This thesis explores the perceptions of Palestinian university students on topics of peace with Israel and armed or violent conflict engagement strategies. By relying on Frame Analysis literature, this research describes how respondents currently frame these issues and what has influenced the formation of these frames. Using data gathered over a period of three months through a survey and focus group interviews, I identify four dominant frames of peace expressed by respondents. Data were collected from 260 survey respondents and 160 interviewees. I use the data to show different levels of desire for peace with Israel and support for armed conflict engagement based on the way that individuals defined peace. Respondents were pessimistic about peace with Israel and supportive of violent engagement with Israel. Participants who defined peace negatively expressed these sentiments more frequently. Interviewees expressed several grievances against Israeli policies that influence their opinions on peace and violence.

Many academic and popular accounts of the Civil Rights era emphasize nonviolent activists and activism at the expense of those who embraced armed self-defense and resistance. Nevertheless, the latter played a significant role within these struggles. One of the most significant was Robert F. Williams, a black militant activist—and president of the local NAACP chapter in Monroe, North Carolina—who embraced armed self-defense as a necessary and instrumental component for the liberation of black people in America. After publicly declaring that blacks should defend themselves and hold racist whites accountable through armed self-defense, he was met with immeasurable backlash from other civil rights leaders and organizations, including the national NAACP. The purpose of this study is to examine his beliefs in the necessity of armed self-defense, as well as his impact on the civil rights movement.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The participation of the working class in the process of resistance to the National Security Dictatorship has been majorly silenced by the historiography that deals with the subject. Placed in second plan, it has been strengthened a representation of resistance that projects as protagonists of history young students of the middle classes, immersed in a quixotic adventure set against the established dictatorial power. With no chance of success and without the ability to understand the reality that they intended to revolutionize, the guerrilla organizations that led the armed resistance were supposedly the result of voluntarism of intellectuals and the absence of effective participation of workers. However, the working class was present in the resistance since the Coup of 31 March of 1964, organizing in various cities in various regions of Brazil, work stoppages and strikes against the overthrow of the constitutional government of João Goulart. When the dictatorship gave clarity signs that served the interests of the Brazilian dominating classes, repressing and disorganizing the unions, the working class has taken steps toward reorganization, creating, through the paralelistic agency, commissions and committees of factory which established networks of solidarity between professional categories of the same region, in a process catalyzed by the fight against wage squeeze that led to major demonstrations and the great strikes of Contagem and Osasco in 1968. With the limitations imposed by the IA-5, published in late 1968 in response to the reorganization of the working class, it left, as direct coping strategy that enabled victory in the short term against National Security Dictatorship, the insertion to the armed resistance, in which many workers would act, even in prominent positions. The Revolutionary Movement Tiradentes (RMT) was an example of an organization mostly composed of militants coming from the working class, putting into practice the revolutionary actions that looked for financing the implementation of the guerrilla in the field, but also sabotaging strategic points of Dictatorship, and undermine the image of "democracy" and legitimacy to the dictatorial State attempted to print. With an internal structure that has adapted to the events of that time and established guiding principles, the RMT participated in actions of expropriation, leafleting, propaganda, kidnapping of the Japanese consul in São Paulo and ―justicizing‖ the industrial Henning Boilesen, in response to the murder of its main leadership Devanir José de Carvalho, occurred in April 1971 when the organization was already surrounded by organs of repression. / A participação da classe trabalhadora no processo de resistência à Ditadura de Segurança Nacional tem sido majoritariamente silenciada pela historiografia que trata o tema. Colocada em segundo plano, tem-se fortalecido uma representação da resistência que projeta como protagonistas da História jovens estudantes das classes médias, imersos em uma aventura quixotesca contra o poder ditatorial estabelecido. Sem possibilidade de êxito e sem a capacidade de compreender a realidade que pretendiam revolucionar, as organizações guerrilheiras que conduziam a resistência armada seriam supostamente fruto do voluntarismo de intelectuais e da ausência da participação efetiva de trabalhadores. Entretanto, a classe trabalhadora esteve presente na resistência desde o Golpe de 31 de março de 1964, organizando em diversas cidades, de várias regiões do Brasil, paralisações e greves contra a deposição do governo constitucional de João Goulart. Quando a Ditadura dava clareza de que servia aos interesses das classes dominantes brasileiras, reprimindo e desorganizando os sindicatos, a classe trabalhadora deu passos rumo a sua reorganização, criando, através da atuação paralelista, comissões e comitês de fábrica que estabeleciam redes de solidariedade entre as categorias profissionais de uma mesma região, em um processo catalisado pela luta contra o arrocho salarial que levou a grandes manifestações e a grandes greves de Contagem e Osasco no ano de 1968. Com as limitações impostas pelo AI-5, editado no fim de 1968 em resposta à reorganização da classe trabalhadora, restou, como estratégia de enfrentamento direto que possibilitasse a vitória em curto prazo da Ditadura de Segurança Nacional, a inserção à resistência armada, na qual diversos trabalhadores iriam atuar, inclusive em posições de destaque. O Movimento Revolucionário Tiradentes (MRT) foi um exemplo de organização majoritariamente composta por militantes oriundos da classe trabalhadora, colocando em prática ações revolucionárias que buscassem financiar a implantação da guerrilha no campo, mas também sabotar pontos estratégicos para a Ditadura, e minar a imagem de ―democracia‖ e legitimidade que o Estado ditatorial tentava imprimir. Com uma estrutura interna que se adaptou aos acontecimentos da época e com princípios norteadores estabelecidos, o MRT participou de ações de expropriação, panfletagem, propaganda, sequestro do cônsul japonês em São Paulo e o ―justiçamento‖ do industrial Henning Boilesen, em resposta ao assassinato de sua principal liderança, Devanir José de Carvalho, ocorrida em abril de 1971 quando a organização já se encontrava cercada pelos órgãos de repressão.