November 9, 2020 – 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Zoom Webinar
Jørgen Johansen is an independent peace researcher, bibliophile and trouble- maker living amongst the trees in Southern Sweden. He is the co-editor of Journal of Resistance Studies and runs Irene Publishing.

Abstract: Jorgen will use Sweden as a case of how civil disobedience was, is and will still be, an important ingredient in changing the society in a democratic direction. All the basic democratic freedoms and rights we enjoy today are results of massive popular campaigns, some going back almost 500 years. One element in these campaigns was to openly, in public, violate the old unjust and anachronistic laws and face the consequences of these acts of civil disobedience. Freedom of speech, universal voting rights, freedom of religion, the right to organise a movement (freedom of assembly), etc. are all successful results of campaigns quite similar to the more recent struggles around segregation, environmentalism, ending wars and police brutality.