Browse Cases

Showing 226-250 of 260 results

Laotians campaign for democracy and the release of political prisoners, 1999-2003

Country
Laos
Time period
October, 1999 to October, 2003
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
Total points
2.5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Rebecca Contreras 20/02/2011

Laos has been a socialist republic governed by the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) since December 2, 1975. The government controls the country’s news output and restricts the people’s rights to expression, assembly, and protest. Dissent is not permitted and coercion and torture are still prevalent in the prison system.  Laos has not ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) or the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT).

University of North Carolina students win divestment from apartheid South Africa, 1986-1987

Country
United States
Time period
18 March, 1986 to 1 October, 1987
Classification
Change
Cluster
Human Rights
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Hannah-Ruth Miller, 08/02/2010

In 1983, the UNC-Chapel Hill Endowment Board agreed to stop investing with firms that rejected the Sullivan Principles, a code of business practices of foreign companies that wished to treat South African workers fairly which was developed by the Rev. Leon Sullivan, a civil rights activist.

MIT students campaign for divestment from apartheid South Africa, 1985-1991

Country
United States
Time period
1985 to 1991
Classification
Change
Cluster
Human Rights
Total points
2 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Sophia Naylor, 7/2/2010

In reaction to the continuing apartheid in South Africa, many colleges and universities in the United States divested from South Africa, meaning that they removed the holdings they had from companies which operated there. Apartheid separated blacks and whites; the whites, however, had a monopoly on power and had much higher living standards. Divestment was viewed as a way to put pressure on the South African government to end apartheid by hurting them economically.

University students campaign for racial integration in Charlotte, NC, 1960

Country
United States
Time period
February 9, 1960 to July 9, 1960
Classification
Change
Cluster
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Samantha Bennett 28/01/2011

During a period of five months in the spring of 1960, students and adults in Charlotte, North Carolina, participated in the sit-in movement to protest segregation. It was an attempt to end racial segregation in the public facilities in the city of Charlotte. The city government was the opposition.

Azeri university students hunger strike for education rights, 2006

Country
Azerbaijan
Time period
June 1, 2006 to February, 2007
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Human Rights
Total points
4 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Max Rennebohm 19/02/2011

In 2004 the Azerbaijan government issued a presidential decree stating that students planning to attend universities would have to take a test through the State Commission for Students’ Admission.  According to this decree, students could only be legally admitted to a university based on this test and not on any other.  However, that year Independent Azerbaijan University (IAU), a private university in the city of Baku, admitted 1,700 students who had not taken the state-sanctioned test.  Two years later, in the spring of 2006, the Azerbaijan Ministry of Education announced t

Carleton University students win divestment from apartheid South Africa, 1985-87

Country
Canada
Time period
October, 1985 to March, 1987
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Blaine O'Neill, 18/09/2010

Across much of the world during the mid-1980s, students on university campuses led boycott, divestment, and other solidarity campaigns targeting the apartheid government of South Africa. This solidarity movement played a fundamental role in the ultimate dismantling of the apartheid state, spawning institutional and governmental pressure beyond just educational institutions. This student-catalyzed movement emerged around 1985, and by 1990, with the release of Nelson Mandela, most of the groups' campaigns were successful.

University of California Berkeley students win divestment against apartheid South Africa, 1985

Country
United States
Time period
10 April, 1985 to 23 May, 1985
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Arielle Bernhardt, 05/02/2010

In the spring of 1985, campaigns against apartheid in South Africa mobilized on campuses across the United States. Students at University of California Berkeley became aware of these campaigns and were moved to act. On April 10, two student groups—the UC Divestment Committee and the Campaign Against Apartheid—began organizing daily rallies at Sproul Plaza, a main gathering place on campus. Nancy Skinner led the Divestment Committee and William Nessen headed up the Campaign Against Apartheid, but the student coalition made decisions through the consensus of all members.

Latvians campaign for national independence, 1989-1991

Country
Latvia
Time period
August, 1989 to September, 1991
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Anthony Phalen and Max Rennebohm, 06/11/2009 and 23/05/2011

The Baltic republics of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania achieved their independence from the Soviet Union by conducting movements based on nonviolence. Tactics included: nonviolent protests, noncooperation, and defiance to combat Soviet military intervention and political intrusion. The problems for Latvia in particular were born after the Soviet occupation following World War II. From that point forward the Soviet leaders employed a program to eradicate the previous Latvian society and to force the “Sovietization” of Latvian society.

Students protest segregation in Columbia, South Carolina, 1960-1961

Country
United States
Time period
February, 1960 to April, 1961
Classification
Change
Cluster
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
4.5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Elowyn Corby, 30/01/2011

By the beginning of the 1960s the Civil Rights Movement had taken hold of the United States, where black Americans had been treated unjustly since they first arrived in the nation.  During the Civil Rights Movement, black communities all throughout the US South rose up in protest against the segregationist policies that kept them in systematically separate and insufficient living arrangements, a world away from the “separate but equal” treatment promised them by the 14 amendment and its interpretation in the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson.

University of Oregon students demonstrate for fair labor practices, 2000-2001

Country
United States
Time period
April, 2000 to February, 2001
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
2 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Sachie Hopkins-Hayakawa, 24/02/2011

The University of Oregon is a large state university with a student body population of approximately 23,000 students, located in Eugene, Oregon. The school has a strong athletic legacy and Phil Knight, the founder of Nike Inc., is an alumnus and significant benefactor of the school.

Bangladeshi citizens struggle through noncooperation for political autonomy, 1971

Country
Bangladesh
Time period
March 1, 1971 to March 26, 1971
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
6.5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
William Lawrence 03/12/2010

The Pakistan that gained independence from the British Empire in 1947 was a strange and ultimately ill-fated state.  The country included two geographically disparate regions, West and East Pakistan (modern-day Bangladesh), separated by nearly one thousand miles of Indian territory.  Throughout the military regimes of the 1950s and 60s, Bengali needs were neglected to benefit the “22 families,” all West Pakistani, who controlled the country’s economy.  A movement for East Pakistani autonomy emerged from this climate, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (known popularly as Mujib).&nb

University of Arizona students campaign against sweatshop-produced apparel, 1997-1999

Country
United States
Time period
Fall, 1997 to 30 April, 1999
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Meghan Auker Becker, 14/02/2010

The anti-sweatshop movement was the largest student activism movement in the United States since the South African divestment movement over ten years before. Students all around the country pressured college and university administrators to adopt strict labor codes that guaranteed that merchandise bearing the college’s logo was not made by people working under unacceptable, “sweatshop-like” conditions.

Haitians overthrow a dictator, 1946

Country
Haiti
Time period
January 6, 1946 to January 11, 1946
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Max Rennebohm 29/11/2009

The Haitian President, Elie Lescot had been granted the powers of a dictator by his congress and was backed by the United States.  He was representative of the mulatto ruling class during a time when black political radicalism was growing in Haiti.  Lescot was also closely tied with the Dominican Dictator Rafael Trujillo.  The Haitian student journal, Zinglins, had criticized President Lescot’s dictatorship and begun a call for freedom of press even as early as May 1945.  The government quickly suppressed this opposition voice.  However, the editors of another stude

Venezuelan students protest shutdown of Radio Caracas Television, 2007

Country
Venezuela
Time period
April 21, 2007 to July, 2007
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
Total points
5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Meghan Auker Becker, 25/4/2010

Venezuelen President Hugo Chávez has often played a controversial role in Latin American politics, sometimes by testing the limits of freedom of expression.

Quebec students strike against budget cuts, 2004

Country
Canada
Time period
December, 2004 to April, 2005
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Nicole Vanchieri, 06/02/2011

In the winter of 2004, the Charest Government of Quebec cut $103 million in grants for low-income students at Quebec universities and CEGEP (junior colleges). The Quebec people disliked the Charest government to begin with, and in early December, students threatened to go on strike.

Maltese students defend stipends from cuts, 1997

Country
Malta
Time period
November, 1997 to November, 1997
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Samantha Bennett 27/03/2011

Prior to 1997, students in Malta received a full stipend to attend a University or post-secondary school. In 1997, as a portion of the full budget reform meant to decrease the large deficit, the Labour party of Malta proposed the reduction of the student stipend from a yearly, incremental stipend to a flat Lm50 per month. This proposed reform would also make 50% of the stipend be paid in the form of a loan, as opposed to a grant (with the exception of students attending the Institute of Health Care).

French students and workers campaign for reform (May Revolt), 1968

Country
France
Time period
May 3, 1968 to June, 1968
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
5.5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Shandra Bernath-Plaisted 20/10/2008

The May revolt started as a student protest over the closing of the University of Paris’ Nanterre campus. The campus closed after months of escalation of student protests. These protests initially stemmed from a fight for sexual liberation (or the right to have visitors of the opposite sex in dorms) that later radicalized to become a fight for more student influence in the education system, and finally for a complete change of economic and social structure.

Coalition of Immokalee Workers campaign against Taco Bell (Boycott the Bell), 2001-2005

Country
United States
Time period
April 1, 2001 to March, 2005
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Gavin Musynske, 30/11/2011

At the time of this campaign the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) was a community-based worker organization based in Immokalee, Florida. The CIW was comprised mostly of Latino, Haitian, and Mayan immigrants that worked low-wage jobs throughout Florida. The CIW fought for fair wages for workers, increased respect from employers and bosses, better and cheaper housing, stronger laws/punishments for those companies that violate workers’ rights, the right to organize without fear of retaliation, and an end to indentured servitude in the fields.

University of Toronto students win divestment from apartheid South Africa, 1984-1990

Country
Canada
Time period
November, 1984 to February 1, 1990
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Alison Roseberry-Polier, 06/02/2011

Beginning in 1983, students and student allies at the University of Toronto began creating the organizational structures needed to pressure the University to divest from South Africa. Students created an Anti-Apartheid Network, or AAN, drawing membership from the Student Christian Movement, the Communist Club, the African and Caribbean Students’ Association, and the New Democratic Party Club. The group had large support among the student body from very early on, but gained no traction with the University administration.

Koreans protest Japanese control in the "March 1st Movement," 1919

Country
North Korea
South Korea
Time period
March 1, 1919 to April 15, 1919
Classification
Change
Cluster
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
6 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Elowyn Corby, 18/03/2011

In 1905, Korea was placed under the military rule of Japan and in 1910 it was officially annexed as part of Japan’s thirty-five year imperialist expansion.  In Korea, the period of Japanese rule (between 1910 and 1945) is generally referred to as a “Japanese forced occupation,” and there was widespread discontent within Korea over Japan’s management and strict control of the region.

Cubans general strike to overthrow president, 1935

Country
Cuba
Time period
Late February, 1935 to early March, 1935
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Economic Justice
Total points
5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Olivia Ensign, 15/03/2010

Following the 1933 general strike, which resulted in the overthrow of President Machado, Ramon Grau San Martin was made the head of the Cuban government. His administration was given legitimacy because of support by DEU minister of government Antonio Guiteras and chief of the army Fulgencio Batista. On January 15

Rock Hill, South Carolina, students sit-in for U.S. civil rights, 1960

Country
United States
Time period
12 February, 1960 to March, 1961
Classification
Change
Cluster
Human Rights
Total points
6 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Sophia Naylor, 31/1/2010

In 1955, before the sit-in campaign in Rock Hill, South Carolina even began, Rock Hill’s St. Anne School desegregated in compliance with the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling. In 1957, Rev. Cecil Ivory (who would later become a leader in the sit-in campaign), led a bus boycott that put the Rock Hill bus company out of business. Sit-ins elsewhere, including in nearby Charlotte (see “University students campaign for racial integration in Charlotte, NC, 1960”), helped start Rock Hill’s own sit-in campaign. Sit-in protests lasted throughout the entire year.

German university students campaign for education reform, 2009

Country
Germany
Time period
February, 2009 to December, 2009
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
7 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Danny Hirschel-Burns, 06/02/2011

The Bologna Process, a European agreement signed by Germany in 1999, made degree programs comparable throughout Europe.  In Germany this meant that programs originally designed to last five or six years were compressed into three or four, creating a degree program quite similar to the United States’.  This substantially increased the course load for students.  Decreased funding for universities also meant a poorer standard of education, larger classes, and the implementation of tuition fees.  Between February and December 2009, thousands of German students protested thes

Gambian students protest killing of student and rape of 13-year-old, 2000

Country
Gambia
Time period
March 10, 2000 to April 11, 2000
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
Total points
2.5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Elowyn Corby, 27/01/2011

Between 1965 and 1994, The Gambia was ruled over by Sir Dawda Jawara, who had allowed the IMF and World Bank to introduce Structural Adjustment Plans (SAPs) that sapped The Gambia of prosperity and fostered widespread discontent.  There was initial celebration when in 1994 Lieutenant Yahya Jammeh took control of the government in a military coup.  However, Jammeh proved himself to be a corrupt and repressive leader, and his election in 1998, two years after he seized power, is generally considered to have been rigged.  

Chinese students campaign for democratic reform (Tiananmen Square), 1989

Country
China
Time period
April 15, 1989 to June 4, 1989
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
Total points
4 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Nida Atshan and Aden Tedla, 21/03/2010

During the second half of the 20th century, Chinese society experienced profound and tumultuous changes. Communist rule was declared in 1949, and the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s resulted in much social and economic upheaval. Students were particularly hard hit by the changes made during the Cultural Revolution as university funding decreased and education quality deteriorated. Student resentment towards the Communist government was further exacerbated by the practices of nepotism and profiteering among party officials.