IB History Divisions Within the Movement Key Definitions

An Egyptian activist group founded in 2008, originally to support striking textile workers in Mahalla al-Kubra. It used social media, particularly Facebook, to organise protests and played a key role in planning the 25 January 2011 demonstrations that launched the revolution. Its members studied non-violent protest techniques from movements in Serbia and elsewhere.

A national advocacy organisation representing First Nations peoples in Canada. It was established in 1982 as the successor to the National Indian Brotherhood. The AFN represents over 630 First Nations communities and advocates for Indigenous rights, treaty obligations and self-governance.

The deliberate, non-violent refusal to obey unjust laws or government demands, as a form of political protest. Gandhi's civil disobedience campaigns (1930-1934) involved mass law-breaking, including the Salt March, refusal to pay taxes, and boycotts of British goods and institutions.

In the Indian context, the political use of religious identity to mobilise support and create divisions between religious communities, particularly Hindus and Muslims. It contributed to the demand for Pakistan and the violence surrounding Partition in 1947.

The granting of the right to vote. In the context of the suffrage movement, it refers to extending voting rights to women. In the Canadian Indigenous context, it had a different meaning: the process by which an Indigenous person gave up their legal status and rights as an Indigenous person in exchange for Canadian citizenship.

A Canadian federal law that governs matters relating to First Nations peoples and their reserves. It defined who qualified as "Indian," imposed the band council system, restricted cultural practices and controlled nearly every aspect of Indigenous life. It has been amended many times but remains in force.

Founded in 1885, the INC was the main political organisation leading India's independence movement. Initially moderate and dominated by educated elites, it became a mass movement under Gandhi's leadership in the 1920s. After independence in 1947, it became India's dominant political party.

The approach of working within existing political and legal systems to achieve gender equality through legislation, litigation, and lobbying.

An Islamist political organization founded in Egypt in 1928. Initially supportive of the Free Officers, it was banned by Nasser in 1954 after an assassination attempt, and its members were imprisoned or exiled.

A campaign launched by Gandhi and the INC in 1920 calling on Indians to withdraw from British institutions: returning titles, boycotting courts, schools and elections, and refusing to buy British goods. It was suspended in 1922 after the Chauri Chaura incident, where protesters killed 22 police officers.

Founded in 1897 by Millicent Fawcett, the NUWSS was the largest suffrage organisation in Britain. It used constitutional, non-violent methods such as petitions, lobbying and public meetings to campaign for women's voting rights. Often called "suffragists" to distinguish them from the more militant suffragettes of the WSPU.

The division of British India into two independent nations: India (majority Hindu) and Pakistan (majority Muslim), at independence on 15 August 1947. It triggered one of the largest mass migrations in history, with an estimated 10 to 20 million people displaced and widespread communal violence that killed between 200,000 and 2 million people.

The position that patriarchy is the root cause of women's oppression and that the entire social system, not just laws, needs to be transformed in order to achieve genuine equality.

A philosophy and practice of non-violent resistance developed by Mahatma Gandhi. The term combines the Sanskrit words for "truth" (satya) and "holding firmly" (agraha). It involves enduring suffering without retaliation to expose injustice and win over opponents through moral persuasion rather than force.

A major public square in central Cairo that became the focal point of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered there from 25 January 2011, and the sustained occupation became a symbol of popular resistance to Mubarak's regime. The name means "Liberation Square" in Arabic.

A policy proposal by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's government that recommended abolishing the Indian Act, eliminating "Indian" status and assimilating Indigenous peoples as ordinary Canadian citizens. It was strongly opposed by Indigenous leaders, notably Harold Cardinal, and was withdrawn in 1970. It became a catalyst for Indigenous political mobilisation.

Founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters in Manchester, the WSPU was the most militant wing of the British suffrage movement. Its members, known as "suffragettes", used tactics ranging from disruption and civil disobedience to arson and window-smashing. Its motto was "Deeds, not words."