Stanford University

Human Rights

Workers and Revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia

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Abstract:

Arab workers participated prominently in the popular uprisings of 2011.  They shared the outrage of many of their compatriots over daily abuse by internal security forces, widespread corruption, and foreign policies subservient to U.S. interests. Their participation in those uprisings was also informed by struggles against the neoliberal economic restructuring of the region since the 1970s, which resulted in an indecent chasm between rich and poor, deteriorating working conditions and public social services, and high youth unemployment.

Egypt experienced a strike wave of unprecedented magnitude in the 2000s. Tunisia, with one exception, experienced less intense contestation by workers and others. Egyptian workers’ have had very limited influence on national politics in the post-Mubarak era.  Democratic development seems unlikely in the near future.  The Tunisian national trade union federation and its affiliates were the central force in installing procedural democracy. The nature of workers’ social movements in the 2000s partially explains these divergent outcomes.

Speaker Bio:

Joel Beinin

Joel Beinin is the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History. He received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1970, his M.A. from Harvard University in 1974, and his A.M.L.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1978 and 1982. He also studied at the American University of Cairo and and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He lived in Egypt in 1969, 1980-81, 1985, 1986, 1994, 2004-05, and 2006-08 and in Israel in 1965-66, 1970-73, 1987, 1988, 1993, and 1993. He has taught Middle East history at Stanford University since 1983. From 2006 to 2008 he served as Director of Middle East Studies and Professor of History at the American University in Cairo. His research and writing focuses on workers, peasants, and minorities in the modern Middle East and on Israel, Palestine, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

 

Beinin has written or edited nine books, most recently Social Movements, Mobilization, and Contestation in the Middle East and North Africa; co-edited with Frédéric Vairel (Stanford University Press, 2011) and The Struggle for Worker Rights in Egypt (Solidarity Center, 2010). His articles have been published in leading scholarly journals as well as The Nation, Middle East Report, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Le Monde Diplomatique, and others. He has appeared on Al-Jazeera TV, BBC radio, National Public Radio, and many other TV and radio programs throughout North America, and in France, Egypt, Singapore, and Australia, and has given frequent interviews to the global media. In 2002 he served as President of the Middle East Studies Association of North America.

This event is co-sponsored by the Arab Studies Institute.

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Goldman Conference Room
4th Floor East Wing E409
Encina Hall
616 Serra Street
Stanford, California 94305

Joel Beinin Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History Stanford University
Seminars
Arab Reform and Democracy Speaker Series

Why democracy is worth fighting for -- now more than ever

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Larry Diamond
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Is democracy heading toward a depression? CDDRL Director Larry Diamond answers in a recent Foreign Policy piece, assessing the challenges of overcoming a global, decade-long democratic recession. With much of the world losing faith in the model of liberal democracy, Diamond believes the key to setting democracy back on track involves heavy reform in America, serious crackdowns on corruption, and a reassessment of how the West approaches its support for democratic development abroad. 

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'Protect your Republic Protest' in Anıtkabir, Ankara, Turkey. 14 April 2007.
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CDDRL honors students recognized for research

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CDDRL congratulates two of its 2014-2015 senior honors students, Stefan Norgaard (Public Policy and Urban Studies '15) and Garima Sharma (Economics '15), after they were featured in a recent article in Business Insider  highlighting some of Stanford University's most 'incredibly impressive students.' Both Norgaard and Sharma conducted field research this past summer in foreign countries to collect data for their theses, which they are currently writing under the direction of the CDDRL Senior Honors Program.

Norgaard is currently researching South Africa's active political youth, the "born free" generation, and helped create an innovative community-building tool in Johannesburg's gentrifying neighborhoods. Sharma is examining the culture behind child marriages in India and has interviewed over 80 mothers on their decisions to put their daughters through the practice.

The CDDRL Senior Honors Program aims to provide an opportunity for eligible seniors focusing on democracy, economic development, and rule of law subjects in any university department to earn honors in democracy, development and rule of law (DDRL). To learn more, please visit the program page here.

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Stefan Norgaard (third from the left) and Garima Sharma (fourth from the right) stand with their cohort of 2014-2015 CDDRL honors students with Faculty Advisor Francis Fukuyama in front of the White House.
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Can Arabs be human rights defenders?

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In a recent article, Stanford Professor of Middle East History Joel Beinin examines the controversy over the decision of a European Parliament bloc to withdraw their nomination of Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah to the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought after a Wall Street Journal editorial accused Abdel Fattah of inciting hatred against Israel on social media.

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Alaa Abd El-Fatah
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Recent Developments on Rule of Law in China

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******* LOCATION CHANGE******* New Location - Philippines Conference Room , 3rd Floor, Encina Hall

 

ABSTRACT

After China’s new leadership took office in 2012, rule of law, as a powerful tool to re-shape state governance, was back to the stage as a focus of the ruling Party of China. There are a number of reform steps taken, and the political implication behind the veil is significant. This presentation will analyze the major reform steps to strengthen the rule of law and the debates in recent two years, especially judicial reform and anti-corruption. In addition, it will interpret the reform blueprint on rule of law issued by both the 3rd and 4th plenary sessions of the 18th CPC Congresses.

SPEAKER BIO

Qing Gu is the Team Leader of the Poverty, Equity and Governance Team of the United Nations Development Programme in China. She manages the governance, poverty reduction and equity portfolio of UNDP’s development assistance to China. She ensures that the portfolio brings transformational change at the request of China in democratic governance, civil society development, rule of law, public administration reform as well as poverty reduction and equity. She bridges the government, think tanks, civil society and the private sector in absorbing the best international expertise, knowledge and policy advice, to fulfill UNDP’s mission to make the Chinese people live better lives in a strengthened governance system, and enjoy democratic, equitable and sustainable development. Qing was previously a division director responsible for international cooperation at the Ministry of Justice of China. She was a Chevening scholar and received her Master Degree with overall distinction at the Faculty of Law of Oxford University in 2006. She assisted the research on organized crime at the Center for Criminology of Oxford University in 2007 and 2008. Qing was a Draper Hills Fellow at the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law in 2013.

Philippines Conference Room

3rd Floor , Encina Hall Central

 

Gu Qing Team Leader in Poverty, Equity and Governance, United Nations Development Programme

Emergency Response: In the Field and in Advocacy, From Ebola and Beyond

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Stanford’s Program on Human Rights in the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law is collaborating with U.S. Fund for UNICEF and the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health to present the Children’s Human Rights Seminar Series for 2014-2015.

This monthly series will bring together UNICEF representatives, academic experts, and global civil society leaders to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing children today. Each event will highlight one of UNICEF's main programmatic areas, in the following order: emergency response, HIV/AIDS, disabilities, child protection, nutrition, water and sanitation, health and immunizations, and education.

CISAC Central, 2nd Floor, Encina Hall

Erica Kochi UNICEF Innovation
Eric Talbert Director Emergency USA
Brad Adams Director Human Rights Watch Asia
Eric Weiss Emergency Medicine Moderator Stanford Medical Center
Seminars

Caryl Stern, President and CEO for US Fund for UNICEF

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Caryl M Stern is currently the President & CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, following 27 years of non-profit and education work including serving as the Chief Operating Officer and Senior Associate National Director of the Anti-Defamation League; the founding Director of ADL’s A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE Institute; and the Dean of Students at Polytechnic University. Caryl has served on numerous non-profit Boards including the United National International School, Mercy College, and the Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation. Currently, she serves on the Boards of the WE ARE FAMILY Foundation, the Center for Disaster Relief, the SEEDS Academy, and the Advisory Board to the WNBA. Caryl holds a B.A. degree in Studio Art from the State University of New York at Oneonta; and an M.S. in College Student Personnel Administration from Western Illinois University. She completed her doctoral coursework in this same field at Loyola University in Chicago and has received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from both Mercy College and Cedar Crest College. Caryl’s latest book is , I BELIEVE IN ZERO: Learning from the World’s Children (St. Martin’s Press, 2013)

Oksenberg Conference Room

3rd floor Encina Hall
616 Serra Street
Stanford. California 94305

Caryl Stern President and CEO US Fund for UNICEF
Seminars

All Our Relations: Indigenous Rights Movements and the Bureaucratization of Indigeneity in Taiwan

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Abstract

Taiwan’s indigenous social movement, active since the 1980s, has successfully lobbied to get indigenous rights included in the Republic of China Constitution, to create a cabinet level Council of Indigenous Peoples, and to pass the 2005 Basic Law on Indigenous Peoples. Taiwan’s indigenous social activists have also become regular participants in United Nations indigenous events. Especially during the Chen Shui-bian presidency, foreign observers often suspected that the state instrumentalized “indigeneity” to claim a distinct identity from China. Events since 2008, however, demonstrate that the indigenous rights movement has maintained its own momentum and that the indigenous peoples have interests that cannot be reduced to issues of national identity or party politics. In fact, the indigenous people overwhelmingly support the KMT, and indigenous movements are involved in both “pro-unification” and “pro-independence” political networks.  Most indigenous social movement leaders, as well as ordinary indigenous people, hope that their movement can make progress in indigenous rights in ways that transcend the “blue” and “green” division between Han Taiwanese. This talk will explore the diversity of the indigenous movements, their mobilization strategies, and values since Ma Ying-jeou was elected President of the ROC in 2008.


Speaker Bio

Scott Simon holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from McGill University, and began his career working in the anthropology of development. Two separate research projects led to his books Tanners of Taiwan: Life Strategies and National Cultures (2005), as well as Sweet and Sour: Life-Worlds of Taipei Women Entrepreneurs (2003). He has worked extensively on ethnographic research with Truku and Sediq groups in both Hualien and Nantou counties of Taiwan since 2004. His third book - entitled Sadyaq Balae! L’autochtonie formosane dans tous ses états – was published in French by the Laval University Press. This book is an exploration of state-indigenous relations, including the social movements that often contest state projects on indigenous territory. He has in recent years, in annual trips to Taiwan, been working more closely with Truku-speaking trappers and hunters, who have been teaching him about ethno-biology and human-animal relations in addition to sharing their discontent about Taiwan’s legal regime that criminalizes most hunting activities. 

 

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Scott Simon Professor School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies, Research Chair in Taiwan Studies, University of Ottawa
Seminars

Erin Baggott Carter

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Erin Baggott Carter (赵雅芬) is an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California and a Hoover Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. She is also a non-resident scholar at the UCSD 21st Century China Center. She has previously held fellowships at Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and the Center for International Security and Cooperation. She received a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University.

Dr. Carter's research focuses on Chinese politics and propaganda. Her first book, Propaganda in Autocracies (Cambridge University Press), explores how political institutions determine propaganda strategies with an original dataset of eight million articles in six languages drawn from state-run newspapers in nearly 70 countries. She is currently working on a book on how domestic politics influence US-China relations. Her other work has appeared in the British Journal of Political Science, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Security Studies, and International Interactions. Her work has been featured by a number of media platforms, including the New York Times and the Little Red Podcast.

Her research has been supported by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Center for International Studies at the University of Southern California, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University, and the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University.

Dr. Carter regularly tweets about Chinese politics and propaganda at @baggottcarter. She can be reached via email at baggott [at] usc.edu or ebaggott [at] stanford.edu.

Hoover Fellow
CDDRL Affiliated Scholar
CDDRL Visiting Scholar, 2020-2021
CISAC Affiliate
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