Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko is facing the biggest challenge to his 26-year authoritarian rule over 9.5 million Belarusian citizens. He is learning firsthand about the “power of the powerless” (a phrase used by famous Czechoslovak dissident and former Czech president Václav Havel to describe nonviolent resistance against Soviet rule) as he and others witness a major awakening of a heretofore withdrawn and passive population. […]

Gender violence in Mexico was at historical levels in 2019, with more than nine femicides a day and about 60 percent of the female population reporting having suffered some kind of violence, according to Mexico’s Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP). Feminism in Mexico has many internal strands ranging from what some may consider “radical” tactics (such as vandalism) to peaceful demonstrations. Because of episodes like the one last August, it has gained a reputation as being destructive and intolerant. […]

On August 14, 2018, Gilbert Mirambeau, a Haitian-Canadian man in his early 30s tweeted a photo of himself blindfolded, holding a sign that said in Haitian Creole: “Kot Kob Petwo Caribe A???” (“Where is the PétroCaribe money???”). The PétroCaribe program was supposed to put money towards development, but those funds went missing, and Mirambeau’s post triggered a nonviolent movement against corruption in Haiti […]

There is no denying the drama of the worldwide mass demonstrations against systemic racism generally, discriminatory policing particularly, and George Floyd’s murder specifically. For weeks and weeks, it has unfolded in both predictable and surprising ways. In my experience, honed from decades in the news media, newsrooms begin to lose interest in such phenomena after about two weeks. But, as with practically everything else associated with this movement, the media attention has held steady. […]

“I met Mariah Rafaela Silva in December 2019, at an EU Parliament conference on the trade agreements negotiated and signed between the EU and Mercosur. Mariah spoke passionately about the nonviolent struggles of indigenous and LGBTQI people to protect their human rights in her native Brazil. The stakes are high: the Bolsonaro administration itself verbally attacks and has adopted discriminatory policies against these communities, and indigenous land has been destroyed by fire or stolen by the government and its oligarchic allies. […]”

เมื่อไม่นานมานี้ ปรากฏการณ์พลังประชาชนนำโดยเยาวชนเริ่มปรากฏขึ้นใหม่ในประเทศไทย แต่การประท้วงที่เพิ่งเริ่มต้นใหม่จะแปรเปลี่ยนเป็นขบวนการเคลื่อนไหวระดับประเทศได้หรือไม่นั้น ขึ้นอยู่กับยุทธศาสตร์ที่มีประสิทธิภาพ และวิสัยทัศน์ต่ออนาคตที่เป็นเอกภาพ แม้ว่าสถานการณ์การระบาดของเชื้อไวรัสโคโรนาไปทั่วโลกจะเป็นอุปสรรคใหม่ต่อขบวนการเคลื่อนไหว แต่เหล่านักศึกษาก็พยายามแสวงหาการประท้วงออนไลน์รูปแบบใหม่ๆ และรวมเอากิจกรรมด้านมนุษยธรรมเข้าไว้ในรายการกิจกรรมของพวกเขา เพื่อสร้างความสัมพันธ์อันดีกับชุมชน […]

On March 26, 2018, a suicide car bomb hit a stadium in Lashkargah, the capital of Helmand province in Afghanistan. The attack killed dozens of football fans who had gathered in the stadium to watch the game. A number of civilians who lost their dear ones in the attack sat in protest to criticize the attack. They erected protest tents in Lashkargah and observed a hunger strike. […]

There is still much to do to consolidate democracy and civilian rule in Sudan. All the same, the toppling of al-Bashir and his military backers is an amazing accomplishment. It demonstrates that whatever the structural obstacles may be, building on internal strengths and external opportunities, embracing diversity and nonviolent discipline, and following through on what was started are important ingredients to movement success. […]

Thailand recently witnessed a new dawn of youth-led people power, but whether the nascent protests will morph into a nationwide movement depends on an effective strategy and a unified vision for the future. Although the Coronavirus pandemic is posing new obstacles to the movement, students are seeking alternative forms of online protest and incorporating humanitarian activism into their repertoires to build constructive relationships with communities. […]