46 participants joined us in this online event:
Speakers: Annyeli Nascimento, Teachers Union of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Hewa, Student with Hello Future, Iraq Shabbir Lakha, Stop the War Coalition UK, United Kingdom Karlene Griffiths Sekou, Black Live Matters, USA
Moderator: Emma Pritchard, International Peace Bureau Youth Network
The past few months have seen a rapid expansion of global awareness of systemic problems that threaten our world, such as anti-Black racism, healthcare inequalities and conflict. Peaceful resistance to these problems is met with violence, and civil disobedience delegitimised with terms such as ‘rioters’, ‘looters’ and ‘thugs’; property and the economy is privileged over people. When we look to history we see that every group that has stood up and demanded to be treated as human has been met with state-sanctioned violence, including police brutality. On the 75th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima by the United States, we recognise that such an inhuman doing was made possible by wider structures of racism and dehumanisation of Japanese people in the United States and elsewhere. This webinar brings together a range of international speakers and activists to consider the role of civil disobedience in resisting state sanctioned violence and police brutality. ‘Violence’ by protesters (mostly in the form of attacks on property) is used to invalidate calls for an end to racism, inequality, white supremacy and conflict. Exploring direct action, civil disobedience and violence in the context of a range of current and longstanding protests, this webinar will question how calls for ‘nonviolent action’ are often used to maintain a status quo and white supremacy, and the role the peace movement must play in building an anti racist world.
Organized by: International Peace Bureau Youth Network (IPBYN), World Conference 2020 Youth Assembly, Midheaven Network