In May 2010 the Free Gaza Movement launched a flotilla to deliver
humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and challenge Israel’s blockade of
the strip. This was the ninth mission the Free Gaza Movement had
launched, although the last three missions had been blocked by the
Israeli Navy. This flotilla included eight ships, while the past
flotillas had only included one or two.
On 9 June 1987 workers of the Sindicato de Trabajadores de Lunafil (Lunafil Thread Factory Workers Union, or SITRALU) were given unwelcome news by management.
The Lunafil factory was located on the main highway in Amatitlan, just 15 miles from Guatemala City (capital of Guatemala). In that factory workers spun cotton grown on Guatemalan plantations into thread. The thread was then shipped to other factories for Guatemalan workers to use in sewing garments for export, the so-called maquiladoras.
From 1960 to 1996 Guatemalans endured a civil war in which the Guatemalan military and leftist guerrillas fought for control. In order to defeat the guerrillas, the government focused on controlling and depleting the potential guerrilla population- generally the Mayan Guatemalans. Approximately 200,000 indigenous Mayans were displaced in the early 1980s and in 1987 they decided it was time to head home.
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On New Year’s
Eve, in 2010, Islamic militants attacked the Saints Church in Alexandria,
raising tensions and concerns about religious violence in Egypt. The attack was
only the most recent occurrence of religious violence and militancy in Egypt.
Many Egyptians perceived the issue as an epidemic, as well as the failings of
the Egyptian government to ensure the right to freedom of religious beliefs.
The growing resentment of government inaction and lack of representation led to
the Egyptian majority taking matters into their own hands through a campaign to
From 1960 to 1996 Guatemalans endured a civil war in which the Guatemalan military and leftist guerrillas fought for control. In order to defeat the guerrillas, the government focused on controlling and depleting the potential guerrilla population- generally the Mayan Guatemalans.
After taking the Paraguayan presidency through a military coup, General Alfredo Stroessner served as president from 15 August 1954 to 3 February 1989. Shortly after taking power, he declared a state of siege, which enabled him to suspend civil liberties every ninety days until 1987. He has been accused of human rights violations for his actions during these years in office.
In 1979 the United States of America (USA) supported a coup against Salvadoran General Humberto Romero in reaction to the deaths, disappearances, and torture that had reached international attention. The new Salvadoran government became a civilian-military “revolutionary junta” which used armed forces to suppress the Salvadoran population. Opposition forces acted, using nonviolent and violent means, in order to prevent their suppression. The government enforced a complete and violent repression against dissent.
Oskar Schindler was not your typical nonviolent savior. There is no doubt that his actions resulted in the saving of the lives of 1,200 Jewish Holocaust prisoners. What makes this story stand out among other nonviolent campaigns was the enormous and sustained risk he took for people with whom he had no immediate identification.
As soon as the Sino-Japanese War broke out in July 1937, Japanese dominated the tide of the war, seizing major cities of northern parts of the China (Beijing, Tenjin, etc.). By the end of November, the Japanese army captured Shanghai; the great number of deaths and casualties was unprecedented in the war. As the hostility toward Chinese grew among Japanese soldiers after the hard-won battle in Shanghai, the Japanese army advanced toward the city of Nanking.
South Korea experienced political turmoil in the decades following the Korean War under the rule of several autocratic leaders who severely limited political freedom in society. As S. Korea was a crucial ally against the expansion of communism, the U.S. government was wary of being openly critical of the corrupt S. Korean government. However, the U.S. no longer could ignore the violation of human rights in South Korea when Kim Dae Jung, a leading pro-democracy dissident, sought U.S. assistance in his return from exile to Korea in 1985.
After India’s independence (for example see, “Indians campaign for independence (Salt Satyagraha), 1930-1931”), tensions between Hindus and Muslims erupted in violent riots in the north of what was an undivided India. At that time, Gandhi had the idea of creating Shanti Sena, or the Gandhian Peace Army, an army of nonviolent soldiers that could keep the peace. Gandhi planned a conference in 1948 at his Sevagram Ashram to discuss the organization of the Shanti Sena, but he was assassinated before talks began.
The history of Native American and government interactions in South Dakota is riddled with animosity. In the mid-1900s the Native Americans were mortified by the atrocities committed against their people by the federal government and began to create a plan for protest. In 1968, two hundred members of the American Indian community met to discuss issues of police brutality, high unemployment rates, unjust prosecutions, and other government policies regarding the Native American population. At this meeting they launched the American Indian Movement (AIM).
After India’s independence in 1947 (for example see, “Indians campaign for independence (Salt Satyagraha), 1930-1931”), tensions between Hindus and Muslims erupted in violent riots in the north of what was an undivided India. This was in part the legacy of the “divide-and-rule” strategy of the British Empire. When tensions flared, Gandhi had the idea of creating Shanti Sena, or Peace Army, an army of nonviolent soldiers that could keep the peace.
After India’s independence (for example see, “Indians campaign for independence (Salt Satyagraha), 1930-1931”), tensions between Hindus and Muslims erupted in violent riots in the north of what was an undivided India. At that time, Gandhi had the idea of creating Shanti Sena, or the Gandhian Peace Army, an army of nonviolent soldiers that could keep the peace. Gandhi planned a conference in 1948 at his Sevagram Ashram to discuss the organization of the Shanti Sena, but he was assassinated before talks began.
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.
In March 2009 the Afghan Parliament passed the Shia Personal Status Law, which provided many restrictions and guidelines for the personal lives of Afghanistan’s Shiite Muslims, who made up between fifteen and twenty percent of the total population. The law was drafted by Shia Clerics and then passed by congress and signed by President Hamid Karzai.
After over seven years of a harsh and bloody war between Algeria’s socialist National Liberation Front (FLN) and the French military, Algeria had finally claimed its independence from France in 1962. However, internal turmoil among the state’s leaders threatened to disrupt the country’s peace. At a FLN party congress in late May 1962, one of the leading FLN members, Ahmed Ben Bella, convinced the FLN to vote out the government-in-exile, the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA), and its leader Ben Youssef Ben Khedda.
Dom Helder Camara was a Roman Catholic Archbishop of Olinda and Recife and an activist, who famously said “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist.” He was also the primary leader in the nonviolent intervention between a student protest and the Brazilian military in June 1968. In 1968, Dom Helder executed his campaign “Action, Justice, and Peace”, which was based on the movements conducted by Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
The third party nonviolent intervention during the People Power revolution came about as a result of the turbulent political situation in the Philippines in 1986. After the assassination of opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. in 1983, there were major protests throughout the Philippines attacking the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos (see “Filipinos campaign to overthrow dictator (People Power), 1983-1986”). These protests, combined with pressure from external forces forced Marcos to call for presidential elections on February 7, 1986.
