. The absence of mandatory active ownership disclosure regime, like the U.S. Schedule 13D, creates two major challenges for researchers in many places – no active/passive classification, and no objectives of activism. We take a novel approach to mitigate these two challenges. First, we restrict our data to three well-known activists – U.S. hedge fund Elliott Associates, U.K hedge fund The Children’s Investment Fund and a local investor David Webb. Second, we record activism outcomes from target firm announcements pursuant to relevant local rules. We construct a hand-collected sample of 42 events from April 2003-September 2015. We find a robust short-run value creation effect around ownership disclosure. Activism earned mean cumulative-abnormal-returns of 9.9% in the [-20, 20] event window. In longer-run, we find no evidence for a generally valid value creation effect. The local market return adjusted buy-and-hold-abnormal-returns (BHARs) reversed within the first 6 months of activism and did not statistically different from zero afterwards. Interestingly, we find activism earned around 20% local cash return adjusted-BHARs in 1-year, and no reversion in 2-year. The activists are good at market-timing. Success rate of achieving activism outcomes is lower than the U.S. and international evidence. Target firms with takeover outcomes are associated with substantially high abnormal returns. The short-run market reaction carries important informational content on future outcomes. The market rightly anticipated those events with activism outcomes, and those events generated sizable abnormal returns in the subsequent year. Unconditional to activism outcomes, target firms with low dividend yield are associated with higher short-run returns. Finally, we adopted the recent advance in asset-pricing of using up-to-date price to form book-to-market equity ratio (B/M). We find high up-to-date B/M, small size, low ROA, low leverage and low betas are associated with high long-run returns to activism.

Zakhar Prilepin, the National Bolshevik Movement and Catachrestic Politics

This article examines the Russian writer and publicist Zakhar Prilepin, a visible representative of Russiaʼs patriotic currents since 2014, and a well-known activist of the radical oppositional National Bolshevik Party (nbp) since 2006. We argue that Prilepinʼs public views point at particular catachrestic political activism. Catachresis is understood here as a socio-semantic misuse of conventional concepts as well as a practice in which political identifications blur the distinctions defining established political activity. The background for the catachrestic politics, as used in this article, was formed by the 1990s post-Soviet turmoil and by Russiaʼs weak socio-political institutions, which facilitate and sustain the space for the self-purposeful radicalism and non-conformism – the trademarks of nbp. Prilepinʼs and nbpʼs narrated experience of fatherlessness related to the 1990s was compensated by personal networks and cultural idols, which often present mutually conflicting positions. In Pierre Bourdieuʼs terminology, Prilepin and the Nationalist Bolshevik’s case illustrate the strength of the literary field over the civic-political one. Catachrestic politics helps to conceptualize not only Prilepin’s activities but also contributes to the study of the political style of the National Bolshevik Party, Prilepinʼs main political base. As a whole, the paper provides insights into the study of Russiaʼs public intellectuals who have played an important role in Russiaʼs political discussion in the place of of well-established political movements.

Joan Chittister: Her Journey from Certainty to Faith by Tom Roberts

Reviewed by: Joan Chittister: Her Journey from Certainty to Faith by Tom Roberts Sandra M. Schneiders IHM Joan Chittister: Her Journey from Certainty to Faith. By Tom Roberts. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2015. 248pp. $28.00. This in-depth biography of Sister Joan Chittister, a Catholic nun, member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA, and a very active public participant in the ecclesial and cultural life of the contemporary church is written by Tom Roberts, well-known to many progressive Catholics as a long-time editor and now editor-at-large of the prizewinning independent weekly newspaper, the National Catholic Reporter. Roberts is also the author of the perceptive analysis of post-conciliar Catholicism, The Emerging Catholic Church: A Community’s Search for Itself (2011). His interest and expertise in this subject of contemporary ecclesial renewal influences his approach to Joan Chittister’s life and work and emerges explicitly in one of the most important sections of the book, chapter 10, “Into Uncharted Waters.” In this thoughtful concluding chapter, he places Chittister’s life in the context of the renewal of the church and especially of U.S. women’s religious life in the post-conciliar period, showing her to be not only one of its major catalysts but also a striking exemplar of both its challenges and its promise. It is this larger focus which will make the book of interest not only to Catholic insiders, especially women religious and those who have profited from Chittister’s broad contributions to the spiritual, ecclesial, and justice agenda of the church, but also to those interested in developments in the wider sphere of religion in the second half of the twentieth century. The Chittister biography began in a routine assignment. Roberts was asked to “refresh the file” of the NCR on the well-known activist nun, that is, be sure the paper had an up-to-date resource in case an [End Page 71] obituary for Chittister were needed on short notice. Chittister, born in 1936, turns 80 this year but this book certainly suggests that her life story is far from over. She remains in high demand as a writer and speaker and deeply involved in the ongoing renewal of religious life, the Catholic Church, and the world. The initial contact of Roberts with Chittister, with its very limited objective, led to a lengthy process of wide-ranging and even intimate interviews and extensive research that became the material for this fascinating biography of one of the most influential women in the contemporary Catholic Church and indeed among social activists of our time within and outside the church. The work is somewhat unusual in the “life-story” genre. The subject, Joan Chittister, is not only alive but highly active and deeply involved in the contemporary Catholic scene. What she will do and become in the years ahead is in no sense pre-determined or predictable. So, this is neither a completed biography nor exactly a “memoir” although it involves a great deal of deep reflection on her part, shaped by Roberts’s probing interviewing and interpretation, about the significance of much that has transpired in her life and in the church and world, especially in the fifty years since Vatican II. Nor is the book a “vicarious autobiography” because Chittister did not read the manuscript prior to its publication. Consequently, this is the story of Chittister, a woman religious, interpreted by Roberts, a lay man, which raises some interesting questions about interpretations of some aspects of religious life, at least for this reviewer. And, although there is no fudging of the more unsavory aspects of the institutional church’s treatment of women in general and intelligent, influential women like Joan Chittister in particular, there is nothing vindictive in Chittister’s account, even of the patent injustice and psychological violence to which she and her community were subjected by the Vatican’s curial office charged with the oversight of religious congregations which treats Chittister as not simply an irritant but as a threat to its absolute authority. The book is not a “tell all” or “get even” manifesto in any sense although it renders a real service in the agenda...

Obraz społecznika w świetle wypowiedzi kaznodziejów polskich XIX i XX stulecia

The presented article aims at a synthesis of sermons delivered by Polish ecclesiastical speakers living at the turn of the 20th century on the subject of social activists who had exerted their impact on numerous spheres of social and economic life. The activists mentioned by preachers of that time were not only lay persons but also members of the clergy, who were involved in the work of building the identity of Polish society, especially in the time of national slavery. On the basis of source texts, several categories of social activists were created. Among the most well-known activists were those of the Greater Poland region, who promoted loan and benefit funds, associations or cooperatives of financial character. The promoters of social initiatives were also those who took measures to encourage domestic craft and industry. An equally significant role in the consolidation of the Polish raison d’être was played by culture animators and educators at both school and academic levels. The image of a Polish social activist encompasses also people involved in charity work, who often originated from the wealthier strata of Polish society.

The Journey to and After Alcatraz: The Legacy of the Occupation of Alcatraz for Native American Protest Movements

The Occupation of Alcatraz was a movement in 1969, which sparked National Debate in the United States. The Occupation lasted from 20, November 1969 till June 1971 when 15 last occupiers were peacefully escorted off the island. The protest did not end with a change in government policy but inspired other protests and an activist group to be created for Native American rights. Reflecting on why the occupation at Alcatraz was ineffective, Vine Deloria, Jr. argued in 1994, “we want change, but we do not know what change.” Deloria was a well-known activist during the 1960s and was invited to the island of Alcatraz during its occupation. The Occupation of Alcatraz was seen as an unsuccessful protest because it did not spur government action to address Native American grievances. The occupation occurred at a time when tensions between minority groups and the government were rising due to the civil rights movement. Native Americans were forcibly removed from reserves due to relocation and assimilation programs, and land was being taken away for resources as well. The Occupation was a response to what seemed to be the continuous cycle of abuse from the American government. Termination and assimilation policies divided and separated families and tribes, which created disconnections among Native Americans, making it hard to unify against the American government. Though the Occupation did not end with government action or policy change, it started a collaboration of Native American protests, which revived Native American identities for many people. Native Americans’ reactions to federal suppression at the Occupation of Alcatraz led to a legacy of protests that changed Native American life.

The Hidden 1970s: Histories of Radicalism by Dan Berger (review)

Reviewed by: The Hidden 1970s: Histories of Radicalism by Dan Berger Brian Mueller The Hidden 1970s: Histories of Radicalism Dan Berger New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2010; 303 pages. $27.95 (cloth), ISBN 0-8135-4873-X In the past few years a plethora of books have appeared that document the rise of conservatism in the 1970s. This is hardly surprising given the tendency among historians to see in the 1960s a narrative of declension, whereby the early emphasis on community and "participatory democracy" gave way to violence and anarchism. Yet to follow such a precept ignores the fact that actual events rarely follow the neat boundaries set by historians. Just as Barry Goldwater and the conservative youth group Young Americans for Freedom played a role in the so-called liberal 1960s, the 1970s witnessed actions by various radical groups. Dan Berger's exemplary edited collection covers not only the more well-known activist groups of the Left in the 1970s, such as the American Indian Movement and the Republic of New Afrika, but also groups like Rising Up Angry and the Movement for a New Society. Thus, the histories chronicled in The Hidden 1970s bring greater attention to the concerns of individual activist organizations on the Left and makes it possible to see the 1970s as more than just a time of conservative reaction against the excesses of the 1960s. Berger explains in his introduction to the collection that focusing too much on conservative responses in the 1970s to events of the previous decade results in seeing the era as a "time of limits," when, in reality, the 1970s was "the ultimate exploder of limits" (7). Economic, political, and cultural convulsions offered conservatives opportunities to change the direction of America, but these same dislocations received just as much attention from the Left. Dividing the chapters into three thematic parts, the book illustrates how the Left in the 1970s used insurgency, solidarity, and community [End Page 147] activism as a means to bring attention to their causes. Though many of the authors in the book are involved in present-day efforts to end injustice and create alternative political and social institutions, they do not shy away from being critical of the mistakes made by earlier activists. For instance, Victoria Law's chapter on sexual assault, battering, and self-defense shows how the radical women's movement played a pivotal role in several cases involving women being jailed for killing an unknown male abuser, while ignoring larger issues of domestic abuse. Thus Joan Little and certain other cases received much attention from radical feminists, while domestic abuse was considered a private issue and not likely to inspire a revolutionary ethos. Such a strategy, in the end, would lead to many domestic abuse centers being led by individuals who had never been involved in the women's liberation movement. As a result, these centers provided abuse victims with services, but not information on how political and sexual hierarchical structures made it possible for such abuse to occur in the first place. The section on solidarity illustrates the difficulties associated with creating transnational movements between various social groups. In addition to showing the obstacles to international solidarity, some of the contributors demonstrate how 1970s activism acted as a bridge, connecting the 1960s to the 1980s. For instance, Michael Staudenmaier shows how the Sojourner Truth Organization (STO), along with similar revolutionary unions, formed in the late 1960s and, by the middle 1970s, became involved in protests against imperialism. STO would once again change its focus in the 1980s as it turned its attention to the anti-nuclear movement, although it still emphasized anti-imperialism and the significance of the working class. Likewise, Fanon Che Wilkins claims that historians need to subscribe to the long view of black internationalism, which for him includes Black Power in the 1960s, the Sixth Pan-African Congress in 1974, and the anti-apartheid protests in the 1980s. The final part of the book deals with community activism. Various groups sought to create their own public space through performance, as with the Cockettes in San Francisco, or, as with the Movement for a New Society, through direct action and...

Interview with Alaa Abd al-Fattah, Tahrir Square, 12 pm, July 19th

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.) Alaa Abd al-Fattah has been an important contributor to Egypt's prodemocracy movement since the early 2000s. Drawing on his technological expertise as a software developer, he played a pioneering role in shaping the online infrastructure of activism and contestation that had a crucial part in the uprising that brought down the Mubarak regime. A prominent blogger in his own right, his perhaps most significant contribution to the democracy movement lies in the assistance he has provided to other bloggers and activists in finding ways to make their voices heard. The Blogs Aggregator, a key hub for Egypt's political bloggers that Alaa founded together with his wife Manal Hassan, is only one of many efforts he has made on behalf of Egyptian democracy activists. Since the announcement of Mubarak's resignation and the devolution of political power to a committee of ruling generals, Alaa has dedicated himself to keeping the momentum of the popular movement alive. His refusal to abandon the politics of street protest and entrust Egypt's political future to the ruling generals has made him a target of the country's military rulers. On October 30th, 2011, he was arrested by military authorities on a charge of having incited violence while participating in a large demonstration to protest the persecution of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority. What organizers had planned as a peaceful march to the Maspiro television station turned into a massacre when security forces attacked the protesters, killing 27 and wounding hundreds. In the aftermath, military officials sought to lay the blame for the bloodshed on the protesters themselves, and subsequently arrested a number of well-known activists who had been seen participating in the march. Alaa was at the top of their list. In response to Alaa's arrest, large demonstrations demanding that he be released were held in Cairo and Alexandria. On December 26th he was finally allowed to leave prison, most of the charges against him having been dropped.1 For many observers, the Egyptian revolution that began on January 25th, 2011 was evidence of a new political terrain produced by social media and Internet-based technology more broadly. The fact that Facebook, Twitter, and the blogosphere were important sites for the channeling and mobilization of anti-regime sentiment prior to the 25th, and for the organization and coordination of the protests once they began, led many observers to speak of a Facebook revolution. In the months after the uprising began, much of the commentary on the event, both journalistic and scholarly, remained transfixed by such a technologically- centered account of the forms of political agency propelling the revolutionary movements in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East. Analysts of the Arab Spring have only recently begun to explore the ways different political actors working within distinct contexts of political struggle in the Middle East sought to exploit the new infrastructural conditions and indeterminacies such media introduce. When I went for a short research trip to Cairo in July of last year, I immediately set out to find and interview Alaa. I knew that his extensive experience with both on and offline activism in Egypt over the last decade made him uniquely capable of providing insights into the complicated role new media played in setting the stage for the political upheavals of early 2011. I had heard much about Alaa's contributions to the democracy movement a few years earlier, in 2008, when I spent ten months in Cairo working on a project concerning Egyptian bloggers and their growing role within Egyptian political life. At the time, I was interested in how the Egyptian blogosphere had become one arena wherein the oppositions between Islamist and secularist political visions were downplayed, and consequently, where new practices of cooperation and new forms of political discourse were emerging. …

The Environmental Justice: William O. Douglas and American Conservation. By Adam M. Sowards. (Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2009. x, 198 pp. Paper, $24.95, ISBN 978-0-87071-567-9.)

In this short text, the University of Idaho historian Adam M. Sowards does not attempt a comprehensive biography of America's longest-serving Supreme Court justice. Readers seeking an in-depth analysis of William O. Douglas's well-known activist judicial philosophy or his defense of a constitutional right to privacy should look elsewhere. Sowards certainly provides an overview of Douglas's colorful and controversial career and the “legal realism” that explained his strong advocacy of civil liberties, but his purpose is otherwise. Douglas, Sowards argues convincingly, was one of the founders of modern American environmentalism—a “public intellectual” whose unique position as a western outdoorsman among Washington insiders and as a contentious activist among the staid and established political elite, made him a “singular individual for the movement” (p. 4). It was not only his legal opinions but also a combination of his prolific writings and public protests—most notably over preservation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal—that made him a man before his time. Douglas, Sowards argues, gave prestige to the fledgling environmental movement at a time when symbolism was critical. The “environmental justice” both reflected the environmental movement and was instrumental in its development.

Uma homossexualidade santificada?: Etnografia de uma comunidade inclusiva pentecostal

Este artigo versa sobre igrejas no país que se autodenominam "inclusivas", espécie de movimento noticiado pela mídia entre os anos 1990 e 2000, como "igrejas gays". O foco incide sobre o surgimento no Brasil da Igreja da Comunidade Metropolitana - uma famosa denominação ativista, criada em 1968 nos Estados Unidos - e sua transformação em Igreja Cristã Contemporânea. Analisa como ela se consolidou a partir de influências locais e de um diálogo com ideias de sistemas religiosos do campo hegemônico. Argumenta que a implantação desse grupo compreende coloridos regionais, fornecidos por noções oriundas de passagens e mediações realizadas pelos sujeitos entre suas comunidades de origem e uma nova alternativa religiosa. Examina alguns modelos e imagens da homossexualidade cultivados e/ou produzidos nesse movimento plural.

Review of Community Psychology: In Pursuit of Liberation and Well-being.

GEOFFREYNELSON and ISAAC PRILLEITENSKY (Eds.) Psychology: In Pursuit of Liberation and Well-being New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005, 450 pages (ISBN 0-333-92281-6, US$80.00 Hardcover, ISBN 0-333-92282-4, US$27.95 Paperback) psychology has its roots in community health, and its practitioners, researchers, and theorists differ over whether they see as the core issue of their subdiscipline, as it is for clinical psychology. Similarly, books about community psychology vary along a dimension according to how much they emphasize mental health as opposed to other community matters from sense of community to social change. This new book by Nelson and Prilleltensky is at the nontraditional end of the spectrum. As their subtitle suggests, the authors are concerned with many matters beyond a focus. They argue that Community Psychology has focused more on personal and relational values, such as well-being... than on collective values, such as social (p. xxvi). That criticism has been advanced by a number of community psychologists, who point out that focusing on the personal actually defines problems in a way that distracts us from collective concerns (e.g., O'Neill, 2005). The book begins with a frank invitation to readers, especially students, to become agents of social change. The authors argue that the pull for psychology, including community psychology, to be scientifically respectable, has privileged facts over values. They believe that values are at the heart of the enterprise, and that community psychology must serve as the social conscience of the broader discipline. This spirit drives the whole book - as one would expect from the previous work of these two well-known activist community psychologists. Although they modestly describe themselves as editors, Nelson and Prilleltensky actually wrote most of the book, with only Parts 5 and 6 devoted to the work of others. In Parts 1 through 4 they include short commentaries by others to supplement their own work on each chapter. One of their goals is to provide an international perspective, and their commentators and chapter authors are chosen, in part, with that in mind. The authors also want to tie community psychology to other disciplines, and their chapter authors and commentators are often from allied fields. For instance, Maritza Montero who has the task of writing the concluding chapter, received her PhD in Sociology in Paris, has taught in Europe and Latin America, and is now a professor of social psychology and community social psychology in Venezuela. This sort of breadth makes the book a welcome change from the usual community psychology texts still grounded in community and seeing social problems almost exclusively from a U.S. perspective. In Part I, the authors introduce their project for community psychology, offering issues, values, and tools for liberation and well-being. They point out that a discipline's problems are carried into the present from the past, but that values and ideals tell us where we want to be in the future. Isaac Prilleltensky has outlined, in various writings, a set of values that he feels are appropriate for community psychology -these values inform the text. They include holism (focusing on the whole person and his or her social context); health; caring, compassion, and support for community structures (including the importance of structures that facilitate the pursuit of personal and communal goals); self-determination (the opportunity and power to direct one's life as one wishes); participation (individuals meaningfully contributing to their communities); social justice (fair and equitable allocations of resources and obligations); diversity; accountability to oppressed groups. Tools for Action and Research In Part II, Values, Principles, and Conceptual Tools, the authors talk about sources of values and the way values are chosen to inform research and action. …

Environmental terrorism

Before you don your mink coat next Thanksgiving and head out in your Hummer for pâté de foie gras appetizers and a turkey dinner, think twice. Terrorism has become a serious threat that has changed life on this planet. As extreme acts become more commonplace, environmental terrorism has blended into the daily bombardment of dismaying information. Extremists, or “eco-terrorists”, have besmirched the reputation of the environmental movement and the line between activism and terrorism has occasionally become blurred. Ironically, the roots of environmental terrorism are embedded in the basic values of democracy; one of the core American values is the freedom to protest against the failures of legal machinery, in this case, the protection of natural systems. One leader of the terrorist faction puts it bluntly: “There's nothing wrong with being a terrorist, as long as you win. Then you write the history.” One wonders, however, if the headline-grabbing jaunts of animal rights groups, SUV-haters, and those opposed to the use of wood for anything other than shade will ever again have anything other than a distasteful impact on a benumbed American population. One government report stated that since 1997, environmental terrorist groups inflicted more than $100 million in property damages in cities across the US. These groups have a different take on the issues, and serious advocates for environmental action cite industry polluters as the actual terrorists. Greenpeace, the largest environmental rights organization in the world, with over 5 million members in some 20 countries, is adamantly non-violent, but has nevertheless been disruptive and civilly disobedient – from forcibly boarding a shipload of Brazilian lumber to nuclear reactor trespass. Furthermore, they and other tax-exempt organizations have been accused of the unlawful transfer of millions in tax-exempt funds to non-exempt, more radical organizations. One of the founders of Greenpeace, Paul Watson is considered by many to be the originator of environmental terrorism, which he termed “passionate activisim”. Recently, things have become even more dicey. Some organizations seem to have crossed the line from legitimate, thoughtful, and forceful debate to unlawful acts of “eco-tage” to publicize their agendas. Vandalized cars were once the result of random rage among youthful gangs, but SUVs are now the particular targets of those who apparently have given up on a constructive exchange of views; lumberyard, housing, and shopping center development arson has become frequent. Vandalism of logging equipment and “spiked” harvested logs and other mayhem are the weapons of choice. Animal rights activists have been particularly blatant. Their acts have ranged from freeing thousands of mink (that ironically often died of dehydration in an unprotected environment), spiking frozen turkeys with arsenic, contaminating sheep feed, and destroying research laboratories. One well-known activist was quoted last year: “Those people – I think they should appreciate that we're only targeting their property. Because frankly, I think it's time to start targeting them.” In England, a group of mothers and wives of judges who had enjoined the activists from harassing companies linked to biomedical research were the subjects of internet warnings: “They are not immortal. They don't live in fireproof homes.” Employees and even those with remote interests in an animal research company, Huntington Life Sciences, have been subjected to threats. Sometimes the protests try to resort to humor. A group protesting treatment of dairy animals tried to post billboards in Louisiana last year, depicting former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke with a milk mustache. The ad said: “Got (Lactose) Intolerance? The White Stuff Ain't the Right Stuff. MilkSucks.com.” The legal response to acts of terrorism has been largely reactive. International law has long outlawed scorched earth “environmental modification”, a technique as old as warfare. Last year, Representative Chris Chocola of Indiana introduced the Stop Terrorism of Property (STOP) Act of 2003 to punish those who intentionally damage “the property of another with the intent to influence the public with regard to conduct the offender considers harmful to the environment”. This Bill has the support of groups such as the SUV Owners Association. The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act is another bill before Congress. Don't look for anything soon on either of these initiatives. Prosecutions are certainly on the rise, but the random and clandestine nature of the organizations makes apprehension and proof difficult. Some have suggested that “terrorism impact statements” should be added to “environmental impact statements” as a requirement for large developments, especially those where natural systems might be compromised. Until then, for my part, I've decided to make certain that my garden earthworms get full due process. Douglass F Rohrman