The Blog — Civil Resistance Tactics

In spite of frigid temperatures, students in the United Kingdom have taken to the streets to protest against increases in tuition fees and cuts to higher education. Their concerns about the future of education are being voiced both online and offline, using a mix of traditional protest tactics and digital activism to get their message heard. 

There is no central figure or group directing these protests; rather students have turned to social media outlets to share concerns and coordinate actions. As the BBC writes, "This DIY radicalism has its own news channels, on Facebook pages and Twitter accounts and blogs, leaving the traditional news organisations and political commentators looking in from the outside."

It was announced yesterday that Parliament will be voting on the fee increase on December 9, giving students one week to take a stand - can they get around police attempts to contain them and make a dent on Parliament's decision?  Here’s a roundup of the various tools and tactics being used by students, organizations and concerned citizens. 

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We've gathered the latest news about today's protests held in the cities of Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt. The demonstrations were organized by a number of pro-democracy and opposition groups, and many Egyptians used Twitter to share information from the ground.

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What's worth noting about AYM delegates Invisible Children is that their campaign against Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony began with a 45-minute documentary made by three recent film grads with no organizing experience, yet now they've managed to not only get relevant legislation created but also passed by the U.S. Congress. How did they do this? Check out this week's featured case study.

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A series of political protests carried out between March and May 2010 by the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), more commonly known as the red shirts, resulted in 91 deaths and thousands of injuries, as well as increased efforts by the government to suppress the opposition.

Four months after the red shirts surrendered, many provinces in Thailand remain under emergency rule and members of the protest movement have either gone underground or been detained by the government.

Has the anger that led to the initial protests been quashed for good, or will it appear again? Why and how is the digital divide guiding the way that unrest in Thailand unfolds? 

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Bans on social media and texting, police intimidation, and curfews have become a normal way of life for Kashmiris speaking and acting out in protest of India’s hard-handed rule of the region. With more action by the Indian government to block tools for communication and to quash efforts by citizens to mobilize, how will Kashmiris move forward?

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At the beginning of this summer, a 28-year-old Egyptian was dragged out of an internet café and beaten to death. The young man, named Khaled Said, was apparently targeted because he intended to post a video that showed police officers dividing the spoils of a drug bust. 

Over the past couple of months Egyptians have reacted in a few different ways. They've held protests called "silent stands," which involve coming together in long chains to, well, stand silently, often while reading the Qur’an or Bible. These are an effort to get around the Emergency Law that bans assemblies of five people or more. They've participated in a Facebook group that's grown to nearly 300,000 members and launched a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #KhaledSaid.

We've put together a page dedicated to the events surrounding Said's death, the trial of the police offers involved, and police brutality in Egypt more generally. Check it out here. Don't forget to add links, thoughts, and information in the comments section—we will update it continually.

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