Tag: Human Rights

Against Letpadaung: copper mining in Myanmar and the struggle for human rights

November 8, 2015

 This article was originally published at OpenDemocracy on 3 August 2015. Available here. The Letpadaung copper mine in the Sagaing Region of central Myanmar has become a major fault line in the struggle for human rights in that country. It is also emblematic of a global problem: the damage caused by exploitative resource extraction coupled … More Against Letpadaung: copper mining in Myanmar and the struggle for human rights

Matching resistance to repression in China

June 15, 2015

First Published at openDemocracy on April 8, 2015. Also available here. Prominent human rights activist Pu Zhiqiang has languished in pre-trial detention since his arrest last May – in the lead-up to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre – on charges for several crimes including “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. His case remains … More Matching resistance to repression in China

Violence and Nonviolence in the Uyghur Struggle

October 23, 2014

First published at opendemocracy.net on 10 October 2014 as Resistance, repression, and the cycle of violence in the Uyghur Struggle. On Tuesday, September 26, 2014 a Chinese court convicted Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur economics professor, to a life sentence on charges of separatism in a disgracefully political trial. Amnesty International’s China researcher William Nee wrote, … More Violence and Nonviolence in the Uyghur Struggle

Xinjiang or East Turkestan: Contending Historical Narratives and the Politics of Representation in China

July 8, 2014

July 5th marked the fifth anniversary of a series of bloody events in Xinjiang collectively labeled as the 7/5 Urumqi riots. Immediately afterward, state and international media set to reporting and analyzing the conflict, scholars and international human rights organizations soon joined. Meanwhile the government in Beijing launched damage control, exerting its monopoly of symbolic … More Xinjiang or East Turkestan: Contending Historical Narratives and the Politics of Representation in China

The contentious politics of China’s New Citizens Movement

June 17, 2014

This article was originally published by openDemocracy.net on June 6, 2014. Available here. – Corruption has been among the grievances that have inspired civil resistance and toppled empires, even in some of the most authoritarian regimes. In China, from indignation over the corrupt Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) that helped mobilize the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, ending the … More The contentious politics of China’s New Citizens Movement

“5 overlooked activist victories in 2013”

January 15, 2014

On 31 December Wagingnonviolence published their 5 Overlooked Activist Victories in 2013. I am proud to be a contributor to Wagingnonviolence and especially proud that my contribution on cyber resistance in China was number five on their list. The editors write: Activists experienced some big wins in 2013 — from the overturning of the Defense … More “5 overlooked activist victories in 2013”

In China: Rightful Resistance and the UN Human Rights Council

December 10, 2013

This article was originally published under the headline Internationalizing rights-based resistance in China: the UN Human Rights Council and the citizen at openDemocracy.net on 15 November 2013. But in light of today, UN Human Rights Day, it seems appropriate to share again. — On the morning of 22 October, special envoy Wu Hailong led Beijing’s … More In China: Rightful Resistance and the UN Human Rights Council

Foreign Journalist Reprisals in Beijing

December 8, 2013

Yesterday ChinaFile published a short collection of responses from journalists, academics, and politicians expressing their analysis and illustrating what they see as the correct path forward regarding the non-renewal of journalist’s visas in a piece called: Will China Shut Out the Foreign Press Here is my immediate reaction: I think Bill Bishop‘s remarks are the … More Foreign Journalist Reprisals in Beijing