| This thesis focuses on the social movements against Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. While the first and second Gulf Wars were notably different, the two conflicts share enough similarities to compare the two movements. By using newspaper data on anti-war protests from the Japan Times and the Asahi Shinbun, this thesis looks at the global resistance against the Iraq invasions in 1990--1991 and 2002--2003, and focuses on protests in Japan. Case studies of religious, women and nude protestors are highlighted, and the role that the Internet and email played in organizing the demonstrations against the war in 2002 and 2003 is also described. This thesis finds the anti-war activists in 2002 and 2003 to be more organized, and more able to demonstrate proactively than the protestors reacting to events in 1990 and 1991. The movement against the second Gulf War was also more international. |
