Center Stage with Ashley & Page: How does the #BlackLivesMatter movement operate in the UK and Japan

How does the #BLM movement operate in foreign countries and why are certain protests more successful? The UK and Japan are used as case studies. The case studies are not representative of the global perception of the #BLM movement, but we wanted to compare and contrast the movement in a country with a relatively significant population of black people and a history of police brutality (UK) to a country that is very ethnically homogenous and does not have a history of police brutality (Japan). In this podcast, we discuss the #BLM movement and specifically protests that occurred this summer in the UK and Japan in response to the events of police brutality and protests that happened in the US. Additionally, we conduct interviews with a British University student living in the UK and a University student living in Tokyo. These individuals we interviewed are not experts on the topic, and their answers reflect their own opinions and experiences. We also incorporate elements from Wouter’s paper on dWUNC and a chapter from A Sociology Experiment on the Individual and Social Structure in order to compare and contrast the movements in the UK and Japan. Sources: Wouters, Ruud. 2019. “The Persuasive Power of Protest. How Protest wins Public Support.” Social Forces 98(1): 403–426. https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soy110) A Sociology Experiment: Chapter 3. Social Structure and the Individual: https://www.sociologyexperiment.com/entry-for-students/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/world/asia/japan-racism-black-lives-matter.html https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53428863 https://youtu.be/WqmII4DuJO0 https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/06/26/national/social-issues/japan-black-lives-matter-kansai-us-envoy/ https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7qbpv/tokyo-protest-black-lives-matter-race-japan https://globalvoices.org/2020/06/27/june-2020-a-month-of-blm-in-japan/ https://www.tokyoreview.net/2020/08/blm-japan-bringing-global-movements-home/ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-protests-boris-johnson-donald-trump-riot-gear-arms-george-floyd-a9545406.html https://blacklivesmatter.uk/ https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-53812576 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-protests-boris-johnson-donald-trump-riot-gear-arms-george-floyd-a9545406.html https://www.cbsnews.com/news/racism-policing-us-uk-europe-black-lives-matter/ https://thegeopolitics.com/the-global-impact-of-the-black-lives-matter-movement/ https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-53812576 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/23/blm-uk-gains-legal-status-with-renaming-as-black-liberation-movement-uk https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/11/black-deaths-in-police-custody-the-tip-of-an-iceberg-of-racist-treatment https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/why-black-lives-matter-protests-are-happening-in-uk-1691935-2020-06-23 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/08/i-hear-you-boris-johnson-to-black-lives-matter-protesters https://news.sky.com/story/pm-vows-to-tackle-racism-but-warns-that-changing-attitudes-wont-be-easy-12006973 https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/08/04/outside-u-s-floyds-killing-and-protests-sparked-discussion-on-legislators-twitter-accounts/ https://www.mylondon.news/news/zone-1-news/protesters-gather-embassy-london-after-18326986 https://blacklivesmatter.uk/about-us/who-we-are https://www.instagram.com/allblacklivesuk/?hl=en