peaceful protests
Nubians Have Conflicts
A brief incident of violence broke out among the normally peaceful Nubians at the end of last week, but the major injury was to the tourist trade image of southern Egypt. Since the incident affected over 600 tourists, it generated some news coverage. Details are a bit sketchy from the different accounts, but apparently a […]
Peace March Ends; Paliyans Head Home
A peaceful protest march by tens of thousands of poor, landless, tribal peoples toward Delhi ended last Thursday in Agra when the government of India agreed to meet the demands of the marchers. The Rural Development Minister, Jairam Ramesh, signed an agreement with the march organizer, the NGO Ekta Parishad, that was quite similar to […]
Gandhi, Nonresistance, and the Paliyans
In his book Non-Violent Resistance, Gandhi wrote that satyagraha is not a weapon of the weak, it is a tool of strength. He acknowledged the existence of passive resistance, particularly in the Christian tradition, but he dismissed it as a characteristic of weakness. Passive resistance does not completely exclude violence, he argued, if the passive […]
Mining Project Derailed in the Philippines
A major nickel mining project proposed for the mountains of central Mindoro Island was suspended last Friday by the Environmental Secretary of the Philippines due to pressures from protesters. The huge mining operation, projected to cover 11,216.6 hectares, would have a direct impact on the traditional territories of a couple Mangyan societies on Mindoro, the […]
First Anniversary of Satyagraha in Kerala
The Chalakudy River Protection Forum held several public meetings last week to celebrate the first anniversary of their satyagraha protests against a massive hydroelectric power project on the Chalakudy River. The dam construction project that the government of Kerala advocates would destroy critical forest habitat, wipe out a Kadar village, and reduce the water flow […]
Survival International Agitates on Behalf of San People
Survival International last week tried to shame another major diamond corporation with the taint of supporting the government of Botswana, which is continuing to persecute the G/wi. SI organized a well-publicized protest at the flagship store of Graff Diamonds on New Bond Street in London on Tuesday afternoon. According to the SI press release, the […]
Ladakh Protests Olympic Torch
International protests over China’s harsh treatment of Tibet focused on the Olympic torch runs in London, Paris and San Francisco a couple weeks ago, but the relays were free of trouble at subsequent stops. Until last Thursday, the 17th. While stops for the torch in Kazakhstan, Russia, Argentina, Tanzania, Oman, and Pakistan may not have […]
