Search results
army on 24 June 1859. It had been a particularly bloody battle, in which around 40,000 men were killed or seriously wounded; many of the latter died because of a lack of treatment. The evocative power of the blood spilled near the little northern Italian town is commonly associated with the birth of the Red Cross, and Solferino has become the symbolic place of the origins of international humanitarianism. It was here – after witnessing the harrowing spectacle of the wounded abandoned on the field – that Henry Dunant, from Geneva, had the idea of an organisation for
and women to join the missions spread over other continents corresponded to the emergence of a transnational network of philanthropic activity which developed in close interaction with the relief work carried out at home. This interaction is clear both if we look at the type of initiatives (and the ways in which they were carried out) ‘in the field’ and if we take into consideration the origins and set-up of the associations that were being founded to support the missionaries’ work. In the archaeology of international humanitarianism we therefore also have to
represented by feeling compassion for its victims, a contrast that was not, as we know, new in the question of humanitarianism. The setting up of UNRRA had its roots in the specific historic moment. The plan for the new international body had taken shape since the American relaunch of an internationalist policy that intended to build a juster, safer world after the tragedy of war, taking inspiration in part from Woodrow Wilson’s previous programme. In Roosevelt’s plan, though, the United States’ impetus for the definition of a new world order had also to include
refugees and migrants at the European borders. The focus of this study is in the period during and after the summer of 2015, and prior to the outbreak of the Coronavirus crisis. I chose this period because what was called the ‘welcome culture’ had shaped a framework of political correctness that conformed with humanitarianism and anti-racism. Moreover, the observations I made during my ethnographic research 9 revealed that there was no unified implementation of such protective measures by those engaged in humanitarian and/or surveillance operations at the borders
19 ‘Humanitarianism of the greatest value’: Manchester Rotarians and refugees It does not appear than any other Christian denomination but the Quakers set up a refugee committee or in other ways reached out consistently to refugees. William Hodgkins, minister of the Congregationalist Chapel in Oldham Road, wrote articles in support of refugees in the Manchester City News, including one which lavished fulsome praise on the refugees for their contribution to Manchester life, but there is no evidence that he or his chapel were otherwise active on their behalf. There
The book traces the history of international humanitarianism from the anti-slavery movement to the end of the Cold War. It is based on an extensive survey of the international literature and is retold in an original narrative that relies on a close examination of the sources. It explains how relief entered both the national and the supranational institutions' agenda, and the programmes of non-governmental organisations, contributing to shape the relationship between the global North and South. The reconstruction of humanitarianism’s long history unfolds around some crucial moments and events: the colonial expansion of European countries, the two World Wars and their aftermaths, the emergence of a new postcolonial order. Salvatici looks especially closely at the major actors of aid operations (such as the Red Cross, Save the Children, the United Nations agencies, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders) and highlights how the meaning of international humanitarianism has changed over time.
torment end their stricken lives. 1 In these lines, Voltaire was describing the death and destruction brought by the earthquake that devastated Lisbon in 1755. This dramatic episode was defined as the first modern natural disaster and is often cited as l’événement inaugural 2 of contemporary humanitarianism. 3 The reasons for the modernity of this event can be traced back to the reaction of the Portuguese monarchy, which considered the response to the emergency to be its own responsibility. This was the first occasion on which there had been an attempt
on moral intent to a newly ‘scientific’ humanitarianism. It also saw those in Britain who protested the rights and duties of humanity yoke their own emancipatory, liberationist and democratic struggles to an image of the downtrodden but fiercely independent Boers. This was no more apparent than in the articulation of a radical feminine critique which saw concern for suffering humanity
Scholars and practitioners alike have identified interventions on behalf of Armenians as watersheds in the history of humanitarianism. This volume reassesses these claims, critically examining a range of interventions by governments, international and diasporic organisations and individuals that aimed to bring ‘aid to Armenia’. Drawing on perspectives from a range of disciplines, the chapters trace the history of these interventions from the 1890s to the present, paying particular attention to the aftermaths of the Genocide and the upheavals of the post-Soviet period. Geographically, they connect diverse spaces, including the Caucasus, Russia and the Middle East, Europe, North America and South America, and Australia, revealing shifting transnational networks of aid and intervention. These chapters are followed by reflections by leading scholars in the fields of refugee history and Armenian history, Professor Peter Gatrell and Professor Ronald Grigor Suny, respectively.
This book is about the impact of decolonisation on British society in the 1960s. It moves away from the traditional focus on cultural, media, and governmental archives to analyse public agency and civic forms of engagement with the declining empire. Through a close examination of middle-class associational life it broadens our understanding of who had a stake in decolonisation while also revealing the optimism and enthusiasm with which members of the British public developed visions for a post-imperial global role. By studying a wide range of associational organisations this book shows that globalisation and decolonisation opened up new opportunities for international engagement for middle-aged members of middle-class society. In the 1960s for many participants in associational life it became a civic duty to engage, understand, and intervene to help the shrinking world in which they lived. This book uncovers how associations and organisations acted on this sense of duty, developing projects that promoted friendship and hospitality as the foundations of world peace, visions for secular and religious forms of humanitarianism that encouraged relationships of both sympathy and solidarity with those in the global South, and plans to increase international understanding through educative activities. This book will be useful to scholars of modern British history, particularly those with interests in empire, internationalism, and civil society. The book is also designed to be accessible to undergraduates studying these areas.