129. Refusal of assistance to enforcement agents

Showing 1-18 of 18 results

Pro-Settlement advocates protest Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and West Bank, 2004-2005

Country
Israel
Palestine
Time period
June, 2004 to August, 2005
Classification
Defense
Cluster
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
3 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Aden Tedla, 2/4/2010

The Jewish and Palestinian territorial claim to the same area of land has resulted in one of the most protracted conflicts in recent history.  Stemming from the Zionist demand for a Jewish homeland in the historic state of Israel, a homeland that would serve as a sanctuary for this persecuted and globally displaced people, large influxes of Jews into the former British mandate of Palestine have and continue to displace millions of Palestinian residents.

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.

Lithuanians campaign for national independence, 1988-1991

Country
Lithuania
Time period
June, 1988 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
Aurora Muñoz, 03/12/2009, and Max Rennebohm, 24/05/2011

Russia first occupied Lithuania and introduced a program of “Russification,” an attempt to eliminate Lithuanian language and culture in favor of Russian culture, in the mid-19th century. After 22 years of independence from Russia, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939 reintroduced the Soviet Union’s dominance over Lithuania—as well as the other Baltic states: Estonia and Latvia. The Soviet Union publicly stated that Lithuania had joined the USSR willingly, although secret protocols of the pact disputed this. Following World War II, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania.

Pashtuns campaign against the British Empire in India, 1930-1931

Country
India
Time period
1930 to 1931
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Gavin Musynske 12/11/2009

The Pashtuns are a Muslim group that occupied the North-West Frontier of British India, the area near present day Afghanistan. This area was occupied by the British in 1848 and divided into two areas. In one area, districts were established and made under British control. The other area was a tribal area where the people lived semi-independent lives without much influence from the British. In 1902, both the settled districts and the tribal region were consolidated into the “North-West Frontier Province” by the British Empire.

Maori resistance to British land seizure at Parihaka, New Zealand, 1879-81

Country
New Zealand
Time period
February, 1879 to 5 November, 1881
Classification
Defense
Cluster
National/Ethnic Identity
Economic Justice
Total points
3 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Zein Nakhoda 14/05/2011

The Taranaki region of present day New Zealand spreads from the central plateau of the North Island to the western coast. The Maori people, indigenous to the region, once inhabited it and the surrounding areas. By 1860, New Zealand had been a colony of Britain for nearly 20 years and land conflicts were common as growing European settlements encroached onto Maori land; British representatives were determined to assert their authority over the whole country.

Czechoslovak resistance to Soviet occupation, 1968

Country
Czechoslovakia
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Time period
21 August, 1968 to 27 August, 1968
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Democracy
Total points
7 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Zein Nakhoda, 14/5/2011

For the first eight months of 1968, the Czechoslovak Communist Party engaged in limited but significant reforms known as ‘Prague Spring,’ including declarations of freedom of expression and organization. The reform movement began in January, when moderate Alexander Dubcek replaced the Party’s hard-line First Secretary. 

Irish republican prisoners campaign for special status, 1976—1981

Country
Northern Ireland
United Kingdom
Time period
September, 1976 to October, 1981
Classification
Change
Cluster
Human Rights
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Samia Abbass, 05/12/2010

Hunger strikes have a long history in Ireland dating back to the medieval periods when Cealachan, a method of gaining justice for some perceived offense through starvation, was codified in the civil code called the Senchus Mor. This starvation tactic, whereby the victim fasted on the doorstep of their wrongdoer, could be used to settle or recover a debt, or address an injustice – the threat lay in that if the complainant was allowed to die on the defendant’s doorstep, that person would be held responsible for the death and the victim’s family.

Bardoli peasants campaign against the Government of Bombay, 1928

Country
India
Time period
February 12, 1928 to August 4, 1928
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
10 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Adriana Popa, 07/11/2010

The Bombay Government (through its Revenue Department) had, in 1927, enhanced the land revenue assessment in the Bardoli taluka (county) by a nominal 22 percent, which, when applied, amounted in some cases to as much as 60 percent enhancement. This translated in increased land taxes. The Bardoli peasants had immediately made several claims regarding this modification, the most important of which were that the rate of enhancement was unjust and that it had been established without full and appropriate investigation.

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.

Germans defend Ruhr Valley from French and Belgian invasion (Ruhrkampf), 1923

Country
Germany
Time period
January 11, 1923 to September 26, 1923
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Maurice Weeks and Max Rennebohm, 21/07/2008 and 10/09/2011

Following a loss in World War I, Germany was charged to pay reparations for their destructive role. The bill was $33 billion. Germany had been weakened by the war and paying the reparations at the rate in which they were due would have completely crippled the country. Germany therefore tried to gain more time to pay. The Germans set forth a proposal for U.S banks to loan funds for the reparations and for France to reevaluate the reparations.

Guatemalan activists defend human rights, 1960-1995

Country
Guatemala
Time period
1960 to 1996
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Peace
Total points
7 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Manuel Figueredo, 17/12/2011

The Guatemalan people have endured numerous hardships throughout the years, but none more tragic than those perpetrated by the Guatemalan government and military during the country’s thirty-six year civil war. The Guatemalan civil war began in 1960, when a group of insurgents sought to depose the US-backed military government. The military had obtained complete authority in Guatemala by overthrowing the democratically elected President Jacobo Árbenz in 1957.

U.S. prisoners take control of Walpole Prison, 1973

Country
United States
Time period
15 March, 1973 to 18 May, 1973
Classification
Change
Cluster
Economic Justice
Human Rights
Total points
5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Anjali Cadambi, 18/10/2010

Walpole was a maximum-security prison in South Walpole, Massachusetts. The campaign by prisoners under the National Prisoners Reform Association (NPRA) to take control of Walpole Prison, with support from citizen observers, formed part of a larger movement of opposition to cruelties of the prison system. At the time, prison abolition was on the agenda in U.S. society as an idea to consider. A 1971 prisoner takeover at Attica Prison acted as a lightning bolt by showing the horror of the prison yard. The NPRA emerged on a national level in this context.

French Christians save Jews from Nazi holocaust, Le Chambon, 1940-1944

Country
France
Time period
November, 1940 to September, 1944
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Human Rights
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Soul Han, 09/12/2012

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon was a community located in south central France. With a history of being a refuge for persecuted Protestant Huguenots in 17th century, it was primarily a Presbyterian town. 

Kenyan Kamba tribe successfully resists colonial livestock control by the British, 1938

Country
Kenya
Time period
March, 1938 to December, 1938
Classification
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
9 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Laura Rigell, 17/02/2013

In the early 1900s livestock, often the currency of exchange, formed the foundation of the Kenyan Kamba tribe’s economy.  A family’s herd size determined its wealth.  As Britain colonized Kenya, this localized provisioning enabled the Kamba to remain relatively self-sufficient.  

Oskar and Emilie Schindler intervene to save Jews from Nazi genocide, Poland, 1939-1945

Country
Poland
Czechoslovakia
Classification
Third-party nonviolent intervention
Cluster
Human Rights
National/Ethnic Identity
Total points
7 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Barry Tabacznik, 06/04/2013

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.

Guatemalans refuse to serve in civil patrols, 1988-1993

Country
Guatemala
Time period
March, 1988 to 1993
Classification
Change
Cluster
Democracy
Human Rights
Peace
Total points
8 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Sarah Gonzales, 09/04/2013

From 1961 to 1996 Guatemalans endured a bloody civil war.  During this conflict the military-controlled government fought the leftist guerillas or the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG).  These groups fought each other for political control.  The extreme violence pushed many indigenous Guatemalans high into the country’s highlands or displaced them as refugees into other countries.

Belgian Workers Strike against Austerity, 1960-61 ("Winter Strike")

Country
Belgium
Time period
1960-1961, 1960 to 1961, 1961
Classification
Change
Defense
Cluster
Economic Justice
Total points
6.5 out of 10 points
Name of researcher, and date dd/mm/yyyy
Clare Perez, 2/3/2015

The Belgian workers strike of 1960-61, often referred to as “Winter Strike” or “The Strike of the Century”, was considered to be one of the most important Belgian strikes of the 20th century. Strike history in Belgium had always been slightly unconventional compared to Northern European, North American, and French and Italian strikes.  Differences existed in the frequency of strikes, the size of the strikes, as well as the duration.   Belgium had frequent strikes pre World War II, and this history of striking contributed to the success of the Winter Strike.