Rebellion From The Roots

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1983.

Despite the UK's long history of racial injustice, people from minoritised groups have fought back, engaging in advocacy, activism, and every-day acts of resistance to create positive change. This anthology is a prize-winning collection of these stories, spanning generations, cultures, and communities. They tell of subtle everyday acts of resistance like cooking traditional dishes from recipes passed down from grandparents displaced from their homelands, challenging microaggressions in the workplace, and sending care packages to relatives in occupied states. They also highlight bold and defiant rebellions such as building a successful business from scratch and against the odds, making perilous journeys, and fighting unlawful deportation. The fabric of these stories is made up of resistance, but also of belonging. They explore the complexities of feeling caught between identities as well as the joyful freedom found in reclaiming and rediscovering who you are. Full of humanity and bravery, this inspiring and unique kaleidoscope of journeys speaks to how nuanced and personal resistance against racism can be.

When armed insurgents began to attack government soldiers in the Indonesian province of Aceh with increasing frequency in the middle of 1989, it was apparent that this distinctive part of the far-flung republic was adding yet another period of turmoil, rebellion, and blood-letting to those that had marked its history over the previous hundred years. Famous for their long war against the Dutch in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the Acehnese were equally well-known for their willingness to resort to arms to defend their identity and interests against the encroachments of postindependence Indonesian governments. As early as 1953 a rebellion had broken out against the central government, and in the latter part of the 1970s another attempt had been made to foment revolt. This study seeks to explain the reasons for the most recent uprising in Aceh. Part One sketches the region's history up to the mid-1960s. Part Two examines the economic, political, and social changes that have occurred in Aceh over the past quarter of a century, under the New Order regime: the roots of rebellion in the province. This analysis goes beyond the period defined in the title of the study: the end of rebellion does not mean that its root causes have been resolved. Part Three looks at the rebellion itself, and at the complexion of political power in Aceh in the early 1990s. Part Four summarizes the principal arguments of the monograph. The main thesis of this study is that exploitation of Aceh's resources for the benefit of the central government; economic stagnation in the province itself; governmental and political overcentralization which has served to disenfranchise the people of the region; and social changes which have led to the mass of Acehnese losing their traditional social and political leaders, have combined to open the way for an armed separatist movement to foment rebellion in the province.

This is a provocative and important contribution to understanding the role of Catholicism in the struggle for justice in Central America. Phillip Berryman writes with the sensitivity and passion of a Christian who has lived the biblical option for the poor. Penny Lernoux

Helpful journalistic exploration of events leading up to and during the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas. Discusses domestic and international political contexts of the rebellion. Reports day-to-day activities of the Ej ercito Zapatista de Liberaci on Nacional. Covers period through the 1994 elections