MJHW (Online Meeting) on Civil Disobedience and Student Radicalism - Thursday, September 29th

This month’s session will be held online through Zoom, and can be accessed using the following sign-in information:

Meeting link: https://u-tokyo-ac-jp.zoom.us/j/89135522982

The password for the meeting will be posted at the top of the MJHW website from September 26th onwards.  Materials made available by the presenter are also available for download through the workshop's website.

The workshop is open to all, and no prior registration is required.

Please direct any questions to Joelle Nazzicone at joelle.nazzicone@gmail.com.  We hope to see you there!

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Toward a Global History of Abe Fortas's Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience

Eraldo Souza dos Santos (Panthéon-Sorbonne University)

This talk draws on current research on the global history of United States Supreme Court Justice Abraham “Abe” Fortas's 1968 book, Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience. Published months before a scandal that would eventually force Fortas to resign from the Supreme Court, the book criticized the use of civil disobedience by activists opposing the Vietnam War. Drawing on largely overlooked archival materials, the paper reveals how the debate about the limits of civil disobedience the book sparked had repercussions beyond the United States and played a key role in American foreign policy during the Cold War era. With support from the U.S. government, the book was translated and published in countries such as Brazil, France, and Japan—and played an important role in shaping debates about civil disobedience in the context of international struggles against student radicalism. In this talk, Eraldo Souza dos Santos explores the Japanese reception of the book.