Aishath Velezinee, Minivan News, May 18, 2013

With less than four months to the elections it is undeniable to all observers on the ground in the Maldives, including the skeptics, the political opponents and the grudge bearers who form the majority opposition to Nasheed, that he has won the hearts and minds of the Maldivian public. It has become increasingly obvious that the only way to prevent Nasheed’s return is to ensure his name stays off the ballot paper. Fifteen months since his forced resignation, the public has continued to rally around Nasheed who has come to be popularly known as the “elected president”.

Felicity Clarke, Narco News, May 14, 2013

As one of the key figures in the Clamshell Alliance in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Cushing was effective in organizing a movement that played a major role in freezing the construction of new nuclear power projects in the United States for decades. Through the use of multiple strategies, tactics and activities, most notably the mass occupation of the Seabrook power plant construction site in New Hampshire in April 1977 — in which 1,414 were arrested —and the original (and successful) demonstration on Wall Street in 1979, the anti-nuclear movement assimilated local concerns and nationwide sentiment to effect real change.

Erica Chenoweth and Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham, Journal of Peace Research, May 2013

The events of the Arab Spring of 2011 have made clear the importance and potential efficacy of nonviolent resistance, as well as the general inability to explain the onset and outcome of major nonviolent uprisings. Until recently, conflict scholars have largely ignored nonviolent resistance. This issue features new theoretical and empirical explorations of the causes and consequences of nonviolent resistance, stressing the role that unarmed, organized civilians can play in shaping the course of conflicts.

Rebecca Vincent, Slate, May 20, 2013

On May 17, Azerbaijani youth activist Ilkin Rustemzade was arrested on charges of hooliganism for his alleged involvement in a Harlem Shake video filmed in the country’s capital city, Baku. The video is completely apolitical, and Rustemzade does not even appear on-screen. The real reason Rustemzade has been targeted is because of his online activism and his criticism of the government as part of the Free Youth Organization.

Peter Kenyon, NPR, May 20, 2013

Iranians choose a new president next month, and one thing Iran's leaders are intent on avoiding is a repeat of the massive street protests that followed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial re-election in 2009. The sponsors of those protests, known as the Green Movement, have been effectively silenced inside Iran, but not online. The heroine of a graphic novel about the violent suppression of dissent in 2009 is now launching a virtual campaign of her own. Her name is Zahra, a wife and mother in Tehran who starred in the 2010 online graphic novel.