The Roots of Resilience: Party Machines and Grassroots Politics in Singapore and Malaysia by Meredith L. Weiss

Immediately prior to the events of 9/11, the United Nations (UN) officially recognized the proliferating climate of anti- Muslim and anti-Islamic prejudice, discrimination, and hatred –Islamophobia – as being as equally repellent and unwanted as anti-Semitism and other global discriminatory phenomena. The 9/11 tragedy, however, somewhat overshadowed this recognition, resulting in the continued proliferation of anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic sentiment and expression. This study explores how and why Islamophobia was manifested following 9/11, contextualizes how elite voices across British and European societies have considered Islamophobia to be fair and justified. In considering the wider findings of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia’s monitoring of Islamophobia, this study explores how “visual identifiers” have underpinned changes in attitude and reactions to Muslims across the fifteen European Union (EU) member nations at a largely pan-European level. The second section develops these ideas, analyzing three of the report’s primary themes – Muslim visuality, political landscapes (incorporating institutional political elites as well as grassroots politics), and the media – each one approached from the perspective of the United Kingdom. This study concludes by suggesting that 9/11 has made Islamophobia more acceptable, which has enabled its expressions, inferences, and manifestations to locate a newer and possibly more prevalent societal resonance and acceptability. Ultimately, this new development goes some way to justifying Islamophobia and negating the UN’s recognition of this problem.

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Coda

The Oxford Handbook of Communist Visual Cultures ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190885533.013.35 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 734-743

Author(s):

Laura U. Marks

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Religious Fundamentalism ◽

Labor Movements ◽

Grassroots Politics ◽

International Solidarity ◽

Guerrilla Movements ◽

History Of ◽

Armed Resistance ◽

The 1950S ◽

Arabic Speaking

In the twentieth-century Arabic-speaking world, communism animated anticolonial revolutions, workers’ organizations, guerrilla movements, and international solidarity. The communist dream was cut short by Arab governments, deals with global superpowers, the rise of religious fundamentalism, and historical bad luck. But recently a remarkable number of Arab filmmakers have turned their attention to the history of the radical Left. Filmmakers from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco have been urgently seeking models for grassroots politics in the labor movements, communist parties, and secular armed resistance of earlier generations. This coda explores two strata of communist audiovisual praxis: the radical cinema that supported labor movements and guerrilla actions from the 1950s to the 1980s, and recent films that draw on that earlier movement. The coda argues that the Arab audiovisual archive holds flashes of communism that have been neither fulfilled nor entirely extinguished. The new films release their unspent energy into the present, diagnosing earlier failures of Arab communism and making plans for new forms of solidarity.

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Barrio Women and Popular Politics in Chávez's Venezuela

Latin American Politics and Society ◽

10.1111/j.1548-2456.2007.tb00384.x ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 49 (03) ◽

pp. 97-127 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Sujatha Fernandes

Keyword(s):

Social Movements ◽

Gender Roles ◽

Women Activists ◽

Community Leaders ◽

Popular Politics ◽

Women's Labor ◽

Popular Participation ◽

Grassroots Politics ◽

Urban Social Movements ◽

Hugo Chavez

Abstract Since President Hugo Chávez came to power in Venezuela in 1998, ordinary women from the barrios, or shantytowns, of Caracas have become more engaged in grassroots politics; but most of the community leaders still are men. Chávez's programs are controlled by male-dominated bureaucracies, and many women activists still look to the president himself as the main source of direction. Nevertheless, this article argues, women's increasing local activism has created forms of popular participation that challenge gender roles, collectivize private tasks, and create alternatives to male-centric politics. Women's experiences of shared struggle from previous decades, along with their use of democratic methods of popular control, help prevent the state from appropriating women's labor. But these spaces coexist with more vertical, populist notions of politics characteristic of official sectors of Chavismo. Understanding such gendered dimensions of popular participation is crucial to analyzing urban social movements.

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Friends of Rose Canyon

California History ◽

10.1525/ch.2018.95.3.2 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 95 (3) ◽

pp. 2-20 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Andrew Wiese

Keyword(s):

Open Space ◽

Critical Role ◽

First Century ◽

Grassroots Politics ◽

History Of ◽

University City ◽

Participant Observer ◽

The Rose

Place-based activism has played a critical role in the history of urban and environmental politics in California. This article explores the continuing significance of environmental place making to grassroots politics through a case study of Friends of Rose Canyon, an environmental group in San Diego. Based in the fast-growing University City neighborhood, Friends of Rose Canyon waged a long, successful campaign between 2002 and 2018 to prevent construction of a bridge in the Rose Canyon Open Space Park in their community. Using historical and participant observer methodologies, this study reveals how twenty-first-century California urbanites claimed and created meaningful local places and mobilized effective politics around them. It illuminates the critical role of individual activists; suggests practical, replicable strategies for community mobilization; and demonstrates the significant impact of local activism at the urban and metropolitan scales.

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