Militancy

This study analyzes the herstories of three Chilean women militants who later evolved into political collaborators of Agosto Pinochet's military regime (1973-1990). In addition to looking at the ways in which cultural productions on their stories of survival have added to the misconceptions of their political transformations, this article also seeks to understand the underlying motives for their collaboration as a reparative force that dispels false accusations directed against them.

Danial Byman‟s latest book, Al Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Global
Jihadist Movement: What everyone needs to know, comes at a crucial
juncture in time when new terrorist outfits have been evolving out of the
old ones. This piece of writing by Daniel Byman qualifies more as a
handbook on Al Qaeda than an analytical attempt to ascertain how the
terrorist organisations have developed over time. It may as well have
been a detailed presentation of facts and figures if it were not for the
author‟s personal but biased take on certain matters. It starts with a
historical account of the pre 9/11 world and evolution of Al Qaeda long
before that. In this section, the author explains how 9/11 was
instrumental in bringing Al Qaeda from the periphery of global politics to
its white hot centre. The author takes the readers back to the era of
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. According to him, this time around, Al Qaeda was slowly establishing its organisational structure which was
upgraded with time. But the only thing more effective than the concrete
structure of the organisation was the idea behind its very existence. An
idea that made a small band of people powerful enough to terrorise the
world was the real ideology of this organisation. However, this premise
is based on a false assumption as these organisations are not merely
composed of a few adulterated minds and wrongly interpreted religious
notions. The truth, which the author completely ignores, is that there has
been substantial evidence which points to the bigger powers that have
funded such organisations.

This article helps to account for the radicalization of vast sectors of the Latin American youth in the Sixties by studying the social and emotional lives of young Chilean communists. Scholars point to the increasing dominance of ideology when studying youth radicalization, ignoring the strong emotions underpinning left-wing activism. I show that ideology was embedded in a web of social and emotional relationships and argue that the appeal of the left among the youth of the era cannot be understood without recourse to feelings of friendship and love. Young people from all walks of life made friendly contacts with young activists that led them to commit further, and, once active in youth political organizations, they forged strong emotional bonds that provided them with a sense of belonging and a shared identity. Love played a crucial role in bringing new people into the ranks of the left and strengthening their political commitment. Young activists felt an intense need to date and marry those who shared their ideas in order to have a fulfilling life.

If the critique of neoliberal capitalism has become a staple of leftist documentary filmmaking in France since the late 1990s, few films have gone as far in their rejection of work as those made by Pierre Carles, Stéphane Goxe and Christophe Coello. Following late nineteenth-century pamphleteer Paul Lafargue’s advocacy for “the right to be lazy” and the enjoyment of the flourishing society of leisure, Attention, Danger, Travail (2003) and Volem rien foutre al païs (2007) unapologetically and uncompromisingly reject the normative legitimacy of waged employment as a warrant of individual and social productivity. Nonetheless, it would be highly reductive to see in these two films and in the filmmakers’ project a celebration of idleness. Rather, as they strive to restore the productive value of individuals unable and unwilling to enter the labor market, Attention, Danger, Travail (2003) and Volem rien foutre al païs (2007) reject what the filmmakers see as leftist politics’ complacency with capitalism’s promotion of work as an ethics of self-realization. Drawing from Jacques Rancière’s emphasis on the proletariat’s self-identification and incidental political inscription in late 19th century society, this analysis argues that the two films discussed here operate therefore a political and aesthetic shift away from twentieth-century militant cinema by replacing the figure of political consciousness commonly associated with the industrial, capitalist society, namely the worker, with the unemployed post-industrial subjects of late-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In doing so, these two films disrupt dominant narratives; by giving authority to the refusal of work as a legitimate experience, they allow the sharing and debating of these experiences to produce ‘disturbances’ in such public discourse. Entertainment and didacticism are thus intricately interwoven in these films.

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Colaborador testimonial y material en los primeros trabajos que estudiaron el funcionamiento del Sindicato Español Universitario (SEU) y reseñaron la fundación de las revistas aragonesas "Proa" y "Pilar", José María Nasarre debía ser consciente del valor que tenía su archivo personal, donde se acumulaban los documentos de toda una vida. Durante sus últimos años, concernido por la trascendencia y las cuestiones del alma, parecía contemplar la posibilidad de que alguien se interesase por su obra escrita en un futuro, pudiendo esquivar así el póstumo olvido. El presente volumen debe su existencia a las fuentes por él atesoradas.
José María Nasarre Cascante (1919-1996), fue secretario del Tribunal Tutelar de Menores de Zaragoza, profesor universitario, político y escritor. Devoto joseantoniano a raíz de su marcha al frente, fue miembro de la élite intelectual falangista zaragozana desde mediados de los años cuarenta; un compacto grupo forjado al calor del SEU del Distrito, curtido en los organismos provinciales del Movimiento y avezado en las instituciones políticas y culturales. El análisis de sus escritos de juventud, que constituyen un fiel reflejo de sus inquietudes ideológicas y literarias, ha permitido profundizar en el conocimiento de su figura, pensamiento y actividad. Lo que en estas páginas se explora es, en definitiva, la construcción de una identidad falangista desde diversas perspectivas y un proceso particular de acercamiento a su cultura política.

El objetivo general del curso es explorar los principales enfoques y núcleos de debate propios de la antropología política como especialidad disciplinar. El programa se propone discutir ejes claves del área, incluyendo un panorama sobre su surgimiento y sobre las discusiones contemporáneas. En particular, el curso pretende contribuir a desnaturalizar algunas prenociones acerca de “lo político” que son recurrentes tanto en los usos sociales así como en los usos académicos puestos en juego en el ámbito de las ciencias sociales y de las humanidades (por ejemplo, el tratamiento de la política como un campo diferenciado y autónomo; como un ámbito dominado más por el interés y lo pragmático que por la dimensión moral; o a la reificación del estado al tratarlo analíticamente como una entidad bien delimitada y diferenciada de la “sociedad civil”). A fin de promover una perspectiva crítica, el curso se propone problematizar las relaciones entre conceptos teóricos y categorías nativas, entre instrumentos analíticos y concepciones locales sobre la política, lo político, el gobierno, el estado, la justicia, etc. La propuesta se centra en el análisis de “la política”, “lo político” y términos asociados, abordándolos como categorías prácticas que forman parte de los universos sociales que estudiamos antes que como definiciones teóricas preestablecidas. En ese camino, el curso articulará la perspectiva de la “antropología política” tradicionalmente interesada en la identificación y estudio de los procesos políticos y aquella de la “antropología de la política” preocupada por el modo en que las personas entienden, clasifican y producen los límites de aquello que en diferentes contextos se reconoce como “lo político”. Se pretende promover el análisis de las formas en que las representaciones sociales sobre lo político, el Estado, el gobierno, la militancia, etc. son socialmente producidas, reproducidas, desplegadas e impuestas por actores situados en el marco de procesos sociales concretos, incorporando el rol de la/s propias/os antropóloga/os en la producción de conocimiento sobre el tema.

El libro presenta los resultados de una investigación doctoral sobre las militancias antidictatoriales. A través de una serie de entrevistas biográficas con miembros de distintos partidos de la oposición, el texto describe la forma en que se recompuso la oposición política a la dictadura y los pasajes más importantes de la movilización antidictatorial. El trabajo político en las organizaciones constituye el capítulo central del escrito: esta parte del trabajo muestra que la protesta es eficaz, porque hay grupos organizados territorialmente: las organizaciones (de mujeres, de pobladores, estudiantiles) se ponen al servicio de la protesta y se articulan para lograr el éxito de la movilización nacional, combinando estrategias rupturistas con lógicas de alianza y negociación entre los miembros de una amplia oposición. Luego, la planificación del itinerario de movilización nacional permite cuestionar la tesis de la protesta como una expresión inorgánica de descontento social y político (Garretón, 1987; Tironi, 1987; Touraine, 1987). El trabajo muestra con relativo detalle a los militantes insertos en las disputas de los partidos por controlar la conducción de la movilización y por  definir las condiciones de salida.

Abstract:

“What we must see,” Martin Luther King once insisted, “is that a riot is the language of the unheard.” Recourse to rioting, he suggested, is seldom a marker of irrationality or mob psychology. More often, it is an attempt by marginalized people to find their voice, to gain a hearing, to assert their refusal to be silenced or ignored. King’s remark was as controversial as it was illuminating, yet he stopped short of depicting riots as defensible. He only insisted that they were understandable—a frustrated response to persistent injustice that made some sense in the face of long experience with intransigent elites and unresponsive systems of power. But his wording hints at the possibility of a stronger view: that these outbursts of rebellion might sometimes be defensible, even admirable, because they make it impossible to ignore the grievances of the exploited and the oppressed.

What if we, today, were to adopt this interpretation of riots? How might this idea transform our understanding and evaluation of these spontaneous revolts? And could this understanding be extended to other forms of confrontational protest and rebellion: to general strikes, sit-ins, road blockades and occupations, to the monkeywrenching saboteur, the black bloc street fighter, or even the armed insurgent? Could these forms of militancy be regarded, in the same way, as languages of the unheard?

In its opening chapters, 'Languages of the Unheard' offers a broad account of militancy as an aid to democracy and a principled response to the intransigence of elites and the unresponsiveness of institutions to the public interest. It proposes an understanding of militancy as a civic virtue and a contribution to democratic politics. In the second part of the book, this understanding of admirable militancy is applied to a wide range of protest styles, ranging from the nonviolent civil disobedience promoted by Gandhi and King to the armed insurgency promoted by Germany’s Red Army Faction and other urban guerrilla groups.

The picture of militant protest that emerges is ultimately a balanced one. It encourages the embracing of many forms of militancy as contributions to democratic politics. But it also encourages holding fast to militancy’s roots in the democratic impulses of people in revolt, rather than fetishizing it as an all-purpose approach to political action. If militancy is good for democracy, it is because of its sometimes-crucial role in facilitating the self-activity and self-organization of ignored or silenced people who rightly insist on being heard.

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Reviews

“Cutting across politically unhelpful and pernicious media-led divisions between supposedly ‘good’ and ‘bad’ protesters, Stephen D’Arcy presents a rigorous and convincing defence of militancy. Anyone who takes protest and riot seriously needs to confront the issues that D’Arcy identifies — his arguments should give you much to think (and act) upon.

– Nina Power, Roehampton University


“Stephen D’Arcy cuts through the rhetorical fog of the right and the left and forces us to face issues of strategy, tactics, and goals head on, with both reason and passion. Languages of the Unheard is political philosophy at its best, not least because the writer is an engaged activist as well as a philosopher. It is hard to imagine a more important or timely book.”

– Mark Leier, Professor, History Department, Simon Fraser University, and author of Bakunin.


“Languages of the Unheard illuminates a fundamental truth far too many of those who flatter themselves to believe they inhabit democratic societies wish at all costs to avoid: Those who refuse by all necessary means to be silenced are the essential ingredient of democracy while those who seek to repress them comprise its very antithesis.”

– Ward Churchill, author of Agents of Repression and Pacifism as Pathology


“I highly recommend this book to all people, young and old, especially to Indigenous youth who are at the forefront of this generation. It is important to know when and where, protests, blockades or militant actions have been successful and why!! The Oka Crisis, Idle No More, pipeline blockades and anti-fracking demonstrations are only the beginning of actions needed to bring awareness and change for people at the grassroots level.”

– Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, Founding and Honourary Board Member, Ontario Native Women’s Association


“Are riots good for democracy? In 'Languages of the Unheard,' Steve D’Arcy answers provocatively in the affirmative. With implacable logic, engaging prose and a sensitivity to moral and ethical complexities, 'Languages of the Unheard' demonstrates what radicals of all stripes intuitively know: to rebel is justified, and democracy—if it is to be found anywhere—is in the streets. By reframing debates concerning ‘violence’ and militant protest in new and fertile ways, D’Arcy has made an invaluable contribution to the intellectual arsenal of activists everywhere.”

– Nikolas Barry-Shaw, co-author of Paved with Good Intentions: Canada’s development NGOs from idealism to imperialism


“In this wide-ranging discussion of militancy, Stephen D’Arcy takes the reader through an argument that begins with civil disobedience and ends with armed struggle. To a democrat, D’Arcy argues, none of these should be taboo. You may part company with him at some stage, but if you are really committed to democracy, you will have to consider his arguments.”

– Justin Podur, Associate Professor at York University and author of Haiti’s New Dictatorship


“Contrary to those liberals and social democrats who argue that militant activism is ‘anti-democratic,’ Stephen D’Arcy makes a sustained argument coming from within democratic theory that forms of militant disruptive protest can instead be seen as crucial to defending and expanding participatory forms of democracy. Giving voice to those that have not been heard and developing political autonomy, direct action politics can be seen as a civic virtue and a crucial part of democratic forms of revolutionary social transformation.”

– Gary Kinsman, author of The Regulation of Desire, co-author of The Canadian War on Queers, and editor of Sociology for Changing the World: Social Movements/Social Research

This essay offers a reading of Mario Mieli's militant political project through the theoretical lens of performativity. Performativity, suspended between, and fully incorporating both the linguistic and the theatrical, courses through Mieli's cultural production. I begin with a discussion of the role of the travestito within the context of Mieli's involvement in the emergence of gay theater in Italy in the late 1970s and its necessarily political valences. I then move on to discuss a performativity that is particular to Mieli's cultural production: to dare, elaborating on the performative structure of Mieli's insistence that to dare is also to give of oneself. I conclude by reflecting on Mieli's figuring of the actor as masochist. For Mieli, masochism makes it possible to dissolve the individual self in favor of a liberated communal self, a subjective process that is enabled through daring acts.

Desde su nacimiento, en el turbulento contexto de 2001-2002, Propuesta Republicana (PRO), el partido fundado por Mauricio Macri, empresario y ex-presidente del Club Atlético Boca Juniors, resistió la tentación de diluirse en los partidos tradicionales y se convirtió en un espacio de renovación de la centroderecha argentina. En él conviven políticos de larga data con nuevos ingresantes a la actividad, relacionados con el mundo empresario y de las ONG y los think tanks liberales. El emprendedorismo y el voluntariado son valores partidarios dominantes, a lo que suman un discurso «postideológico», una estética festiva y un liderazgo propio de un team leader empresarial.

Al-Qa`ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has changed. So too must the counterterrorism community’s approach to it. Beset by infighting, riddled with spies, decimated by drones, and instrumentalized by Yemen’s warring parties, the jihadi movement in the region has fragmented. The conventional labels of al-Qa`ida and the Islamic State have started to lose meaning, and this necessitates a new typology of jihadi militants to account for splinter groups that have forged alliances that may seem contradictory. AQAP is degraded but not defeated. A ceasefire in the overall war will not prevent, and may even fuel, a comeback.

Isabelle STENGERS, Résister au désastre : dialogue avec Marin Schaffner, Marseille, Wildproject, 2019.
Marielle MACÉ, Nos cabanes, Lagrasse, Verdier, 2019.

Deux petits livres ont paru au cours des derniers mois, dont la vocation est proche : permettre de penser l’écologie et le sens de l’action militante dans le contexte actuel du réchauffement climatique et du désastre environnemental avéré, que l’on sait causés par le mode de vie occidental moderne et les idéologies qui le soutiennent.

This essay analyzes how Leymah Gbowee and other Liberia Mass Action for Peace (LMAP) activists drew on the cultural power of African motherhood to engage in militant protest. Framing the movement as one motivated by a concern for their children, these women employed three specific rhetorical tactics to demand an end to the fourteen-year civil war: (1) repositioning women and children as the war’s real victims; (2) threatening to bare their bodies in deliberate public nakedness; and (3) constituting the political agency of ordinary women both in Liberia and around the world. These militant maternal protests positioned the LMAP activists as coherent political agents empowered by their literal and symbolic participation in Liberian performances of African motherhood. Their actions suggest the rhetorical potential of militant maternal protests in countries that exclude women from political involvement.

Stressing that the pronoun "I" picks out one and only one person in the world (i.e., me), I argue against Hunt (and other like-minded Rand commentators) that the supposed "hard case" of destructive people who do not care for their own lives poses no special difficulty for rational egoism. I conclude that the proper response to a terse objection like "What about suicide bombers?" is the equally terse assertion "But I don't want to get blown up."

This article explores the effects on employees of co-operation and conflict in the workplace, outlining six workplace types. A survey of union representatives in the UK steel industry reveals evidence of co-operative industrial relations linked to some
superior terms and conditions, employee involvement and health and safety outcomes. However, it fails to find evidence that co-operative industrial relations are associated with
a broader HRM package of workplace restructuring, high performance work teams or job security provisions. Nor is any association revealed between co-operation and a greater
role for trade unions. These findings suggest workplace co-operation in this industry remains part of a traditional gainsharing package and an 'alliance of insiders' rather
than an HRM partnership or union incorporation. This raises broader questions about the ability of co-operation to deliver important aspects of organizational competitive advantage.

Pakistan and India, as two nuclear neighbors in South Asia with a hostile historical legacy, have limited strategic options to pursue in an environment where uncertainty and threat are constant. In this context, India has moved in the recent past from a traditional deterrence towards a more escalatory posture under Modi led fascist regime. The primary emphasis of this study is to analyze how do India's intimidating tactics, particularly hybrid warfare undermine the security balance between India and Pakistan constantly causing the bilateral relations to swing between deterrence and coercive diplomacy. Indian war gaming tactics are a direct threat to conventional and nuclear deterrence.

In terms of revolutionary movements in Africa, Sankara’s stands out not only because it occurred well after independence but also because of the ambition of its vision. Sankara was a militant economic revolutionary who aimed to achieve social justice at home through a prioritization of food justice while recalibrating Burkina Faso’s place in the international system. Unlike most of the African leaders of his generation and those preceding him, Sankara did not author books that captured or guided his political philosophy in any systematic way. Indeed, Sankara refused to give an ideological name to the revolution. Our task, then, is to trace Sankara’s words and actions to synthesise his radical and comprehensive approach to social transformation, self-sufficiency, decolonization, and freedom.

Daesh’s emergence in Afghanistan complicated the militancy landscape and rapidly transformed alliances between different local and foreign militant outfits. Elements within the Afghan Taliban and groups like IMU saw Daesh’s expansion as an opportunity to rebrand. Support for Daesh for the first time fragmented the Afghan Taliban, which had prided themselves for maintaining unity since its emergence in 1994. Similarly, IMU—long a close ally of the Taliban—shifted allegiance from Taliban founder leader Mullah Muhammad Omar to al Baghdadi, while its offshoot, called Islamic Jihad Union (IJU), and TIP remained with the Taliban. Sharing an adversary with Daesh, al Qaeda, too, reaffirmed allegiance to the Taliban.

Divisions between pro- and anti-Daesh groups were widening as disenfranchised Taliban and those foreign militants with a history of reluctant cooperation with the Taliban were increasingly teaming up with Daesh to counterbalance the Taliban. The shared Salafist ideology, global jihadi agenda, vast financial resources, rapid territorial gains Daesh made in Iraq and Syria and being sidelined by the Taliban leadership, all made Daesh attractive for Taliban and IMU defectors. This fuelled competition between Daesh supporters and the mainstream Afghan Taliban as both appeal to similar recruits.

The Taliban were threatened by losing men, influence and income to the even more aggressive and ambitious Daesh. The Taliban, however, were initially hesitant to directly confront Daesh as it would have undermined the legitimacy of the former’s longstanding jihad, making it appear power hungry and motivated by self-interest.

The Taliban’s immediate approach was to avoid losing men to Daesh and to attract defectors to return. The group created a “recruitment commission” to reach out to those who had defected to Daesh and to prevent its vulnerable members from leaving to join the Daesh.  The Taliban were also secretly helping Afghan security agencies to pinpoint Daesh commanders in areas out of the government writ. This worked in Helmand as former Afghan Taliban commander Khadim was killed, resulting in the failure of Daesh to progress in the province. After Khadim’s death, Daesh attempted to gain a foothold in Zabul, Ghazni, Logar, Farah and the northern provinces. The Taliban’s covert anti-Daesh campaign was proving less effective because Daesh was becoming overstretched in several provinces and was vocal against the Taliban and its invisible leader Mullah Omar. This urged the Taliban to fight the group militarily.

Countering Daesh’s influence became an important agenda of the Taliban when the latter launched their annual spring offensive, codenamed “Azm”, in April 2015. The Taliban shifted focus from their traditional strongholds in the south and east to northern Afghanistan to prevent Daesh-affiliated IMU from gaining autonomy. Teaming up with regional countries, including Iran and Russia—also threatened by Daesh in Afghanistan—the Taliban later announced that they were deploying the “special forces unit” the group had created to confront Daesh. The rival groups fought in several provinces, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides.

In the midst of confronting several state and non-state actors, Daesh is struggling to make progress in Afghanistan. After its failed attempt to establish several fronts and to gain a foothold in the southern and northern regions, Daesh has been concentrating on the eastern provinces, particularly Nangarhar and Kunar. Supported by countries like Iran and Russia, the Taliban’s anti-Daesh campaign, coupled with airstrikes as well as ground operations by Afghan forces and private militias and frequent US drone strikes, continues to challenge Daesh’s potency. Nonetheless, the group’s managing to remain operational, though at a smaller scale, is indicative about its future and prospects of imprinting itself in Afghanistan.

Daesh seems determined to build footholds in Afghanistan. Declaring Khurasan as its Wilaya (province) was the first expansion of Daesh-Central outside of the Middle East. For Daesh, the legitimacy of an Islamic State across the Muslim world will be perceived to be defective without its expansion into Afghanistan because of the historical relevance and geostrategic importance of Afghanistan to Khurasan. Being a conflict zone with a history of providing safe sanctuaries to transnational jihadists, Afghanistan also particularly attracts Daesh’s attention. The group aims to turn the country into its “regional headquarters” and to use Afghanistan as a springboard for its operations in the broader south and central Asia regions in the long run. Having a footprint in Afghanistan would allow Daesh fanatics from these regions to go, in relative safety, to Afghanistan instead of the Middle East to get military training. Moreover, Daesh-Central also sees the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region as an alternative safe heaven for its leadership should it be cornered in the Middle East.

Daesh’s future in Afghanistan is directly linked to that of Daesh-Central in the Middle East. Should the former become the recipient of regular and large financial and personnel assistance from its mother organization the group would make unprecedented progress in so-called Khurasan. However, there are many local opportunities that Daesh in Afghanistan is keen to exploit which would allow the group to grow in strength in the face of resistance from its foes.

To boost its influence and legitimacy in the Afghan theatre, Daesh is looking to find sustainable financial sources and is trying to justify its presence by Islamic theology using the Khurasan card. Khurasan has significance in Islam and it is predicted that at the end of time black banners will rise from Khurasan and will free the Muslim land. Contemporary Afghanistan is the heart of Khurasan, which included parts of Pakistan, Central Asia, Iran and China.

Daesh is also attempting to trigger sectarian divisions between Sunni and Shia in Afghanistan. Sectarian violence will be the breeding ground for Daesh recruitment and if there is any response from the Shias, Daesh will use it for their propaganda to recruit more hardcore Salafists—who are growing in number.

Lastly, Daesh seems to be following developments within the Taliban post-Mullah Omar closely. Not only can the Taliban leadership crisis supply more defectors to Daesh, in addition, pro-Daesh Taliban leaders gaining prominence within the Taliban can help to create a conducive environment for Daesh to grow.

Hasina in her very first question-answer session in the ninth parliament on January 28, 2009, unequivocally stated that “whenever action is taken against militants, it is described as an attack on Islam. But it is not right. The militants have no religion and operate beyond boundaries. Tough actions must be taken against militants as they act against humanity and religion.” Her firm approach has continued to date.  Consequently, it is expected that the recent surge in acts of terrorism will not last; normalcy will be restored sooner rather than later so long as the Government avoids a lackadaisical approach. On the contrary, any compromise at this juncture will prove detrimental to Bangladesh’s long-term security environment.

This study examines the nexus between insecurity and identity conflict in Central Nigeria in the Fourth Republic from the standpoint of the incidence of Fulani herdsmen militancy. By means of qualitative descriptive analysis of secondary data, predicated on the theory of eco-survivalism, the study locates the roots and trajectories of Fulani militancy within the ambit of the existential realities of ecological, socioeconomic , civil, livelihood insecurities and identity politics in Central Nigeria. The study posits that the phenomenon of Fulani herdsmen militancy is an explicit illustration of the identity conflicts, which is fallout of the contradictions of socioeconomic relations among the various groups in Central Nigeria. The study observes that Fulani militancy has negated human security and resulted in dire humanitarian consequences that further complicate the security of the region. In view of its adverse impacts, complications and implications, it is the submission of the study that Fulani herdsmen militancy, a form of identity politics, constitutes a veritable threat to national security and the sustainability of Nigeria's Fourth Republic.

Militancy has become the major security challenge to Pakistan. Religious, sectarian and ethnic based militancy not only proliferated in the tribal regions of Pakistan but also affected the urban centres. In order to counter the acts of militant, military operations were launched by Pakistan army. In this context, the increasing pace of militancy and counter militancy measures taken by Pakistan since 2003 had a profound influence on Pakistan's relation with Afghanistan, US and India. On the other hand, it also created some incentives and opportunities at the foreign policy and security front in the shape of aid and assistance and its coalition with US. The present study will focus on some research questions. How the issue of militancy affected Pakistan foreign policy? What incentives and constraints were developed on Pakistan's foreign policy due to counter militant measures taken by Pakistan in its tribal areas? How the issue of internal security influence the external relations of Pakistan? How the outcome of militancy and counter-militant measures affected Pakistan's foreign policy? Research suggests Pakistan should highlight its counter militancy measures in international community by media campaign, effective diplomacy at UN and speedy trial of militants in courts to give them a strong message.

The end of 2011 general election in Nigeria results to mass recognition of another set of militant popularly called Boko Haram. These set of militant during the cause of prosecuting their objective have destroyed properties worth Billions of Naira, killed thousands of innocent people and add to religious misconception in Nigeria . It should be noted that the scope of this paper were not restricted to Boko Haram matters alone because the present writer belief that certain factors that applied to other groups that had emerged in Nigeria also laid foundation for emergence of Boko Haram. As a result of the above fact, militancy instigating factors as well as the effect of Boko Haram’s means of prosecuting their objective along with way forwards toward avoidance of future insurgency is object of discussion here.

The rise since mid-2014 of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) — a terrorist group otherwise known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic State (IS), or Daesh (after its Arabic acronym) — seems to have eclipsed other manifestations of global Islamist violence. ISIS’s notoriety is attributable to, among other things, its spectacular brutality, territorial gains, and apocalyptic ideology. ISIS intentionally employs violence as a political weapon and showcases grisly online images to cow populations under its control and convince the large viewing public of ISIS’s invincibility. Emotional trauma is purposely inflicted as feelings of fear, anger, and hopelessness spread among the masses. Escaping the attention of many is the fact that ISIS taps into sentiments that have been fostered by extremist policies of many Muslim governments and leaders themselves as an outgrowth of decades of authoritarian rule following post-colonial upheavals in many Muslim societies.

The psychedelic dimension of religious experience occupies a marginal position in the scholarship of American culture. For the last seven decades, scholars have viewed the psychedelicist church movement as, variously, an excuse for taking illegal drugs, an inauthentic mode of religious fellowship, and a purely oppositional “counter-culture.” More recent scholarship challenges these interpretations by emphasizing the legitimacy of the experiences occasioned by psychedelics. “Angelheaded Hipsters: Psychedelic Militancy in Nineteen Eighties North America” looks at the ways Cold War dissidents in the United States utilized amateur self-publication to build a grassroots movement of psychedelicist activism. Specifically, it asks how an innovative discourse of holiness centered on the use of drugs, or “psychedelicism,” developed within fanzines — uncommercial, nonprofessional and small-distribution magazines circulated in the tens of thousands during the 1980s. In order to explore this question, the dissertation focuses on the preeminent status of psychedelic fellowships (particularly the Discordian Society, the Church of the SubGenius and the Moorish Orthodox Church of America) within the literary microcosm of fanzines. Opposing both American capitalism and Soviet communism, these understudied churches mobilized the fanzine network to launch a revolutionary, or “third way” movement based on the use of mind-expanding drugs, which they construed as the only viable alternative to the nuclear destruction that then seemed inevitable.

Informed by the material study of religion, the also examines the clandestine social network build by psychedelicists in response to the subsequent criminalization of their devotional practices under state and federal law. As a result of government persecution, the allied forces of psychedelicist militancy fomented the rise of the so-called “zine scene,” an alternative communication microcosm based on the participatory and decentralized exchange of homemade artworks, publications, music, and literature. Driven by the utopian potential of what was then termed “cyberspace,” the hipster militants of the zine scene eventually migrated away from epistolary exchange to pioneer online communication in the 1990s. A historiographic intervention on behalf of ephemeral material culture, my dissertation ultimately traces the “digital turn” towards home-computing back through the earlier social media paradigm of fanzine exchange.

Review of Muffled voices by Aziz Ali Dad
Today we inhabit a world where ‘monolithic’ identities – like those created by nation-states – provide the basis for the global system of economics, politics and administration. The idea of the nation state first emerged in the particular historical context of Europe, but it has exceeded its origin by influencing “Other” societies to relinquish their traditional and organic identities for the meta-identity of a ‘nation’. Historically, different cultures interacted with each other and influenced different spheres of life more freely. Ideally, such a healthy interaction can take place where power relations do not tilt heavily towards one group at the expense of others. The notion of the modern state among non-western societies took roots in a period where the balance of power between the colonial powers and “Others” was totally in favour of the former. This situation forced the subjugated societies to base their identities on principles which were Eurocentric. As a result, the diversities within were subsumed under the rubric of ‘national identity’.
In the context of India and Pakistan both countries have followed the path of their masters. In their zeal for the unified identity they embarked upon a nation building project which pathologically abhorred any local identity that does not fit within the meta-identity of the nation state. With the help of different institutions of the state, the ruling elites and ideologues made institutional arrangements, which structurally suppressed local narratives and politics of identity. A corollary of the structural violence appeared in the shape of tendencies that base identity markers on sources within local culture.
In Pakistan Sindhi, Bengali, Baloch and Pashtun nationalisms reject the collective identity for the sake of an identity based on language. In the post-colonial period, the foci of analysis regarding nationalism remain on regional varieties, not local ones. So far the debate regarding nationalist movements within Pakistan has focused on broad nationalist tendencies at provincial or regional level. This meta-narrative of provincial nationalism rides roughshod over the aspirations of minor identities within and tried to subsume these under the category of geographic nationalism where majoritarian politics defines the identities of minority linguistic or cultural groups.

At the core of narratives of regional nationalism in Pakistan lies geography. It is not some divine order but geography which turns a very profane affair like identity into a sacred idea.
Torwali speakers inhabit the region of Bahrain in Swat Kohistan. They belong to the Dardic group of languages and race. But historical development has severed their relationship with people of their own language family. In the particular socioeconomic and political setting of Pakistan, communities living on the peripheries of a centralised state are always ignored by those controlling the reins of power. In such a situation, Zubair Torwali has made it his life’s work to empower the marginalised community of Torwali speakers through the power of the pen and development initiatives. Given the rising tide of religious extremism, Zubair Torwali has also directed his pen against extremist and violent groups in society. His views and opinions about politics, identity debates, militancy, education, progress and economy appeared in different newspapers, weeklies, online magazines and research journals over a period of seven years.
This time his scattered views are compiled and published in a book named “Muffled Voices: Longing for a pluralist and peaceful Pakistan” published by Multi Line Publications, Lahore.
The chapter on Swat provides an insider’s view about the conflict as the writer explicates the ravages of Taliban militancy in Swat.
He seems to disapprove of most of the commentaries on Swat in particular and Pashtun culture in general because of the trend to derive their conclusions from premises of stereotypes. Hence, the collective failure of the Pakistani state as well as Pakistani intelligentsia to diagnose the ailment. In the Afghan Jihad, Strategic Depth and War on Terror, the players of the New Great Game never bothered about the actual people of the region.
His overall theoretical framework in analysing extremism, religion, society, language and other political and economic issues is mostly informed by secularism. However, over-reliance on the universal model of secularism bars him from examining the local dynamics that defy the meta-narratives of theoretical unity provided by secularism. Modern radical Islam has increasingly destroyed the space for local narratives of religion.
Zubair Torwali is at his best when it comes to his forte – minority langauges and indigenous cultures. His surname derives from ‘Torwali’ which is one of the minority languages in Pakistan. This is basically an oral language. Therefore, the contours of Torwali culture have all the bearings typical of an oral culture. At the same time it faces the same challenges that are faced by oral cultures thanks to modernity, where the written word is a symbol for the whole structure of the state. Torwalis, like other minority language communities, do not have a say in decision and policy-making bodies in Pakistan. As a corollary, the historical and collective memory along with indigenous knowledge is rapidly vanishing.
In a highly globalised world, small cultures face future shock if they are not equipped with required tricks of the trade. Exposure of such cultures to highly advanced societies that have support of economic prowess and cultural industry are in danger of vanishing from the face of earth. The day will not be far away when our world will turn into graveyard of languages. Zubair’s efforts to bring the issues of vanishing languages and cultures into the centre stage of identity discourse in Pakistan through practice and pen are laudable. The kind of history we have manufactured and the narrative of identity we have constructed has failed to unite multiple identities under the single rubric of a nation. In Pakistan there is a dire need to rehabilitate peripheral voices on the pages of history and intellectual milieu.
Zubair realizes the perils of losing a culturally rooted worldview and language. His views and suggestion for the preservation of minority langauges speaks for his empathy and understanding of the local dynamics that are changing under the pressure of modernisation and globalisation. Being a speaker of a Dardic language in Gilgit-Baltistan, I feel intellectual and existential affinity with Zubair’s views and plans regarding language rights and preservation.
However, the book suffers from flaws that make it a difficult read. The book comprises three parts. It would have been better if the writer had provided readers with a brief introduction of each section so that the readers could situate the debate in its proper context. There is no doubt that a lot of thought went into the writing of the articles and that are compiled in the book, but less time and effort has been invested in the stage of compilation.
Zubair Towarli’s book “Muffled Voices” is a loud protest against the structural violence meted out by the power centres to the communities inhabiting the margins of national history and narrative.

The tribal Pashtuns of Pakistan, based in the Afghanistan–Pakistan border region, have historically been portrayed as “violent” and “warrior-like,” both in the colonial and contemporary literature. However, a brief review of archival literature suggests that oriental representation of tribal Pashtuns is based on various generalizations that were formed and propagated during the British military expeditions against the tribal Pashtuns. Moreover, these generalizations and stereotypes against the tribal Pashtuns have persisted since Pakistan’s independence in 1947. Recent developments in Pakistan’s Pashtun tribal belt, with various tribes convening Jirga meetings, condemning and countering militant activities and protesting against the state’s injustices explain the importance and desire for peace among the tribal Pashtuns. Finally, a brief analysis of the recently started Pashtun Tahafuz (protection) movement (PTM), an indigenous peace and human rights movement involving both men and women, and its nonviolent nature also reinforces the importance of peace for the tribal Pashtuns.

Pakistan’s Kashmir policy became more and more
inconsistent as was evident by the fact that instead
of following one clear‐cut agenda Pakistani policymakers
seem to follow three parallel agendas, i.e.,
traditional rhetorical emphasis on Kashmir cause for
public consumption, Nawaz Sharis’s twin track
approach, and the use of jehadi organizations, thus
exposing glaring inconsistencies in our policy‐making
and policy execution. These inconsistencies became
more pronounced with the outbreak of Kargil
conflict, which represented the height of inconsistent
policy making.

KEY WORDS: Kargil operation, India, Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, Chanab Line Formula, Back Channel Diplomacy, Pervaiz Musharraf.

The generally accepted story is that British militant suffragists performed an unexpected and abrupt move away from the feminist movement and towards a fiercely jingoistic nationalist campaign once the war began in 1914. Yet, given the nature of exchanges between Irish and British militant feminists, Irish feminists should not have been surprised by this turn from gender solidarity to English nationalism. In this article, I argue that Irish-British militant feminist entanglements worked to expose the powerful role that English nationalism played in suffrage politics at a time when nearly all the focus was on the disruptive influence of Irish nationalism.

Les ondes électromagnétiques utilisées pour la téléphonie mobile, le WiFi ou encore le Bluetooth sont-elles nocives pour la santé et l’environnement ? La polémique fait rage entre ceux qui considèrent qu’il n’y a aucune raison de s’inquiéter, et qu’il n’est donc pas nécessaire de légiférer à ce sujet, et ceux qui voient de vrais faisceaux de preuves à propos de la dangerosité de ces ondes. Les militants contre celles-ci soulèvent des risques, des doutes ou même des certitudes sur leurs dangers sanitaires, mais aussi sociaux, environnementaux et même mentaux. Au cœur de la polémique, les malades des ondes, les électrosensibles, ont une place particulière : eux souffrent déjà des ondes et sont donc une vraie preuve de ce danger, leur corps est l’inscription de ce danger. À l’aide des outils conceptuels développés par le philosophe Félix Guattari, ce travail déploie cette controverse à travers ces multiples composantes. La thèse explore l’électrosensibilité comme une maladie relative à un milieu et à une époque, en décrivant les épreuves que les malades et les militants subissent.

Résumé
Les rapports entre royalisme et souverainisme se sont tissés tout au long d´une
histoire qui doit être analysée avec attention. L’histoire de l’Action française
(AF) depuis la Libération témoigne, en effet, d´un travail de longue haleine
exercé à l’encontre des avancées des différents gouvernements dans la création
d´une communauté supranationale européenne. L’un des « héritages de
l’Action française », malgré les crises, les scissions et les pertes continuelles
de militants et d´adhérents dont a pâti cette organisation, concerne le rejet
de ce que le monarchisme considère comme un « abandon total de la souveraineté
française ». Cette contribution se propose d’aborder les relations entre
monarchistes et milieux souverainistes afin de mettre en lumière la contribution
d’un militantisme intellectuel qui, construit hors du système politique formel,
a participé à la « fabrication » de l’offre politique souverainiste d’opposition à
l’Union européenne. L’analyse du travail militant et des trajectoires individuelles
et organisationnelles de l’AF permettra de rendre compte des valeurs et des
réseaux politiques « anti-européens » mobilisés en l’espèce.
Abstract
The history of Action Française (AF) since the end of World War II shows how
this royalist organization has opposed successive governments’ European
policies. In spite of several crises and weak membership, AF’s description of
the European Union as an abandonment of national sovereignty has a legacy.
To explain this legacy, it is essential to understand relations between royalism
and sovereigntism among intellectuals and activists. We analyze the individual
and collectives trajectories of AF members to show the circulation of ideas
and persons inside this alternative field.

This dissertation examines the interplay between the orientation of the Ethiopian labour movement and the shifting position of wage labour within the Ethiopian political economy over the past six decades. Key factors that have contributed to the growth and the decline in assertiveness of the movement are identified and are brought into relation with the different outcomes. In this, two cycles of growth and decrease of assertiveness are identified and analysed within the shifting context of Ethiopia’s political economy. Levels of unrest and real wages are mapped at an aggregate national level and compared to real wage development.

The findings indicate the prevalence of a relationship between an assertive outlook and militant practices on the part of the labour movement, and improvements in the position of labour within the political economy in general and real wages in particular. In particular, the period 1963-1975 saw a pronounced mobilisation and a steadily increasing level of militancy and assertiveness that drove a sustained incline in real wages. The increasing assertiveness culminated in the years around the revolution, but the flare up of labour radicalism, unlike what has been posited in the literature, preceded both the outbreak of the revolution and the formation of political organisations. However, as state repression intensified and increasingly came to target the labour movement in 1975-76, the movement collapsed. In the aftermath, wages plummeted and the position of labour sharply eroded. Industrial tranquillity prevailed until a new cycle of mobilisation ensued beginning around the break between the 1980s and 1990s. This cycle neither had the same depth nor length as the first, but it nevertheless led to renewed industrial contestation and the emergence, briefly, of a relatively autonomous confederation. However, it failed to affect the continuing stagnation and decline of real wages and the position of labour.

On the theoretical level the findings of the dissertation include sharp movements in real wage levels which cannot be attributed to economistic factors such as productivity alone. Wages appears largely to have been determined by the outcome of contestation. When the labour movements have displayed sustained militancy and assertiveness, it has led to wage gains, and when it has been co-opted and docile, wages have tended to fall or stagnate. The assertiveness of the labour movement, moreover, does not appear to lend itself to explanation from any one of the factors proposed in the literature alone. Rather, a reciprocal relationship between an improvement in the position of labour and the assertiveness of the movement has been found to prevail.

The term inspirational/demonstrative factor is suggested to bridge the divide between and unify the strands of literature that is concerned with causes and outcomes of industrial contestation. It is posited that the development of a virtuous cycle of assertiveness and militant practices; betterment of the position of labour; growing ranks of membership; and a renewed ratcheting up of demands can be generated, and that such cycle displays a degree of path dependence. It is moreover suggested that the opposite is equally true, and that a vicious cycle of defeat; worsening conditions; and demobilisation can prevail.

One of the main points of contention in the current debates surrounding Marxism has been the problem of finding a concrete substrate which would orient the recuperation of the communist political strategy. Are there impasses in our contemporary society which justify the use of such a polemical notion as communism? Most authors currently involved with this debate agree that it is the problem of the " commons" under capitalism, which calls for a new theory and practice of communism. Where they disagree is on what the " commons " are and on how they exist within capitalism itself. The present contribution seeks to intervene on this debate and spell out the categorial recomposition of some fundamental aspects of Marxist critique of political economy implicitly at stake in Slavoj Žižek's theorization of the " antagonisms of the common ". Taking up the insight of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt concerning the new centrality of the enclosure of the commons in contemporary capitalism, Žižek has developed an alternative—more sober—view of the structural subsumption of these common spaces to the dynamics of Capital, where the very communal dimension of these domains only appear as common after they have been privatized. To extract the consequences of this assertion, we will first reconstruct the Marxist theory of enclosures in a comparative reading of the first volume of Capital and Karl Polanyi's classic The Great Transformation. This will lead us to a broader discussion of the contemporary transformations in capitalism, with a focus on the crisis of value as primarily sustained by absolute surplus-value extraction. With an understanding of the idea of the commons and a historical background of our current predicament, we will be in position to follow Antonio Negri's reading of how the enclosure of the commons leads to a new communist strategy and also to criticize it, using Slavoj Zizek's alternative understanding of our contemporary social antagonisms. Following through Zizek's reading of the logic of enclosures, we come to the conclusion that, first, unemployment has the structure of an enclosure, one which is responsible for the very form of the work commodity—as it was already suggested by Fredric Jameson and others—and, second, that, from a certain philosophical perspective shared by thinkers such as Zizek and Badiou, this realization can lead us to an innovative recuperation of the Marxist theory of " generic being " , proposed by Marx in his Manuscripts of 1844.