People Power and Protest since 1945: a bibliography of nonviolent action
compiled by April Carter, Howard Clark and Michael Randle

click here for details of how to buy the printed version

Section D: Resisting Rigged Elections, Oppression, Dictatorship, or Military Rule

Section Contents

• D. Resisting Rigged Elections, Oppression, Dictatorship, or Military Rule
  • I. Africa
    • 1. South Africa, Resisting Apartheid to 1994
      • a. Internal Resistance
      • b. External Boycotts
      • c. Resisting South African Military Policies
    • 2. Zimbabwe, Resisting Mugabe’s Autocracy Since 2000
  • II. Asia
    • 1. Burma, Resisting Military Dictatorship 1988, and Ongoing Protest
    • 2. Korea (South), Demanding Democracy, 1979-80 and 1986-87
    • 3. Pakistan, Resisting Military Rule, 1968 and 1980s
    • 4. Philippines
      • a. Resisting Marcos, 1983-86
      • b. Challenging Estrada, 2001
    • 5. Taiwan, 1970s and 1980s
    • 6. Thailand, Demanding Democracy 1973 and 1992
  • III. Europe
    • 1. Former Yugoslavia After 1990
      • a. Serbia, Resisting Milosevic 1996-2000
      • b. Kosovo, Resisting Serbian Oppression 1988-98
    • 2. Georgia, Challenging ‘Rigged’ Elections 2003
    • 3. Greece, Resisting the Colonels, 1967-74
    • 4. Spain, Resisting Franco up to 1975
    • 5. Ukraine, People Power and Elections, 2004-2005
  • IV. Latin America
    • 1. Argentina, Resisting the Military Dictatorship, 1977-81
    • 2. Bolivia, Resisting Repression, 1964-82
    • 3. Brazil, Resisting Military Rule, 1964-85
    • 4. Chile
      • a. The Right Mobilizes Against Salvador Allende, 1972-73
      • b. Resisting the Pinochet Dictatorship, 1973-90
    • 5. Panama, Resisting Noriega 1987-89
    • 6. Uruguay, Resisting Military Rule 1973-84
  • V. Middle East
    • 1. Iran, Overthrowing the Shah 1979-1980
    • 2. Palestine
      • a. Palestinian Resistance after 1967 and the First Intifida, 1987-1992
      • b. Israeli Opposition to Israel’s Occupation

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D. Resisting Rigged Elections, Oppression, Dictatorship, or Military Rule

I. Africa

Most examples of mass popular resistance in Africa have been to colonial rule (see Section B above) or to apartheid. The long struggle in South Africa, which involved a very wide range of nonviolent tactics, as well as (from the 1960s) limited guerrilla warfare, is covered below. The example of popular protest against rigged elections spread to Madagascar in 2001–2; and demonstrators in both Ethiopia and Egypt were fired on by the police in mid-2005. But the only sustained nonviolent campaign against political authoritarianism so far has occurred in Zimbabwe since 2000. (Campaigns against multinational corporations and neoliberal economic policies are listed under G.7.)

1. South Africa, Resisting Apartheid to 1994

Nonviolent resistance has a long history in South Africa, where Gandhi developed his methods of ‘satyagraha’ to assert the civil rights of the Indian community, and where the multiracial African National Congress (ANC) was officially committed to nonviolence in its struggle against apartheid from 1910 until 1961. After 1945, as apartheid was strengthened, there were impressive strikes, for example the 1946 miners’ strike, and acts of civil disobedience against apartheid measures, for example by Indians opposing discriminatory legislation in 1946. The 1952 ‘defiance campaign’, demanding the repeal of unjust laws, aspired to nation-wide noncooperation, and there was resistance to the removal of squatters, and boycotts of the newly introduced Bantu education system in 1954-55. Nonviolent protest continued in the late 1950s, and mounted in 1960-61 with resistance to the pass laws, including demonstrations and a general strike.

But the increasingly brutal government repression, and the banning of opposition organizations, convinced the ANC leadership that it was necessary to create Umkhonto we Sizwe (the ‘Spear of the Nation’) to carry out guerrilla warfare – though the emphasis was on sabotage, and the ANC itself remained committed to ‘mass struggle’. Mandela’s speeches during the 1960 Treason Trial and his later 1962 trial, when he was condemned to life imprisonment, still stressed commitment to what he called a ‘nonracial’ future. The rival Pan African Congress (PAC), which differed from the ANC over association with the Communist Party and organized the fateful Sharpeville demonstration of 1961 (when the police fired repeatedly into a peaceful crowd), also created a military wing, which targeted both whites and African collaborators. So there was a clear turn from nonviolence.  

Mass popular protest did not occur again until 1976, when about 15,000 Soweto school children demonstrated against being forced to learn in Afrikaans, a protest which extended to opposing the Bantu education system and the regime itself. The bloody police response triggered school boycotts and mass protests throughout the country. Although the basic tactics were nonviolent, demonstrators often fought the police with sticks and stones. Many of the children were killed and injured, and the protests ended after six months of resistance. Funerals of militants and demonstrators killed by the security services were, however, a continued focus for defiant mass public protest.  

During the 1980s protest in the form of consumer and school boycotts and student activism revived, independent grass roots organizations and community activism developed and the United Democratic Front (UDF), which resisted the apartheid constitution of 1983, coordinated community, student, church and trade union bodies. The trade unions consolidated their organization and their ability to conduct disciplined strikes, as in the 1979 Ford strike against relocation, and in 1989 COSATU (the trade union federation) together with the UDF created the Mass Democratic Movement to organize nationwide defiance. During the protracted negotiations to end apartheid in the early 1990s, symbolized by Mandela’s release in February 1990 and the ending of the bans on the ANC, PAC, Communist Party and other political organizations, the ANC leadership turned to ‘people power’ and organized mass strikes and demonstrations to back their negotiating strategy. This period saw bloody confrontations between the ANC and the supporters of the Zulu Inkatha movement led by Chief Buthelezi (the security services helped to promote some of the worst acts of violence), but nevertheless heralded the moves towards reconciliation and the remarkably peaceful and successful elections under universal franchise of 1994.  

The injustice of apartheid was opposed throughout much of the world and was frequently denounced at the United Nations. Popular campaigns to promote economic sanctions – including a wave of sit-ins at US universities in the mid-1980s – encouraged some institutions to disinvest from banks and corporations engaged in South Africa; economic sanctions were also endorsed by some governments. Demonstrations against South African sports teams and moves towards sporting boycotts also had a significant impact. International pressure therefore combined with internal resistance.

The opposition to apartheid both within the country and outside continued for over three decades, and there is a large literature on various forms of resistance and the role of different sectors of South African society, organizations and individuals, as well as numerous individual memoirs, many by white opponents of apartheid. The list of books below is highly selective, but covers major aspects of the struggle and key individuals.  

a. Internal Resistance

294. Benson, Mary, The African Patriots: The Story of the African National Congress of South Africa, London, Faber and Faber, 1963, pp. 310 (Reprinted in USA as South Africa: The Struggle for a Birthright, New York, Funk and Wagnalls, 1966).

This history covers the period 1910 to 1960.  

295.Biko, Steve, The Testimony of Steve Biko, edited Millard Arnold, London, Maurice Temple Smith, 1978, pp. 298 (published in the USA by Random House as Black Consciousness in South Africa).  

Biko, a key figure in the move towards radical black consciousness in the 1970s, was killed, whilst in custody, by the South African security services.

296. Callinicos, Alex and John Rogers, Southern Africa after Soweto, 2nd edition, London, Pluto Press, 1978, pp. 246. Includes critical assessment of the 1960s campaigns and examination of industrial action in the 1970s.

297. Feit, Edward, African Opposition in South Africa: The Failure of Passive Resistance, Stanford CA, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, 1967, pp. 223. A critical study of the 1954-55 campaigns.

298. Hope, Marjorie and James Young, The South African Churches in a Revolutionary Situation, New York, Orbis Books, 1981, pp. 268. Covers opposition of many churches to apartheid.

299. Kuper, Leo, Passive Resistance in South Africa, London, Jonathan Cape, 1956, pp. 256. Reprinted 1957 and 1960 by Yale University Press. A sociological study of the 1952 ‘Defiance Campaign’.

300. Lodge, Tom, Black Politics in South Africa since 1945, London, Longman, 1983, pp. 389. 

Covers key campaigns up to Sharpeville and also the Soweto student rebellion. 

301. Luckhardt, Ken and Brenda Wall, Organize or Starve! The History of the South African Congress of Trade Unions, New York, International Publishers, 1980, pp. 485.

302. Luthuli, Albert, Let My People Go, London, Collins, 1962, pp. 256. Autobiography of a leading opponent of apartheid, President of the ANC from 1952 to 1967, and Nobel Prize winner.

303. Mandela, Nelson, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London, Little Brown, 1994, pp. 768; reprinted five times as an Abacus paperback in 1995. Provides Mandela’s own perceptions of the evolving struggle and his own role within it, including his views on nonviolence and support for the turn to violent resistance.

304. Mandela, Nelson, No Easy Walk to Freedom, London, Heinemann, 1965, pp. 189. Reprinted 1986.

Mandela’s articles, speeches and addresses at his trials.  

305. Marx, Anthony, Lessons of Struggle: South African Internal Opposition 1960-1990, New York, Oxford University Press, 1992, pp. 347.

Comprehensive survey and analysis.

306. Meredith, Martin, Nelson Mandela: A Biography, London, Hamish Hamilton, 1997, pp. 596.

Meredith has written widely on southern Africa.

307. Michelson, Cherry, The Black Sash of South Africa: A Case Study in Liberalism, London, Oxford University Press, 1975, pp. 204.

Analysis of (predominantly) white women’s organization publicly opposing apartheid since 1950s; known especially for its black sash vigils.  

308. Mufson, Steven, Fighting Years: The Black Resistance and the Struggle for a New South Africa, Boston, Beacon Press, 1990, pp. 360. Includes bibliography pp. 349-52.  

309. Reeves, Ambrose, Shooting at Sharpeville: The Agony of South Africa, London, Gollancz, 1960, pp. 159.  

Account by Anglican Bishop of Johannesburg, prominent in resisting apartheid, of the opposition to carrying passes.  

310. Scott, Michael, A Time to Speak, London, Faber, 1959, pp. 365.  

Autobiography of well known supporter of human rights in South Africa, who spoke for the Herero people of South West Africa before the United Nations when they were opposing incorporation into the Union of South Africa. Chapter 8 describes the Indian resistance to discriminatory legislation in 1946.  

311. Smuts, Dene and Shauna Westcott, The Purple Shall Govern: A South Africa A to Z of Nonviolent Action, Cape Town, Oxford University Press and Centre for Intergroup Studies, 1991, pp. 165.  

Seeks to document examples from the history of nonviolent action from the 1950s to 1990s (Luthuli to Tutu) which amounts to ‘probably the largest grassroots eruption of diverse nonviolent strategies in a single struggle in human history’. Brief extracts illustrating tactics such as boycotts, courting arrest, funerals, graffiti, ostracism, prayer, resisting removal, voluntary exile and ‘wading in’ (segregated beaches). Includes some distinctively South African expressions of protest.  

312. Tutu, Desmond, The Rainbow People of God, ed. John Allen, London, Bantam, 1995, pp. 286.  

Archbishop Tutu, a highly respected opponent of the regime who influenced world opinion in the 1980s and 1990s, played a key role in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the ANC came to power. This is a collection of his sermons on Christianity and apartheid, race relations and politics.  

b. External Boycotts

313. Hain, Peter, Don’t Play with Apartheid: Background to the Stop the Seventy Tour, London, Allen and Unwin, 1971, pp. 232.  

See also: ‘Direct action and the Springbok tours’ in Benewick and Smith (eds.), Direct Action and Democratic Politics, pp. 192-202 (A.1.).  

314. Lapchick, Richard, The Politics of Race and International Sport: The Case of South Africa, Westport CT, Greenwood Press, 1975, pp. 268.  

Analysis of sports boycott and its impact on white South Africans.  

315. Orkin, Mark (ed.), Sanctions Against Apartheid, New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1989, pp. 328.  

c. Resisting South African Military Policies

In order to shore up the apartheid regime, the South African government used its security service and military forces to prevent majority African rule in other southern African countries, such as Namibia. After Portugal agreed to decolonization in Mozambique and Angola, South Africa fomented civil war. This policy meant that South African conscripts were sent to fight in neighbouring countries. From the 1970s there was growing opposition to being conscripted either to suppress the black townships within South Africa, or to fight in neighbouring countries. South African draft resisters abroad also began to organize in the late 1970s.  

316. Catholic Institute for International Relations, Out of Step: War Resisters in South Africa, London, CIIR, 1989, pp. 141.  

Resistance to conscription in apartheid South Africa.  

317. Clark, Howard, When the Best Say No: Impressions from a Visit to South Africa in Support of War Resisters, London, War Resisters’ International, 1989, pp. 27. 

Report from a War Resisters’ International delegation, noting the widespread recognition of the potential for nonviolent action.  

318. Cock, Jacklyn and Lawrence Nathan (eds.), War and Society: The Militarisation of South Africa, New York, St Martin’s Press, 1989, pp. 361.  

319. Cock, Jacklyn, Women and War in South Africa, London, Open Letters, 1992, pp. 254.  

This is primarily an analysis of the nature and effects of violence in South Africa in the 1980s and how the politics of gender underpins the South African Defence Force. But it also looks at whites resisting conscription. Different responses – compliance, evasion and resistance – are examined pp. 75-90, including accounts of some individual objectors and the role of the End Conscription campaign.  

320. Nathan, Lawrence, Force of Arms, Force of Conscience: A Study of Militarisation, the Military and the Anti-Apartheid War Resistance Movement in South Africa, 1970-1988, Bradford, M.Phil. Thesis, 1990. 

Discusses the increasing incidence of conscientious objection to compulsory military service as the SADF was deployed to suppress resistance in the townships. Notes that the End Conscription Council, in which he was centrally involved, ‘became a significant force’ in the opposition to apartheid and was eventually outlawed by the authorities.  

321. Seegers, Annette, ‘South Africa: From laager to anti-apartheid’, in Charles C. Moskos and John Whiteclay Chambers (eds.), The New Conscientious Objection, New York, Oxford University Press, 1993, pp. 127-34 (see G.3.b.ii).  

Survey of development of conscientious objection from 1960.  

See also on anti-apartheid struggle: Schock, Unarmed Insurrections, pp. 56-68 (A.1.). 

2. Zimbabwe, Resisting Mugabe’s Autocracy Since 2000

After a bitter civil war Zimbabwe achieved independence in 1980, and the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), one of the political movements engaged in the guerrilla struggle, won an overwhelming majority in the elections, with Robert Mugabe as President. Mugabe reached an accommodation with the white population and the prospects for stability and economic prosperity looked good.  

The main problem in the early years of the new regime was the conflict between ZANUPF and the rival Patriotic Front – Zimbabwe African People’s Union (PF-ZAPU) party, led by Joshua Nkomo, with its base in Matabeleland. Small numbers of former ZAPU guerrillas challenged the government and Mugabe launched a four year war in Matabeland in which 10,000 civilians were killed. But in December 1987 PF-ZAPU was incorporated into ZANU-PF, with Nkomo becoming Vice President.  

The country then enjoyed peace and reasonable prosperity, although the economy began to decline in the 1990s. However, the predominantly white ownership of the best farmland, whilst large numbers of Africans lacked land, was a continuing source of resentment. A land reform law in 1992, proposing to compensate white farmers for transferring some of their land, petered out. Pressure from the War Veterans Association for land encouraged Mugabe to commit himself to seizing white farmers’ land without compensation. These provisions were included in a draft constitution, also enhancing the President’s powers, which was defeated in a referendum in February 2000. A new opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, was prominent in opposing the clause.  

Mugabe then sanctioned violent invasions of white farms by ‘veterans’ of the independence struggle, with an eye to support from the Shona peasantry in the June 2000 parliamentary elections. Repression of the farmers and their black workers coincided with rising opposition to Mugabe’s rule in the urban centres and in the trade unions. Since 2000 there has been increasing poverty and lack of food, and widespread resistance by many sectors of the African population, including sections of the press, judiciary and the churches. The MDC has continued to contest elections (despite severe harassment of candidates and supporters), claimed the elections have been rigged (claims supported by many but not all external observers) and called a number of general strikes. The regime has responded to opposition with legal bans, imprisonment, beatings and torture, and distributed food so as to reward supporters and penalize opponents.  

There is a growing literature analysing developments in Zimbabwe, but much of it focuses on the developments since 1980 and the context of opposition since 2000. Information on campaigning groups active within Zimbabwe is available on the web sites listed below.  

322. Buckle, Catherine, African Tears: The Zimbabwe Land Invasions, London, Covos Day Books, 2001 and Johannesburg, Jonathan Ball, 2002, pp. 243. Foreword by Trevor Ncube.  

Cathy Buckle, a supporter of the new inter-racial Zimbabwe, was forced off her farm. This book focuses on invasions of white farms by Mugabe’s ‘veterans’ but also stresses suffering of black farm workers, and documents the developing resistance round the Movement for Democratic Change in the June elections. A postscript provides a chronology of events from October-December 2000, including repression of protests and the resistance by Supreme Court justices. See also: Buckle, Catherine, Beyond Tears: Zimbabwe’s Tragedy, Johannesburg, Jonathan Ball, 2002, pp. 218; sequel to her earlier book, continuing her account of repression and resistance.  

323. Chan, Stephen, ‘Zimbabwe: The old fox eludes the hunt’, World Today, vol. 61 no. 4 (April 2005), pp. 22-23. Assesses the faction fights within Mugabe’s party and the role of South Africa, and forecasts likely split in the MDC.  

324. Cross, Eddie, ‘Zimbabwe: Body blow’, World Today, vol. 59, no. 12 (December 2003), pp. 20-21.  

A member of the MDC looks back at rising opposition, especially in trade unions, to Mugabe and his party in 2000, particularly resistance to the new constitution, and support for the newly formed MDC in the June elections. Also notes the challenge to Mugabe in 2002 Presidential elections and outlines the government’s subsequent sustained campaign to crush opposition.  

325. MacLean, Sandra J. ‘Mugabe at war: The political economy of conflict in Zimbabwe’, Third World Quarterly, vol. 23 no. 3 (June 2002), pp. 513-28. Examines deterioration of governance in Zimbabwe since independence and notes effectiveness of the opposition movement since 2001.  

326. Meldrun, Andrew, Where We Have Hope: A Memoir of Zimbabwe, London, John Murray, 2004, pp. 272.  

Personal account by Guardian journalist of Zimbabwe’s politics and people since 1980. Chapters 12-19 (pp. 114-241) cover the rise of MDC, the debates about the new constitution, resistance and repression, and Chapter 20 describes his own expulsion from the country.  

327. Ranger, Terence, ‘Zimbabwe: Cultural Revolution’, World Today, vol. 58, no. 2 (February 2002), pp. 23-25. Analysis of Mugabe’s rhetoric and strategy of launching a third revolution against imperialism, and his policy on violence.  

328. Sithole, M., ‘Fighting authoritarianism in Zimbabwe’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 12 no. 1 (January 2001), pp. 160-69.  

329. Windrich, Elaine, ‘Then and now: Reflections on how Mugabe rules Zimbabwe’, Third World Quarterly, vol. 23 no. 6 (December 2002), pp. 1181-88.  

Feature review of several books on Zimbabwe, including Buckle, African Tears, with historical analysis.  

330. ’Zimbabwe Focus’: ‘When to call black white: Zimbabwe’s electoral reports’, Third World Quarterly, vol. 23 no. 6 (December 2002), pp. 1145-58.  

Analysis of March 2002 Presidential election and conflicting assessments of its fairness from organizations within Zimbabwe and teams of electoral observers from the west and Africa.  

For web sources on internal opposition see: Enough is Enough: www.sokwanele.com/ and Women of Zimbabwe Arise and Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe, both at: www.kubatana.net See also: Goddard, Keith, ‘Inside Out’, in Ney, Chris (ed.), Nonviolence and Social Empowerment, War Resisters' International web (see H.b.)  

II. Asia

It was in Asia that key theorists and leaders of two types of popular struggle emerged in the first half of the 20th century: Gandhi’s satyagraha in India and Mao’s guerrilla warfare in China. Guerrilla warfare has been widely used in various struggles for independence from colonialism and western intervention (notably in Vietnam). Armed violence has also been a resort for minorities opposing political oppression (as in Burma) or major social injustice (for example the Naxalites in India).

Nevertheless, there have been significant nonviolent struggles in many parts of Asia, both in India where the Gandhian legacy is still important, and in a number of other countries, notably the Philippines and Burma. There has also been a trend towards mass popular demonstrations to demand democracy in recent years, for example in South Korea and Thailand. In some cases nonviolent tactics have been linked to street fighting or riots (for example in Pakistan), but if the overall strategy has promoted noncooperation and unarmed opposition they are relevant to this bibliography.  

A useful source for researching the development of particular campaigns in Asia is Far Eastern Economic Review, which carries frequent, but usually brief, reports on important developments. Asian Survey is an academic journal which publishes broader political assessments. For a more radical perspective see: Critical Asian Studies, published by Routledge (formerly Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars).  

Two interesting campaigns which have not been listed separately because of a dearth to date of accessible printed sources occurred in Nepal (1990) and Kyrgyzstan (2005).  

The Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in Nepal, inspired by events in Eastern Europe, launched a campaign, ‘the stir’, to end the panchayat (council) system and restore multiparty democracy. After mass demonstrations and the calling of two general strikes between February and April 1990, the King lifted the ban on political parties in April and approved a new draft constitution in September. These events are covered by the Far Eastern Economic Review and the Economist (see issues of April 7 1990, p.83; April 14, pp. 67-68; April 21, p. 72 and May 5, p. 88 summarizing the protests, their causes, and the political responses). See also:  

331. Koirala, Niranjan, ‘Nepal in 1990: End of an era’, and Michael Hutt, ‘Drafting the Nepal Constitution’, 1990’, in Asian Survey, vol. 31 (1991): February, pp. 134-39; and November, pp. 1020-39. See also: Schock, Unarmed Insurrections, pp. 121-25 and 130-41 (A.1.).  

The Kyrgyzstan protests in March 2005 (the ‘tulip revolution’) were, as in Georgia and the Ukraine, at least partly a response to rigged parliamentary elections. But the demonstrations which erupted in the southern city of Osh, before spreading to the capital Bishek, also appeared to be a protest against presidential nepotism and economic hardship. The protesters were more violent than in Georgia and the Ukraine, looting and rioting as they attacked the presidential and parliamentary buildings. Some observers queried how far the uprising was spontaneous or was organized by opposition leaders seeking to assume power. The immediate outcome was that President Akayev fled to Russia and an opposition leader, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, became interim president and prime minister, but agreed to work with the newly elected parliament. He won a landslide victory in the presidential election held in early July 2005, in an election approved by OSCE monitors. See:  

332. International Crisis Group, ‘Kyrgyzstan: After the Revolution’, Asia Report no. 97, 4 May 2005, pp. 1-20 plus appendices (map of area, key members of interim government, and information about the International Crisis Group). There are also later ICG reports on Kyrgyzstan. Available on the web from: www.crisisgroup.org  

1. Burma, Resisting Military Dictatorship 1988, and Ongoing Protest

Burma gained independence from the British immediately after the Second World War, and after a period of civilian government has been subjected to a series of military regimes. There has been continuing guerrilla resistance by national minorities in Burma since its independence. But in 1988 there was mass nonviolent resistance to military dictatorship, which met with brutal repression. Ever since the peaceful opposition has been led and symbolized by Aung San Suu Kyi (daughter of the leader of Burma’s armed struggle for independence), who has adopted a Gandhian philosophy of nonviolence. Her party, the National League for Democracy, was elected by a clear majority in elections held in 1990,

despite harassment by the military, but the military junta then refused to recognize the elections and placed Suu Kyi under house arrest, where she has remained, with occasional partial lifting of restrictions, ever since. She and her party have, however, continued to defy the regime.

Suu Kyi called for an economic and tourist boycott of Burma (Myanmar), and there has been a transnational campaign in support of democracy in Burma. North American students in the 1990s spearheaded a campaign for disinvestment, persuading a significant number of major corporations to withdraw by using consumer boycotts and other forms of protest. Continuing boycott campaigns in the west are still forcing companies (such as sportswear manufacturers), attracted to Burma by low wages, to pull out. Some individuals have also entered Burma to demonstrate and hand out leaflets; for example 18 who protested in Rangoon in August 1998. (On this transnational support see: Naomi Klein, No Logo, London, Flamingo, 2000, pp. 402-4, and pp. 410-16.).  

333. Aung San Suu Kyi, Freedom from Fear and Other Writings, ed. Michael Aris, London, Viking, 1991, pp. 338.  

See especially Suu Kyi’s writings on the democracy struggle in ‘Part II’, pp. 167-237 and essays by Josef Silverstein, ‘Aung San Suu Kyi: Is she Burma’s woman of destiny?’, pp. 267-83 and Philip Kreager, ‘Aung San Suu Kyi and the peaceful struggle for human rights in Burma’, pp. 284-325.  

334. Aung San Suu Kyi, The Voice of Hope: Conversations with Alan Clements with Contributions by U Kyi Maung and U Tin Oo, London, Penguin, 1997. pp. 301.  

335. Beer, Michael A., ‘Violent and Nonviolent Struggle in Burma: Is a Unified Strategy Workable?’, in Zunes et al (eds.), Nonviolent Social Movements, pp. 174-84 (A.1.).  

336. Fink, Christina, Living Silence: Burma under Military Rule, London, Zed Books, 2001, pp. 286.  

Provides brief historical background and surveys the regime in its internal and international context. Chapter 2 notes students’, monks’ and workers’ protests against General Ne Win in 1970s (pp. 42-45). Chapter 3 describes national nonviolent resistance 1988-90 and subsequent opposition to military rule led by Aung San Su Kyi (pp. 50-72). Chapter 12 looks at campaigns by transnational civil society.  

337. Littner, Bertil, Outrage: Burma’s Struggle for Democracy, [1989] London and Bangkok, White Lotus, 1990, pp. 208.  

Covers the 1988 mass nonviolent resistance and its suppression.  

See also: Helvey, On Strategic Nonviolent Conflict, pp. 51-65; Schock, Unarmed Insurrections; pp. 92-98 and 102-119, and Sharp et al, Waging Nonviolent Struggle, pp. 245-52 (A.1.).  

2. Korea (South), Demanding Democracy, 1979-80 and 1986-87

There was a history of nonviolent resistance by the Koreans to Japanese occupation during the first half of the 20th century. After the division of Korea in 1945, the death and destruction of the Korean War, 1950-53, and Korea’s continuing role as a front line in the cold war, with American troops guarding the armistice line, South Korea was subject to the dictatorship of the western-backed Syngman Rhee until 1960. Then popular desire for democracy, demonstrated in mass protests in which students were prominent, brought down the dictatorship. But it was replaced by a new military regime under Park Chung Hee from 1961-1979. There were renewed student protests in 1979, and a 1980 student revolt in Kwangju was brutally repressed by the army, which killed up to 2000 people and arrested thousands more. General Chun Doo Hwan won the 1981 elections, and students continued to protest, often resorting to firebombing government buildings or fighting the police. But in 1986 students began to mobilize worker and rural support and a dozen students set fire to themselves (an act of traditional remonstrance to unjust rulers). Widespread popular opposition persuaded Chun not to stand for a second term in 1987, and led to gradual democratization of the previously authoritarian regime.

338. Clark, Donald N. (ed.), The Kwangju Uprising: Shadows over the Regime in South Korea, Boulder CO, Westview Press, 1987, pp. 101. Includes bibiography pp. 95-96.  

339. Cotton, James (ed.), Politics and Policy in the New Korean State, New York, St Martin’s Press, 1995, pp. 246.  

Proceedings of conference in Melbourne 1992.  

340. Kim Chong Lim (ed.), Political Participation in Korea: Democracy, Mobilization and Stability, Santa Barbara CA and Oxford, Clio Books, 1980, pp. 238.  

Includes chapter on student activism in 1960 and 1971.  

341. Kim Dae Jung ‘Interview: Democracy and dissidence in South Korea’, Journal ofInternational Affairs, vol. 38 no. 2 (1984-1985), pp. 181-92.  

Kim Dae Jung had been a leading figure in the Democratic Opposition of South Korea since 1971, when he ran for president against the dictator Park Chung Hee, was imprisoned and then exiled. He gave this interview in November 1984, setting out his policies and hopes, when planning to return to join in the struggle against dictatorship.  

342. Kim Shinil ‘South Korea’ in Philip G. Altbach, Student Political Activism: An International Reference Handbook, Westport CT, Greenwood Press, 1989, pp. 173-8.  

343. Kluver, Alan R., ‘Student movements in Confucian society’ in Gerard J. DeGroot, Student Protest: The Sixties and After, London, Addison Wesley, 1998, pp. 219-31.  

Discusses role of self-immolation by Korean protesters.  

344. Shorrock, Tim, ‘The struggle for democracy in South Korea in the 1980s and the rise of anti-Americanism’, Third World Quarterly, vol. 8 no 4 (October 1986), pp. 1195-1218.  

Analyses the Park Chung Hee regime, looks back to the Kwangju massacre and the role of the US, and comments on the student and worker demonstrations in the spring of 1986 and US/Korean government attempts to channel unrest from the streets into electoral activity. Refers to his earlier article ‘Korea: Stirrings of resistance’, The Progressive, February 1986.  

3. Pakistan, Resisting Military Rule, 1968 and 1980s

Pakistan was created out of the partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947, which led to mass migrations and terrible massacres of both Muslims and Hindus. Pakistan suffered a further partition when East Pakistan broke away in 1971 and claimed independence. The secession met with harsh repression by the Pakistan army, thousands of refugees fled to India, and the Indian army invaded East Pakistan, ensuring recognition of an independent Bangladesh. Pakistani politics has also been marked by long periods of military rule.  

There have, nevertheless, been campaigns of predominantly nonviolent resistance to the military using boycotts, strikes, demonstrations and hunger strikes, although protest often turned into riots and there was also fighting between factions, often in the universities. (Factional strife became more bloody in the 1980s when guns were widely available, as Pakistan became enmeshed in the guerrilla warfare in neighbouring Afghanistan). 

The first campaign of popular resistance took place in 1968-69, when workers and students, supported by peasants, women and school children, brought an end to the government of General Ayub Khan in March 1969. Although he handed over power to the commander-in-chief General Yahya Khan, who immediately imposed martial law, this was a significant example of people power. The resistance, in which Zulfikar Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party, played a prominent role, involved remarkable solidarity between West and East Pakistan, and continued after the imposition of martial law.

Bhutto headed a civilian government from the end of 1971 to 1977, when he was ousted by General Zia, and executed after a sham trial in 1979. The second campaign of national resistance to military rule began in April 1980, the anniversary of Bhutto’s execution, with pilgrimages to his grave. In 1981 opposition parties came together to form the Movement to Restore Democracy – the Bhutto family, held under arrest, were a focal point for much of the opposition. Students took the initiative in demonstrating, supported openly by academics, doctors and lawyers and less openly by many others. When the regime arrested leaders of the Movement to Restore Democracy, the Movement called for mass strikes and political noncooperation across Pakistan. In 1983 the Movement again launched a mass protest movement, courting arrest. Popular resistance in Sindh spread to other provinces, with the Bar Associations demanding genuine elections. This campaign was not quelled until October 1983, after hundreds had been killed by the army, villages destroyed and crops burned. When in December 1984 Zia held a referendum on his policy of imposing Islamic law, and in March 1985 held an ‘election’ to the National Assembly, in which political campaigning was banned, the Movement called on the people to boycott them. After martial law was ended at the end of 1985 political campaigning by opposition parties, in particular the Pakistan Peoples Party increased. But genuine elections were not granted until after the death of Zia in an air crash in August 1988. Benazir Bhutto, Zulfikar’s daughter, was elected as prime minister in December 1988.

These campaigns against military rule have not received much attention in the west, books on Pakistan tend to focus entirely on government actions and on political leaders, but a few relevant books are listed below.  

345. Ali, Tariq, Pakistan: Military Rule or People’s Power, London, Jonathan Cape, 1970.

The first four chapters cover the period 1947 to 1968. Chapters 5-7 (pp. 156-216) discuss the mass revolt from November 1968 to March 1969, which the author compares to the May 1968 Events in France.  

346. Bhutto, Benazir, Daughter of the East: An Autobiography, London, Mandarin, 1989, pp. 402.

A memoir by Bhutto’s daughter, who was central figure in the campaign for democracy in the 1980s, which takes her story up to the period just before the November 1988 elections and her becoming prime minister of Pakistan in December 1988. Although the focus is personal, includes material on the wider political context and on the growing popular resistance.

347. Feldman, Herbert, From Crisis to Crisis: Pakistan 1962-1969, London, Oxford University Press, 1972, pp. 344.  

The main emphasis of this book is on Ayub Khan’s government, but chapter 9 ‘The last phase’ (pp. 237-71) does cover the ‘132 days of uninterrupted disturbances’. Author stresses the rioting and factional violence, but does note the significant role of the urban working classes and the students.  

348. Sobhan, Rehman, ‘Pakistan’s political crisis’, World Today, vol. 24, no. 5 (May 1969), pp. 203-11.  

Examines Zulfikar Bhutto’s style of opposition and growth of popular opposition, especially role of students, in 1968-69.  

349. Wolpert, Stanley, Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan: His Life and Times, New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1993, pp. 378.  

The focus is on Bhutto’s political role and leadership and there is only very brief mention of popular agitation in chapter 7 ‘Winters of his discontent’ (1965-1969), pp. 100-34.  

4. Philippines

The resistance in the Philippines popularized the now widely used term ‘people power’. The authoritarian Marcos regime, established in 1972, faced popular challenge during the early 1980s. The fraudulent parliamentary elections of 1984 prompted mass demonstrations of protest. When Marcos called an election for the presidency in 1986, Cory Aquino, widow of the assassinated opposition leader Benigno Aquino, stood as a candidate. The regime’s rigging of the election to deny her success led to a nonviolent uprising which overthrew Marcos. The role of the armed forces – the Defence Minister Juan Enrile appealed to the army and people to support Aquino – has been much debated. The role of the Catholic Church was also central. Catholic bishops backed Aquino, and when Marcos called on units of the army to attack Enrile’s headquarters, priests and nuns led many thousands of people to prevent their advance.  

The success of the 1986 protests prompted a renewed expression of people power in January 2001. When President Estrada was accused of major corruption and a Senate investigation failed to pursue the charges seriously, tens of thousands took to the streets. In the absence of military support, Estrada rapidly resigned to be replaced by Gloria Macapagel Arroyo.  

a. Resisting Marcos, 1983-86

350. Arillo, Cecilio T., Breakaway: The Inside Story of the Four-Day Revolution in the Philippines, February 22-25 1986, Manila, CTA and Associates, 1986, pp. 288. 

Account focusing primarily on role of military and using extensive military sources, but also discusses role of ‘people power’.  

351. Bello, Walden, ‘From the ashes: The rebirth of the Philippine revolution – a review essay’, Third World Quarterly, vol. 8 no. 1 (January 1986), pp. 258-76.  

Left wing academic discusses sympathetically the role of the left and armed revolution in the countryside, but also explores the ‘legal, semi-legal and clandestine mass struggles in the cities’. Notes the creation by 1975 of a militant workers’ movement and the 1975 year-long wave of over 400 strikes, as well as networks among Catholics, professionals and students.  

352. Bello, Walden, ‘Aquino’s elite populism: initial reflections’, Third World Quarterly, vol. 8 no. 3 (July 1986), pp. 1020-30.  

Observes that Cory Aquino’s movement seen as a third force by the US, though author rebuts US claims to have supported her before the fall of Marcos. Comments that the movement ‘is a genuine populist phenomenon’, with base in urban middle class, and brought onto the streets the lower middle class, unemployed workers and shanty town residents. Aquino avoided ties to the left and did not need them to win the election, though – Bello claims – the left had paved the way for her ultimate success.  

353. Cortright, David and Max Watts, Left Face: Soldier Unions and
Resistance Movements in Modern Armies, Westport CT, Greenwood Press, 1991.  

In the chapter ‘The Philippines: Another Portugal?’, pp. 220-28, the authors challenge the view that the Reformed Armed Forces Movement was ever a revolutionary movement, suggest that Enrile was seeking power, and conclude:‘The primary thrust for the overthrow of Marcos and the installation of Cory Aquino came from the people themselves, notably the church and the middle classes’.  

354. Elwood, Douglas J., Philippines Revolution 1986: Model of Nonviolent Change, Quezon City, Philippines, New Day Publishers, 1986, pp. 60.  

Includes material on role of local peace movement, nonviolent training and a 1983 statement on ‘creative nonviolence’.  

355. Fenton, James, ‘The snap revolution’, Granta, 18 (1986), pp. 33-155.  

Eyewitness account  

356. Johnson, Bryan, The Four Days of Courage: The Untold Story of the People Who Brought Marcos Down, New York, Free Press, 1987, pp. 290.  

Emphasis on role of military and Catholic Church.  

357. Komisar, Lucy, Corazon Aquino: The Story of a Revolution, New York, George Brazillier, 1987, pp. 290.  

Discusses role of Benigno Aquino and Corazon Aquino’s involvement in politics; pp. 105-23 focus on mutiny and popular protests.  

358. Mercado, Monina Allarey (ed.), People Power: An Eyewitness History: The Philippine Revolution of 1986, Manilla, J.B. Reuter, 1986 and New York, Writers and Readers Publishing, 1987. Preface and scenarios by Francisco S. Tatad. pp. 320.  

359. Pascual, Dette, ‘Organizing “People Power” in the Philippines’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 1 no. 1 (Winter 1990), pp. 102-109.  

Brief but illuminating account by the founder and chair of the National Women’s Movement for the Nurturance of Democracy in the Philippines of the role played by her organization and two other civil society groups with which she was involved between 1983 and 1986.  

360. Schwenk, Richard L., Onward Christians! Protestants in the Philippines Revolution, Quezon City, New Day Publishers, 1986, pp. 102.  

Examines role of various Protestant groups and stresses Christian basis of nonviolence.  

361. Thompson, Mark R, The Anti-Marcos Struggle: Personalistic Rule and Democratic Transition in the Philippines, New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1995, pp. 225.  

362. Zunes, Stephen Z, ‘The origins of people power in the Philippines’, in Zunes et al (eds), Nonviolent Social Movements, pp. 129-57 (A.1.).  

See also: Ackerman and Duvall, A Force More Powerful, pp. 369-95; Diokno, Maria Serena I in Martin et al, Nonviolent Struggle and Social Defence, pp. 24-29; Schock, Unarmed Insurrections, pp. 68-90; Sharp et al, Waging Nonviolent Struggle, pp. 23944, and Thompson, Democratic Revolutions, pp. 18-34, ‘The Puzzle of the Philippine “People Power”’, and pp. 35-50, comparing Aquino, Bhutto, Suu Kyi and other Asian women leaders of democractic revolutions. (A.1.).  

b. Challenging Estrada, 2001

363. ‘Documents on democracy: Philippines’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 12 no. 2 (April 2001), pp. 184-85.  

Excerpts from inaugural address of Gloria Macapagel Arroyo.  

364. Labrador, M.C., ‘The Philippines in 2001: High drama, a new president and setting the stage for recovery’, Asian Survey, vol. 42 no. 1 (Jan/Feb 2002), pp. 141-49.  

365. Lande, Carl H., ‘The return of “people power” to the Philippines’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 12 (April 2001), pp. 88-102.  

Discusses the continuing problems of Philippine democracy and the role of an elite above the law.

366. Macapagal, Maria Elizabeth and Jasmin Nario Galace, ‘Social psychology of People Power II in the Philippines’, Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, vol. 9 no. 3 (2003), pp. 219-33.

Includes assessment of nonviolence.

367. Mitchell, M. ‘Shut out of people power’, Far Eastern Economic Review, vol. 164 no. 5 (8 February 2001), pp. 22-23.  

Comments on leftist groups seeking support from the poor majority.  

368. Reid, Ben, ‘The Philippine democratic uprising and the contradictions of neoliberalism: EDSA II’. Third World Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 5 (2001), pp. 777-93.  

Analysis of Estrada regime and the protests that led to the overthrow of Estrada and his replacement by Gloria Aroyo – EDSA stands for Epifanco de los Santos, the location of both 1986 and 2001 uprisings. The article is also a critique of western commentators who deplore the popular uprising, and an attack on a neoliberal conception of democracy. The author concludes that the 2001 rebellion was ultimately an elite controlled process, transferring power to a different faction of the elite, but also a model of popular mobilization and empowerment.  

5. Taiwan, 1970s and 1980s

As Chiang Kai-shek was driven out of mainland China by the Communists in the late 1940s, he consolidated Kuomintang rule over Taiwan (Formosa), whilst looking to the future reunification of China on KMT terms. From the end of 1949 until the mid1980s Taiwan was effectively ruled by a one-party dictatorship with the help of martial law. It was also the rule of mainland Chinese over native Taiwanese. In 1987, after a year’s discussion, martial law was lifted and the regime, under Chiang Kai-shek’s son, Chiang Ching-kuo, began to take steps towards liberalization, such as easing restrictions on the press, freeing many imprisoned dissidents and allowing opposition parties. The ossified structure of the Leninist-style KMT and the legislature also underwent reform. Democratization could be seen in part as an adjustment to an increasingly prosperous capitalist economy, a response to US pressure and as enlightened reform from above. But it also reflected strong pressure from below, and the regime discussed reforms with leaders of the opposition.

In the early 1970s the changing international context and US recognition of Communist China sparked a major debate among intellectuals and students. After Chiang Kaishek’s death in 1975 there was renewed intellectual ferment, and dissent intensified after the KMT tried in 1977 to rig the election of a local magistrate against an independent candidate, prompting 10,000 people to attack the local police station. National opposition, centred on new dissident periodicals, included moderate and Marxist groups, but was spearheaded by the radical ‘Formosa’ group. This wave ended in 1979 when a mass rally in Kaohsiung on December 10, Human Rights Day, was bloodily suppressed, and leaders of ‘Formosa’ jailed.  

During the 1980s, however, a moderate opposition regrouped and used the loophole of independent individual candidacies for elections to gain electoral support, won seats for the wives of jailed dissidents and other independents, and laid the basis for an opposition party. Growing liberalization after 1986 encouraged marches, demonstrations, strikes and boycotts on a range of political, economic and environmental issues, and between July 1987 and July 1988 there were over 1,400 reported protests, many by students, workers and farmers.  

369. Cheng Tun-jen and Stephen Haggard, ‘Taiwan in transition’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 1 no. 2 (Spring 1990), pp. 62-74.  

Discusses models of democratization, opting for an emphasis on processes rather than preconditions. Examines rather dismissively role of protest in 1970s but notes evolving opposition in the 1980s and concludes that although 1986 did not mark a Philippine-style people power transition it was a ‘tacit negotiation’ between the regime and the opposition. Tun-jen Cheng provides a similar analysis in ‘Democratizing the quasi-Leninist regime in Taiwan’, World Politics vol. 41 (July 1989), pp. 471-99.  

370. Chou Yangsun and Andrew J. Nathan, ‘Democratizing transition in Taiwan’, Asian Survey, vol. 27 no. 3 (March 1987), pp. 277-99.  

371. Kaplan, John, The Court Martial of the Kaohsiung Defendants, Berkeley CA, Berkeley University Press, 1981, pp. 79.  

372. Long, Simon, Taiwan: China’s Last Frontier, Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1991, pp. 264.  

After sketching in Taiwan’s earlier history and the evolution of the KMT, chapter 3 describes Taiwan’s political development up to 1986 including a brief summary of the birth of opposition (pp. 66-72). Chapter 8 looks at political reform from 1986-89, the founding of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party and the rise in protest.  

373. Roy, Denny, Taiwan: A Political History, Ithaca NY, Cornell University Press, 2003, pp. 255.  

Chapter 6 examines the opposition’s struggle and breakthrough.  

6. Thailand, Demanding Democracy 1973 and 1992

Thailand has suffered frequent intervention by the military in politics: since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932 Thai history has been marked by a series of coups. Popular opposition began to contest this pattern: mass protests led by students in 1973 led to the fall of the existing military dictatorship. But military influence in politics was not at an end.

After a military-dominated government seized power in February 1991, a renewed popular campaign for democracy began in early 1992, which crystallized round the demand that General Suchinda resign as Prime Minister. Nonviolent resistance began in April with a hunger strike by a prominent politician and continued with weeks of popular demonstrations and public assemblies demanding democracy. When moves to resolve the crisis within parliament failed, hundreds of thousands gathered to protest on May 15. The government violently suppressed the demonstration, killing a minimum of 52 protesters, but General Suchinda was forced to resign and new elections were held in September 1992 leading to a coalition government headed by a civilian. Thailand has not had any coups since then.  

374. Boonyarattanasoontorn, Jaturang and Gawin Chutima (eds.), Thai NGOs: The Continuing

Struggle for Democracy, Bangkok, Thai NGO Support Project, 1995, pp. 188.  

375. Callahan, William A., Imagining Democracy: Reading ‘The Events of May’ in Thailand, Singapore and London, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1998, pp. 199.  

376. Hewison, Kevin (ed.), Political Change in Thailand: Democracy and Participation, London, Routledge, 1997, pp. 301.  

The book is an overview of society and politics in Thailand. The Introduction briefly discusses the background to May 1992. The chapter by Andrew Brown ‘Locating working class power’ (pp. 163-78) challenges the mainstream interpretation of May 1992 as an expression of the increased power of the middle class and civil society groups, which demonstrated the absence of working class power. He suggests commentators have an oversimplified model of united working class action.  

377. Moncrieff, Anthony, ‘Thailand: staggering back to democracy’, World Today,

vol. 48 no. 3 (March 1992), pp. 48-50; and ‘Thailand’s slow march to democracy’, World Today, vol. 49 no. 3 (March 1993), pp. 56-59.  

378. Paisal, Sridaradhanya (ed.), Catalyst for Change: Uprising in May, Bangkok, Post Publishing, 1992, pp. 116.  

379. Paribatra, Sukhumbhand, ‘State and society in Thailand: How fragile the democracy?’, Asian Survey, vol. 33 (September 1993), pp. 879-93.  

380. Samudavanija, Chai-Anan ‘Thailand’ in Philip G. Altbach, Student Political Activism: An International Reference Handbook, Westport CT, Greenwood Press, 1989, pp. 185-96.  

Covers student activism in the 1960s and 1970s.  

381. Sivaraska, Sulak, Loyalty Demands Dissent: Autobiography of a Socially Engaged Buddhist, Berkeley CA, Parallax Press, 1998, pp. 248.  

Sivaraska (who is close to the Vietnamese Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh) is a prominent social critic, who dared to compare the military to ‘termites’. He edits the journal Seeds of Peace, which comments on problems in the region.  

See also Sharp et al, Waging Nonviolent Struggle, pp. 299-314; Schock, Unarmed Insurrections, pp. 125-41, and Satha-Anand, Chaiwat, ‘Imagery in the 1992 nonviolent uprising in Thailand’ in Zunes et al (eds.), Nonviolent Social Movements, pp. 158-73 (A.1.). 

III. Europe

After the end of the Second World War, Western Europe was generally seen as a bulwark of liberal democracy. There were however notable exceptions. Both Spain and Portugal (which had not taken part directly in the war) continued to be ruled until the 1970s by dictatorships dating from the 1930s. Spain moved peacefully towards parliamentary democracy after Franco’s death in 1975, but there had been significant dissent and protest since the 1940s, mostly (with the exception of the Basque guerrilla movement ETA) nonviolent (see below). Portugal, on the other hand, moved towards parliamentary democracy (after a period of revolutionary turmoil) as a result of a widely popular military coup d’etat in 1974, when supporters placed carnations in the guns of the soldiers on guard in the streets. The military, disillusioned by having to fight brutal colonial wars in Africa, had, even before 1974, been at the forefront of opposing both dictatorship at home and continuing colonial rule abroad, although there was evidence of civilian resistance, especially in the form of worker strikes. Portugal is not included as a separate section in this bibliography, but is an interesting example of the military acting on behalf of the people, and of a coup d’etat igniting mass popular action. See:

382. de Figueiredo, Antonio, Fifty Years of Dictatorship, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1975, pp. 261; and Insight on Portugal, by Sunday Times Insight Team, London, Andre Deutsch, 1975, pp. 273.  

383. Harman, Chris, The Fire Last Time: 1968 and After, London, Bookmarks, 1988 (2nd edition 1998), pp. 410.  

Chapter 13 ‘Portugal: the revolution that wilted’, recounts from a revolutionary socialist perspective the extraordinary ferment of 1974-75, a period of ‘dual power’ between radical workers going on strike and occupying their workplaces and the provisional government and increasing polarization between left and right.  

The third country which did not achieve a genuine and stable liberal democracy until the later 1970s was Greece, which moved from rightwing authoritarianism to temporary liberal government (1963-65), to harsh military rule from 1967-1974. The struggle against dictatorship was predominantly nonviolent.  

France, racked by its colonial wars in Indo China and then in Algeria, was threatened by rations and a token general strike, and by the authority of General de Gaulle, who eventually extricated France from Algeria. See: Adam Roberts, ‘Civil resistance to military coups’, Journal of Peace Research (A.1.). But after the collapse of the Fourth Republic, de Gaulle imposed semi-authoritarian rule in 1958, creating a new constitution enshrining Presidential dominance over parliament. The student ferment of 1968 came closer in France than any other West European country to turning into a genuine revolution and almost toppled de Gaulle (see the New Left, G.2).  

Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the end of the Cold War, Eastern Europe and states formerly within the Soviet Union have achieved the transition to liberal democracy with very varying degrees of success. Serb oppression of the Albanian majority in the Kosovo region prompted prolonged nonviolent resistance before a minority resorted to guerrilla warfare. Recent examples of people power against authoritarian rule come from Serbia (2000), Georgia (2003) and the Ukraine (2004), although there are doubts whether all, or any, of these should be celebrated uncritically as expressions of popular democracy. For a comparative analysis of these three cases and the conditions for success see:  

384. McFaul, Michael, ‘Transitions from Postcommunism’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 16, no. 3 (July 2005), pp. 5-19.  

One authoritarian regime in a European ex-Soviet republic which has not (yet) experienced a people power revolution is Belarus. But there is a significant dissident movement among intellectuals and young people grouped round Charter 97, Zubr (Bison) committed to nonviolence, and other organizations. Commemoration of Chernobyl in April 2005 resulted in large scale arrests. Although Amnesty International regularly reports on arrests and beatings of dissidents and silencing of human rights protesters, Belarus is not well covered in the west. But see:  

385. Stoppard, Tom, ‘Accidental tyranny’, Guardian (Review), (October 5 2005), pp. 4-6.  

1. Former Yugoslavia After 1990

From 1990, a combination of a changing international context at the end of the Cold War, economic crisis inside Yugoslavia and nationalist tensions promoted by politicians in the individual republics within Yugoslavia, led to the dissolution of the Federation. The breakdown started with the relatively painless secession of Slovenia, followed by bloody wars over the secession of Croatia and the future of Bosnia Hercegovina. The map of Yugoslavia was redrawn by the Dayton Accords of 1995, which left Kosovo as a province of Serbia, until increasing repression by the Serbian government and growing Albanian popular resistance led to crisis and NATO military intervention in late 1999. Despite the widespread use of military power and atrocities against civilians, this period also saw examples of impressive nonviolent popular resistance in Kosovo and in Serbia. How far western powers were pursuing their own interests in the Balkans, and gave active support to popular resistance is an important political question, but certainly does not nullify the significance of civilian resistance.  

To understand the context of campaigns in different parts of the former Yugoslavia, a number of titles on the disintegration of Yugoslavia as a whole are included.  

386. Glenny, Misha, The Fall of Yugoslavia: The Third Balkan War, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1992, pp. 194.  

Account by BBC Central Europe correspondent.  

387. Magas, Branka, The Destruction of Yugoslavia: Tracking the break-up 1980-1992, London, Verso, 1993, pp. 336.  

A compendium of essays and interviews commenting on events in the 1980s and 1990s, drawing on close contacts with social activists.  

388. Ramet, Sabrina P., Balkan Babel: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia from the Death of Tito to the Fall of Milosevic, 4th edition, Boulder CO, Westview Press, 2002, pp. 426.  

Frequently cited analysis.  

389. Silber, Laura and Allan Little, The Death of Yugoslavia, London, Penguin Books/ BBC Books, 1995, pp. 400.  

390. Thompson, Mark, A Paper House: The Ending of Yugoslavia, London, Hutchinson Radius/Vintage, 1992, pp. 288.  

The author, associated in 1980s with European Nuclear Disarmament movement, is closer to the perspective of groups committed to nonviolence than other writers on this topic.  

a. Serbia, Resisting Milosevic 1996-2000

After the end of the war in Bosnia in 1995, a range of groups inside Serbia (including students and intellectuals and extreme nationalists) began to rally against the increasingly authoritarian and corrupt regime of Milosevic. There were daily mass demonstrations in the winter 1996-97 over rigging of town hall elections. The student group OTPOR played an important role in planning resistance in 2000, but the miners and mass involvement were decisive in the final days leading to the fall of Milosevic. The most detailed account of the fall (hard to obtain outside Belgrade) is:

 October 5 – A 24-hour Coup, Media Center Belgrade (Press Documents), 2000, pp. 315, which is based on interviews with 60 people and includes photos and map of Belgrade.  

391. Cohen, Lenard J., Serpent in the Bosom: The Rise and Fall of Slobodan Milosevic, Boulder CO, Westview, 2001, pp. 438.  

Assesses Milosevic’s role in Yugoslav and Serbian politics from 1980 to his overthrow.  

392. Hudson, Kate, Breaking the South Slav Dream: The Rise and Fall of Yugoslavia, London, Pluto Press, 2003, pp. 192.  

Account of fall of Milosevic, pp. 138-51, stresses US aid to the opponents of Milosevic such as OTPOR, not role of popular protest.  

393. Krnjevic-Miskovic, Damjan de, ‘Serbia’s prudent revolution’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 12 (July 2001), pp. 96-110.  

394. Lebor, Adam, Milosevic: A Biography, London, Bloomsbury, 2002, pp. 386.  

Chapter 24 ‘Toppling Milosevic from Budapest’, pp. 298-312 covers role of OTPOR demonstrations in 2000, but focuses on role of outside powers in toppling Milosevic and of ensuring TV coverage.  

395. Thomas, Robert, Serbia Under Milosevic: Politics in the 1990s, London, Hurst, 1999, pp. 443.  

See especially pp. 263-318 on formation of united opposition and mass protests from March 1996 to Feburary 1997. Account goes up to 1998.  

396. Thomspon, Mark R. and Philipp Kuntz, ‘Stolen elections: The case of the Serbian October’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 15, no. 4 (October 2003), pp. 159-72.  

Analysis of the Milosevic regime and the reasons for the October 2000 uprising, plus brief reflections on links between stolen elections and democratic revolutions in the the Philippines 1986, Madagascar 2002 and Georgia 2003. Useful references to other literature.  

397. US Institute of Peace, Whither the Bulldozer? Nonviolent Revolution and the Transition to Democracy in Serbia, Washington DC, USIP Special Report 72, 2001, pp. 12 (downloadable from http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr72.html). 

Based in part on a conference held in Belgrade with the USIP and the Belgrade Helsinki Committee for Human Rights.  

398. Women in Black, Women for Peace, Belgrade, Yearbook, published in English, Spanish and Serbian since 1994.  

Resistance to Serbia’s wars and support for Serb militias in Bosnia.  

See also Sharp et al, Waging Nonviolent Struggle, pp. 315-39; and Thompson, Democratic Revolutions, pp. 84-98, (A.1.).  

b. Kosovo, Resisting Serbian Oppression 1988-98

Kosovo, with a large and growing Albanian population suspected of separatist leanings, suffered serious repression in Tito’s Yugoslavia until 1966, when the powers of the Yugoslav political police were significantly curbed. The province of Kosovo within Serbia then enjoyed greater political autonomy, and Albanians had greater cultural rights until the 1980s, when there were signs of increasing tension between the (minority) Serbs and Albanians within Kosovo, and between the Serbian regime and the province. This Serbian nationalism was translated into a policy of oppressing the Albanians and suppressing their institutions from 1988. There was an impressive predominantly nonviolent mass struggle by the Albanian population from 1988 to 1998. But a group committed to guerrilla warfare (the Kosovo Liberation Army) began attacks in 1996 which led to a Serbian military offensive involving brutal retaliation in 1998, international condemnation of Serb actions and NATO bombing of Serb forces and Serbia in 1999.  

For an insightful series of essays, which may not, however, be easily available, see:
Maliqi, Shkelzen, Kosova: Separate Worlds: Reflections and Analyses, Peja/Pec, Dukagjini, 1998, pp. 261.  

399. Clark, Howard, Civil Resistance in Kosovo, London, Pluto, 2000, pp. 266.  

This study, whilst explaining the historical and political context of the civil resistance, focuses primarily on the strategy, institutions and weaknesses of the nonviolent struggle.  

400. Kostovicova, D. Parallel Worlds: Response of Kosovo Albanians to Loss of Autonomy in Serbia, Keele European Research Centre, 1997, pp. 109.  

Kostovicova’s commentaries also appeared frequently in the on-line journal Transitions: http://www.tol.cz  

401. Maliqi, Shkelzen, ‘The Albanian movement in Kosova’ in David A. Dyker and Ivan Vejvoda, Yugoslavia and After: A Study in Fragmentation, Despair and Rebirth, London, Longman, 1996, pp. 138-54.  

402. Mertus, Julie, Kosovo: How Truths and Myths Started a War, Berkeley CA, University of California Press, 1999, pp. 378.  

Interviews with both Serbs and Albanians about key events in the escalation from 1981 to an alleged ‘poisoning’ in 1990 are juxtaposed with a written history. See also:
Mertus, Julie, ‘Women in Kosovo: Contested terrains – the role of national identity in shaping and challenging gender identity’ in Sabrina P. Ramet (ed.), Gender Politics in the Western Balkans, University Park PA, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999, pp. 171-86.  

403. Waller, Michael, Kyril Drezov and Bulent Gokay (eds.), Kosovo the Politics of Delusion, London, Frank Cass, 2001, pp. 190.  

Main focus on developments after 1996, the role of the Kosovo Liberation Army and the NATO war on Serbia (including documents such as the Rambouillet Text and UN Security Council Resolution of June 1999). But chapter 2 (pp. 11-19) discusses Albanian schooling in Kosovo 1992-1998, and chapter 18 ‘The limitation of violent intervention’ raises questions about nonviolent alternatives.  

2. Georgia, Challenging ‘Rigged’ Elections 2003

After the break-up of the Soviet Union many of the former republics faced multiple problems. Georgia inherited a legacy of widespread corruption from the Soviet era, and immediately after independence suffered two bitter ethnic conflicts when in 1990 the Ossetian region tried to break away and in 1993 Abkhazian separatists claimed the strategically vital area on the Black Sea. The first elected President of independent Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was overthrown by the military in 1992 and Gorbachev’s former Foreign Minister, Edvard Shevardnadze took over. He won an election in October 1992, but faced continuing civil war with the supporters of Gamsakhurdia based in western Georgia.

Georgia has strong economic and political links to Russia, but the US took an increasing interest in the region after 2001, both because of its commitment to extend its strategic reach and because of the planned gas and oil pipelines from Baku to run through Georgia and Turkey to the Mediterranean. When parliamentary elections were held in November 2003 opposition parties and foreign observers claimed that they were rigged, and thousands blocked the streets of the capital, halted traffic and then occupied the parliament building. Some army units offered support. After intensive negotiations Shevardnadze agreed to resign from the presidency, and in the elections of January 2004 the main leader of the protests, Mikhail Saakashvili, who had connections in the USA, won a landslide victory. Kmara (Enough), one of the activist groups in the ‘rose revolution’, had had close contacts with their Serbian counterparts in OTPOR (which has some official US backing). Western observers debated how far it was an inspiring example of people power (Saakashvili stressed the need for nonviolence), how far it undermined parliamentary constitutionalism, and how far it was a victory for the Bush Administration.  

404. Broers, Laurence, ‘“After the Revolution”: Civil society and the challenges of consolidating democracy in Georgia’, Central Asian Survey, vol. 24 no. 3 (2005), pp. 333-50.  

Analysis of the revolution including some mention of nonviolence.  

405. Cohen, Jonathan, ‘Georgia: Changing the Guard’, World Today, vol. 60 no. 1 (January 2004), pp. 16-17.  

Summarizes political background of the ‘semi-constitutional coup that accompanied an orchestrated mass demonstration of people power’.  

406. Fairbanks, Charles H., ‘Georgia’s Rose Revolution’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 15 (April 2004), pp. 110-24.  

Explains background to the demonstrations, and elaborates on the role of the US government in relation to the elections, and of the George Soros’ Open Society Foundation in funding opposition and promoting nonviolent protest. Comments also on the role of TV stations owned by private entrepreneurs.  

407. Karumidze, Zurab and James V. Wertsch (eds.), Enough! The Rose Revolution in the Republic of Georgia, New York, Nova Science Publishers, 2005, pp. 143.  

This book features interviews with a number of Georgian political figures. Most of its contents are reproduced from the Spring 2004 issue of Caucasus Context, also published by Nova Science Publishers. The editors of the journal edited this book.  

408. Khidasheli, Tinatin, ‘Georgia: The Rose Revolution has wilted’, International Herald Tribune, 8 December, 2004.  

The chair of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association assesses Saakashvili’s record in office, noting his consolidation of presidential powers and attacks on press freedom.  

409. Nodia, Ghia ‘The meaning of Georgia’s latest revolution’, Caucasus Context, vol.1 no. 1 (Spring 2004), pp. 67-76.  

410. ‘Special report: The Caucasus’, Economist, 29 November 2003, pp. 23-25.  

Assesses why opposition successful in Georgia, but not in Armenia and Aberzaijan, and discusses geopolitical and economic context of Georgian politics.  

For sources on the web: The International Crisis Group, ‘Georgia: What Now?’, Europe Report No. 151 (December 3 2003) gives background to crisis and makes recommendations. The ICG has also published later reports on: www.crisisgroup.org  

3. Greece, Resisting the Colonels, 1967-74

At the end of the Second World War Greece was plunged into a civil war between the Communists and the right. Britain and the USA intervened to ensure the Communists were defeated, and supported the creation of a political system in which, though there was a facade of parliamentary democracy, the monarchy, the security services and the military had significant influence, suppressed dissent and upheld right wing values. The Communist Party was banned. But by 1963 liberal and left wing groupings began to gain ground both through popular protest and parliamentary elections. In April 1963 a nonaligned peace group, the Bertrand Russell Committee, organized a march from Marathon to Athens. The Karamanlis government feared that, in the wider context of worker unrest, it would become a focus of opposition to the regime, banned the march and arrested the organizers. Police beat up over a thousand of those who tried nevertheless to demonstrate. Grigoris Lambrakis, a United Democratic Left Party deputy, who had parliamentary immunity, completed the march alone. A month later he was assassinated by right wing thugs. His funeral turned into a peaceful mass demonstration and when it was eventually revealed that the Salonika police had assisted the assassination, the Palace forced Karamanlis out of office. New elections in November 1963 brought George Papandreou’s Centre Left government to power. This created a context for legal demonstrations – 500,000 people gathered at Marathon in April 1964 to commemorate Lambrakis. The Greek left and peace movement also received transnational support, for example from the British Committee of 100 which, together with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, demonstrated against the Greek King’s visit to London in 1963.  

But in July 1965 the King dismissed Papandreou, responding to rightwing fears about the neutralist tendencies of the government – especially the influence of George’s son Andreas, and appointed a more right wing prime minister. Popular protest then grew, including strikes for higher wages and anti-monarchist agitation. To forestall new elections and the possibility of the re-election of George Papandreou, sections of the military organized a coup in April 1967. The Colonels, led by George Papadopoulos, dissolved all political parties and imposed censorship. The King, after an abortive counter coup attempt, fled abroad in December 1967.  

The Colonels’ dictatorship, which lasted from April 1967 to July 1974, brought intense pressure on people to conform, for example by displaying portraits of Papadopoulos, and savagely repressed dissent. Suspected opponents were routinely tortured, and even distributing leaflets carried a prison sentence of several years. Some opponents responded by trying to assassinate the leaders of the military coup and planting bombs. But most of the resistance was either hidden, for example ‘go slows’ by civil servants, or at the level of writing up slogans and distributing leaflets. Underground political organization, including an underground press, rapidly developed. The coup united intellectuals from the left and the right for the first time since the Civil War. But the first major public demonstration occurred at the funeral for George Papandreou in November 1968, when up to 500,000 people defied martial law and shouted slogans. A smaller protest of about 100,000 took place at the funeral of Nobel Prize winning poet George Seferis in September 1971.  

International pressure resulted in some relaxation of censorship from 1970, but harassment of suspected opponents continued. Students were particularly active in resisting the regime throughout, and undertook sustained agitation in 1973 in Athens and the provinces, culminating in the student occupation of the Athens Polytechinic in November 1973. They broadcast appeals for public support and thousands, including workers, demonstrated in response. The Colonels then turned tanks and guns on the students, killing scores, wounding hundreds and arresting about 7000. This confrontation was followed by an internal coup ousting Papadopoulos. Soon afterwards the new regime brought Greece to the verge of war with Turkey over Cyprus, and sections of the military stepped in to oust the junta. They recalled Karamanlis to become Prime Minister and set in train the revival of parliamentary democracy.  

The literature on the opposition to the Colonels includes both analysis by academic experts on Greek politics and accounts by key individuals involved. Much was published before the events of 1973, but later accounts do cover the student resistance.  

411. ’Athenian’, Inside the Colonels’ Greece, London, Chatto and Windus, 1972, pp. 215. Translated and introduced by Richard Clogg.  

The author, writing from inside Greece, outlines the background to the coup, going back to the 1930s, and analyses the nature of the regime. See especially chapter 8. ‘The great fear’, pp. 123-31, and chapter 9, ‘The resistance’, pp. 132-44.  

412. Clogg, Richard and George Yannopoulos (eds.), Greece under Military Rule, London, Secker and Warburg, 1972.  

See especially chapter 3, ‘The ideology of the revolution of 21 April 1967’, pp. 36-58; chapter 4, ‘The Colonels and the press’, pp. 59-74; chapter 8, ‘Culture and the military’, pp. 148-62, which includes materials on censorship and repression and on forms of intellectual resistance, such as circulating ‘samizdat’, and liberal protests and manifestos; and chapter 9, ‘The state of the opposition forces since the military coup’, pp. 163-90.  

413. Papandreou, Andreas, Democracy At Gunpoint: The Greek Front, London, Andre Deutsch, 1971, revised edition (published New York, Doubleday 1970), pp. 338.  

Part one covers the coup and Papandreou’s arrest and subsequent exile, part 2 explains political developments from the Civil War to the Coup, and part 3 focuses on ‘The struggle for freedom’, including international pressures on the regime.  

414. Theodorakis, Mikis, Journals of Resistance, London, Hart-Davis MacGibbon, 1973. Translated from the French.  

Theodorakis, widely known for his music (banned by the Colonels), was a prominent member of the broad-based Patriotic Front Movement created in May 1967 to oppose the junta. Like hundreds of other members he was arrested. This book recounts his successive arrests, internment and imprisonment, until external intervention secured his release from a prison hospital in 1970.  

415. Vlachos, Helen (ed.), Free Greek Voice, London, Doric Publications, 1971, pp. 168.  

Helen Vlachos, who refused to publish her right wing paper Kathimerini after the coup, was arrested for publishing an article critical of the regime abroad. She also wrote an account of her experience in House Arrest, London, Andre Deutsch, 1970, pp. 158.  

416. Woodhouse, C.M., The Rise and Fall of the Greek Colonels, London, Granada, 1985, pp. 192.  

Political overview, including relations with the USA. Chapter 3 ‘Resistance and reaction: April-December 1967’, pp. 33-48, covers early opposition to the regime. Chapter 10 gives detail on ‘The students’ revolt: November 1973’, pp. 126-41.  

See also Harman, The Fire Last Time, pp. 305-10, which gives some weight to the 1973 Polytechnic rebellion (cited in Introduction to D.III).  

4. Spain, Resisting Franco up to 1975

After the bitter and bloody civil war of 1936-39, Franco’s regime subjected the defeated republicans to severe repression and many thousands fled into exile (especially into France). Renewed resistance in the form of guerrilla fighting and major strikes organized by clandestine groups flared up in 1946-47, but was decisively crushed. In the longer term, however, the Francoist regime began to change, moving after 1957 from economic autarky and a Fascist Falangist ideal of an agricultural society towards incorporation into western capitalist development. In 1962 Spain applied to join the EEC, giving opposition intellectuals an opportunity to set out in the ‘Munich Manifesto’ the political reforms required to make Spain an acceptable member of the European Community.  

From the 1960s there was both some reduction in poverty, as sectors of society benefited from economic growth and tourism, and a degree of liberalization. Many political prisoners had been released in a series of amnesties, and some discreet dissent was tolerated. Although the regime still harshly repressed any active forms of dissent, worker and student resistance grew. There was a wave of strikes and student demonstrations in 1956, and 1962 saw the biggest strike since the Civil War, led by the miners of Asturias; students joined the protests. Throughout the 1960s, and with added momentum in the early 1970s, workers engaged in wild cat strikes (all strikes were officially illegal and workers were controlled by the fascist-style syndicates). Alongside underground trade unions, workers’ committees bridging old ideological divides sprang up to organize the strikes and infiltrate the official syndicates. Student protest increased and intellectuals also engaged more openly in dissent. Apart from the Basque country, where ETA developed its long running campaign of guerrilla warfare, opposition groups relied primarily on nonviolent tactics (although

demonstrations quite often erupted into street battles, sometimes with the right wing Falangists). After Franco’s death in November 1975 Spain began its transition to democracy, holding free elections in 1977, which the previously underground opposition parties contested legally.  

Most of the literature on the Franco regime and opposition to it is of course in Spanish, including the most comprehensive book on the opposition: Harmut Heine, La oposicion al franquismo, Critica, 1983. But there are a number of English language studies of Francoism which give some weight to the growing opposition from the 1950s to 1975.  

417. Balfour, Sebastian, Dictatorship, Workers and the City: Labour in Greater Barcelona Since 1939, Oxford, Clarendon, 1989, pp. 290.  

Analysis of labour resistance to Franco up to 1975, examining Barcelona in context of Spanish politics and labour movement.  

418. Blaye, Edouard de, Franco and the Politics of Spain, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1976, pp. 576.  

Comprehensive and well informed, see especially chapter 18 ‘The Oppositions’, pp. 490-513.  

419. Carr, Raymond and Juan Pablo Fusi, Spain: Dictatorship to Democracy, London, Allen and Unwin, 2nd edition 1981, pp. 288.  

See especially chapter 7, ‘From “Conformism” to Confrontation’, pp. 134-67, which covers not only

regional, worker and student resistance, but also changes within the Catholic Church; and chapter 9 ‘The regime in crisis: Carrero Blanco and Arias Navarro 1969-1975’, pp. 189-206.  

420. Preston, Paul, The Triumph of Democracy in Spain, London, Routledge, 1986, pp. 274.  

See chapter 1, ‘Internal contradictions of Francoism 1939-69’ which covers some of the major strikes and mass demonstrations, and chapters 2 & 3 on the Carrero Blanco years 1969-73 and the Arias Navarro government of 1974-76. Preston is a leading British expert on Spanish politics. For political developments from 1939 to 1975 see also: Paul Preston (ed.), Spain in Crisis: Evolution and Decline of the Franco Regime, Hassocks, Harvester Press, 1976, pp. 341.  

421. Welles, Benjamin, Spain: The Gentle Anarchy, London, Pall Mall Press, 1965, pp. 386.  

Welles was an American journalist in Spain. Chapter 7, ‘The Opposition’ pp. 185-228 includes some useful information.  

5. Ukraine, People Power and Elections, 2004-2005

Ukrainian politics since independence in 1991 have been influenced by the division of the country between Ukrainian-speaking western Ukraine, which had been a base for nationalist dissent under the Soviet regime, and eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainians have been absorbed more closely into Russian culture and often speak Russian (there are also quite a few ethnic Russians in this area). This split is closely linked to ideological divisions between those in the east who wish to pursue pro-Moscow policies and resist western-style economic reforms, and those in the west who look to Europe and the USA.  

Ukraine was after 1991 governed by former Communist leaders who espoused nationalism. Under pressure from opposition parties parliamentary elections were held in 1994, but the government continued to be dominated by a coalition between Communists and financial oligarchs in a corrupt semi-authoritarian regime.  

Initial protests in the Ukraine focused on corruption and lack of freedom. In 2000 journalists launched the ‘Wave of Freedom’ protests, starting in the western city of Lvov and developing in Kiev. One of its key organizers, investigative journalist Gyorgy Gongadze, was later found murdered, and secret tape recordings suggested that President Leonid Kuchma had been complicit. An opposition member of parliament, who released the tapes, demanded the President’s impeachment. Demonstrators representing both right wing and leftist parties marched in Kiev in early February 2001 to demand Kuchma’s resignation and set up a protest camp in the centre of the city. The government tore down the camp on March l and was able to suppress the relatively small protests. In April 2001 the prime minister, Viktor Yushchenko, who had been trying to end corruption and introduce controversial economic reforms, was forced from office, whilst thousands of supporters outside demanded the impeachment of Kuchma.  

These issues came to the fore again in November 2004, when Yushchenko, despite an attempt to poison him, stood in the presidential elections to replace Kuchma who was retiring. In the second round of the elections Yushchenko opposed the then prime minister, Viktor Yanukovitch, who was the candidate backed by Kuchma and the government, and who was declared the winner. Yushchenko’s supporters and OSCE observers claimed that the poll was marked by intimidation and ballot rigging and, emulating Georgia a year earlier, thousands of people poured into the streets of Kiev and set up a protest camp, which they maintained for days despite freezing temperatures. Three western Ukrainian cities, where thousands also took to the streets, declared Yushchenko the winner despite the official results. After prolonged protests, parliamentary debates and top-level negotiations (in which President Putin of Russia, who openly backed Yanukovitch, was involved) and a referral to the Supreme Court, a re-run ballot was organized, which Yushchenko won. But Yanukovitch refused to concede defeat, claiming evidence of fraud and he took his case to the central election committee and Supreme Court, which both ruled against him. Despite threats of civil war, serious violence was averted.  

But the protests did demonstrate the deep divisions in the country – pro-Yanukovitch supporters also came to demonstrate in the streets of Kiev and the voting was very close in the re-run ballot. The events also illustrated strong involvement by both Russia and the USA. Although the mainstream western media generally celebrated the ‘orange revolution’ as a victory for democracy, sceptical journalists raised questions about the constitutionality of the protests, western support for Yushchenko, and the integrity of some of his own supporters. After Yushchenko came to power concern was soon expressed that his government was, despite the arrest of two policemen, failing to investigate fully top level complicity in the murder of journalist Gongadze.  

For the historical and political background to Ukraine politics see:  

422. Reid, Anna, Borderland: A Journey Through the Ukraine, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1997 (Phoenix paperback 1998), pp. 258.  

Includes several chapters on Ukraine during the Soviet era, including collectivization and the great hunger of the 1930s, and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the 1980s. Chapter 10 examines post-1991 politics and the nature of the Kuchma regime.  

Since there has been little time for academic articles or books on the ‘orange revolution’ to appear, some sources listed here are from newspapers, which also illustrate a variety of interpretations.  

423. Ackerman, Peter and Jack DuVall, ‘Peaceful protest brings justice to Ukraine’, Chicago Sun-Times (14 December 2004); ‘“People power” wins in Ukraine’, Boston Globe, (26 December 2004); ‘The secret to success in Ukraine’, International Herald Tribune (29 December 2004).  

424. Ash, Timothy Garton, ‘“The country called me” – Ukraine’s newly sovereign society is throwing off the governing mob’, Guardian (9 December, 2004).
See also ‘The $65m question: When, how – and where – should we promote democracy? First we need the facts’, Guardian Weekly, 24 December 2004, p. 13, which suggests six principles that should govern funding for opposition ‘people power’ movements.  

425. Elliot, Iain, ‘Ukraine: Different country, different people’, World Today, vol. 61, no. 1 (January 2005), pp. 15-17.  

426. Kuzio, Taras, ‘The Opposition’s road to success’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 16 (April 2005), pp. 117-30.  

Looks at background of ‘Kuchmagate’ in 2000, and the failure of opposition parties to unite in 2002, whereas they coalesced in 2004. Argues that the revolution revealed the existence of civil society in the Ukraine and that it was mostly funded from within the country. But Kuzio stresses the role of external civil society groups (especially in training the youth group ‘Pora’) and of international election monitors. The neutrality of the security forces and partial defections from their ranks were also crucial.  

427. Steele, Jonathan, ‘Ukraine’s postmodern coup d’etat’, Guardian (26 November 2004).  

Steele’s critical analysis prompted a host of letters representing conflicting viewpoints, some printed in the Guardian on 27 November, and a follow-up article by Steele himself replying to critics on 31 December.  

428. Way, Lucan A, ‘Kuchma’s failed authoritarianism’, Journal of Democracy, vol. 16 (April 2005), pp. 131-45.  

Looks at nature and weaknesses of Kuchma’s regime, the failure of police to prevent demonstrators pouring into Kiev and defections of sections of police, military and intelligence services to opposition after ‘stolen second round’. Way also notes that businesses flocked to Yushchenko in the repeat of the second round on December 26th.  

429. Wilson, Andrew, ‘Ukraine: Wild dances’, World Today, vol. 61, no 4. (April 2005), pp. 19-21.  

On background to December 2004 elections and the nature of the opposition, including the role of Yushchenko in parliamentary elections of March 2002 and government manipulation.  

IV. Latin America

Central and South America have in general an unhappy history of wars, coups d’etat, assassination squads and military dictatorships, and the best known mode of resistance to oppression – at least up the 1970s – has been guerrilla warfare: Castro’s overthrow of Batista in Cuba and the struggle by the Sandanistas against Somoza in Nicaragua are two key examples. Nevertheless, there is also a long tradition of peasant and worker militancy which is predominantly nonviolent. National nonviolent insurrection has also overthrown a number of dictatorships, two impressive examples occurred in El Salvador in April-May 1944 and in Guatemala in June 1944. See:

430. Parkman, Patricia, Insurrectionary Civic Strikes in Latin America 1931-1961, Cambridge MA, Albert Einstein Institution, 1990, pp. 55; see also her Nonviolent Insurrection in El Salvador, Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 1988, pp. 168.  

Catholic activists committed to nonviolence have gained influence since the 1960s, especially through the organization Service for Peace and Justice (SERPAJ) created in 1974, and played a part in promoting the increasing use of nonviolent methods in the last 30 years. (There are numerous SERPAJ websites in Spanish, some also in English translations). However, broad social and political trends, including the growing impact of transnational opinion and solidarity mobilized by the internet, also underlie a turn towards nonviolence since the 1970s. These factors are particularly notable in relation to some of the movements for social justice (see Sections F and G), although economic demands and campaigns for political freedom and democracy sometimes overlap. The literature focused specifically on nonviolence in Latin America is still limited, but many effectively nonviolent campaigns are covered in the broader literature on social movements and resistance.  

For historical background see: Galeano, Eduardo H., Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, New York, Monthly Review Press, 1973, pp. 313.  

For a survey of growing challenge to military rule by the 1980s see: Cammack, Paul and Philip O’Brien (eds.), Generals in Retreat: The Crisis of Military Rule in Latin America, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1985, pp. 208. Papers from International Congress of Americanists held in Manchester in 1982.  

Relevant journals include, The Bulletin of Latin American Research (quarterly) and Revista. Harvard Review of Latin America (three times a year), which brings out issues on specific themes such as ‘Social Justice’ (Spring 1998), ‘Women in Latin America’ (Winter 1998), putting together different voices and giving prominence to Harvard-related research.  

For a wide range of case studies and some individual testimonies, focusing on nonviolence, see:  

431. McManus, Philip and Gerald Schlabach (eds.), Relentless Persistence: Nonviolent Action in Latin America, Philadelphia PA, New Society Publishers, 1991, pp. 312. (Individual essays are also cited in sections below).  

For role of radical Catholics see:  

432. Lernoux, Penny, Cry of the People. The Struggle for Human Rights in Latin America: The Catholic Church in Conflict with US Policy, Garden City NY, Doubleday, 1980; reprinted Harmondsworth, Middlesex, Penguin Books, 1982, pp. 535 (with new preface).  

433. Pagnucco, Ronald and John D. McCarthy, ‘Advocating nonviolent direct action in Latin America: The antecedents and emergence of SERPAJ’ in Zunes et al (eds.), Nonviolent Social Movements, pp. 235-58 (see A.1.); see also, Perez Esquivel, Adolfo, Christ in a Poncho: Testimonies of the Nonviolent Struggle in Latin America, edited by Charles Antoine, Maryknoll NY, Orbis 1983, pp. 139. Perez Esquivel, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980, has been a leading SERPAJ activist in Argentina, and in Latin America generally.  

For the role of women in Latin American protest see:  

434. Radcliffe, Sarah and Sallie Westwood, Viva: Women and Popular Protest in Latin America, London, Routledge, 1995, pp. 270.  

In addition to the countries listed in sections below, nonviolent action under very repressive circumstances has occurred in Colombia and Guatemala. For reports on oppression see America’s Watch (now incorporated into Human Rights Watch) and Amnesty International. The latter has provided some extensive reports on the ‘peace communities’ in Colombia.  

Colombia: There have been heroic attempts by displaced people forming ‘communities of peace’, indigenous and women’s groups to create autonomous spaces and to bring an end to four decades of warfare between guerrillas and successive governments; and there have also been environmental and social justice campaigns.  

An important work available only in Spanish is: Cante, F and I. Ortiz (eds.), Accion Politica No-Violenta: Una opcion para Colombia, Centro de Estudios Politicos e Internacionales, Facultades de Ciencia Politica y Gobierno y de Relaciones Internacionales, Bogota, Centro Editoral Universdad del Rosario, 2005. This includes articles by Gene Sharp, Roger Peterson and Jenny Pearce arguing that nonviolence is not only possible, but the best option. Also includes chapters on indigenous movements in south west Colombia.  

English sources are more limited. But see:  

435. American Friends Service Committee and US Fellowship of Reconciliation, Building from the Inside, Philadelphia PA, AFSC, 2005, pp. 36. (available at: http:// www.afsc.org/colombia/learn-about/default.htm)  

Account of several nonviolent initiatives involving peace communities of displaced people, indigenous, women’s and youth groups. See also: Peace News, no. 2449 (Dec. 2002 – Feb. 2003), Special section on Colombia covering peace communities, indigenous and women’s campaigns and work of the Peace Brigades International.  

436. Laan, E. ‘Citizens take the initiative in Uraba, Colombia: Zone of peace in the heart of a bitter war’, in People Building Peace: 35 Inspiring Stories from around the World, Utrecht, European Centre for Conflict Prevention, 1999, pp. 180-97; and Sanford, Victoria, ‘Peacebuilding in a war zone: The case of Colombia peace communities’, International Peace Keeping, vol. 10, no. 2 (Summer 2003), pp. 107 

18. See also: Accord, the Journal of Conciliation Resources, ‘Alternatives to War: Colombia’s Peace Processes’, edited by Mauricio Garcia-Duran, no. 14 (2004).  

See also Bradford University theses on nonviolence in Colombia (H.c.) and Revista ‘Colombia:

Beyond armed actors: A look at civil society’,(Spring, 2003); net address: (http://drelas.fas.harvard.edu.publications/revista/colombia) 

Guatemala: The people enjoyed 10 years of democratic rule from the civil resistance of 1944 to the CIA-backed overthrow of President Arbenz in 1954, but since then human rights and popular protest have come under savage attack. In recent years this repression has been highlighted by the 1992 award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Rigoberta Menchu, the indigenous woman involved in the struggles of the Peasant Union. See:  

437. Menchu, Rigoberta, I Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala, edited and introduced by Elisabeth Burgos-Debray, London, Verso, 1984, pp. 252.  

438. Ecumenical Program on Central America (EPICA) and Center for Human Rights Legal Action (CHRLA), Out of the Shadows: The Communities of Population in Resistance in Guatemala, Washington DC, EPICA and CHRLA, 1993.  

See also Stanfield, Pablo ‘When spring turned to winter’ in McManus and Schlabach (eds.), Relentless Persistance, pp. 14-32 on earlier post-war period. See also Griffin-Nolan (ed.), Witness for Peace and Mahony and Eguren, Unarmed Bodyguards, especially on accompaniment of returning refugees in 1989 (A.4.).  

A third country not listed separately below, but important to note here is Venezuela. Mass popular resistance by the poor and the left blocked a right-wing military coup in 2002. But President Chavez, who pursues a militant anti-American economic and foreign policy and promotes the interests of the poor, has also been faced by mass demonstrations by the right. Chavez himself is a controversial figure, viewed critically by some on the left as well as by the right. For the broader politics see: Ellner, Steve and Daniel Hellinger (eds.), Venezuelan Politics in the Chavez Era: Class, Polarization and Conflict, Boulder CO, Lynne Rienner, 2003, pp. 257.  

For an analysis of the thwarted two-day coup-attempt see:  

439. McCaughan, Michael, The Battle of Venezuela, London, Latin American Bureau, 2004, pp. 116. See also: Gott, Richard, Hugo Chavez and his Bolivarian Revolution, London, Verso, 2005, pp. 315, which includes a section on the popular uprising following 2002 coup, by an analyst sympathetic to Chavez.  

This section focuses primarily on resisting official and unofficial military repression. For popular land reform movements in Latin America, see section F.1. For the growing number of rebellions against neoliberal capitalism and privatization (sometimes intertwined with others issues) see G.7.b.ii for Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador; and  

G.7.e. for the Zapatistas and other Mexican movements.  

1. Argentina, Resisting the Military Dictatorship, 1977-81

Argentine politics has (until recently) been marked by frequent military coups d’etats. But from 1946-1955 an elected government led by General Peron and his flamboyant wife, Evita, established a distinctive style of populism and a Peronist party. Peron returned to power in 1974, and after his death his new wife Isabella governed until 1976, when a combination of economic chaos and political violence by both the extreme left and extreme right prompted another military coup. This new military government set out to impose order through a ferocious ‘Dirty War’, detaining, torturing and in many cases murdering thousands of supposed leftists, including many students. Up to 30,000 people ‘disappeared’. In this atmosphere of terror some of the mothers of the disappeared began to demonstrate publicly in 1977, and continued to do so until the junta collapsed after losing the 1981 Falklands War. Then the mothers campaigned to bring guilty members of the military regime to justice, and to find their grandchildren born in prison, who had been given to military families. ‘Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo’ inspired the creation of other human rights groups in Argentina, and mothers of the dis