Asia's Unknown Uprisings Volume 2: People Power in the Philippines, Burma, Tibet, China, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand and Indonesia 1947–2009 (Paperback)
The grassroots movements in nine places in East Asia in the 1980s and 1990s are empirically reconstructed in this volume. Asian history, especially radical history, is a subject often glossed over in the West. Seeking to remedy that, this book begins with an overview of late-20th-century history, the context within which these movements arose. The author relates Asian uprisings to predecessors in 1968 and shows their subsequent influence on the wave of uprisings that swept Eastern Europe at the end of the 1980s. Then, by detailing the histories of uprisings in nine places—the Philippines, Burma, Tibet, China, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, and Indonesia—significant insight into major constituencies of change and the trajectories of these societies becomes visible. This book places the grassroots movements in a global context and analyzes them in light of major sociological theories.
“A brilliant narrative of the present as history from below. It is a detailed account of the struggle for freedom and social justice, encompassing the different currents, both reformist and revolutionary, in a balanced study that combines objectivity and commitment. Above all, he presents the beauty of popular movements in the process of self-emancipation.” —James Petras, professor of sociology, Binghamton University