AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international direct action advocacy group working to impact the lives

of people with AIDS (PWAs) and the AIDS pandemic to bring about legislation, medical research and treatment and policies to ultimately bring an end to the disease by mitigating loss of health and lives.[1] ACT UP was effectively formed in March 1987 at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in New York. Larry Kramer was asked to speak as part of a rotating speaker series, and his well-attended speech focused on action to fight AIDS. Kramer spoke out against the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), which he perceived as politically impotent. Kramer had co-founded the GMHC but had resigned from its board of directors in 1983. According to Douglas Crimp, Kramer posed a question to the audience: "Do we want to start a new organization devoted to political action?" The answer was "a resounding yes." Approximately 300 people met two days later to form ACT UP.[2] The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations[2][3] have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level. Major anti-nuclear groups include Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. The initial objective of the movement was nuclear disarmament, though since the late 1960s opposition has included the use of nuclear power. Many anti-nuclear groups oppose both nuclear power and nuclear weapons. The formation of green parties in the 1970s and 1980s was often a direct result of anti-nuclear politics.[4] Scientists and diplomats have debated nuclear weapons policy since before the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.[20] The public became concerned about nuclear weapons testing from about 1954, following extensive nuclear testing in the Pacific. In 1961, at the height of the Cold War, about 50,000 women brought together by Women Strike for Peace marched in 60 cities in the United States to demonstrate against nuclear weapons.[21][22] In 1963, many countries ratified the Partial Test Ban Treaty which prohibited atmospheric nuclear testing.[23] Some local opposition to nuclear power emerged in the early 1960s,[24] and in the late 1960s some members of the scientific community began to express their concerns.[25] In the early 1970s, there were large protests about a proposed nuclear power plant in Wyhl, Germany. The project was cancelled in 1975 and anti-nuclear success at Wyhl inspired opposition to nuclear power in other parts of Europe and North America.[26][27] Nuclear power became an issue of major public protest in the 1970s.[28] he Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was a collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues. At its peak ACORN had over 500,000 members and more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters in over 100 cities across the U.S.,[3][4] as well as in Argentina, Canada, Mexico, and Peru.[5] ACORN was founded in 1970 by Wade Rathke and Gary Delgado.[6] It filed for Chapter 7 liquidation on November 2, 2010, effectively closing the organization.[7] Many ACORN members and organizers formed new state-wide organizations.[8] ACORN's voter registration drives, which it has conducted since the 1980s, have been frequently mischaracterized by supporters of Republican candidates as "voter fraud". ACORN received significant negative publicity in the wake of the 2009 production and publication of videos, which were later found to be partially falsified and selectively edited, by two conservative activists, James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles. The activists used hidden camera recordings to portray low-level ACORN employees as engaging in criminal activity, apparently advising them on how to hide prostitution activities and avoid taxes.[9] A nationwide controversy ensued, immediately resulting in a loss of funding from government and private donors,[10][11][12] including legislative amendments to spending bills in the United States House and Senate prohibiting government funding of the group. Following the publication of the videos and withdrawal of funding, four different independent investigations by various state and city Attorneys General and the GAO released in 2009 and 2010 cleared ACORN, finding its employees had not engaged in criminal activities and that the organization had managed its federal funding appropriately, and calling the videos deceptively and selectively edited to present the workers in the worst possible light. Despite this, by March 2010, 15 of ACORN's 30 state chapters had already closed[10] and the group announced it was closing its remaining state chapters and disbanding.[13] The League of Women Voters is an American civic organization that was formed to help women take a larger role in public affairs as they won the right to vote. It was founded in 1920,[1] by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote. Catt was also the founder and at the time the President of the International Alliance of Women. The League of Women Voters began as a "mighty political experiment" aimed to help newly enfranchised women exercise their responsibilities as voters. Originally, only women could join the league; but in 1973 the charter was modified to include men. The league is a grassroots organization with chapters in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The league has approximately 150,000 members (as of 2006).[citation needed] The League of Women Voters has as its official position that it is strictly nonpartisan; it neither supports nor opposes candidates for office at any level of government. At the same time, the League is wholeheartedly political and works to influence policy through advocacy. The league takes a stand on many political issues after studying them and coming to a consensus on a position. The league works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and to influence public policy through education and advocacy, as well as through political lobbying of Congress. The league is organized into two complementary halves: Voter service and citizen education; and program and action. LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the term is an adaptation of the initialism LGB, which itself started replacing the term gay when in reference to the community beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s,[1] as many felt the term gay community did not accurately represent all those to whom it referred.[2] The initialism has become mainstream as a self-designation and has been adopted by the majority of sexuality and gender identity-based community centers and media in the

United States and some other English-speaking countries.[3][4] It is also used in some other countries in whose languages the initialism is meaningful, such as France. The initialism LGBT is intended to emphasize a diversity of sexuality and gender identity-based cultures and is sometimes used to refer to anyone who is non-heterosexual or non-cisgender instead of exclusively to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.[2][5] To recognize this inclusion, a popular variant adds the letter Q for those who identify as queer and/or are questioning their sexual identity as LGBTQ, recorded since 1996.[6] On the one hand, some intersex people who want to be included in LGBT groups suggest an extended initialism LGBTI (recorded since 1999[7]).[8] This initialism "LGBTI" is used in all parts of "The Activist's Guide" of the Yogyakarta Principles in Action.[9] Furthermore, the initialism LGBTIH has seen use in India to encompass the hijra third gender identity and the related subculture.[10] More recently the catch-all term "Gender and Sexual Diversity" GSD has been proposed.[11] Whether or not LGBT people openly identify themselves may depend on whether they live in a discriminatory environment, as well as the status of LGBT rights where one lives.[12] Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) is an international network of environmental organizations in 74 countries.[1] Friends of the Earth was founded in 1969 as an anti nuclear group by Robert O Anderson[2] who contributed $200,000 in personal funds to launch FOTE with David Brower, Donald Aitken and Jerry Mander after Brower's split with the Sierra Club. FOTE main mission was to lock up and prevent further development of nuclear energy.[3][4] Their first employee was Amory Lovins, who kicked off FOE in the UK. It became an international network in 1971 with a meeting of representatives from the U.S., Sweden, the UK and France.[5] For further historical details see articles on the national FOE organizations. FoEI is assisted by a small secretariat (based in Amsterdam, Netherlands) which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns. The executive committee of elected representatives from national groups set policy and oversee the work of the secretariat. In 2010 Nigerian activist Nnimmo Bassey was elected to serve as chair of Friends of the Earth International.[6] eople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) (stylized PeTA) is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees, it claims to have three million members and supporters and to be the largest animal rights group in the world. Its slogan is "animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment or abuse in any way."[1] Founded in March 1980 by Newkirk and fellow animal rights activist Alex Pacheco, the organization first caught the public's attention in the summer of 1981 during what became known as the Silver Spring monkeys case, a widely publicized dispute about experiments conducted on 17 macaque monkeys inside the Institute of Behavioral Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. The case lasted ten years, involved the only police raid on an animal laboratory in the United States, triggered an amendment in 1985 to that country's Animal Welfare Act, and established PETA as an internationally known organization.[2] Today it claims to focus on four core issuesopposition to factory farming, fur farming, animal testing, and animals in entertainment. It also campaigns against eating meat, fishing, the killing of animals regarded as pests, the keeping of chained backyard dogs, cock fighting, dog fighting, and bullfighting.[3] The group has been the focus of criticism from inside and outside the animal rights movement. Newkirk and Pacheco are seen as the leading exporters of animal rights to the more traditional animal protection groups in the United States, but sections of the movement nevertheless say PETA is not radical enoughlaw professor Gary Francione calls them the new welfarists, arguing that their work with industries to achieve reform makes them an animal welfare group, not an animal rights group.[4] Newkirk told Salon in 2001 that PETA works toward the ideal, but tries in the meantime to provide carrot-and-stick incentives.[5] There has also been criticism from feminists within the movement about the use of scantily clad women in PETA's anti-fur campaigns, and criticism in general that the group's media stunts trivialize animal rights. Newkirk's view is that PETA has a duty to be "press sluts".[6] Outside the movement, the confrontational nature of PETA's campaigns has caused concern, as has the estimated 85% of animals it euthanizes.[7] PETA was further criticized in 2005 by United States Senator Jim Inhofe for having given grants several years earlier to Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and Earth Liberation Front (ELF) activists, two groups that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified as agents of domestic terrorism.[8] PETA responded that it has no involvement in ALF or ELF actions and does not support violence, though Newkirk has elsewhere made clear that she supports the removal of animals from laboratories and other facilities, including as a result of illegal direct action.[9] Peoples' Global Action (PGA) is the name of a worldwide co-ordination of radical social movements, grassroots campaigns and direct actions in resistance to capitalism and for social and environmental justice. PGA is part of the anti-globalization movement. The initial inspiration for the formation of PGA came from a global meeting called in 1996 by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), which had started a grassroots uprising in the impoverished Mexican state of Chiapas on New Year's Day 1994 when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect. The Zapatistas sent out an email calling for a gathering, called an 'encuentro' (encounter), of international grassroots movements to meet in specially constructed arenas in the Chiapas jungle to discuss common tactics, problems and solutions. Six thousand people attended, from over 40 countries, and declared that they would form 'a collective network of all our particular struggles and resistances...an intercontinental network of resistance against neoliberalism... (and) for humanity'. In August 1997, the European Zapatista support network called for a Second 'Encuentro' in Spain, which it had planned with the Zapatistas during the 1996 encuentro. Delegates came again of movements from around the world, such as the Brazilian Landless Workers' Movement (MST) who occupies unused land to create farms, and the Karnataka State Farmers Union (KKRS) from India, renowned for their 'cremate Monsanto' campaign which involved burning fields of genetically modified crops. Here some of the primary objectives and organisational principles of the emerging network were drafted. In February 1998, movements from all continents met again, this time in Geneva, where Peoples' Global Action was launched.

The Anti-Tax Movement When: 1765-present The Mission: Establish "fair" taxation In the mid-1700s, the British Empire needed money to pay off its debt. Parliament tried to raise the funds by taxing Americans. Since the right to pay taxes was pretty much the only liberty the colonists enjoyed as British subjects, they organized to protest the unfair picking of their pockets. As successful as the colonists were, its been more than 235 years since the Boston Tea Party and Americans are still demanding tax reform. While we have representation, the concept of fair taxation is subjective and we cant seem to agree on a plan. On paper we may be 99 percent, but in fact we do not possess that level of solidarity. The States Rights Movement When: 2008-present The Mission: To challenge the authority of the central government We are in the midst of a modern States Rights movement. Twenty-eight states are challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. States are passing their own immigration laws. The Supreme Court is now deciding whether states can cut Medicaid services the federal government mandates they provide (because California cut them). Although its illegal under federal law, 16 states and Washington DC have approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes. In 2010 California tried to legalize marijuana use outright. And states are voting to recognize same-sex marriage even though the federal government doesnt. Clearly, the federal government and we its people are experiencing some differences of opinion. he Womens Rights Movement When:1848-present The Mission: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." (Equal Rights Amendment) Women first formally organized in 1848; in 1920 we got the right to vote. But the Womens Liberation Movement had its biggest impact in the 1960s and '70s, helping to shape legislation like the Civil Rights Act and Affirmative Action. The 2010 Census told us that more women than men in the workforce hold a college degree. Still, a March 2011 government report revealed that women are earning about 75% of what men are. In June, a suit filed by 1.5 million women against Wal-Mart (WMT) alleging unfair pay practices was dismissed for not meeting class action standards, but the suit has been refiled. The traditional workplace isnt the only venue where womens fight for equality continues. With only one m ainstream female presidential candidate in 2012, we still have a long way to go, baby. The Environmental Movement When: 1950s-present The Mission: To preserve our natural resources and the sanctity of our planet Thanks to nuclear proliferation and the increasing use of pesticides, the environmental movement was off to a strong start in the 1950s. In 1970, the National Environmental Policy Act was signed, and its been full steam ahead ever since. Although it's taken some time, Americans have warmed to the idea of saving the planet. We just cant seem to figure out a way to do it thats business friendly. The 2010 BP (BP) oil spill underscored the risks of off-shore drilling, but the industry is vital to the Gulfs economy. On the other hand, Toyota (TM) isnt complaining about its Prius sales. The recent failure of Solyndra, a solar energy company that received federal loans, renewed the debate about how big a part the government should play in promoting earth-friendly policies as opposed to letting the market decide. After 50 years, its still not so easy being green. The 2013 Shahbag protests, associated with a central neighbourhood of Dhaka, Bangladesh, began on February 5, 2013 and later spread to other parts of Bangladesh, as people demanded capital punishment for Abdul Quader Mollah, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment, and for others convicted of war crimes by the International Crimes Tribunal.[5][6] On that day, the International Crimes Tribunal had sentenced Abdul Quader Mollah to life in prison after he was convicted on five of six counts of war crimes.[7][8] Later demands included banning the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party from politics and a boycott of institutions supporting (or affiliated with) the party.[9] Protesters considered Mollah's sentence too lenient, given his crimes.[10][11] Bloggers and online activists called for additional protests at Shahbag.[12][13] Tens of thousands of people joined the demonstration, which gave rise to protests across the country.[14] By mid-April, their numbers had declined, and the original protest site is now clear.[15] A counter-protest, demanding release of those accused and convicted, was launched by Jamaat-e-Islami as its leaders were the majority of those first identified for trial. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) initially expressed its support for Jamaat-e-Islami, a principal political ally.[16] But, the BNP cautiously welcomed the Shahbag protest, while warning the government not to make political mileage from a movement demanding capital punishment for war criminals.[17] During the protests, Ahmed Rajib Haider, a pro-Shahbag blogger, was brutally killed outside his house by machete-wielding youth.[18] On March 2, five Jamaat-Shibir activists were arrested; they 'confessed' involvement in Rajib's killing, though independent verification and investigation is not possible at this stage.[19][20][21] On February 27, 2013, the tribunal convicted Delwar Hossain Sayeedi of war crimes and sentenced him to death. Jamaat followers protested and there were violent clashes with police. About 60 people were killed in the confrontations; most were Jamaat-Shibir activists, and others were police and civilians.[22]

Abahlali baseMjondolo (Zulu: [aaali asmdndlo], Shack Dwellers), also known as AbM or the red shirts[1][2][3] is a shack-dwellers' movement in South Africa which is well known for its campaigning against evictions[4] and for public housing.[5][6] The movement grew out of a road blockade[7] organized from the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the city of Durban in early 2005[8][9] and now also operates in the cities of Pietermaritzburg[10] and in Cape Town.[11][12][13] It is the largest shack dweller's organization in South Africa[14][15][16] and campaigns to improve the living conditions of poor people[17] and to democratize society from below.[18] The movement refuses party politics, boycotts elections[19][20] and has a history of conflict with both the African National Congress and the Democratic Alliance.[21] Its key demand is that the social value of urban land should take priority over its commercial value[22] and it campaigns for the public expropriation of large privately owned landholdings.[23] The key organising strategy is to try "to recreate Commons" from below by trying to create a series of linked communes.[24] According to The Times, the movement "has shaken the political landscape of South Africa."[25] According to Professor Peter Vale, Abahlali baseMjondolo is "along with the Treatment Action Campaign the most effective grouping in South African civil society."[26] Khadija Patel has written that the movement "is at the forefront of a new wave of mass political mobilisation".[27] However the movement has faced sustained, and at times violent, repression.[27][28][ The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign is a non-racial[1] popular movement[2] made up of poor and oppressed communities in Cape Town, South Africa.[3][4] It was formed in November 2000[5] with the aim of fighting evictions, water cut-offs and poor health services, obtaining free electricity, securing decent housing, and opposing police brutality.[6][7][8][9] The movement is the oldest of the first generation of so-called 'new social movements' to spring up after the end of apartheid and is known for its direct action style militancy, its refusal of all forms of vanguardism, including NGO (Non-Governmental Organisations) authoritarianism.[4][10][11][12] The movement has sought to retain its autonomy from NGOs[13] and publicly refused to work with some local NGOs[14] and insists that the middle class left respect the autonomy of grassroots movements. The AEC is a founding member of the Poor People's Alliance and, along with the other members of the alliance, refuses all electoral politics and encourages the development of popular power rather than voting for political parties.[12][15][16][17] The AEC mobilised against the 2008 xenophobic attacks in the areas where it was strong.[18][19][20] The AEC opposed evictions related to the FIFA 2010 World Cup.[21] The Occupy movement is an international protest movement against social and economic inequality, its primary goal being to make the economic and political relations in all societies less vertically hierarchical and more flatly distributed. Local groups often have different foci, but among the movement's prime concerns deal with how large corporations and the global financial system control the world in a way that disproportionately benefits a minority, undermines democracy and is unstable.[8][9][10][11] The first Occupy protest to receive widespread attention was Occupy Wall Street in New York City's Zuccotti Park, which began on 17 September 2011. By 9 October, Occupy protests had taken place or were ongoing in over 951 cities across 82 countries, and over 600 communities in the United States.[12][13][14][15][16] Although most active in the United States, by October 2012 there had been Occupy protests and occupations in dozens of other countries across every continent except Antarctica. For its first two months, authorities largely adopted a tolerant approach toward the movement,[citation needed] but this began to change in mid-November 2011 when they began forcibly removing protest camps. By the end of 2011 authorities had cleared most of the major camps, with the last remaining high profile sites in Washington DC and London evicted by February 2012.[17][18][19][20] The Occupy movement is partly inspired by the Arab Spring,[21][22] and the Portuguese[23] and Spanish Indignants movement in the Iberian Peninsula,[24] as well as the Tea Party movement.[25][26][27] The movement commonly uses the slogan We are the 99%, the #Occupy hashtag format, and organizes through websites such as Occupy Together.[28] According to The Washington Post, the movement, which has been described as a "democratic awakening" by Cornel West, is difficult to distill to a few demands.[29][30] On 12 October 2011, Los Angeles City Council became one of the first governmental bodies in the United States to adopt a resolution stating its informal support of the Occupy movement.[31] In October 2012 the Executive Director of Financial Stability at the Bank of England stated the protesters were right to criticise and had persuaded bankers and politicians "to behave in a more moral way".[32] The technology research and advisory firm Gartner predicts a resurgence of the Occupy movement by the end of 2014.[33]