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.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)
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
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