In 2011, Syrians nationwide took to the streets in organic, peaceful protests demanding change, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and justice. Participation by men, women, children, and the elderly was extremely high; for the first six months, it was mostly a nonviolent movement. But the dictatorial regime’s response was brutal from the first weeks. The government’s security forces and army cracked down on people with violence, guns, enforced disappearances, and torture. […]

En 2022, j’ai été personnellement menacé d’arrestation, de torture, de mort et de disparition de mon corps. Dans un échange téléphonique entre le président de Djibouti et son puissant chef de la police dont le contenu avait fuité dans la presse, le président de la République ordonnait mon arrestation, une manipulation de mon identité, ma torture et me menaçait d’une balle dans la tête. Le redoutable patron de la police nationale manifestait sa prompte disponibilité à l’exécution des ordres avec l’assurance de la disparition de mon corps. […]

“It started in 1991, when a Blaan tribal council in the Tampakan mountains encountered “white strangers” walking their ancestral land. These were surveyors for an Australian mining company who wanted the treasures beneath the Blaan land. Within months, a local priest brought concerned Blaan tribal leaders to the Diocese of Marbel. An organized resistance was born. […]”

Les mouvements sociaux confondent souvent mobilisation et organisation. La mobilisation rassemble des personnes pour un événement spécifique ou une manifestation de rue. Une forte participation à un rassemblement assure une visibilité publique à court terme, mais les grands rassemblements ne laissent souvent aucune structure durable une fois la foule dispersée. La mobilisation produit des moments visibles qui ne parviennent souvent pas à générer un changement à long terme. L’organisation, quant à elle, renforce les capacités à long terme. Elle convertit de brefs moments d’indignation publique en relations stables, en compétences partagées, en rôles structurés et en pouvoir accumulé. […]

Social movements frequently confuse mobilization with organizing. Mobilization gathers people for a specific event or street demonstration. High turnout at a rally creates short-term public visibility, yet large gatherings can leave behind no lasting structure once the crowd disperses. Mobilization produces visible moments that often fail to generate long-term change. Organizing builds durable capacity. It converts brief moments of public outrage into stable relationships, shared skills, structured roles, and accumulated power. […]

I was five or six years old when I first understood the price of opposing the government in my country. That night, soldiers from Moundou and N’Djamena had surrounded Beinanmar, my hometown in southern Chad. They were searching for activists from the URD, a party fiercely opposed to the ruling regime. My older brother Jean-Claude was on their list. Alerted in time, he managed to flee to Cameroon. Others were not so lucky: uncles and cousins, taken away and then executed just outside the village. […]

En 2015, à l’université de N’Djamena, naissait IYINA, « nous sommes fatigués » en arabe local. C’était le plus grand mouvement de jeunes jamais vu dans le pays : une mobilisation éclair sur tout le territoire, portée par des étudiants, des artistes, la société civile. Nous étions la génération qui refusait l’héritage monarchique des Déby.[…]

The idea for this mission arose from a previous experience of mine. In 2011, at the “Ayette Conference,” the ETA (Basque separatists) began its public process of renouncing arms. Basque activists then benefited from the first-hand testimonies of other armed groups regarding their own processes of laying down arms: the ANC in South Africa and the IRA in Ireland, in particular. I was aware of the positive impact these testimonies had on the long process of disarming. […]

How do I begin a story I wish I never had to write? I ask myself this not to break the curse of the blank page—I genuinely do not know. Just like four years ago I did not know the difference between the sound of a russian missile being shot down versus the sound of one hitting its target. Being Ukrainian now means learning things you never thought you would need. And doing things you never thought you had the guts to do. […]