Browse Cases

Showing 1-15 of 15 results

British Ramblers campaign for greater access to right of ways and the right to roam (1985-2000)

Country
United Kingdom
Time period
Fall, 1985 to 30 November, 2000
Classification
Change
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Environment
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Zach Lytle, 16/05/19

The enclosure system involved fencing off plots of arable land. The land would then be deeded to an individual or group of owners who could use it as they saw fit. Despite slowly losing access to the commons, commoners preserved their access to rights of ways (the right to pass through someone else’s or public property on a specific path), even those now enclosed on private land, through the countryside. Foot paths, roads, carriageways, and trails were considered highways to which all individuals had the right of way.

Oromo People protest for against the expansion of the capital, 2015-2016

Country
Ethiopia
Time period
November, 2015 to December, 2016
Classification
Change
Defense
Cluster
National/Ethnic Identity
Human Rights
Democracy
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Madison Shoraka 22/03/2017

In Ethiopia, nine ethnic groups each inhabit their own land. The Oromo people are one of the largest groups and inhabit Oromia which is located on the border between South Sudan and Kenya and spreads into the center of Ethiopia. Populations of the Oromo people also live within the borders of South Sudan and Kenya, but the population is most concentrated within Ethiopia. The Oromo people of Ethiopia began conducting small scale street protests including marches and pickets in April, 2014 in response to their persecution and marginalization by the Ethiopian government.

Sarasotan Students' school boycott stops neighborhood schools from closing, Florida, United States, 1969

Country
United States
Time period
3 May, 1969 to 9 May, 1969
Classification
Change
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Erica Janko 29/03/2015

Before Booker Grammar School, Sarasota’s first Black public school, was established in 1925, Black students received their education at home or in churches. The establishment of three other schools for Black students -- Amaryllis Park for first through third graders, Booker Junior High, for seventh and eighth graders, and Booker High School, for ninth through twelfth graders -- followed. These schools, located centrally within Sarasota’s African-American community, Newtown, became deeply rooted institutions within the community.

Winnipeg women stop the removal of the Wolseley Elm 1957.

Country
Canada
Time period
September 18, 1957 to September 25, 1957
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Environment
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Nolan Reimer, 18/11/2013

Mary Ann Good planted the tree that came
to be known as the Wolseley Elm, along with many others, on her family farm in
1860, before Wolseley Avenue existed. Mary’s elms began to be removed as the city
of Winnipeg expanded, until the Wolseley Elm was the only elm remaining that did
not stand on the side of the road. The city of Winnipeg made its first attempt
to remove the tree to make way for Wolseley Avenue sometime between 1907 and
1909. The City paved Wolseley Avenue with asphalt in 1925 and the Elm came

Chicago students, teachers protest school closings, 2013

Country
United States
Time period
March 21st, 2013 to May 22nd, 2013
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
Total points
3 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Mckinley Bleskachek, 13/10/2013

21 March 2013 Chicago Public School officials announced a plan to close 54 schools with the goals of reconciling a $1 billion dollar deficit, making better use of resources, and improving education. District CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that the plan addressed the underutilized and under-resourced schools in order to raise the quality of education in the remaining schools. The plan was expected to affect 30,000 students in the Chicago Metropolitan area and cost 300 teachers their jobs.

Wukan villagers protest corrupt land sale, 2011

Country
China
Time period
September, 2011 to February, 2012
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Zachary Arestad 23/09/2013

Wukan is a coastal Chinese fishing village with a population of approximately 13,000. Located in the southeastern province of Guangdong, Wukan rose to international prominence in 2011 when villagers began protesting against corruption at the city level and unfair compensation for land seizure. Villagers claim that, since 1998, more than 400 hectares of land had been seized without compensation and that corrupt Lufeng city officials have skimmed more than 110 million U.S. dollars from commercial land sale.

University of Virginia community acts to reinstate ousted president, US, 2012

Country
United States
Time period
10 June, 2012 to 26 June, 2012
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Lekey Leidecker, 04/11/2012

Teresa Sullivan took the position of President of the University of Virginia prior to the 2010-2011 school year. The Rector of the Board of Visitors (BOV), Helen Dragas, began in October 2011 to carry out a plan to remove Sullivan from office. 

New Yorkers occupy Engine Company 212 (People's Firehouse), 1975-1977

Country
United States
Time period
November, 1975 to May, 1977
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Nancy Liu, 19/11/2011

In 1975 and 1976, New York City instituted deep budget cuts that angered the local people and led to many sit-ins and occupations around the city. In the spring of 1975, fears from the recession and government budgets made the banks refuse to market city bonds. Under the urging of the state and national governments to regain access to the bond market, Mayor Abraham D. Bearne proposed austerity budgets that would cut spending on schools, libraries, firehouses, and would charge tuition for the City University of New York for the first time.

Kumaon villagers campaign against British forest regulations, 1916-1921

Country
India
Time period
1916 to 1921
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Environment
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Anjali Cadambi, 25/10/2010

From 1916 to 1921, villagers in Kumaon in northern India set hundreds of forest fires to protest the colonial British state’s increasing regulations of the natural environment.

Philadelphians campaign for a casino-free city, 2006-2010

Country
United States
Time period
June 1, 2006 to December 18, 2010
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
William Lawrence, 01/04/2011

Seeking extra tax revenue to bolster a struggling state budget, the United States state of Pennsylvania passed a bill in 2004 authorizing casinos in the state. The bill, Act 71, legalized the construction of 15 new casinos in the state, two of which would be chosen from among five proposals in the city of Philadelphia. The location, size, management, and other details remained open-ended. As the permitting process began, Philadelphia community members voiced concern to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) about the intrusion of casinos into their neighborhoods.

Philadelphia transit workers strike against negro workers, 1944

Country
United States
Time period
1 August, 1944 to 7 August, 1944
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Total points
3 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Carl E. Sigmond, 27/04/2011

During the first week of August 1944, employees of the Philadelphia Transit Company (PTC) effectively shut down the city's transit system, defying both the federal government and their own union.  The strike, which lasted for six days and halted much of the city's war production, was in response to a PTC decision to promote eight African Americans to the position of trolley car driver.  Throughout the decade leading up to this "hate strike," African Americans had demanded that the PTC hire them as bus and trolley drivers, motormen and conductors, and station cashiers.

Philadelphia Student Union protests school district privatization, 2001-2002

Country
United States
Time period
November 20, 2001 to April 17, 2002
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Total points
4 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Carl Sigmond, 07/02/2011

In 2001, the state of Pennsylvania started a process that eventually led to a full state takeover of the School District of Philadelphia.  Governor Tom Ridge, followed by Governor Mark Schweiker, sought this takeover due to the dismal track record of the public schools in Philadelphia. With the takeover came the privatization of many of Philadelphia's lowest achieving schools. Edison Schools, Inc., a for-profit school management firm, eventually received a contract to run 20 schools in Philadelphia.

Cook Islands churchgoers protest Sunday flights, 2008-2010

Country
Cook Islands
Time period
June, 2008 to November, 2010
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Democracy
Total points
4 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Samantha Bennett, 19/03/2011

For approximately two years, beginning in June 2008 and ending in 2010, churchgoers in the Cook Islands protested airplane flights taking place on Sundays. The protesters viewed Sunday as the day of rest but many local businesses retorted, saying that Sunday flights were crucial for the economy. The protesters’ ultimate goal was to ban all flights from taking off and landing (specifically on the island of Aitutaki) on Sundays.

Palestinians in Bil'in Protest Construction of Israeli Separation Barrier, 2005-2011

Country
Palestine
Time period
2005 to 2011
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Aden Tedla, 10/08/2011

In an effort to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from entering its borders, the State of Israel began constructing a 425-mile separation barrier along its border with the West Bank in June 2002. The separation barrier, known to Israelis as the “Security Barrier” and to Palestinians as the “Apartheid Separation Wall”, extends beyond Israel’s internationally recognized borders and weaves through Palestinian territory, often cutting through Palestinian farmland and dividing villages.

Black citizens boycott white merchants for U.S. voting rights, Tuskegee, Alabama, 1957-1961

Country
United States
Time period
25 June, 1957 to February, 1961
Classification
Change
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Thomas Fortuna 11/09/2011

In 1957, in an effort to frustrate increasing black voter registration and the threat of losing a white voter majority, Alabama state senator Sam Engelhardt sponsored Act 140, which proposed to transform the Tuskegee City boundaries from a square into a twenty-eight sided shape resembling a “seahorse” that included every single one of the 600 white voters and excluded all but 5 of the 400 black voters.