Strength & Solidarity: Recent Episodes
Strength & Solidarity
A podcast featuring the people and ideas that are driving -and disrupting -human rights around the world. You can learn more about the project at our website, www.strengthandsolidarity.org. We welcome your feedback and your suggestions. In particular, if you have a poem or text, a speech, or a piece of music that expresses something important about your own commitment to rights, please tell us about it at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org.
While Strength&Solidarity is on a break we’re taking the chance to re-up some favourite episodes.
Back in December we featured an episode about North Korea – but with a twist. Beyond the ritual condemnations of egregious practices under Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un, it’s rare to get a close-up view of what the people who escape from North Korea think and feel about their lives and the future they want. Hanna Song, Executive Director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, reflects on what she has learned – a more nuanced and complex picture than is usually painted.
And in the Coda, a Zimbabwean human rights lawyer relies on soccer to keep things cordial. Music by Oliver Mtukudzi.
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Quick Links
- Click here to read the Episode 48 Transcript.
- Hanna Song bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanna-song-25055a114/
- Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB): https://en.nkdb.org/
- NKDB: 2024 White Paper on North Korean Human Rights: https://en.nkdb.org/activitynews/?idx=125777386&bmode=view
- UN: Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/co-idprk/reportofthe-commissionof-inquiry-dprk
While Strength&Solidarity is on a break we’re taking the chance to re-up some favourite episodes.
Coda #24 featured criminal justice and human rights expert Chris Stone reading and reflecting on a poem by Seamus Heaney, called Casualty. This famous poem of the Northern Ireland Troubles tells the story of an event that followed Bloody Sunday, the day in 1972 when British soldiers shot dead 13 unarmed civilians in Derry as they were protesting internment without trial.
Quick Links
- Seamus Heaney’s Casualty: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51607/casualty-56d22f7512b97
- Bloody Sunday, or the Bogside Massacre: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1972)
- Chris Stone: https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/people/christopher-stone
- Symposium on Strength and Solidarity for Human Rights: https://strengthandsolidarity.org/about/
While Strength&Solidarity is on a break we’re taking the chance to re-up some favourite episodes.
Last April, in Episode 51, I talked with Negin Shiraghaei, founder of Azadi Network, about her work to build a network for Iranians in the diaspora – as a common space for advancing human rights and democracy at home. She talked about the complexity of the task, and the value of embracing lessons from failure.
Here's the orginal show notes:
In the quarter century since Iran’s Islamic revolution, thousands of Iranians have left their home to live in exile. Although they all have a country in common, that diaspora is hugely diverse – coming from different generations and with a wide range of origin stories, political allegiances and views about the change they would like to see in Iran. When in 2022 a young woman in Iran was beaten and killed by the morality police for wearing her hijab incorrectly, anger across the exile community suggested favorable conditions for a diaspora movement for rights in Iran to emerge. But what form should such a movement take? The founder and co-director of Azadi Network, Negin Shiraghaei, reflects on the choices she and other organizers faced as they took up that challenge.
And in the Coda, Turkish eco-activist Burcu Meltem Arik shares a poem by Nazim Hikmet reminding us of what nature can teach us about resilience. Music Credit: Ben Sığmazam by Özge Arslan, 2023
Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org
We are now publishing our newsletter on Substack, if you would like to subscribe: https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity
Strength&Solidarity is taking a break and that gives us a chance to re-up some favourite episodes.
Here’s Coda #3 in which US civil rights veteran Charles Cobb Jr looks back to 1963 and a chance meeting between some young black activists in the segregated south and a future Kenyan Vice President. That event went on to be celebrated in a song that became a favourite in the civil rights movement.
And don’t forget there are nearly 50 codas for you to explore – young activist poets in Sudan’s brilliant but sadly defeated revolution; a young US lawyer recalling the profound connection he found in 1980s El Salvador; a human rights ED who took up his guitar and sang us a lovely Mercedes Sosa song – not to mention favourite poems, music and activities – from wild swimming to reading to the kids at bedtime. It’s a treasure trove for you to explore- take ten minutes out to decompress and experience someone-else’s world.
It can sometimes seem as though fighting for queer rights in a hostile society is an unwinnable project. All too often, punitive laws, state violence, economic exclusion and social hostility are stacked against a community that is isolated and excluded. That’s certainly true in Tunisia and other North African countries. But in this episode, queer Tunisian activist Assala Mdawkhy tells host Akwe Amosu that creating safe spaces and building a movement for LGBTQI rights should be taken as indicators of staying power and eventual success.
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If you are one of the people feeling that things are not going to be all right, this one’s for you.
Coda #46 comes from Bill McKibben, veteran climate change activist and founder of multiple campaigns and organisations – check out Strength&Solidarity Ep. 57. He told us how hard it can be to stay optimistic, when the odds against success seem high. The Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun is one of his go-to tracks for regaining his footing, so perhaps it’s no surprise that he is currently organising people to “rise up” for Sun Day, a day of action “for a sun-powered planet” next month, 21 September,
We’ve started releasing the Coda as a separate show, not just part of the main Strength&Solidarity podcast. You will find both of them in our feed here, or on our Substack page, with transcripts, and related links. If you subscribe at https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity, you will receive the “host’s note” accompanying each show.
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Quick Links
Bio: Bill McKibben: https://billmckibben.com/
Sun Day: Day of action, 21 September 2025 :https://www.sunday.earth/
Wikipedia: The Beatle’s Abbey Road: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Road
WikipediaL Nina Simone’s O-o-h Child: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-o-h_Child
What’s your image of an activist? Someone in a bandanna facing down a line of cops? Or chaining themselves to a tree? You may well have imagined someone young because that’s the stereotype: the student ready to take on the world - until they get bogged down in work obligations and childcare. But veteran climate justice organizer Bill McKibben thinks that cliché is due for retirement. Four years ago he co-founded Third Act, a campaigning organization in the United States for the over-60s, working on climate, democracy and racial justice. He tells host Akwe Amosu how well that bet has turned out, and about a game-changing development in renewable energy that’s giving him hope.
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Quick Links:
-
Bio: https://billmckibben.com/
-
- Third Act: https://thirdact.org/
- GrayPAC: Political Action committee powered by Third Act: https://graypac.org/
- Third Act: Ten working principles: https://thirdact.org/about/working-principles/
- Meet the seniors of the Rocking Chair Rebellion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNmdVI7QrlA
A young boy growing up in South Bend, Indiana, goes to the library every week with his mother and comes back with a brown grocery bag full of books. He doesn’t know it then, but it’s the start of a lifelong journey of involvement in the human rights movement. Listen to Chris Grove, executive director of ESCR-Net explain how books showed him a lineage of struggle he could join, and how they are still guiding him – and his young son.
From now on we are releasing the Coda as a separate show, not just part of the main Strength&Solidarity podcast. You will find both of them in our feed here, or on our Substack page, with transcripts, and related links. If you subscribe at https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity, you will receive the “host’s note” accompanying each show.
Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org
MUSIC
- Abdullah Ibrahim - Mannenberg (live)
- Abdullah Ibrahim - Ancient Africa (live)
The levels of stress and – at worst – burn-out in the human rights field are, anecdotally at least, at remarkably high levels. That may not be surprising in an era of rising authoritarianism, shrinking funds and expanding abuse of rights. But is the impact on those who organize and work in human rights sufficiently understood and recognized? If the rights movements and organizations are to meet this moment, is there a need for a new strategy? Host Akwe Amosu seeks the view of Trine Christensen, coach and formerly the secretary general of Amnesty Denmark, until she herself burned out.
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These are stressful times for human rights activists where every day, a new development may cause despondency or rage. Feminist activist and campaigner Francoise Girard explains why you really need some seventeenth century music in your life.
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We are now publishing our newsletter on Substack, if youwould like to subscribe: https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity
Contactus at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org
We are now publishing our newsletter on Substack, if youwould like to subscribe:https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity
The United States has gone, in less than six months, from being seen by many as a defender of democracy and human rights, to being the latest – and most powerful - administration to embrace authoritarianism. Amid a head-spinning flood of presidential orders and harsh policies - towards women, immigrants, the poor, the disabled and the sick, it’s hard to know where to focus. In this episode, veteran Turkish journalist and human rights activist Murat Celikkan tells host Akwe Amosu what he has been paying attention to, and reflects on how Turkey’s human rights movement has been trying to strengthen its own work.
And in the Coda, why a dose of Baroque music might ease your mind.
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Quick Links
Interview
- Bio: Murat Celikkan: https://hakikatadalethafiza.org/en/team
- LitHub: Murat Celikkan: Another Turkish Journalist in Prison for ‘Unspecified Reasons’ https://lithub.com/murat-celikkan-another-turkish-journalist-in-prison-for-unspecified-reasons/
- StrengthandSolidarity.org: Murat Celikkan reads Ariel Dorfman: https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcast/rebuilding-a-movements-culture-after-crisis/
- Hafiza Merkezi: https://hakikatadalethafiza.org/en/en/why-hafiza-merkezi
- Chatham House: The future of the Trukish opposition after Imamoglu’s arrest https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/05/future-turkish-opposition-after-imamoglus-arrest
- HRW: Turkey Events of o2024 https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/turkiye
- Wikipedia: Gezi Park protests https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gezi_Park_protests
- Wikipedia: Saturday mothers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Mothers
Coda
- Francoise Girard: https://www.fmus.org/about
- Feminism Makes Us Smarter (FMUS):
- https://www.fmus.org/
- Wikipedia: Baroque Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_music
- FMUS podcast: https://www.fmus.org/fmus-podcast
Music credits:
- Juditha triumphans, RV 644: Air "Veni, veni me sequere fida" by Antonio Vivaldi, performed by Lea Desandre, Jupiter Ensemble, Thomas Dunford
- Juditha triumphans, RV 644: “Air Armatae face et anguibus” by Antonio Vivaldi, performed by Jupiter Ensemble
- Ariodante, HWV 33, Act 2: Aria. "Se l'inganno sortisce felice" (Polinesso) by George Frideric Handel, performed by·Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocco
- “Forêts paisibles” from Les Indes Galantes by Jean-Philippe Rameau, performed by Les Arts Florissants
Strength&Solidarity podcast:
- Episodes 1-50 shows and transcripts:
Episodes 51 onwards, shows and transcripts
What are the big takeaways from five years of conversation between 200 human rights leaders from nearly 70 countries? How did activism and solidarity get sidelined as vehicle for human rights work, in favour of the multilateral review bodies and government advocacy? Why do many younger leaders avoid creating organisations? And what do activists from the US civil rights movement or South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement have to teach today’s activists? These and other questions get an airing as the moderators of The Symposium on Strength and Solidarity for Human Rights, look back over the project and reflect on its final meeting.
Although the Symposium is ending, this podcast will continue. We’re grateful to have you along!
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We are now publishing our newsletter on Substack, if you would like to subscribe:https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity
Quick Links
- Click here to read the Episode 54 Transcript.
- The Symposium website and bios
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About Symposium Moderators:
- Chris Stone, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
- Samson Itodo, YIAGA Africa
- Alberto Vasquez, Mad Thinking
- Emilie Palamy Pradichit, Manushya
- Nani Jansen Reventlow: Systemic Justice
-
Strength&Solidarity podcast:
-
Episodes 1-50 shows and transcripts
- Episodes 51 onwards, shows and transcripts
- The Symposium Reader: The Symposium on Strength and Solidarity for Human Rights: A Reader
Fleeing your country to avoid persecution is a deeply disruptive experience, whether it is the loss of contact with loved ones, being marginalized from the work or activism that gave you purpose, reckoning with the danger you escaped, or simply feeling isolated in a new place. With repression increasing in the Central American region, many more people are being forced into exile and where they most frequently end up is in Mexico. Two Guatemalan exiles, Gabriel Wer and Bettina Amaya talk about the center they are creating for exiles in Mexico City – a place of community, activism and solidarity.
And in the Coda, Venezuelan human rights lawyer Mario D’Andrea Canas who was last year forced to go into exile, misses the mountain that towers over his hometown of Caracas but he is learning to love the sunsets in his new city
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When Venezuelan human rights lawyer Mario D’Andrea Canas, escaped from Venezuela last year, he could no longer glance up every morning at the mountain that towers over his beloved home city of Caracas. Nature’s grandeur makes our problems feel more manageable, he reflects, as he learns to cherish Peruvian sunsets.
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Music by Charlie Papa - "La Cima"
Passionate political debate is a cherished pastime in Nigeria. There’s a rich tradition of active participation too, whether it is in support of a favoured electoral candidate, or protesting against oppressive practices by security forces and price hikes that hit a struggling population hard. On the face of it, that tradition is being upheld – there have been several big campaigns in recent years to defend rights and democracy. But two civil society leaders tell host Akwe Amosu that all is not well with grass roots activists and that the government of President Tinubu – ironically once an activist himself – is coming down hard on those who challenge his policies. Yemi Adamolekun of Enough is Enough, and Funke Adeoye of Hope Behind Bars break down the causes of the malaise.
And in the Coda, Lebanese human rights defender Farah Abou El Sel reflects on the music of Fairuz and how it has guided her path.
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Farah Abou El Sel recalls the mornings in her Lebanese childhood, when the silken, plangent voice of Fairuz could be heard in every street, welcoming the day. Farah grew up hearing and loving the songs without thinking much about the lyrics. But in hindsight she sees how profoundly Fairuz’s empathy and humanist message has shaped her life choices, including her decision to work in human rights.
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Music credits:
- Fairuz - Wahdon, 1979
- Fairuz - Le Beirut, 1989
In the quarter century since Iran’s Islamic revolution, thousands of Iranians have left their home to live in exile. Although they all have a country in common, that diaspora is hugely diverse – coming from different generations and with a wide range of origin stories, political allegiances and views about the change they would like to see in Iran. When in 2022 a young woman in Iran was beaten and killed by the morality police for wearing her hijab incorrectly, anger across the exile community suggested favorable conditions for a diaspora movement for rights in Iran to emerge. But what form should such a movement take? The founder and co-director of Azadi Network, Negin Shiraghaei, reflects on the choices she and other organizers faced as they took up that challenge.
And in the Coda, Turkish eco-activist Burcu Meltem Arik shares a poem by Nazim Hikmet reminding us of what nature can teach us about resilience. Music Credit: Ben Sığmazam by Özge Arslan, 2023
https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/
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When Burcu Meltem Arik first read Nazim Hikmet’s poem, The Walnut Tree, she exhaled with relief at its message. She reflects that nature has much to teach us - especially the value of community and connectedness for resilience – but we don’t always notice the lesson.
Music Credit: Ben Sığmazam by Özge Arslan, 2023
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The Trump Administration’s freeze on US aid has caused a global outcry. Poor and vulnerable communities in famine and war-afflicted locations are suddenly without food, and without the medications that keep people with chronic conditions alive. That aid also helped to protect persecuted activists and human rights defenders who are now at greater risk from violence and authoritarian abuse. But the freeze has also made obvious the scale of dependency around the world. Now that the danger of relying on donor funds is so clear, what can those who need the services do? Farnoosh Hashemian, global health expert and Dzikamai Bere, National Director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association discuss the implications with host Akwe Amosu.
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In 2011, nearly 50 years of military dictatorship came to an end in Myanmar, allowing LGBTQ activists to organize publicly to repeal a homophobic law, and advocate more positive attitudes towards SOGIE (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression) rights. They were making big strides in their campaigns when a military coup returned the generals to power, making open activism impossible. Despite that, Hla Myat Tun Executive Director of LGBTQ group, Colors Rainbow, says the gains they made are holding strong and they continue to work underground.
And in the Coda, an Indonesian activist tells us why books mean so much to her.
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Indonesian human rights defender Fatia Maulidiyanti spent over two years fighting criminal defamation charges brought by a government minister, charges that could have landed her in jail. But when life gets complicated, Fatia has her own private refuge to which she can retreat and recharge.
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With North Korea becoming ever more repressive and closed to the outside world, what is the best path to change? For some, aggressive advocacy for human rights is needed; for others, especially an older generation of North Koreans who have found their way to the south, unification of the two Koreas should be the priority. Still others, particularly the younger generation of South Koreans, doubt the value of devoting a lot of energy and resources to changing the status quo. Hanna Song, Executive Director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, reflects on what underlies the differing views and ambivalence and argues that it’s critical to understand and listen to those who have escaped from North Korea.
And in the Coda, a Zimbabwean human rights lawyer relies on soccer to keep things cordial. Music by Oliver Mtukudzi.
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Things can get tense between lawyers, police and judges when human rights cases are being litigated. But veteran human rights lawyer Arnold Tsunga has a tried and tested strategy for keeping things cordial.
Music by Oliver Mtukudzi.
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Israel’s war on Gaza and its population has now been underway for 13 months. An estimated 42,000 Palestinians have died from the violence. A further 62,000 are reported to have died from starvation, and 5,000 more for lack of medical care and drugs. The vast majority of those who have lost their lives are women and children. Despite the clamor for powerful states to intervene and stop the killing, Israel’s campaign continues unimpeded. The International Court of Justice has advised that occupation of Palestinian territory is unlawful and ordered provisional measures to avert genocide, yet governments seem paralyzed, unable to uphold international law despite their clear legal obligation to do. Can the international human rights system survive this failure?
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The Strength & Solidarity team would be grateful for your help. With nearly 50 episodes under our belt we need some feedback from our listeners. Please go to this link and fill in our four-minute survey so we can get a better sense of what you, our listeners think of the show and how we can improve: https://s.surveyplanet.com/t0ly0puk
Thank you for your feedback!
Strength & Solidarity Season 6 will start in November. Meanwhile we’re repeating some of our favourite shows from past seasons. This week we're revisiting episode 37, first released, November 9, 2023.
Original Episode Description from November 2023:
Uganda has become one of Africa’s frontlines in the battle for LGBT rights. In 2014 a law was passed criminalizing same-sex conduct but it was nullified by the courts on a technicality. This year that same legislation was revived, passed again in parliament and signed into law by President Museveni. The penalties it prescribes include the death penalty and the queer community is vulnerable and anxious. Uganda lawyer Nicholas Opiyo talks about a litigation effort underway to nullify the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 and shines a light on the role of actors behind the scenes, including US Pentecostal activists.
And in the Coda, a young Mexican disability leader finds inspiration and joy in a film about a brilliant generation of activists.
For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/
Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org
Strength & Solidarity Season 6 will start in November. Meanwhile we’re repeating some of our favourite shows from past seasons. This week we're revisiting episode 39, first released, December 21, 2023.
Original Episode Description from December 2023:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) turned 75 on the 10 December 2023. Passed by the UN General Assembly in the wake of two brutal world wars, it expressed an aspiration for a new world, one in which every human being’s rights would be acknowledged and respected, and international law would regulate the actions of states and hold them accountable for violations. That vision is as powerful today as it was then and it has sometimes, and in some places, been realized. But the failures are many. Despite their pledge, governments have repeatedly abandoned principle to pursue their own interests, leaving ordinary people – sometimes an individual, sometimes millions – without protection from brutal mistreatment or immiseration and lacking any recourse. Why does the the global human rights system fail? And can it be made to work? A group of moderators from the Symposium on Strength and Solidarity for Human Rights get round a table to argue it out.
For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/
Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org
Strength & Solidarity Season 6 will start in November. Meanwhile we’re repeating some of our favourite shows from past seasons, starting with episode 40, first released, January 11, 2024.
Original Episode Description from January 2024:
It is now three months since the October 7 brutal attack by Hamas on targets in Israel which triggered the Israeli bombardment of Gaza in which a reported 21,000 people have so far been killed. In the US, as much as widespread condemnation was expressed after the Hamas attack, the subsequent death toll in Gaza and suffering of surviving civilians have shattered whatever remained of a consensus on Israel. Polls show rising public criticism of Israel’s actions, and of the Biden Administration for continuing to supply Israel with arms. Week after week there are protests, and present in large numbers among the diverse crowds are Jews carrying signs that say, “Not in my name.” One of several organisations mobilising those protests is Jewish Voice for Peace. JVP’s Executive Director Stefanie Fox explains how they have built their movement against the grain of mainstream US politics.
And in the Coda, a human rights lawyer talks about her artistic practice and how it connects with her work supporting communities to seek justice.
For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit: https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/
Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org
People power has been on display in Kenya as tens of thousands of citizens faced down tear gas and live bullets forcing the government to withdraw legislation that would have mandated higher taxes. Notwithstanding enthusiastic praise for leaderless movements, Gen Z and the power of digital tools, it should not be forgotten that Kenya has a deep tradition of grassroots organizing dating back to the bitter struggle against British colonial rule. It has regularly re-emerged in subsequent decades to challenge authoritarian rule, election theft and corruption. One emergent grouping currently organizing countrywide is the Social Justice Centres movement and its coordinating body, the Social Justice Centres Working Group. National Convenor Happy Olal talks about how the movement took root in the capital Nairobi a decade ago, and has kept on growing.
And in the Coda, how an invitation to tell personal histories revealed Burmese women’s powerful activism.
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Although women were, and still are, deeply involved in Burma’s fight against military rule, their contributions were often invisible.. Activist and advocate Debbie Stothard recalls that when she started paying attention, she discovered that “the auntie making our tea in the kitchen was a former resistance fighter.” She began getting women to write down their stories, with remarkable results.
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Back in 2020, a hashtag - #MilkTeaAlliance – began appearing across the Internet. Netizens in Hong Kong and Taiwan, Thailand, Japan and the Philippines seemed to be building a cross-regional solidarity movement to support pro-democracy activists, like the young people defying the generals who launched Myanmar’s coup in 2021. Even though the hashtag was so visible online, it was hard to see an actual movement in the real world. Did it really exist? How did it come about and who did it represent? And with the apparent waning of the hashtag’s use, is it about to disappear? We talk to Marc Batac, co-founder and facilitator of the Milk Tea Alliance (Friends of Myanmar).
And in the coda… Why does a Malaysian human rights leader moonlight as a TV script writer?
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Sevan Doraisamy started writing film scripts when he was still a student and despite a shift into social justice activism and – eventually – leadership, he has never stopped. He explains why it’s important to him and how it helps him to avoid burning out.
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In 2022 the United States’ Supreme Court ruled that there is no constitutional right to an abortion, triggering a flood of measures in multiple states to restrict reproductive rights. But further south, that same year, Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled in the opposite direction. Colombian feminists had mounted a massive campaign and legal strategy to get abortion removed from the penal code and although they didn’t fully achieve that goal, abortion was decriminalized up to 24 weeks - a huge victory for the reproductive rights movement. Catalina Martínez Coral, Vice-president in Latin America for the Center for Reproductive Rights recalls the strategy behind the campaign.
And in the coda… a library becomes an inspiration and a home for Germany’s black and diaspora community.
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Racial justice activist Daniel Gyamerah celebrates the foresight of an Afro-German woman who over the course of her lifetime collected hundreds of books by black authors and bequeathed them to Berlin’s black and diaspora community to create the library that became EOTO – Each One Teach One.
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The shack dwellers of South African cities have been abandoned by their government, left to try and make homes on land they don’t own, without sanitation or electricity, and vulnerable to adverse weather or corrupt and violent law enforcement. But being poor and marginalized doesn’t mean you are powerless. The social movement Abahlali baseMjondolo which organizes in the informal settlements has a membership of 120,000 and rising, and a remarkable record of defending its communities against eviction, despite a series of assassinations and deaths at the hands of the police during evictions that have taken 25 of its grassroots leaders. Abahlali’s General Secretary, Thapelo Mohapi, explains the movement’s organizing approach, strategies, and it's formal structures, and how it is responding to violent attacks and marginalization by the ruling ANC.
And in the coda… Audre Lorde shows a Sierra Leonean activist how her fear might be a guide to her purpose.
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Eleanor Thompson, a Sierra Leonean human rights lawyer and social justice activist in Freetown has been reading an essay by Audre Lorde, written during a period of heightened awareness of her mortality. Lorde reflects on the ways we avoid speaking our truth in case we provoke anger or rejection and comes to see that our fear may in fact be a guide to our purpose, a powerful insight for Eleanor.
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Activists can boost their power and impact by combining their efforts, but persuading diverse actors to work together can be challenging. Organizations and movements working on multiple issues may disagree on policy and principle or set conditions on their collaboration so bringing them into alignment can take energy and resources that are in short supply. The Rising Majority coalition with around 70 member organisations combines black, indigenous and other groups of people of colour, as well as movements on race, climate, gender, policing, labor issues, immigration and economic and environmental justice – in short, its members’ priorities are varied. Rising Majority grew out of the Movement for Black Lives - M4BL for short - amid the realisation that even though individual groups had overarching goals in common, they weren’t taking advantage of their collective power. Rising Majority’s National Director Loan Tran, explains why that changed in 2017.
And in the coda…a UK activist discovers that if you want to keep going, you have to learn to stop.
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Katrina French is an activist in constant motion, pursuing multiple projects in her area of expertise, racism in UK policing and the criminal justice system. But there came a moment when she realized she was close to burning out and decided to take avoiding action.
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Many grow up being told that although there are bad guys in the world, the police are there to keep you safe. But this episode hears from someone who had to recognize that police saw her community not as deserving of protection, but as the source of problems. In communities where there is already too much traumatizing violence, a heavy-handed police response frequently increases the harm. According to the British campaigning organisation, 4Front, 193 teenagers died at the hands of London police between 2009 and 2019. 4Front’s Executive Director Temi Mwale describes her early awakening to this reality, her search for tools and strategies to respond, and activists’ efforts to hold police to account .
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For decades, Latin America’s reporters have treasured a celebration of their craft by one of their most beloved writers, the late Gabriel Garcia Marquez - a great novelist but also a passionate journalist. Jonathan Bock was, until recently, one of them. He runs an organization in Colombia that defend media freedom and he is having to face up to a harsh reality.
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It is now three months since the October 7 brutal attack by Hamas on targets in Israel which triggered the Israeli bombardment of Gaza in which a reported 21,000 people have so far been killed. In the US, as much as widespread condemnation was expressed after the Hamas attack, the subsequent death toll in Gaza and suffering of surviving civilians have shattered whatever remained of a consensus on Israel. Polls show rising public criticism of Israel’s actions, and of the Biden Administration for continuing to supply Israel with arms. Week after week there are protests, and present in large numbers among the diverse crowds are Jews carrying signs that say, “Not in my name.” One of several organisations mobilising those protests is Jewish Voice for Peace. JVP’s Executive Director Stefanie Fox explains how they have built their movement against the grain of mainstream US politics.
And in the Coda, a human rights lawyer talks about her artistic practice and how it connects with her work supporting communities to seek justice.
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Human rights lawyer Carmen Cheung Ka-Man helps communities around the world secure accountability for crimes committed against them. But she is also an artist, for whom making is a metaphor – an effort to find solutions within the constraints of her craft and skills. She sees printmaking is a restorative practice, reconnecting beauty with the struggle for truth and justice.
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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) turned 75 on the 10 December 2023. Passed by the UN General Assembly in the wake of two brutal world wars, it expressed an aspiration for a new world, one in which every human being’s rights would be acknowledged and respected, and international law would regulate the actions of states and hold them accountable for violations. That vision is as powerful today as it was then and it has sometimes, and in some places, been realized. But the failures are many. Despite their pledge, governments have repeatedly abandoned principle to pursue their own interests, leaving ordinary people – sometimes an individual, sometimes millions – without protection from brutal mistreatment or immiseration and lacking any recourse. Why does the the global human rights system fail? And can it be made to work? A group of moderators from the Symposium on Strength and Solidarity for Human Rights get round a table to argue it out.
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Lissette Gonzalez leads the investigations and research team at PROVEA, a Venezuelan human rights organization. Well-versed in the tools of human rights activism, she knows they don’t resonate for everyone. A poem, however, channels what people are feeling and can have greater impact. She makes her case with Rodilla en Tierra, by Oriette D’Angelo.
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You can find the poetry of Oriette D'Angelo on her website: https://www.oriettedangelo.com/
Thank you to Lupita Eyde-Tucker for her translation of Oriette's poem. You can find out more about her work at her website: https://notenoughpoetry.com/
An activist finds themselves in conflict with their government and they make the decision to go into exile. They are able to find somewhere to take them in. Do they sigh with relief and keep a low profile? Stay engaged in the struggle but leave the frontline work to others? Or do they double-down on publicly challenging the oppression that drove them into exile? Bahraini activist Sayed Al Wadaei was jailed for his part in Arab Spring protests, hounded after his release and went into exile in 2012. After getting asylum in the UK he began to use high-profile tactics to shame Bahrain’s rulers. In this August 2023 interview, he spoke about the choices an exiled activist faces and how he reacted when his country raised the stakes.
And in the Coda, a Venezuelan rights investigator on what poetry can do that activism can’t.
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You can find the poetry of Oriette D'Angelo on her website: https://www.oriettedangelo.com/
Thank you to Lupita Eyde-Tucker for her translation of Oriette's poem. You can find out more about her work at her website: https://notenoughpoetry.com/
Uganda has become one of Africa’s frontlines in the battle for LGBT rights. In 2014 a law was passed criminalizing same-sex conduct but it was nullified by the courts on a technicality. This year that same legislation was revived, passed again in parliament and signed into law by President Museveni. The penalties it prescribes include the death penalty and the queer community is vulnerable and anxious. Uganda lawyer Nicholas Opiyo talks about a litigation effort underway to nullify the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 and shines a light on the role of actors behind the scenes, including US Pentecostal activists.
And in the Coda, a young Mexican disability leader finds inspiration and joy in a film about a brilliant generation of activists.
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In the early 1970s, a group of disabled American teens found themselves at a summer camp with new freedom to think for themselves. The selfhood, courage and joy they tapped into was to power a revolution in US culture and policy towards disability. The story of those activists is told in the documentary film, Crip Camp, and Mexican disability activist Maryangel Garcia-Ramos explains how much it means to her.
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Strength & Solidarity Season 5 will start in November. Meanwhile we’re repeating some of our favourite shows, continuing with episode 27, first released, December 8, 2022.
Palestinian activist Issa Amro grew up studious and apolitical – until his university was permanently shuttered in 2003 by the Israeli military in response to the second intifada. The campaign he and others launched to get it reopened was successful but as the full reality of the Israeli Occupation struck home, he decided to commit to non-violent activism and has been organizing in his community ever since. Almost two decades on, a senior UN official has called 2022 the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2005. In this episode, Amro explains how he and others have, over the past two decades, built a resilient movement, focused especially on young people, to resist the violent seizure of Palestinian property by illegal settlers and harassment by Israeli security forces.
And in the Coda, a Colombian human rights worker tells us how dancing Salsa lifts her spirits.
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Strength & Solidarity is taking a break until Season Five starts in October 2023. Meanwhile we’re repeating some of our favourite shows, continuing with episode 8, first released, March 30, 2021.
For people who have made defending rights their life’s work, the language of rights comes as second nature. But what about those facing repression, exclusion or loss of their land and livelihood – how do they describe what is happening to them? When politicians instrumentalize human rights language to justify their interests, does the idea of rights become fatally degraded? In this episode we dig into where the language of human rights shows up, and who can legitimately use it. We speak with Thailand-based human rights lawyer Emilie Palamy Pradichit, founder of the Manushya foundation, on her work with indeigenous communties fighting for rights to their land and what that has taught her about the language of human rights. And in our Coda, Bangladeshi human rights defender Adilur Rahman Khan celebrates his country’s national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.
In this episode:
- Why it matters who is doing the talking about rights
- The Coda: A lifelong Bangladeshi activist celebrates his national poet.
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Strength & Solidarity is taking a break until Season Five starts in October 2023. Meanwhile we’re repeating some of our favourite shows, continuing with episode 3, first released, January 5, 2021.
South African human rights lawyer Kayum Ahmed’s entire career has been spent defending and extending the rights of excluded and oppressed people, at home and abroad. But this former CEO of the South African Human Rights Commission harbors considerable doubt about whether the human rights framework rooted in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights can meet the demands of radical black and brown activists.
In this episode:
- Host Akwe Amosu and her colleague Chris Stone talk about why police reform in Nigeria –and elsewhere –is so hard to achieve
- Interview with human rights lawyer Kayum Ahmed about radical activist critiques of the human rights framework
- The Coda: A song that commemorates the day that US civil rights activists met an African anti-colonial fighter in 1963
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Strength & Solidarity is taking a break until Season Five starts in October 2023. Meanwhile we’re repeating some of our favourite shows, continuing with episode 10, first released, June 17, 2021.
This episode of the podcast steps onto tricky terrain with a conversation about identity, power and privilege. Mexican human rights lawyer Alejandra Ancheita tells host Akwe Amosu about building relationships of mutual respect with her clients - indigenous communities fighting against corporate encroachment on their land and livelihoods. And in the Coda, how the courage of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero - assassinated in 1980 for standing up to a violent, repressive regime – confirmed US lawyer Jim Goldston’s commitment to a career in rights.
In this episode:
- In Mexico – a lawyer navigating power and identity with her indigenous clients
- And in our Coda – the struggle for justice in El Salvador sets a young man’s course in life
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Strength & Solidarity is taking a break until Season Five starts in October 2023. Meanwhile we’re repeating some of our favourite shows, continuing with episode 9, first released, June 3, 2021.
In this first episode of Season two, host Akwe Amosu looks back to late 2020 and Nigeria’s massive #EndSARS protests against police brutality and impunity and asks youth organizer Samson Itodo to assess their impact. What is the role of leadership and organizing in a spontaneous upswell of citizen rage and who has to deliver it? And in the Coda, veteran human rights defender Suliman Baldo recalls the way poetry powered the revolution in his country, Sudan.
In this episode:
● Converting protest into respect for right in Nigeria
● The Coda: How poetry fuelled Sudan’s revolution
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Strength & Solidarity is taking a break until Season Five starts in October 2023. Meanwhile we’re repeating some of our favourite shows, starting with episode 6, first released, March 10, 2021.
In 2005, a small group of women began a campaign to make abortion legal in Argentina. While rich women might be able to find safe means to terminate their pregnancies, the poor were forced to seek backstreet abortions at grave risk of imprisonment, injury and death. As much as those building the movement believed in their cause, even they were stunned, a mere 13 years later, to see a million people in the streets of Buenos Aires supporting their demands. At the end of 2020, a vote in Senate brought final victory. In this episode, one of the organisers at the heart of the campaign shares the strategies that won the day. And, in this episode’s Coda, the Brazilian samba that seemed to be a lovers’ tiff but was a veiled attack on military rule.
In this episode:
- Feminist Victoria Tesoriero breaks down the brilliant, dogged campaign to legalise abortion in Argentina
- The Coda: How a 1970 samba promised Brazilians a better future beyond dictatorship
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How does an organization weather hostile times? When a state repeatedly unleashes violence on whole communities, when activists get brutalized and locked up, is it inevitable that an organization aiming to defend rights and justice must weaken and lose power? If not, how does it find the resilience to survive the pressure and keep working towards its goals? Zimbabwe has been independent and free of racial tyranny for over forty years yet there has rarely been a time when rights and justice were not under attack by government and security forces. In this episode we ask Dzikamai Bere, National Director of ZimRights - the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association - how they have survived three decades of repression with a quarter of a million active members across the country.
And in the Coda, US racial justice leader Vince Warren talks about the central role of music in his life and shares his “pandemic project” – an EP of songs he’s recently released.
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Vince Warren is a renowned human rights lawyer and leader in racial justice who leads the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York. Like so many others, he found himself locked down during the pandemic. Disruptive and destabilizing though that period was, Vince was grateful to be able to take refuge in his lifelong passion for music. A drummer and performer over many years, he took the chance to write some new songs and has recently released them on an EP. He reflected on the connections between his human rights and musical identities.
And in the Coda, US racial justice leader Vince Warren talks about the central role of music in his life and shares his “pandemic project” – an EP of songs he’s recently released.
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The death in March 2023 of US disability rights activist Judy Heumann provoked grief but also joyful celebration of a leader whose strategic instincts and sheer grit helped secure victories that improved peoples’ lives. Heumann never lost her faith in activism - building power at street level. She led persons with disabilities and their allies in blocking traffic, occupying buildings and often literally putting their bodies on the line for the cause. Three disability rights advocates – Catalina Devandas, Alberto Vasquez and Peter Torres Fremlin reflect on that history and ask whether activism is still a central tool for their community. They discuss factors like inclusion and identity as sources of both strength and division, and the pros and cons of integrating disability rights work in the wider human rights movement.
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The election in 2010, of Hungary’s Prime Minister Victor Orban and his Fidesz party triggered a lurch to the right and authoritarian rule. It brought legal restriction, bureaucratic harassment and public vilification to the country’s civil society and human rights community. Official hostility made it difficult for NGOs to survive and made individual rights workers’ lives hell. The most marginalized and vulnerable groups – migrants, queer community members, Roma and others – have come under particularly sustained attack. It would not have been surprising if the net outcome of such targeting were a weakened human rights movement and a profound loss of confidence. And yet, says Stefánia Kapronczay, co-director of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the outcome has been very different.
And in the Coda, a poem by beloved Iranian poet Simin Behbahani and the story of her meeting with a young Tehran activist.
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In recent months, a sustained uprising in Iran led by women, has inspired admiration and across the world. It is by no means the first time in over 40 years of fundamentalist Islamic rule – there have been repeated waves of courageous protest since 1979. The poem in this episode’s Coda is by beloved Iranian poet Simin Behbahani, and was written during a moment of rebellion in 2009 when citizens came out to reject election results they believed had been rigged. Human rights activists Farnoosh Hashemian reflects on what the poem – and its author – mean to her.
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Some people love change but, in most cases, the words, “we need to revise our strategy,” do not elicit cheers from a team. Whether it’s the upheaval and uncertainty, or the prospect of long, often fractious meetings to choose between alternative paths, most of us would like to get on with the job and stop tinkering. This episode is about a UK organization, Freedom From Torture, that faced up to the truth about their waning impact and made a major pivot, from their long-standing model to one in which they had little experience. Chief executive, Sonya Sceats, reflects on some tough debates and decisions and tells us how it all worked out.
And in the Coda: Dilrabo Samadova reminds us that human rights were being advocated in Persian poems more than a thousand years ago, and delights in the way poetry shows up everywhere in the life of her country, Tajikistan.
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Human rights advocate Dilrabo Samadova marvels at the way poetry get into absolutely every aspect of life in her country, Tajikistan, and notes that solidarity, justice, and equality feature in Persian verse as far back as the sixth and seventh centuries, proving these are not “western values.”
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Standing in solidarity with those whose rights are being abused sounds like an easy choice. But when you get up close, it can look more complicated. What seems an obvious strategy to those in the frontline bearing the brunt of abusive treatment, might look aggressive and risky to someone in a support organization. So who gets to decide? Should it be up to each organization to decide how to support those who need their help? Or should those at the sharp end be able to set the strategy and expect others to follow? Two allies in South Africa’s human rights movement - S’bu Zikode, President of shack-dwellers movement Abahlali baseMjondolo, and Nomzamo Zondo, Executive Director of the Socio-Economic Rights Institute – sit down with host Akwe Amosu to explain how they work, and who gets the last word when they disagree.
And in the Coda, exiled human rights lawyer Tutu Alicante expresses his excitement about the young musicians of his country Equatorial Guinea, who are using their art to fight dictatorship and corruption.
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For Tutu Alicante, human rights lawyer and long time activist against dictatorship and corruption in Equatorial Guinea, it has sometimes felt like an uphill struggle. But there are some new kids on the block – young artistes who are using their music to condemn the illegitimate wealth of the president and the shocking poverty of the country’s people. And it’s giving Tutu hope.
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How should we describe the state of the global struggle for women’s rights? It is surely impossible to make a single overarching assessment– even as battles are won on one front, major challenges remain – or emerge - on another. Yet if it is hard to generalize about progress, we can at least note that conditions are scarcely favourable. To pick only three global trends - authoritarian rule, identity-based exclusion and economic instability - none of these help advance women’s freedoms. As International Women’s Day 2023 approaches, we invite three feminist leaders to assess this moment in their respective fields.
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On January 21, 2023, human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko was murdered in Swaziland. He was a remarkable advocate for rights and democracy, a commitment that brought him into direct confrontation with his country’s absolute ruler, King Mswati III over decades. His family, friends and fellow citizens are grief-stricken and the international human rights and justice community is outraged. Maseko had been due to spend a week with a group of human rights activists and leaders in our Symposium on Strength and Solidarity for Human Rights. We met to celebrate his work and decided to share this audio recording of the event.
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It is now more than a decade since Egypt’s January 25th Revolution, otherwise known simply as “Tahrir Square.” All over the world in 2011, people watched the footage from Cairo in amazement at the scale of the mobilization, the creation of community and a remarkable range of services in the square, and the eventual ejection of the Mubarak regime which opened a path to elections. But it was all over in less than three years when General Al-Sisi’s counter-coup restored military dictatorship. What has life been like for activists and rights defenders in the years since, and what is left of the passionate activism that powered the revolution? In 2011 Mohammed Lotfy had been working abroad for Amnesty International but he came home to help build a new society. Now the executive director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, he sees, at first hand, the daily reality of those who made the revolution and, in his own family, the cost of defending rights in Egypt today. And in our Coda, a Nigerian activist tells us how Audre Lorde has transformed his approach.
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Two years ago, Nigerian environmental rights campaigner, Ken Henshaw, had never heard of black lesbian feminist, Audre Lorde or her lecture, The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House. But when someone gave him a copy of Lorde’s fiery take-down of white feminist academics for avoiding discomfort and hanging on to their privileged connection with the white patriarchy, Ken was transfixed. Could he apply the ‘Master’s Tools’ metaphor to his own activism? Had he really been challenging the oil companies and the government, or was he working within limits they prescribed?
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The United Nations, sponsor of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights stands as the most important protector of rights in the world today. Under the authority of its councils, its agencies and its convenings, standards are set, treaties are ratified and complaints are heard. But as much as we have seen vital progress in the definition and assertion of rights, that is only one side of the story. The other, darker truth is that, time and again, people in desperate need of protection are abandoned to the cruel bullying and violence of powerful actors -most often states that are members of the UN. Akila Radhakrishnan, is the director of the Global Justice Center which does a lot of work in the UN’s corridors, fighting for gender equality and justice. She spoke late last year with host Akwe Amosu about why civilians in places like Syria and Myanmar don’t get the same kind of attention as those in Ukraine. And in the Coda, a moving reflection on Seamus Heaney’s poem, Casualty, born of the troubles in Northern Ireland.
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This famous poem of the Northern Ireland Troubles tells the story of an event that followed Bloody Sunday, the day in 1972 when British soldiers shot dead 13 unarmed civilians in Derry as they were protesting internment without trial. Criminal defense lawyer Chris Stone reads the poem and reflects on its brilliance, and the profound impact it had on him.
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Building a protest movement massive enough to topple a president used to take years, even decades. The internet changed that, as we discovered over in the Arab Spring. In this episode someone who was at the heart of a mass mobilisation in his home country, Guatemala, explains how an almost accidental series of choices and connections in 2015 put him and a small group of others at the head of a movement that - under the slogan, Justicia Ya! - Justice Now! - forced the country’s president to resign. Gabriel Wer tells host Akwe Amosu of his initial bewilderment at what he and fellow organisers had unleashed, his determination to achieve its goals, and then the growing recognition that long-term change was going to need a different approach.
And in the Coda, a social justice activist in Hong Kong explains how rock climbing gives him a powerful metaphor for weathering defeat and nurturing resilience.
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When human rights and social justice activist Johnson Yeung wants a break, he exchanges Hong Kong’s forest of skyscrapers for the real thing, a nearby forest of trees and a rockface that he and fellow climbers can scale, finding trust in mutual reliance, the resilience to fall and recover, and - on reaching the top - a breathtaking view.
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Palestinian activist Issa Amro grew up studious and apolitical – until his university was permanently shuttered in 2003 by the Israeli military in response to the second intifada. The campaign he and others launched to get it reopened was successful but as the full reality of the Israeli Occupation struck home, he decided to commit to non-violent activism and has been organizing in his community ever since. Almost two decades on, a senior UN official has called 2022 the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2005. In this episode, Amro explains how he and others have, over the past two decades, built a resilient movement, focused especially on young people, to resist the violent seizure of Palestinian property by illegal settlers and harassment by Israeli security forces.
And in the Coda, a Colombian human rights worker tells us how dancing Salsa lifts her spirits.
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Vivian Newman Pont is a human rights advocate and researcher at Dejusticia in Colombia. The work exposes her and her colleagues to the impact of war and impunity and inevitably takes a toll. When things get too much, Vivian fires up some music and gets out on the dance floor.
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Strength & Solidarity returns December 8 with a fourth season of insightful interviews with human rights advocates and defenders. As always we’re hearing about the tools and tactics activists are choosing and using in these challenging times and asking what works, and why?
First up, Palestinian organizer and activist Issa Amro tells us how non-violence and the video camera are putting power in the hands of Palestinian communities and how young activists are being prepared to succeed as leaders in the resistance. From Guatemala, the story of how a massive social movement emerged almost by accident. And three women leaders from the US, Sudan and the Philippines come into our studio to talk about the global backlash against women’s rights. And later in the season, we have episodes on rights and justice work in Colombia, Egypt, Nigeria and Israel - with more to come. Not to mention “The Coda” – a pause for reflection by human rights people about how they find respite, solace and energy to do their work. Join host Akwe Amosu and her guests on Thursday December 8.
Relative to other marginalised people, the disability community had to wait a long time for their rights to be globally asserted. But the adoption, 15 years ago, of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) marked a major step forward, from the language of charity and medical strategies to the language of rights. Now widely ratified, the Convention has had a remarkable effect: expanding protections and bringing together people from different corners of the disability movement to shift deeply entrenched assumptions about agency and capability. In a period when many have questioned whether investing in standard-setting is worthwhile -often arguing instead for a radical disruption of institutional approaches -the human rights framework seems successfully to have given agency to a community that badly needed it. Alberto Vasquez is a Peruvian lawyer with a history of activism around psychosocial disabilities in his own country and in the Latin American region. He reflects on both the solidarity and vibrant activism that emerged, and says even those under guardianship or coercion by mental health authorities are seeing the possibility of change.
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The spontaneous welcome given by Poland’s citizens to Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion drew applause all over the world. But there was another, less positive story –the open hostility shown to the black and brown, queer and Roma people also trying to cross to safety. Or worse, the brutal treatment being meted out by border guards to refugees from places like Syria and Afghanistan who were at that same moment trying to enter Poland from Belarus. Activists trying to support those who arrive are accustomed to expressions of xenophobia and racism and to politicians stigmatizing minorities to build their base. But could deeper empathy and more support be possible, with the right strategies? Reflections from Anna Alboth, of the Minority Rights Group on what does and doesn’t work to increase solidarity.
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For minority communities it can be exhausting to sustain morale and self-confidence in the face of exclusion and stereotyping. Raheel Mohammed, director of Maslaha, a London-based organization dedicated to defending and supporting muslim communities, has been moved and inspired by the writings of Saidiya Hartman on waywardness –as a strategy to refuse oppression, even when you are a incarcerated.
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Eighteen months ago, Shaharzad Akbar was still leading Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission and gave this podcast an insight into what it meant to try and infuse rights into the laws, institutions and culture of a country that was a crossroads for conflict and competing foreign interests. She acknowledged that for many, the language of human rights felt like a foreign import but she believed citizens’ hopes and expectations of government had fundamentally changed in the past two decades. The US was planning to withdraw its forces and talks with the Taliban in Doha were under way. Akbar worried about their return to power might mean, especially for women’s rights. Fast forward to today, the Taliban is in charge and worst fears with regard to rights and freedoms have been confirmed. Shaharzad Akbar, now exiled, returns to reflect on whether the Taliban will be able to enforce its regressive authoritarian rule and what happens now to the struggle for rights.
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Last month, Ferdinand Marcos Junior was elected president of the Philippines, thirty-six years after his father was chased from office by the People Power revolution in 1986. For activists like Mary Jane Real, this is grim news, bringing back memories of brutal rule, torture and impunity. But an essay by Rebecca Solnit brings her a surprising insight.
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The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) didn’t give much thought to its internal processes in its early years. It was focused on those whose rights were being abused, not on building an administrative paragon. But with the organization expanding amid the 2011 revolution, ad hoc informality no longer seemed viable or appropriate. The leadership began to put new systems in place, and a board, in order to strengthen EIPR’s operations for whatever opportunities and challenges lay ahead. For many in the human rights field, investing in what seems like bureaucracy can look perverse - a distraction from the mission. Veteran EIPR leader Gasser Abdel-Razek reflects on the pros and cons of the path EIPR chose, and its very personal significance on the day he found himself under interrogation.
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In this second part of our episode featuring Libyan human rights lawyer Elham Saudi, we get an up-close look at international mediation efforts to broker an agreement between rival political actors and establish a stable democratic government in Libya. As a civil society representative in the UN-convened Libya Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF), Elham has a ringside seat from which to observe the compromises being made to cobble together an agreement - and she’s not too impressed.
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With the fall of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 ,four decades of tyranny came to an end and Libya experienced an all too brief period of optimism–its own Arab Spring. But the hopes were overwritten by a lawless and violent competition for power and resources, egged on by foreign actorskeen to access the country’s mineral wealth. If you were an advocate of justice and human rights in a democratic state of laws, where did that leave you? How could you advance your vision in such conditions? Human rights lawyer Elham Saudi was eventually forced into exile by hostile militias but she tells host Akwe Amosu how she and the rest of civil society are keeping the flame alive, albeit at great personal cost. And in the Coda, Guatemalan activist Gabriel Wer shares a haunting poem by Argentinian poet Juan Gelman on keeping faith with the country and culture that made you, even if you have to leave.
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For the human rights defender forced to leave their home country to get away from threats of violence or detention, there is a strange life ahead –of dislocation and adaption to a new culture, while remaining umbilically connected to their place of origin. Guatemalan activist Gabriel Wer shares a poem by celebrated Argentinian poet Juan Gelman who lived much of his life in exile.
It is 14 months since the military once again seized power in Myanmar, using merciless brutality to suppress civic protest. From day one of the coup in February 2021, millions of students, workers, opposition politicians, and professionals have mobilized daily with extraordinary courage. The International Crisis Group reports that 1,500 civilians have been killed and nearly 9,000 more arrested, charged or jailed. Even as public protest continues, a great many have concluded that armed resistance is the only option. Help from international actors has been slow to build, an ambivalence all the more glaring amid the global mobilization to defend “democracy’s frontline”in Ukraine. Rohingya organiser Wai Wai Nu reflects on the roots of Burmese protest and determination. And in the Coda, LGBTQ+ activist Ryan Figueiredo shares a Denise Levertov poem that lightens the spirit.
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Denise Levertov’s poem, Making Peace, says that we bring peace into the world by speaking it and for Ryan Figueiredo, there’s special meaning here for the social justice activist. Fighting to make rights and justice a reality inevitably causes in friction but that’s not a negative, Ryan says, it polishes us in the work that we do, perhaps-as the poem has it-“facets of the forming crystal.”
After the shock of Russia’s invasion, Ukrainians who did not enlist to fight mobilized around other pressing tasks. For human rights workers, one of the most obvious was documentation. There are multiple instances of Russian missiles hitting civilian targets – hospitals, residential buildings, schools and evacuation convoys – and local and international digital activists have rushed to collect the evidence. Their work will support future litigation to hold Russia accountable for war crimes. But is that hope realistic given the record of international justice processes to date? Roman Romanov, Human Rights and Justice Program Director at the International Renaissance Foundation in Ukraine reflects on why accountability for Russia is critical and calls for new thinking and better results.
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Most would agree that social justice and human rights movements should be led by those who need the change they’re fighting for. But what’s the best way to achieve that? In this episode, we hear about a South African organizational model that centers community ownership by electing leaders and board. But if a movement has to double as a professional NGO, meeting legal, bureaucratic and donor obligations, things can get complicated. Axolile Notywala has led two organizations doing rights and justice work in Cape Town and shares some insight. And in the Coda, human rights lawyer Nani Jansen Reventlow gets Gil Scott Heron to remind us that real activism happens in the real world, not online.
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Human rights lawyer and racial justice activist Nani Jansen Reventlow has been helping to build a vibrant digital rights field. But as important as online spaces are, she's worried that people tend to value online activism too highly. The late poet, musician and social critic, Gil Scott Heron helps her make the point.
In late 2019, activists across Sudan thought they had won a remarkable victory against military dictatorship and a transition to civilian rule had begun. Just two years later, though, their worst nightmare was realized when General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan declared the military was back. Those who had lived through the intense street battles of 2019, now faced a gruelling return to the barricades and the risk of more death and injury. Remarkably they did not hesitate. Veteran Sudanese rights activist Hala Al Karib reflects on their resilience. And in our Coda, an Irish human rights leader puts down his phone and picks up a book instead.
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Irish human rights leader Liam Herrick doesn’t know exactly how it happened, but one day he realized he had stopped reading even though he had always loved books. Inspired by his kids’ love of stories, he set out to regain the reading habit.
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When the pandemic brought New York’s economy to a shuddering halt in 2020, there was a safety net for workers –if they were US citizens. But over half a million undocumented workers in the state weren’t included and faced a sudden loss of income. Strength & Solidarity returns with this close look at the “Fund Excluded Workers”campaign which used both street-level activism and behind-the-scenes advocacy at the state’s legislature to win a staggering $2.1bn in pandemic relief for workers without legal status. And in the Coda, queer Malaysian activist Henry Koh reflects on poetry and music as solace for LGBTI people forced to remain closeted by a conservative, religious society.
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Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 17. Queer rights activist Henry Koh reflects that in his home country Malaysia, the only space where queer people are acknowledged is on screen – in flamboyant characters played for laughs. He reflects on growing up gay in a society that expects you to stay in the closet.
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Strength & Solidarity returns this week with more conversations about global struggles to secure rights, equality and justice. We get curious about the tools and tactics activists are using and the strategies they adopt, and we ask what’s working, and why? Join Akwe Amosu and her guests from all over the world – our first round of interviews look at activism in the US, Sudan, Libya and Myanmar. And check out “The Coda” – a regular opportunity for someone in the human rights field to tell us about the poems, music and people that inspire them. Take a listen, subscribe and send us your feedback: pod@strengthandsolidarity.org
The final episode of Season Two gets an up-close look at the roots of the increasingly prominent pro-Palestine solidarity campaign, BDS. Co-founder Omar Barghouti recalls the steps leading to the movement’s formation by a large coalition of Palestinian civil society groups, explains it’s architecture and describes some ofthe ways it has tried to have an impact. He rebuts accusations that BDS is anti-semitic and points to places, including Israel, where support is growing.
In this episode: The building of the BDS movement
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Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 15. When Mike Davis, CEO of Global Witness, wants to take a break from calling out states’ harm to the environment or corporate corruption, he dons a wetsuit and heads out into the waves.
South Korea’s human rights record looks quite good –unless you’re a member of a minority. LGBTQI persons, people of minority faiths and foreigners have a tough time, and it’s getting tougher. Human rights lawyer PillKyu Hwang is the director of the GongGam Human Rights Law Foundation, and works with other lawyers and activists to uphold and defend minority rights. He talks about the social, economic and political backdrop to exclusion and the strategies they areusingto push back.
In this episode:
•How rights defenders are challenging xenophobia in South Korea
•And in the Coda –finding inner calm by swimming in turbulent waters
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Decades of police impunity against black citizens in the US were interrupted this year with a rare conviction for murder of Derek Chauvin, the officer who killed George Floyd. What changed? A bystander filmed the crime with her smart phone and made a cover-up impossible. All over the world, citizens and activists are using their phones the same way, to document violent repression. But what is the impact of capturing and processing such footage on the mental health of the person doing the filming, or the activist who views and uses it to campaign for justice? The organization “Witness” works with frontline defenders sometimes in dangerous and emotionally searing conditions, helping to secure video evidence. Witness’ director, Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, talks about the impact of secondary or vicarious trauma on her staff.
In this episode:
•The trauma that comes with witnessing human rights abuse
•And in the Coda –A song about a much-loved bar in Argentina
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Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 14. Economic and social justice campaigner Ignacio Saiz tells us about a song that means a great deal to him -Balderrama, by the great Mercedes Sosa. It celebrates a famous bar in Argentina’s far northern town of Salta, whose musicians and regulars cherish the community that gathers there.
We’re devoting the whole of this episode to a conversation with Indian social justice campaigner Harsh Mander, a renowned activist on behalf of the poor, the marginalized and those suffering from identity-based hatred. He has worked in a host of campaigns especially on access to health services and food security, and against homelessness and child labour and he has taken a passionate stand against xenophobia and discrimination, Mander fought against the Citizenship Amendment Act, introduced by the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi and widely perceived to be discriminatory against Muslims. But the law passed in December 2019 despite major protests and weeks later, when the pandemic took hold, the government took the opportunity to shut down political opposition. Harsh Mander talks with host Akwe Amosu and her colleague Chris Stone, principal moderator of our Symposium on Strength and Solidarity for Human Rights, about the impact of Covid 19, political repression, and new sites of activism in defence of rights.
In this episode:
- Social justice campaigner Harsh Mander talks about the fight for rights in India
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The past decade has seen some spectacular social movements emerge, mobilising hundreds of thousands of people in defence of rights and sending powerful images of protest around the world. This revitalized activism is gaining energy despite rising authoritarianism. To hold the ground they gain, though, activists need to sustain their movements in between battles and turning a loose, ad hoc network into an organization isn’t easy. But one group in the Democratic Republic of Congo seems to be finding a way. Lucha - Lutte Pour Le Changement- is nearly a decade old yet it remains a grass roots movement. Fred Bauma, a member of the movement since its early months in 2012, explains how they are doing it. And in the Coda, Zimbabwe youth activist Namatai Kwekweza gets into some good trouble.
In this episode:
• Keeping faith with the grass roots while building for the long haul
• The Coda: Congressman John Lewis fires up an activist in Zimbabwe
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Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 12. Inspired by the late US Congressman John Lewis, activist Namatai Kwekweza reflects on the difference between bad trouble and good trouble and explains why she’s determined to keep making a noise about injustice: “I personally believe that if the noise didn't really achieve anything, then they wouldn't be telling us to keep quiet.”
Many mission-driven organisations are grappling with the challenge of unhappy workplaces. And whether the cause is bullying or harassment, over-work, or demands for a share in decision-making, management is usually in the crosshairs. For some, conventional models of hierarchical bureaucracy are bound to be inappropriate for driving social change. But what’s the alternative? South African feminist Ishtar Lakhani discusses her approach as a manager to building a positive workplace culture. And in the Coda, Nigerian activist Yemi Adamolekun explains why a commitment to exposing bad government is mandated by her faith
In this episode:
- A feminist manager reimagines the rules for a respectful workplace
- The Coda: A Nigerian activist on the demands of her faith
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Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 11. Yemi Adamolekun is inspired by the gospel of Matthew which calls on Christians to project their values and shine so that all can see their faith in action. But on the reluctance of Nigerian churches to take a stand on issues like corruption, she comments: “I've come to realize that being light and being salt will make you unpopular. It's much safer not to be seen as anti-government.”
This episode of the podcast steps onto tricky terrain with a conversation about identity, power and privilege. Mexican human rights lawyer Alejandra Ancheita tells host Akwe Amosu about building relationships of mutual respect with her clients - indigenous communities fighting against corporate encroachment on their land and livelihoods. And in the Coda, how the courage of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero - assassinated in 1980 for standing up to a violent, repressive regime – confirmed US lawyer Jim Goldston’s commitment to a career in rights.
In this episode:
- In Mexico – a lawyer navigating power and identity with her indigenous clients
- And in our Coda – the struggle for justice in El Salvador sets a young man’s course in life
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Excerpted from Strength & Solidarity Episode 10.As a young US lawyer, Jim Goldston went to El Salvador in 1987 and documented atrocities by state-instigated death squads. The courage of Archbishop Oscar Romero, assassinated seven years earlier, and of ordinary civilians determined to resist the terror was an inspiration.
In this first episode of Season two, host Akwe Amosu looks back to late 2020 and Nigeria’s massive #EndSARS protests against police brutality and impunity and asks youth organizer Samson Itodo to assess their impact. What is the role of leadership and organizing in a spontaneous upswell of citizen rage and who has to deliver it? And in the Coda, veteran human rights defender Suliman Baldo recalls the way poetry powered the revolution in his country, Sudan.
In this episode:
● Converting protest into respect for right in Nigeria
● The Coda: How poetry fuelled Sudan’s revolution
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Excerpted from Strength & Solidarity Episode 9. Human rights organiser Suliman Baldo on poems as the secret weapon that helped topple a regime.
Our second season of Strength & Solidarity continues to explore the world of rights, equality and justice activism. Every two weeks, we invite people working in these fields to tell us about the dilemmas they face, and the tactics they use to achieve their goals. By speaking with actors at the heart of critical struggles we hope to get an up-close view on the current and future course of human rights. In our new season - a raft of new topics, including how rights organizations cope with vicarious trauma, relevant human resources guidance in a sex workers organization, respectful solidarity with indigenous rights defenders, and guidance on good governance from... the Bible. Join Akwe Amosu and her smart, passionate guests and check out The Coda – a regular opportunity for someone in the human rights field to tell us about the poems, music and people that inspire them. All this and more, in Season Two! Listen, subscribe and send your ideas for future stories to pod@strengthandsolidarity.org.
Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 8. A 20th-century revolutionary offers solace and strength to a contemporary human rights activist Adilur Rahman Kahn.
For people who have made defending rights their life’s work, the language of rights comes as second nature. But what about those facing repression, exclusion or loss of their land and livelihood – how do they describe what is happening to them? When politicians instrumentalize human rights language to justify their interests, does the idea of rights become fatally degraded? In this episode we dig into where the language of human rights shows up, and who can legitimately use it. We speak with Thailand-based human rights lawyer Emilie Palamy Pradichit, founder of the Manushya foundation, on her work with indeigenous communties fighting for rights to their land and what that has taught her about the language of human rights. And in our Coda, Bangladeshi human rights defender Adilur Rahman Khan celebrates his country’s national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.
In this episode:
- Why it matters who is doing the talking about rights
- The Coda: A lifelong Bangladeshi activist celebrates his national poet.
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Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 7. Human rights leader Jessica Montell’s journey to insight and appreciation of Marge Piercy’s poem, To be of Use.
An old proverb says that a trouble shared is a trouble halved. That idea underlies a project to support leaders in human rights movements and organizations - the Symposium on Strength and Solidarity for Human Rights. This project creates space for reflection twice a year, using case histories and readings from past struggles as provocation and invites those taking part to compare experiences. For eight days in February and March, some 20 leader-activists met online to discuss the challenges they face and how they might respond. In this episode, the Symposium’s four moderators reflect on the just-completed meeting and what issues seemed most critical to participants.
In this episode:
- A space for human rights leaders to talk – and find support
- The Coda: An Israeli activist finds new meaning in a poem by Marge Piercy
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Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 6. Brazilian activist Alessandra Orofino is enjoys the sly double-entendre of singer-songwriter Chico Buarque in his hit song against military rule.
In 2005, a small group of women began a campaign to make abortion legal in Argentina. While rich women might be able to find safe means to terminate their pregnancies, the poor were forced to seek backstreet abortions at grave risk of imprisonment, injury and death. As much as those building the movement believed in their cause, even they were stunned, a mere 13 years later, to see a million people in the streets of Buenos Aires supporting their demands. At the end of 2020, a vote in Senate brought final victory. In this episode, one of the organisers at the heart of the campaign shares the strategies that won the day. And, in this episode’s Coda, the Brazilian samba that seemed to be a lovers’ tiff but was a veiled attack on military rule.
In this episode:
- Feminist Victoria Tesoriero breaks down the brilliant, dogged campaign to legalise abortion in Argentina
- The Coda: How a 1970 samba promised Brazilians a better future beyond dictatorship
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Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 5. A seventeenth century nun, philosopher, composer and poet Juana Inés de la Cruz wins the admiration of South African human rights lawyer Kayum Ahmed.
2020 saw street protest erupt in multiple countries around the globe, sometimes responding to local oppression, sometimes provoked by experience protesters had in common, such as racial injustice or police impunity. Many of these movements mobilized without a centralized leadership or hierarchy, causing some to dub them ‘leaderless’ even though they were able to pack a powerful punch on the ground; Hong Kong’s democracy movement was a case in point, bringing the territory to a standstill with occupations and strikes. But can a decentralized movement reach beyond its immediate locale and build powerful support internationally? We discuss that question with someone who played a prominent role in the Hong Kong mobilisation - Ching Yin Johnson Yeung, formerly the convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front and past deputy general secretary of the Federation of Students in Hong Kong.
In this episode:
- Host Akwe Amosu interviews rights activist Ching Yin Johnson Yeung about how the Hong Kong democracy movement was – and wasn’t – able to win international solidarity
- The Coda: A Mexican poet and nun tells men what she really thinks of them – 300 years ago
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Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 4. Afghan champion of human rights Shaharzad Akbar shares a poem by American 19th century poet Emily Dickinson
When authoritarian governments want to hobble civil society and human rights activists, a favored strategy is to choke off their funding. Since money often comes from foreign donors, a law to limit access to support from abroad can hit activists hard. In China, where conditions were already very tough for rights defenders, two such laws passed in 2016. Shawn Shih-hung Shieh, director of Social Innovations Advisory, tells us how affected groups are adapting and using innovative strategies to offset their lost income.
In this episode:
- Host Akwe Amosu and her colleague Chris Stone consider whether leaderless movements are really leaderless
- Civil society researcher Shawn Shieh finds out how Chinese NGOs are coping without foreign funding
- The Coda: How a 19th Century American poem inspires hope in Afghanistan
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Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 3. US civil rights activist Charles Cobb Jr shares a song commemorating the day that US civil rights activists met an African anti-colonial fighter in 1963.
South African human rights lawyer Kayum Ahmed’s entire career has been spent defending and extending the rights of excluded and oppressed people, at home and abroad. But this former CEO of the South African Human Rights Commission harbors considerable doubt about whether the human rights framework rooted in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights can meet the demands of radical black and brown activists.
In this episode:
- Host Akwe Amosu and her colleague Chris Stone talk about why police reform in Nigeria –and elsewhere –is so hard to achieve
- Interview with human rights lawyer Kayum Ahmed about radical activist critiques of the human rights framework
- The Coda: A song that commemorates the day that US civil rights activists met an African anti-colonial fighter in 1963
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Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 2. Turkish human rights leader Murat Celikkan shares an Ariel Dorfman poem evoking the determination of the “disappeared” and their loved ones.
In 2017-18, South African social justice movement, Equal Education, went through a major –and very public -upheaval after allegations emerged of sexual harassment by members of the movement’s leadership. General Secretary Noncedo Madubedube describes her root and branch effort to rebuild Equal Education’s culture and restore confidence in the organization.
In this episode:
- Akwe Amosu and her colleague Chris Stone discuss a recent campaign for the release of some Egyptian rights defenders and what it tells us about their organization
- Interview with Noncedo Madubedube, General Secretary of Equal Education, South Africa
- The Coda: Turkish human rights leader Murat Cellikan shares an Ariel Dorfman poem that evokes the pain and fierce determination of the“disappeared”and their loved ones.
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Excerpted from Strength & Solidarity Episode 1. A reading of the Persian poet Hafez’s ‘10,000 Idiots’ by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Afghanistan’s Human Rights Commission chair Shaharzad Akbar talks about the challenge of entrenching and enforcing rights amid continuing conflict and violence against civilians. With a state that struggles to deliver public services and great uncertainty about the future of President Ashraf Ghani’s negotiations with the Taliban, how can Afghan citizens have confidence that the human rights framework give them meaningful protection?
In this episode:
- Host Akwe Amosu and her colleague Chris Stone discuss the relevance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in today’s rights struggles
- Interview with Shaharzad Akbar, Chairperson of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission
- The Coda: Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, shares a poem by 14th century poet Hafez on the perils of arrogance.
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Strength and Solidarity is a podcast that takes you into the ‘engine room’ of human rights activism. Every two weeks, we invite human rights leaders to speak with us about the dilemmas they face, and the tactics they use to achieve their goals. By speaking with defenders at the heart of critical struggles, as well as the lawyers, journalists, researchers, artists and organizers engaged with their movements, we hope to offer an up-close view on the current and future course of human rights. Join Akwe Amosu as she interviews smart, passionate guests and check out The Coda –a regular opportunity for someone in the human rights field to tell us about the literature, music, and art that inspires them.