Amnesty International is launching a global campaign called 'Protect the protest', which will challenge global and widespread attacks on peaceful protest, stand with peaceful protesters, and support the causes of social movements pushing for human rights. Their goal is for all people to be able...

This study uses a case study of community activism at Yaroomba, a small town on the Sunshine Coast (SC) of South East Queensland, Australia, to illustrate a campaign of resistance to a proposed beachfront highrise development. The paper's aim was the artefact analysis of these...

This report reveals how the unregulated political influence of the fossil fuel industry -- a murky web of connections between governments and industry -- is driving political inaction on climate change and the repression of those calling for action.

This report examines anti-protest laws passed or introduced in three American states — Louisiana, Minnesota, and West Virginia — and traces how corporate influence has spurred elected officials to attempt to use those laws to clamp down on opposition during the construction of new, controversial...

This report argues that police forces at the city, county, state, and federal levels should all immediately reform their conduct through specialised trainings on the facilitation and protection of freedom of peaceful assembly, in line with their obligations under the US Constitution, international human rights...

This study shows that the emergence of trade union organizations and social movement organizations in the post-war era played an important role in shaping Iraq’s current political, social, and economic landscape beyond the meta-narratives of war and sectarianism.

This paper, supported by case studies from regions across the world, aims to provide an overview of the state of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the digital age and a series of tailored recommendations for various stakeholders.

In this paper, the author argues that it is one thing to be an advocate for your own interests; quite another to seek to attack, undermine and destroy someone else’s. Yet that is what the so-called ‘cancel culture’ seeks to achieve, and it is why...

This report places recent American protest movements in historical perspective. It outlines why conservatives are particularly aggrieved by the lockdowns in many states and examines the conservative players agitating for the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, including President Trump.

This report sets out the necessity and international legal framework for establishing a commission of inquiry to investigate the widespread human rights violations related to the protests that erupted in 2019. It also makes recommendations regarding the establishment of such a commission, including its composition...

This analysis finds that the mass political protests that have captured media attention over the past year, such as those in Hong Kong and Santiago, are in fact part of a decade-long trend line affecting every major populated region of the world.

This document includes a detailed analysis of human rights developments in 25 countries and territories from the Asia-Pacific region.

Australia has a long history of secondary boycotts, which have been widely used for causes now generally accepted. This paper outlines the argument that expanding laws primarily intended to limit union power to outlaw advocacy campaigns is illiberal, and would require significant changes to the...

The current demonstrations in Iran could prove to be a watershed in the Islamic Revolution. The theocrats have been shocked by the demands from the demonstrators calling for their removal. Given the deep currents of dislike for the theocracy among many ordinary Iranians, it is...

This e-brief discusses the High Court’s decision in Brown v Tasmania and its implications for protest law in NSW.

Tony Blackshield looks at what the High Court’s recent decision in the Lapoinya Forest case can tell us about its evolving attitude to free speech?

This paper examines the cultural context of social movements involving these youth activists. It mainly studied the campaign against the Sino-Hong Kong Express Railway development project.

Sally McManus, the new secretary of the ACTU, has copped a caning for asserting on ABC TV’s 7.30 that it is legitimate to break the law in some circumstances. The example she gave was of trade unionists laying down tools at an unsafe worksite, and...

Drawing from in-depth interviews and existing literature on Kenyan constitutional reform struggles, this paper illustrates how alliances between the different identities and movements were forged to allow for a common struggle.

Having spent the last five years studying the organization and aesthetics of citizen protest against oppressive power structures in the Middle East and Africa, we find ourselves in agreement with the description of the protests as “staged.” But the criticism of such staging reflects a...