As the climate crisis becomes more prominent and imminent, we often look for top down change when problems so profound and systemic must also be addressed from the bottom up. Everyday citizens can slash emissions and move the planet toward environmental sustainability—especially if they leverage their power at the community and city levels. Around the world, this is already a growing reality […]

This summer will bring the 400th anniversary of enslaved Africans’ first landing in the United States. As their numbers grew, so too did the oppression they faced and, increasingly, its cruelty was codified as law. Colonial oppressors had their laws then, and modern despots have theirs today. They can ban the meetings, shut down Twitter, and burn the books. But the indomitable, immutable human spirit always finds a workaround. […]

Throughout history, civil resistance movements in North America have included preachers, healers, spiritual leaders, and creative artists who have helped to rouse the public out of complacency while providing nourishment, inspiration, and consolation to those on the frontlines of the struggle. […]

In response to dwindling public trust in their officials and institutions, authoritarian governments in many Southeast Asian countries are exploiting “fake news” as a political tool against their critics. This growing trend can be understood as systematic attempts to undermine the men, women, and organizations behind these dissenting opinions […]

He pasado la mayor parte de mi corta vida de adulto consolidando y liderando una organización cuyo objetivo es apoyar a los movimientos de resistencia. Desde 2012, Solidaridad Uganda ha pasado de ser un colectivo local de voluntarios en una comunidad campesina remota a una red internacional de apoyo a movimientos de resistencia de base en más de 70 países. […]

The Harry Potter bug never bit me. Glancing at the back cover of Rivera Sun’s The Way Between (Rising Sun Press Works, 2016) last month, my first thought was “I’m not sure this is my genre.” But I had noticed the novel making its way around my professional circles for some time, so I was curious to see for myself what the buzz was about. […]

Anti-corruption movements, campaigns, and civic initiatives have become a familiar phenomenon in civil resistance and reform-oriented uprisings in many countries, particularly in the Global South. But what specific tactics and broader approach can people utilize to turn an anti-corruption movement into real change?

With the growth of online courses on civil resistance comes the challenge of measuring and assessing their impact. To this end, ICNC developed and conducts different surveys to evaluate its online courses that may serve as a useful template to others. This blog post shares the instruments we use to measure the impact of online education and the real changes we can discern from this work.

Since 2012, Solidarity Uganda has grown from a local volunteer collective in a remote farming community to an international network supporting grassroots resistance movements in over 70 countries. I hope the below tips—derived from Solidarity Uganda’s victories and shortcomings—can assist those walking similar paths, and help progressive funders understand what to look for in movement-minded organizations. […]