Browse Cases

Showing 1-12 of 12 results

Black Students march for the release of the Brockwell Three in Brixton, England (1974)

Country
England
Time period
9 June, 1973 to 3 April, 1974
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Khan Shairani 16/05/2019

On 8 December 1965, the British government passed the Race Relations Act, the first legislation to address racism and xenophobia in the United Kingdom. The act addressed significant disparities in the UK, like the 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott, which demonstrated against income and work inequalities faced by West Indian and African communities. The act made it a civil offense to incite racial violence and for businesses to not serve people based on race.

British win repeal of Poll Tax (flat tax), 1989-1990

Country
Scotland
England
Wales
United Kingdom
Time period
Spring, 1989 to November, 1990
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Ojas Chinchwadkar 9/22/13

Margaret Thatcher was reelected for her third term in 1987. One of the changes she promised to implement was to levy a flat tax that she called a “Community Charge,” although it became popularly known as the poll tax. A flat tax means that everybody, regardless of wealth, has to pay the same amount. The tax was to be set in the 1989-1990 financial year in Scotland, and in the 1990-1991 financial year in England. However, it was unpopular from the moment she proposed it, and she met resistance from both the people and her party.

Ford female employees win strike for equal pay, Dagenham, England, 1968

Country
England
Time period
7 June, 1968 to 29 June, 1968
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Jessica Seigel, 15/03/2013

In Dagenham, East London, 54,813 men, and only 187 women worked in Ford’s flagship factory. The women there were classified as “unskilled workers,” though male employees performing the same or similar jobs were classified as “skilled workers.” As a result the men were on a higher pay scale than the women. Female employees of the factory were deeply upset when they learned this fact, and even more enraged when they discovered that teenage boy floor-sweepers were paid higher wages than they were.

British printers strike for their jobs, unions (Wapping Dispute), 1986-1987

Country
United Kingdom
England
Time period
January, 1986 to February, 1987
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
3 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Kate Aronoff, 04/12/2011

By 1986, Australian Rupert Murdoch was already well on his way to becoming the head of what would be the world’s largest news conglomerate, News International. His meteoric rise to the top, however, clashed with a centuries-old printing tradition in the United Kingdom, where he owned four of the company’s largest papers. The Fleet Street area of London, England had served as the iconic home to the nation’s printmaking industry since as far back as the 15th century. As Murdoch saw it, however, this history represented a method of printmaking that had long since passed its peak.

Peace People march against violence in Northern Ireland, 1976

Country
Northern Ireland
England
Ireland
Time period
11 August, 1976 to December, 1976
Classification
Third-party nonviolent intervention
Cluster
Human Rights
Peace
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Hannah Lehmann, 08/10/2011

In the 1960s, Northern Ireland began a period of ethno-political conflict called the Troubles. Through a series of social and political injustices, Northern Ireland had become a religiously divided society between historically mainland Protestants and Irish Catholics. Furthermore, the Irish people had become a fragmented body over a range of issues, identities, circumstances and loyalties. The conflict between Protestants and Catholics spilled over into violence, marked by riots and targeted killings between the groups beginning in 1968.

Anti-Roads campaign fights highway construction in England, 1991-1995

Country
England
Time period
January, 1991 to December, 1995
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Environment
Total points
2 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Nathalie Schils, 12/8/2011

Twyford Down, a small area in southern England, was the site of the Department of Transport's (DoT) plans to extend the M3 highway from London to Southampton Port in 1990. The DoT had used economic analysis to determine that the time saved from this more direct route, as well as the increased business in the cities connected by the motorway, made up for any lost economic value to the sites damaged by the extension. Winchester College, the town's public school, sold the land needed for the highway to the DoT for £300,000.

Prison officers strike in England and Wales, 2007

Country
England
Wales
United Kingdom
Time period
August 16, 2007 to August 30, 2007
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
3 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Julio Alicea, 05/12/2010

In 1996, there were 204 reported attacks on prison staff in English prisons. Ten years later, the number of attacks soared to 1,050 attacks. After a 400% increase in attacks, prison officers were more than outraged with their apparently dangerous working conditions.

English residents and environmentalists prevent Heathrow Airport expansion, 2002 – 2010

Country
England
Time period
October, 2002 to September, 2010
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Environment
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Julio Alicea, 03/10/2010

The London Heathrow Airport was of the busiest airports in the world when the English government began to contemplate expansion in 2002. Considered to be one of the premier airports in the world, the English government wanted to preserve the airport’s place among the best airports by improving its efficiency through expansion, including a third runway.

English Quakers campaign for freedom of religion, 1647-1689

Country
England
Time period
(1647), 1600 to (1689), 1600
Classification
Change
Cluster
Human Rights
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Carl E. Sigmond, 01/04/2012

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) emerged in England in the late 1640's among those who challenged the standard doctrine of the Church of England. Quakerism began as a sect whose members believed that there was a piece of God within every person and that everyone could communicate with God directly. This was a radical view for the time. Out of this belief, Quakers developed a strong sense of equality and believed that every person could be a minister.

English laborers campaign against economic repression (The Tolpuddle Martyrs), 1833-36

Country
England
Time period
October, 1833 to March, 1836
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Kelly Schoolmeester, 01/05/2010

Working conditions and wage levels in England in the early 19th century generally made laborers unable to support themselves and their families. According to the estimates of the Tolpuddle Martyrs Museum, the average laborer needed about fourteen shillings a week in order to pay his rent and purchase enough food for his family. Wages of nine or ten shillings “reduced families to starvation levels” unless wives or children were able to work as well. In the 1830s, however, the rate of pay for laborers in Tolpuddle, in Dorset County, England, was seven shillings a week.

Environmental Activists prevent construction of coal-fired power plant in Kingsnorth, England, 2007-2010

Country
England
Time period
April, 2007 to October, 2010
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Environment
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Alison Roseberry-Polier, 20/02/2011

In December of 2006, Eon, an energy company, submitted an application to the Medway council in Kent, England to build coal-fired generating units, the first to be built in England since 1974. The plant would emit more carbon dioxide than the world’s thirty lowest emitting countries combined. Within a few months, two other companies were proposing similar projects, with even more to follow. Eon planned to implement Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), as per the government’s request.

Women form peace camp to protest housing of cruise missiles at Greenham Common, 1981-1993

Country
England
Time period
August, 1981 to 1993
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Environment
Human Rights
Peace
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Arielle Bernhardt and Olivia Ensign, 19/03/2010

Greenham Commons outside Newbury, England was purchased in 1939 by the Newbury District Council for the public use of Newbury inhabitants, including the collection of firewood. In 1941 this area was requisitioned by the Air Ministry for an airfield, which was later decommissioned. Despite the decommissioning of the airfield, public ownership of the land was not fully restored. Then in 1979 NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization ) bought the land from the British government for the building of a military base that would house 96 Tomahawk Ground Launched Cruise Missiles (GLCMs).