New research by Rethinking Security and Coventry University, letting people define ‘security’ for themselves, has led to a new Rethinking Security report published in June: How do the British People Understand their Security? Responses from a new approach to public opinion.
Download the report here: www.tinyurl.com/peacenews4259
At its most basic, Unarmed Civilian Protection (UCP) refers to ‘civilians protecting themselves and other civilians, without the use or threat of violence,’ co-editor Ellen Furnari explains in her introduction.
Fellow co-editor Randy Janzen lists three broad categories of UCP: creating space for nonviolent activism (for example, North American activists accompanying human rights defenders in South and Central America in the 1980s); traditional peacekeeping; and protecting communities…
Progressives need to talk and think much more about insecurity. Indeed, our failure to do so has been a ‘strategic mistake’.
So says author and activist Astra Taylor in this print version of her 2023 CBC Massey Lectures.
We all experience ‘existential insecurity’ as a core part of the human condition. We can all be wounded (physically and psychologically), we are all dependent upon others for our survival, and we will all die.
But, Taylor notes, we are all also ‘ensnared…
In the UK, most opinion polls on national security issues reinforce the existing government way of defining security.
That’s the conclusion of a new report, Thinking Inside the Box, by researcher Lillah Fearnley for the Rethinking Security project.
For example, when UK polls ask for opinions about how the government should respond to conflicts overseas, they often exclude options for non-military intervention (such as dialogue and mediation). The public can often only…
Does ‘national security’ have to be discussed in such a boring way, with long words that hardly anyone understands? What if everyone could take part in defining ‘security’ just by taking a photo to represent what safety means to them, and talking about it? Can creativity contribute to analysis?
Rethinking Security is running a ‘Visualising Security’ project as part of its Alternative Security Review (due out later this year). The aim is ‘to build a collection of images and stories…
In the first year of COVID-19, while most of us were watching too much TV and just trying to stay sane, Paul Rogers was revising and rewriting his classic book on global security, Losing Control, to create this updated, enriched and unmissable fourth edition.
Among other things, he added a powerful new section on COVID-19 and the ‘lethally slow’ response of the UK. As part of this section, Rogers criticises the British government’s decision in late 2020 to pre-empt an ongoing…
The vast carbon emissions produced by the military are coming under increasing scrutiny. The UK ministry of defence (MoD) published a strategy on climate change earlier this year, outlining how it will reduce the carbon impact of 'defence' up to 2050.
However, there will still be no external or independent scrutiny of greenhouse gases produced by the military, as COP26 failed to ensure that they will be included in emissions targets.
Emissions are only one issue in terms of the…
