We have long thought that the history of the Palestinians, and the Middle East more generally, would have been vastly less tragic had there been more frequent use of nonviolent strategies for addressing social injustice. Recently, we've begun to notice largely neglected stories of nonviolent protests coming out of the Middle East. With this blog posting we will try to start to keep track of some of these.
There are very interesting research questions here. How often are nonviolent strategies being used? How effective are they? And, most importantly, might the level of violence be reduced if the more powerful side of these conflicts acted in ways which would increase the success rate of nonviolent protest.
Gaza protesters form human chain
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7262089.stm
A Palestinian Intifada Icon Chooses Art over War
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19239928
America's Sunni Allies Go On Strike in Iraq's Diyala Province
By STEVE LANNEN
February 8, 2008
McClatchy Newspapers
Members of U.S.-allied citizen brigades, which are credited with helping to tamp down violence in many parts of Iraq, went on strike Friday in Diyala province, alleging that the provincial police chief there is running a death squad.
A leader of the group said that brigade members, most of them Sunni Muslims, wouldn't resume working with U.S. and Iraqi government forces until the Shiite police chief resigns or is indicted.
A curfew was imposed, and police throughout the province ended their patrols early to avoid clashes with the U.S.-funded concerned local citizens, or "popular committees" as they're known in Diyala, who staged demonstrations against the police chief. No casualties were reported.
The rest of the article is available from the McClatchy Washington Bureau.
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