“‘Writing ourselves into humanhood.’ ‘To build towards a more meaningful future.’ ‘A labor of love for our struggle.’ ‘Catharsis…’

“What is your relationship to writing and how is that related to your activism? We received the above responses when we discussed this question with activists we met this past February at the Global People Power Forum, a space for movements and movement-minded organizations to share, learn and advance our collective wisdom. As ICNC and ActionAid Denmark embark on a new collaboration this year, we are going straight to the source. […]”

Another presidential election has come and gone in Nigeria, leaving political parties, civil society and a disgruntled electorate in disarray over all the alleged irregularities that were recorded. Bola Tinubu was announced as the president-elect under the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, by an electoral commission largely viewed as incompetent. Aggrieved parties and ordinary citizens have been demanding transparent judgment or re-election, and they’ve been doing so through nonviolent actions that draw heavily on creativity and humor.

With Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial judicial reform on hold since Monday, the country’s population finds itself not at ease but only at a new crossroads in their struggle to protect their country’s democracy. A multi-sector strike, more than 12 weeks of intensifying protests, and dissent and defections among Israeli officials on numerous fronts… since the beginning of this year, Israel has been experiencing its largest demonstrations in a decade. […]

“On June 11, 1963, Thích Quảng Đức, a 65-year-old Buddhist Mahayana monk, arrived in a car along with two other monks at the intersection of Phan Đình Phùng Boulevard and Lê Văn Duyệt Street, a few blocks southwest of the Presidential Palace in Saigon. One monk carried a cushion into the intersection and placed it on the pavement. While Thích Quảng Đức proceeded to walk to the cushion and sit down in a lotus position, another monk carried over a five-gallon can of gasoline and poured it on Thích Quảng Đức, who calmly lit himself on fire. […]”

زیر سایه بسیاری از خبرهای رسانه‌ای، و در حالی که هدف شدید‌ترین سرکوب‌ها قرار گرفته است، انقلاب ملی ایران برای رسیدن به سکولار دموکراسی مطلوبش در حرکت است. این انقلاب در حالی در سراسر ایران ریشه می‌دواند وارد پنجمین ماه خود شده است. علی‌ رغم سرکوب‌های شدید و بی‌رحمانه رژیم، گستره اعتراضات چه به لحاظ جغرافیایی و چه به لحاظ مشارکت اقشار مختلف در حال گسترش است. مسئله‌ای که نشان می‌دهد رژیم در حال از دست دادن قدرت و کنترل اوضاع است.

Shadowed by many breaking headlines and increasingly brutal repression, the Iranian revolution for secular democracy continues to forge ahead. Soon in its fifth month, the uprising has taken root across Iran. Its widening geographic spread and deepening diversity of participants have been met with an intensified crackdown ordered by the Islamic regime–evidence that its grip on power is slipping. […]

“Nonviolence is naïve. Humans are violent by nature.” “Violence is needed to confront violent adversaries.” “Nonviolent resistance undermines institutional means of change.” Views such as these are understandable in light of society’s socialization and ongoing elevation of violence in news, education and entertainment media. It can be frustrating to have to respond to such views on a regular basis. But if the other person is engaging in good faith, responding can also be an opportunity to deepen the conversation, learn about their perspective, and share our own. In this article, I dig deeper into some widespread assumptions about nonviolent resistance, in the spirit of reinforcing the capacity of advocates of the effectiveness of civil resistance to steer conversations toward higher ground. […]

“This is why we must break the silence on self-immolation in the field of nonviolent resistance. Whether one believes self-immolation to be an act of violence or of nonviolent resistance, oppressive regimes are eager to fill the silence and portray self-immolation as an outcome of mental illness or religious extremism. Dictatorships always seek to throw a veil of doubt over acts of resistance that challenge their power. […] Without recommending this harrowing tactic to anyone, we can still honor the sacrifice of self-immolators for rights, justice and freedom. For whether it is to die in the truth or to live in the truth, it is still the truth that is always worth pursuing…”

The reason we try to understand the succession crisis that embroils many dictatorships is rather practical: we would like to figure out ways for movements to use this opportunity to expand political space, maybe even push the regime for concessions and, further down the road, achieve substantive political changes towards democratization. The wobble that represents the “S-word”, succession, should be seen an opportunity for the movement, but one that does not automatically lead to disintegration regime. […]