Cesar Chavez Cesar Chavez (born César Estrada Chávez, locally: [ˈsesaɾ esˈtɾaða ˈtʃaβes]; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (later the United Farm Workers union, UFW).[1] A Mexican American, Chavez became the best known Latino American civil rights activist, and was strongly promoted by the American labor movement, which was eager to enroll Hispanic members. His public-relations approach to unionism and aggressive but nonviolent tactics made the farm workers' struggle a moral cause with nationwide support. By the late 1970s, his tactics had forced growers to recognize the UFW as the bargaining agent for 50,000 field workers in California and Florida. However, by the mid-1980s membership in the UFW had dwindled to around 15,000.[2] Early life and education The Chavez family faced many hardships in California. Activism Worker's rights Animal rights Controversies
Deng Fei goes beyond journalism to right wrongs in China Investigative reporter Deng Fei won plaudits and nearly 3 million Chinese microblog followers with a string of articles on sensitive topics such as child trafficking, organ harvesting from death-penalty victims, and shoddy school construction. Skip to next paragraph Deng Fei (l.) began an influential blog that encourages readers to contribute to solutions. His latest cause: better nutrition for some 26 million rural schoolchildren. Peter Ford/The Christian Science Monitor Subscribe Today to the Monitor Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS ofThe Christian Science MonitorWeekly Digital Edition Now he is parlaying his reputation into a groundbreaking project to turn his readers into active agents of social change in China. Last year Mr. "Journalists can do more than just write articles. Deng made his name over the past 10 years with articles published in Phoenix magazine in Hong Kong, where censorship is not the problem it is in mainland China. Then he took an unusual step for a journalist.
Malala Yousafzai Pakistani education activist and Nobel laureate (born 1997) Malala Yousafzai (Urdu: ملالہ یوسفزئی, Pashto: ملاله یوسفزۍ, pronunciation: [məˈlaːlə jusəf ˈzəj];[4] born 12 July 1997)[1][4][5] is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate[6] at the age of 17. She is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, the second Pakistani and the first Pashtun to receive a Nobel Prize.[7] Yousafzai is a human rights advocate for the education of women and children in her native homeland, Swat, where the Pakistani Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Her advocacy has grown into an international movement, and according to former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, she has become Pakistan's "most prominent citizen. The daughter of education activist Ziauddin Yousafzai, she was born to a Yusufzai Pashtun family in Swat and was named after the Afghan folk heroine Malalai of Maiwand. Early life Childhood As a BBC blogger Banned from school Early activism
Tank Man Coordinates: "Tank Man" temporarily stops the advance of a column of tanks on June 5, 1989, in Beijing, in what is widely considered one of the iconic images of the 20th century.[1][2][3] This photograph (one of four similar versions) was taken by Jeff Widener of the Associated Press. The Tank Man, or the Unknown Protester, is the nickname of an anonymous man who stood in front of a column of tanks on June 5, 1989, the morning after the Chinese military had suppressed the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 by force. The man achieved widespread international recognition due to the videotape and photographs taken of the incident. The incident[edit] The incident took place near Tiananmen on Chang'an Avenue, which runs east-west along the south end of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China on June 5, 1989, one day after the Chinese government's violent crackdown on the Tiananmen protests. Identity and fate[edit] International notability and censorship[edit] Photographic versions[edit] Notes[edit]
Rigoberta Menchú Rigoberta Menchú Tum (Spanish pronunciation: [riɣoˈβerta menˈtʃu], born 9 January 1959) is an indigenous Guatemalan woman, of the K'iche' ethnic group. Menchú has dedicated her life to publicizing the plight of Guatemala's indigenous peoples during and after the Guatemalan Civil War (1960–1996), and to promoting indigenous rights in the country. She received the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize and Prince of Asturias Award in 1998. Menchú is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. Life[edit] Rigoberta Menchú was born to a poor indigenous family of K'iche' descent near Laj Chimel, a small town in the north-central Guatemalan province of El Quiché. Her father, Vicente Menchú, was a member of the guerrilla movement Guerrilla Army of the Poor and died in 1980 during the Burning of the Spanish Embassy after being captured and tortured for his role in organizing against abusive landowners. Politics[edit] In 2009 she was involved in the newly founded party Winaq. Controversies about her testimony[edit] Ament, Gail.
Asmaa Mahfouz Asmaa Mahfouz (Arabic: أسماء محفوظ, pronounced [ʔæsˈmæːʔ mɑħˈfuːz, ˈʔæsmæ-], born 1 February 1985) is an Egyptian activist and one of the founders of the April 6 Youth Movement.[1] She has been credited by journalist Mona Eltahawy and others with helping to spark mass uprising through her video blog posted one week before the start of the 2011 Egyptian revolution.[2][3] She is a prominent member of Egypt's Coalition of the Youth of the Revolution and one of the leaders of the Egyptian revolution.[4] In 2011, she was one of five recipients of the "Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought" awarded for contributions to "historic changes in the Arab world." The other joint recipients were Ahmed al-Senussi, Razan Zaitouneh, Ali Farzat and Mohamed Bouazizi of the Arab Spring. Arabian Business placed Mahfouz at #381 on its list of the World's 500 Most Influential Arabs.[5] Overview[edit] January 2011 uprising in Egypt[edit] If you think yourself a man, come with me on 25 January. See also[edit]
Subcomandante Marcos Subcomandante Marcos or Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos is the nom de guerre used by the main ideologist, spokesperson and de facto leader of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), a Mexican rebel movement fighting for the rights of the indigenous peoples of Mexico. On 1 January 1994, when the U.S.–Mexico–Canada free trade agreement became effective, Subcommander Marcos led an army of Mayan farmers into eastern Chiapas state, to protest what he saw as the Mexican federal government's mistreatment of the nation's indigenous peoples.[1] Marcos is also a writer, a political poet, and an anti-capitalist who advocates the amendment of the Political Constitution of Mexico to formally and specifically recognize the political and the human rights of Mexico's indigenous peoples.[2] Background[edit] Identity[edit] Subcomandante Marcos (center, wearing brown cap) in Chiapas In an interview with García Márquez and Roberto Pombo, Marcos spoke of his upbringing: "It was middle class.
Poor People's Campaign Rebecca Adamson Rebecca Adamson (born 1950)[1] is an American Cherokee businessperson and advocate. She is former director, former president, and founder of First Nations Development Institute [2] and the founder of First Peoples Worldwide.[3] Life[edit] Born in Akron, Ohio, to a Swedish American father and a Cherokee mother, Adamson grew up in Akron and spent summers with her Cherokee grandmother in North Carolina, where she learned about the history and culture of her Cherokee people.[4] She holds a master of science in economic development from the Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire, where she teaches a graduate course on indigenous economics.[3] Her work led to the first microloan fund in the United States associated with a reservation, the first tribal investment model. Adamson's international work created the Lumba Aboriginal Community Foundation in Australia. Ms. magazine named her one of their seven "Women of the Year" in 1997. Publications[edit] External links[edit]
Medea Benjamin The Los Angeles Times has described her as "one of the high profile leaders" of the peace movement and in 1999, San Francisco Magazine included her on its "power list" of the "60 Players Who Rule the Bay Area." Early life[edit] Benjamin grew up on Long Island, New York, a self-described "nice Jewish girl Benjamin worked for 10 years as an economist and nutritionist in Latin America and Africa for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, the Swedish International Development Agency, and the Institute for Food and Development Policy. Organizations[edit] She later went on to create the Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad (IOWC) to monitor the United States military and the war's effect on civilian populations. In 2010 she received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Politics[edit] Protest actions[edit] From 2002 to 2009, Benjamin engaged in numerous protests involving U.S. Organization efforts[edit] Labor rights and corporate responsibility[edit] Iraq[edit]
Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (/ˈnoʊm ˈtʃɒmski/; born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher,[21][22] cognitive scientist, logician,[23][24][25] political commentator and anarcho-syndicalist activist. Sometimes described as the "father of modern linguistics",[26][27] Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy.[21] He has spent most of his career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he is currently Professor Emeritus, and has authored over 100 books. He has been described as a prominent cultural figure, and was voted the "world's top public intellectual" in a 2005 poll.[28] Born to a middle-class Ashkenazi Jewish family in Philadelphia, Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from relatives in New York City. He later undertook studies in linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania, where he obtained his BA, MA, and PhD, while from 1951 to 1955 he was appointed to Harvard University's Society of Fellows. Early life Childhood: 1928–45
Chris Hedges Christopher Lynn "Chris" Hedges (born September 18, 1956) is an American journalist specializing in American politics and society. Hedges is also known as the best-selling author of several books including War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002)—a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction—Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (2009), Death of the Liberal Class (2010) and his most recent New York Times best seller, written with the cartoonist Joe Sacco, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt (2012). Hedges is currently a columnist for news website Truthdig and a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City.[1] He spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. In 2002, Hedges was part of the team of reporters at The New York Times awarded the Pulitzer Prize for the paper's coverage of global terrorism. Biography[edit] Personal life[edit] New York Times[edit]
David Swanson David Swanson in 2012 David Swanson (born 1969) is an American activist, blogger and author. Education[edit] Swanson obtained a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Virginia in 1997.[1] Career[edit] As an activist, Swanson co-founded the website After Downing Street (now War Is A Crime .org), based around the U.S. congressional concern of the Downing Street Memo. As an author, David Swanson has written several books; Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union[9] (2009), War Is a Lie (2010), When the World Outlawed War (2011) and War No More: The Case for Abolition (2013). Swanson currently blogs through various political sites, including his own co-founded site, WarIsACrime.Org[3] and Democrats.com,[1] where he serves as the Washington Director. Writings[edit] Kucinich, Dennis J., David C.N. References[edit] External links[edit]