Civil Resistance – How Ideas, Peoples and Movements can Change Politics
International Graduate Workshop, 5 – 7 October 2021 (online)
Everywhere, people protest – democracy campaigners in Iran, Sudan, Chile, students in Hong Kong; citizens in India; indigenous in Brazilian forests; #MeToo and #Black Lives Matter in America; yellow vests in France; European nativists; climate activists, globally. They are challenging a range of political, economic, social and civic ideas, policies, processes and regimes. This workshop will explore theory and praxis behind civil resistance as a form adopted in different modes by different groups at different times – and will seek to understand the circumstances when it is justified, when violence may or may not be appropriate and what deems justification and what deems success.Programme
TUESDAY, 5 OCTOBER 2021
14.00 CET
Informal Opening and Welcome
14.00 CET
Formal Start / Introduction to the Programme
Dr Paul Flather (Oxford Adam von Trott Memorial CommitteeI
Sarah Reinke (Stiftung Adam von Trott)
Lars Jakob (University of Göttingen)
14.50 CET
Panel I: Civil Resistance – Experiments in Resistance
- Non-violent protest: Legacies from Ghandian thinking Professor Faisal Devji (University of Oxford)
- Resistance of the Muslim Cremean Tatar Community Sarah Reinke (Stiftung Adam von Trott)
- The Orange Revolutions – common themes, current lessons Dr Leila Alieva (University of Oxford)
16.15 CET Break 16:25 CET Opening Keynote Lecture Conscience and Conviction: The Case for Civil Disobedience Professor Kimberley Brownlee (University of British Columbia, Vancouver) 17.30 CET Working Group Session I
- Group A – What constitutes successful civil resistance?
- Group B – Is inter-generational justice a just reason for civil resistance?
- Group C – Should civil resistance in democracies stay within constitutional laws?
- Group D – When might civil violence – even civil war – be justified?
- Group E – How do collective memories and national histories fuel civil resistance? 18.15 CET Close 20.00 CET Film / After Dinner Conversation (optional) Documentary about the resistance fighter Adam von Trott Discussion with Professor em. Nancy Lukens, University of New Hampshire
- Charter 77 and Havel's return to Prague Castle Pavel Szeifter (Czech Ambassador to the UK 1997–2003)
- Blocking, rebelling, disrupting – taking action of peaceful civil disobedience Joy Opitz (Extinction Rebellion Göttingen)
- From Umbrellas to Open Defence of Two Systems, One Country Evan Fowler (Independent Researcher on Hong Kong/China affairs)
- Civic and Economic Protest in Italy in the 1970s Matthew Myers (Oxford)
- Remembering Rebellion: The Teachers' Movement of the Sección 22 in Oaxaca, Mexico Susanne Meisch (Munich)
- Resistance and Class Struggle of Dock Workers in India, 1948–1997 Rahul Maganti (Göttingen)
- Opposing Duterte’s administration – problems of sinophobia and xenophobia Jamina Jugo (Göttingen)
- Protesting movements in contemporary East Europe David Saveliev (Oxford)
- The constitutional right of insurrection: the cases of Honduras and El Salvador Gustavo Palamone (Göttingen)
WEDNESDAY, 6 OCTOBER 2021
AM CET
Working Groups – Session II (optional)
to be convened independently by group convenors
14.30 CET
Panel II: Lessons from the Front Line – Engaged Civil Resistance
16.00 CET Graduate Presentations – Session I
17.00 CET
Break
17.10 CET
Special Lecture
Protest and resistance in French Politics; from Sans Culottes to Gilets Jaunes
Professor Robert Gildea (Oxford University)
18.15 CET
Close
THURSDAY, 7 OCTOBER 2021
14.30 CET
Graduate Presentations – Session II
15.30 CET
Closing Keynote Lecture
‘21st Century Setbacks for Civil Resistance Movements: Lessons to be Learned’
Professor Sir Adam Roberts (Oxford University)
16.45 CET
Break
17.00 CET
Working Group Reports
18.00 CET
Closing Session: Conclusion & Next Steps
18.30 CET
Workshop closes