scholarly journals Seeding a New World: Lessons from the FeesMustFall Movement for the Advancement of Social Justice

Author(s):  
Adam Habib

AbstractThe author interrogates the empirical experience of #FeesMustFall—which is extensively detailed in the book Rebels & Rage from which this article flows—with a view to understanding social movements and in turn enhancing the effectiveness of social justice struggles in the future. He discusses the value of social mobilization in effecting change, but demonstrates that this is only sustainable if the protest is structured within certain strategic and ethical parameters. He then proceeds to interrogate the issues of violence, the framing of the struggle and outcomes, the decision-making processes associated with the protest, and the importance of ethical conduct by leaders and activists. He concludes by underscoring the legitimacy of the social justice struggles but insists that these have to be more effectively conducted if they are to culminate in the establishment of a more humane social order.

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernanda Duarte ◽  
Rafael Mario Iorio Filho

AbstractJudicial institutions which provide legal mechanisms for conflict resolution play an important role in maintaining the social order of complex societies. Weaknesses in the performance of their duties can contribute to social conflict developing into outright violence that will be beyond the management of law and the courts. In this sense it is strategic to study the judicial system and the decision-making processes of its judges if one wants to understand the ways conflicts are dealt in a certain place and time. In this article we focus our attention on the role of the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court as custodian of the Constitution and the discourses that its decision-making construct when dealing with human rights issues. Specifically we set out to understand how the opinions of Brazilian Supreme Court Justices are constructed when deciding cases concerning freedom of religion. The timeline considered covers 31 years, from 1988 to 2019, a period that begins with the promulgation of the new constitution in 1988 (which symbolically reinstated democracy in the country after the end of the period of military rule that began in 1964) up to the present day. We begin by presenting the legal definition of freedom of religion in Brazil which constitutes the normative background of the discussion. We then discuss our project, stressing the methodological approach we have adopted and finally we present our data findings. We identified 39 cases in total of which 11 were selected and analyzed using the methodology of Semiolinguistic Discourse Analysis in order to define the semantic field related to freedom of religion in Brazil. Even though the number of cases is not large it is possible to identify some features of Brazilian legal culture which are also recurrent when dealing with religious freedom. One of these features is the absence of consensus-building logic in the Justices’ opinions—we attribute this to what we term the disputatio mindset—which contributes to continuing institutional instability and legal insecurity. Our findings suggest that these Supreme Court decisions frequently lack the strong level of rational consistency that lower courts require if they are to identify clear guiding principles that can control the outcomes of new cases


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 2026-2035
Author(s):  
Emmanuel Ngor NDIAYE

This study explores the postulate studied in Aviva Chomsky’s “They Take our Jobs"! And 20 Other Myths about Immigration. It examines the assumptions and arguments that fuel the public discourse about U.S. immigration. As noted by Chomsky, those arguments are based on myths that should be deconstrued to better understand the rationale behind the anti-immigrant rhetoric which is reflected by stereotypes such as immigrants take American jobs, drain down wages, or represent a threat to the social order and national security. On the basis of these arguments and information drawn from diverse sources, we have shown how from a nation of immigrants, America has become a country where immigrants take American jobs. Thus, the idea of the nation of immigrants refers specifically to immigrants of European ancestry, in particular those from northwestern Europe. The latter, also known as the WASP, represent the American mainstream culture and their hegemony is widespread to the point of influencing other sectors where decision-making processes echo the legacy, the values and expectations of the white community. Starting from these arguments, it can be stated that Anglo-Saxonism is fundamentally based on the domination of other communities and the institutions and ideologies of the United States reflect this reality.


Author(s):  
Sean Peckover ◽  
Aldo Raineri ◽  
Aaron T Scanlan

This study aimed to examine the views of runners regarding their experiences with congestion during running events, including its prevalence, its impact on their safety and satisfaction, and their preferred controls to mitigate congestion. Runners (n = 222) with varied experience participating in running events (1-5+ years, 5-km races to Ultramarathons, and a mixture of road, trail, and cross-country events) completed an electronic survey. The survey was developed to assess the characteristics of respondents, whether they have experienced congestion during running events, the impact of congestion they have experienced during running events on their safety and satisfaction, and their preferred controls for congestion during running events. Survey data indicated runners had experienced some form of congestion prior to the race in the start corrals (93% of respondents), as the race started (97% of respondents), and during the race while running (88% of respondents). In turn, 73% of respondents indicated their experiences with congestion somewhat to extremely (i.e., rating of at least 3 on a 5-point Likert scale) negatively impacted their satisfaction with an event, while 43% of respondents indicated congestion somewhat to extremely negatively impacted their safety during an event. Regarding the impact of congestion on runner safety, 38% of respondents indicated they had slipped, while 27% of respondents indicated they had fallen during running events due to congestion. Further, congestion was attributed to injuries sustained (9%) and not finishing a race due to sustaining an injury (5%) during running events in some respondents. Respondents identified seeding runners based on previous run times (91%), use of wave starts (91%), and designing courses with limited pinch points, U-turns, and narrow paths (89%) as their most preferred controls to mitigate congestion during running events. Respondents resoundingly indicated self-seeding is not an effective method of managing congestion during running events. This study provides novel evidence that congestion is an issue for runners during running events, subsequently diminishing their satisfaction with events and posing safety concerns. In this way, race directors should involve runners in their decision-making processes when implementing appropriate controls to combat congestion for minimising injury risk to runners and ensuring a viable participant base remains attracted to their events in the future.


2011 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 46-56
Author(s):  
ŞEule Taşlı Pektaş ◽  
Bülent Özgüç

This paper re-visits the basic premises of open building: designing for change as well as for stability, including the users in the design decision-making processes, and disentangling the building systems into the levels and allowing replacement; then, addresses the limitations of conventional design media in terms of the capabilities to support these aims. It is discussed that the design media should be predictive, dynamic, and interactive. Virtual prototyping as an enabling technology is reviewed and proposals are made for the future use of this technology for open building design.


Revista Trace ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Isabelle Séguy

A menudo, el nacimiento acompaña a la muerte, perturbando el ciclo de las generaciones y el orden social. La fragilidad biológica de los recién nacidos encuentra un eco en los ritos de presentación que durante mucho tiempo coincidieron con el final de ese período “de riesgo”. Los niños que fallecían en ese período intermedio tenían derecho a recibir tratamientos funerarios particulares, heredados de una representación arcaica de la muerte. En la Europa medieval y moderna, el destino de las almas infantiles siempre fue una preocupación para los padres y para toda la sociedad. A lo largo de los siglos, se redujo el plazo entre el nacimiento y el bautismo, hasta el punto de coincidir con el día del nacimiento, con el fin de asegurar la salvación espiritual de todos los recién nacidos. Para los que fallecían antes del bautismo, se pusieron en práctica algunas soluciones originales para evitar que sus almas vagasen eternamente en el Limbo y para darles una sepultura decente.Abstract: Often, birth alternates with death, disrupting the cycle of generations and social order. Family and social behavior to welcome the newborns spread out their biological frailty. For a long time, rites surrounding the social introduction of the newborn took place at the end of this “risk” period. Infants who died during this marginal period received particular funeral rites, heritage of an archaic representation of death. In Medieval and Modern Europe, parents and whole society were concerned with the future of children’s souls. By taking place as close at birth as possible, the Christian baptism allowed protecting child’s salvation, which was considered more important than his own survival. For those who died before this sacrament, original solutions were put in place to keep their souls from eternally wandering in limbo and to give them a decent burial.Résumé : Souvent la naissance voisine avec la mort, perturbant le cycle des générations et l’ordre social. La fragilité biologique des nouveau-nés trouve un écho dans les rites de présentation qui ont coïncidé longtemps avec la fin de la période “à risque”. Les enfants qui décédaient dans cette période de marge avaient droit à des traitements funéraires particuliers, hérités d’une représentation archaïque de la mort. Dans l’Europe médiévale et moderne, le devenir des âmes enfantines a toujours été une préoccupation pour les parents et pour la société tout entière. Au fil des siècles, le délai entre la naissance et le baptême s’est réduit, au point de coïncider le même jour, afin d’assurer le salut spirituel de tous les nouveau-nés. Pour ceux qui décédaient avant le baptême, des solutions originales ont été mises en oeuvre pour éviter que leurs âmes errent éternellement dans les limbes et pour leur donner une sépulture décente.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 125-144
Author(s):  
Jesús Víctor Alfredo Contreras Ugarte

Summary: Reflecting on the role humans take into nowadays society, should be of interest in all our social reflections, even for those that refer to the field of law. Any human indifferent and unconscious of the social role that he ought to play within society, as a member of it, is an irresponsible human detached from everything that surrounds him, regarding matters and other humans. Trying to isolate in an irresponsible, passive and comfortable attitude, means, after all, denying oneself, denying our nature, as the social being every human is. This is the reflection that this academic work entitles, the one made from the point of view of the Italian philosopher Rodolfo Mondolfo. From a descriptive development, starting from this renowned author, I will develop ideas that will warn the importance that human protagonism have, in this human product so call society. From a descriptive development, from this well-known author, I will be prescribing ideas that will warn the importance of the protagonism that all human beings have, in that human product that we call society. I have used the descriptive method to approach the positions of the Italian humanist philosopher and, for my assessments, I have used the prescriptive method from an eminently critical and deductive procedural position. My goal is to demonstrate, from the humanist postulates of Rodolfo Mondolfo, the hypothesis about the leading, decision-making and determining role that the human being has within society. I understand, to have reached the demonstration of the aforementioned hypothesis, because, after the analyzed, there is no doubt, that the human being is not one more existence in the development of societies; its role is decisive in determining the human present and the future that will house the next societies and generations of our historical future.


Author(s):  
Pablo Vommaro

Over the last few decades, Argentina and Latin America have undergone significant processes of social unrest and mobilization. Within the larger context of the various movements and dimensions where social mobilization unfolds, the territory has emerged as an increasingly relevant element for the interpretation of its dynamics, continuities, and transformations. Indeed, the spatialization of political production, which accompanied the processes of spatialization of production and the social life, caused a politicization of space that shaped the territory. Thus, processes developed whereby space becomes politicized and politics becomes territorialized. These features have shaped organizations and demonstrations often led by young people, which has given rise to territorially situated, generational political forms.


2021 ◽  
pp. 109-128
Author(s):  
Michael K. MacKenzie

This chapter makes three arguments in support of the claim that we need inclusive deliberative processes to shape the future in collectively intentional, mutually accommodating ways. First, inclusive collective decision-making processes are needed to avoid futures that favour the interests of some groups of people over others. Second, deliberative processes are needed to shape our shared futures in collectively intentional ways: we need to be able to talk to ourselves about what we are doing and where we want to get to in the future. Third, deliberative exchanges are needed to help collectivities avoid the policy oscillations that are (or may be) associated with the political dynamics of short electoral cycles. Effective processes of reciprocal reason giving can help collectivities maintain policy continuity over the long term—when continuity is justified—even as governments and generations change.


2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-24
Author(s):  
Guy Davidov ◽  
Maayan Davidov

Research on compliance has shown that people can be induced to comply with various requests by using techniques that capitalise on the human tendencies to act consistently and to reciprocate. Thus far this line of research has been applied to interactions between individuals, not to relations between institutions. We argue, however, that similar techniques are applied by courts vis-à-vis the government, the legislature and the public at large, when courts try to secure legitimacy and acceptance of their decisions. We discuss a number of known influence techniques – including ‘foot in the door’, ‘low-balling’, ‘giving a reputation to uphold’ and ‘door in the face’ – and provide examples from Israeli case law of the use of such techniques by courts. This analysis offers new insights that can further the understanding of judicial decision-making processes.


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