Kamat and Mathew uncover the local and global ramifications of a movement in India that combines caste, faith, and culture to impose its nationalistic agenda. They do this by analyzing the mass murder committed in Gujarat in 2002 by alleged Hindu mobs. The attempted ethnic cleansing against those considered enemies of the Hindu "race" is part of a longstanding ideological effort in India that has recently branched out to Indian communities abroad, in particular those in the United States and England. The authors suggest that an analysis of political violence should take into account the transnational and global relations by which dominating ideologies are reproduced and sustained.

Mora's account of 10 years of indigenous rebellion in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, invites the reader to rethink the value of grass-roots political movements and their relationship to the national state given the Zapatista struggle. The author narrates the evolving role of social movements based on a comprehensive political program that combines economic, political, cultural, gender, and linguistic rights aimed at the transformation of power relations and the removal of the traditional protagonist role of the state. Mora posits that a politics of listening and dignity stands at the center of the indigenous struggle in Mexico.

Key words: Mexico, political movements, Zapatistas, indigenous peoples, social movements

Konefal provides a historical account of the challenges encountered by Guatemala's oppressed minority -- the native Mayans -- in building a movement that vindicates the dignity denied to them for five centuries. She presents a narrative of a people determined to build their movement in the face of harrowing and seemingly insurmountable obstacles, including genocidal military campaigns, and further offers an analysis of the intersection of race, social class, and gender.

Key words: Central America, social identity, justice, Native peoples, social history, culture, social activism, racial violence, Guatemala

The author documents how the enactment of restrictive laws on crime and their draconian application go hand in hand with the criminalization of immigrants, more specifically African women, primarily from Nigeria. Similar to the experience in the United States, in Italy -- as in most of Europe -- discourses on immigration conflate with a harsh anticrime rhetoric that depicts immigrants as "clandestine" enclaves of people prone to criminal behavior.

Key words: immigration, Italy, African women, Nigeria, crime, policing

Sandford's discussion of the widespread paramilitary phenomenon throughout Colombia analyzes how armed conflict has affected all segments of that society. She documents U.S. interventionism, the difficult task of a human rights defense, and the possibilities of a strengthened civil society that might emerge from the chaos. Although the history of paramilitaries in Colombia is often traced to the 1997 unification of paramilitary groups under the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (United Self-Defense of Colombia) or to the "private" armies of large landowners, drug traffickers, and other elites of the 1980s, paramilitarism in Colombia is neither new nor haphazard. Sanford traces the founding of Colombian paramilitaries to the Cold War era when the United States helped the Colombian and Central American governments establish proxy paramilitary forces in its fight against "international Communism." She then summarizes the devastating effects this paramilitarism had on Colombian and Central American society during the 1960s to the late 20th century.

Key words: paramilitary groups, history, violence, military aid, foreign policy, guerrilla forces, human rights, Colombia, Central America, United Self-Defense Forces-Colombia

The author examines the relationship between the security industry and public and private institutions in his article on the false allure of security technologies. This original study explores federal support and corporate strategies that encourage the use of security technologies in nearly all private and public places. The article focuses on security installations in schools, but it also offers a framework for understanding how the use of security technologies in all facets of life (at work, in recreation areas, in government and corporate buildings, and in public spaces) undermines civil rights and personal privacy.

Key words: intelligence, surveillance, security industry, security technologies, schools, civil rights, personal privacy

Arenas discusses the effects of work as a commoditized and alienating activity and explores the notion that professional ethics are an important but insufficient means for bringing about the wider "reverence for life" that is necessary for dealing with the current social and environmental malaise. The author critiques the belief that in the name of self-interest, technique, or efficiency, any production process or its end result is acceptable and also focuses on the difficult choices poor people face when deciding between self-preservation and self-actualization. He argues instead for a redefinition of work as a morally infused task that seeks to serve the larger public good.

Key words: alienation, professional ethics, work environment, quality of work, job enrichment, motivation

Cook's philosophical treatment of legitimacy and political violence focuses primarily on the ideas of Max Weber and new social movement theorist Jürgen Habermas. The essay explores how legitimacy is defined and under what conditions it may be ascribed to states or terrorist organizations. Highly contentious issues emerge in connection with political violence; among these are the innocence of victims, political obligation, as well as rights and rights violations. Cook attempts to deal with the issue of legitimacy as that issue has taken shape in the violent conflicts between terrorist organizations and states and seeks to broach a more critical examination of the notion of legitimacy. Beginning with a review of the social scientific literature, and proceeding to address Max Weber's ideas about the social and psychological bases for legitimacy, she concludes with an appraisal of Jürgen Habermas' views.

Key words: terrorism, violence, conflict, social sciences, state power, Habermas, Jürgen, Weber, Max (sociologist) (1864-1920)

Ordoñez-Jasís and Jasís review Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine, a disturbing story about the fabrication and perpetuation of fear in society, especially in the United States. The essay examines how a multilevel campaign of fear works to legitimize symbolic and material violence at the national and international levels. It also addresses the social implications of this violence. The authors explore the possibility of articulating an oppositional pedagogy of peace as an alternative to the discourse of war, criminalization, and social alienation.

Key words: motion pictures, documentary films, school violence, racism, sexism, social conditions and trends, Moore, Michael (filmmaker)

This essay introduces the following one, the "Critical Resistance-Incite! Statement." Sudbury discusses the challenges facing women of color as they negotiated the radical social movements of the 1970s and 1980s in the United States, and how these challenges changed over the next two decades. In the post-September 11 era, the author notes, many women of color tired of seeking to transform liberal identity-based movements that claim to represent all "women" or "African Americans," for example, but remain entrenched in the politics of imperial feminism or patriarchal and heterosexist rights for black men. Instead, many have focused their attention in two complementary directions: building their own organizations based on an intersectional analysis of violence, and participating in and building coalitions within issue-based movements, such as the antiwar, prison abolitionist, political prisoner, police brutality, racial profiling, and domestic violence and sexual assault (DVSA) movements. This was the genesis of the Critical Resistance-Incite! Statement.

Key words: women, feminism, social movements, antiwar, prison abolitionist, political prisoner, police brutality, racial profiling, and domestic violence and sexual assault (DVSA) movements

This essay is a call for action against interpersonal and state violence by a coalition of 29 organizations across the United States. They seek an end to violence against women and the creation of a violence-free society, based on "radical freedom, mutual accountability, and passionate reciprocity." To live violent-free lives, the anti-violence movement must develop holistic strategies for addressing violence that speak to the intersection of all forms of oppression. The Critical Resistance-Incite! statement thus flowed from two mutually overlapping collectives. The text of statement, detailing the need to end violence against women and to create a violence-free society, is presented.

Key words: organizations, violence, women's rights movement, law enforcement, activists, sex crimes, prisons