Theory Talks, June 5, 2013

Nonviolent resistance remains by and large a marginal topic to international relations. Yet it constitutes an influential idea among social movements and non-Western populations alike, one that has moved to the center stage in recent events in the Middle East. In this talk, Mary King—who has spent over 40 years promoting nonviolence—elaborates on, amongst others, the women’s movement, nonviolence, and civil action more broadly.

Natalie Kitroeff, NY Times, June 11, 2013 Elaine Díaz is a leader of a group of Cubans who are opening a new avenue for criticism in a country that, for the last 50 years, has offered its citizens only two options: with us or against us. That has not stopped her from writing publicly and with disarming directness about the challenges of daily life in Cuba on her blog, La Polémica Digital, for the last five years. She is young, progressive and fiercely loyal to the Cuban government. But she says she is also determined to reform a socialist system that no longer works as well as it used to for the common man.

Anthony Barnett, openDemocracy, June 11, 2013

The recent protests in Turkey are undoubtedly a turning point for the country - and therefore for both the Middle East and Europe, whose directions will be shaped by this uniquely important and influential country. Istanbul's youth have joined the city-centre occupations of Tahrir Square with Madrid, Athens and New York, and a generation has linked up to the fearless protests, at once highly political yet rejecting traditional political parties, that have erupted from Santiago to Delhi.

Robert Mackey, NY Times, June 13, 2013

In the last hours of the brief, tightly controlled presidential election campaign in Iran, the first since the disputed outcome in 2009, the name of the detained opposition leader who claimed to have won the last contest, Mir Hussein Moussavi, was once again chanted at public rallies. Moussavi has been under house arrest for more than two years. Citing sources close to the families of both men, Reuters reported this week that they currently live “an intensely lonely existence with virtually no contact with the outside world and all their activities controlled by security forces.”

Ayse Kadioglu, Eurozine, June 11, 2013

People who have joined these protests come from very different ideological backgrounds. Some of them were not even on speaking terms with one another. Yet, they found themselves united in a common cause. They do not think that democracy is all about elections. There is no doubt that elections are a very necessary component of democratic regimes but they alone are not sufficient. These protests can be read as a sign that people demand more than "representative democracy." They demand "participatory democracy."