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
This article was originally published in a shortened version on 7 February 2014 at Waging Nonviolence. Available here. — Last week China observed the lunar New Year. The Spring Festival is celebrated with two weeks of fireworks and food, when hundreds of millions of Chinese travel home to be with their families, but this year … More In China: Citizenship on Trial
The following is an excerpt from In Quest of Democracy, an essay written by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The original essay was written before Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest in July 1989 and had been planned as part of an anthology of essays on democracy and human … More The Buddhist King and Modern Politics
This Article was originally published on 24 September by openDemocracy under the title A Sea of Dissent: Nonviolent Waves in China. — In 2010, Chinese sociologist, Sun Linping, estimated that the number of mass incidents across China had surpassed 180,000 that year, more than doubling from 2006. This indicates growing discontent in the world’s most … More Surveying Nonviolence in China
The following list of fundamental human rights is taken from Jack Donnelly‘s book International Human Rights, 2007 p. 7. This compilation of fundamental rights is based on the key articles and substance of the three documents that make up what has become known as the International Bill of Human Rights. Namely, these are the Universal Declaration … More Fundamental Rights
The Danger of American Fascism by Henry A. Wallace On April 4, 1944 the following op-ed piece appeared in the New York Times. It was written by then American Vice President Henry A. Wallace. Wallace served as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Vice President from 1941 until 1945. Wallace was also a third party nominee for … More ‘The Danger of American Fascism’ by Henry A Wallace
((Disclaimer: After I first wrote this article and posted on the evening of March 7 there were several developments. The Revised Text for the New Criminal Procedure Law was made public. At 10:31am on March 8, 2012 Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch Tweeted: Breaking News: “Disappearance clause” stricken out of revisions to the Criminal … More Ai Weiwei’s Wife Reflects on the Criminal Procedure Law (Redux)
This piece was republished by the World Uyghur Congress. It is also available on their website. At 6pm on Tuesday, the 28th of February violence erupted in the desert town of Kargilik, between Kashgar and Hotan, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. Armed with knives or axes (depending on the report), whether desperate … More The Politics of Representing ‘Uyghur,’ a socio-historical sketch
“Before the revolution, I think, the art scene was closed so artists couldn’t make art in public spaces. There was real fear from almost everybody. We can say that it was hell and it is now paradise.” A few days ago I had the chance to sit down with Mohamed Ben Soltane. As an artist, … More The Divine Comedy of Mohamed Ben Soltane: Commentary and Creativity in Tunisia
This article was inspired by graffiti. On 7 October Barack Obama welcomed Beji Caid el Sebsi, interim Tunisian Prime Minister, in the Oval Office. During the meeting Obama commented, “The United States has enormous stake in seeing success in Tunisia and the creation of greater opportunity and more business investment in Tunisia.” This focused language … More Two Significations of ‘Sebsi’
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