Per la Pau / Peace in Progress

People Power: removing consent to governments whenever this is required

Rafael Grasa

This edition of Peace in Progress is devoted entirely to an issue associated with non-violence and civil disobedience. This year, the choice was a foregone conclusion: the slogans and voices from public squares and their relationship with non-violent practices.

Introduction
- The message from the squares
  
  Elena Grau Biosca
  
  Some episodes in history call for an explanation. They are moments of great intensity which shake our foundations and raise questions. A year ago on the Southern and Northern shores of the Mediterranean and, little by little throughout the world, diverse and spontaneous movements were born and exploded, transforming city squares into places of debate, dialogue, protest against a present which is unjust, violent, uncertain and fragile, and of discussion about a possible and desirable future.
Central Articles
- The secret to ousting Mubarak
  
  Ahmed Eid
- Stalking the wait
  
  Ignacio Castro Rey
- Sitting on the faultline
  
  Stefano Puddu
- Nonviolence 2.0
  
  Oriol Leira
- Voices and Visions
  
  Stefano Puddu, Oriol Leira i Elena Grau
Finding out more
- Finding out more
  
  This section provides, on the one hand, a collection of resources relating to the Arab spring, the 15-M protests and links to a series of websites and centres focusing on nonviolence. And secondly, a short biographical text on Gene Sharp in which Rafael Grasa, under the heading “The key practices for nonviolent action”, highlights the most significant features of the man and his work.

Jonan Fernandez, director of Baketik

Eugènia Riera

Jonan Fernandez has worked actively for human rights and peace in the Basque Country. For 14 years he headed up Elkarri and is currently the director of Baketik, a research centre focusing on ethical conflict resolution based on the sum of two concepts: peace (bak) and ethics (etik). In this interview, Fernandez reflects on the challenges facing the Basque peace process after the end to violence and on the importance of reconciliation in overcoming the conflict.

Democracy Lab: is a unique journalistic effort to cover the transition from authoritarianism to democracy the world over

http://democracylab.foreignpolicy.com

The current wave of revolution sweeping through the Arab world shows us, once again, that the transition from authoritarianism to democracy faces many political and economic challenges. In view of this, the award-winning magazine Foreign Policy together with the Legatum Institute, an independent, public-policy group based in London, have come together to foster a project to study the complexities involved in transitions from authoritarianism to democracy in an online “laboratory”.
The Road to Tahrir

Assaf, Sherif (et al.), The Road to Tahrir. Front Line Images by Six Young Egyptian Photographers, Cairo and New York: The American University in Cairo Press, 2011

There have been many media sources, artists and people in the Street who have wished to immortalise the Arab Spring so that it remains registered in our collective memory. This is the case of six young Egyptian photographers whose cameras were placed at the service of the revolution, which they accompanied around the clock to capture every possible detail of the events which transformed the lives of the Egyptian people.
More Recommendations

Navigation