Minds of the Movement

An ICNC blog on the people and power of civil resistance

News, Insights, Thoughts

Articles

Women Defending Human Rights in Southeast Asia

This special REACT series guest-edited by Maneesh Pradhan features the writing of five women human rights defenders (WHRDs) participating in nonviolent struggles for rights, democracy and peace. Based in Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, contributors Evy, Nilda, Ei Mon, Yin Lae and Memee are all organizing in environments that are extremely hostile towards human rights activism. Their posts highlight how they are navigating unique challenges they face as women, both young and elderly. Beyond movement organizing, these women HRDs engage in writing, knowledge sharing and solidarity building, namely intergenerational solidarity. These “voices of resilience” are as instructive as they are inspiring for anyone organizing nonviolent actions especially in repressive contexts, as well as movement supporters and those who study civil resistance movements.

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Legacy of Resistance: Defending Human Rights Across Generations in the Philippines

“I was eight when I overheard Dad persuading Mama to employ the daughter of an impoverished client as household help. She would work without pay, in exchange for her father’s lawyer fees. We didn’t need household help, but Mama agreed when Dad explained it would mean “one less mouth to feed” for his client’s family. She was hired, with salary. I later understood the disturbing gap between social classes when I pursued a progressive education. But my learning wasn’t confined to the classroom. Conversations with one of my elder brothers enriched my education, from which emerged a strong desire for equality, truth and justice in my country. […]”

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“Don’t Move, Stand Still!”: Inside Myanmar’s Intergenerational Struggle for Democracy

I will forever remember that hot, early-summer morning in February 2021. I was at the market near my apartment in Yangon, waiting for Shan noodles for breakfast. The breeze whispered that the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) had taken power over the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. I quietly finished my breakfast, shocked at the unexpected development, unaware of what it truly meant to live in a country undergoing a coup. When I got home from the market […]

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Triumphing Grief with Engaged, Collective Writing

“When I decided to become an activist, I didn’t stop writing. I initiated the Migrant Workers Writing Movement (Gerakan Buruh Migran Menulis) with Migrant CARE and discovered the incredible stories of women migrant workers and their families. Since then, I have gradually understood feminism and gender injustice, not from fancy theoretical concepts but from the experiences of the people I met. At that moment, I knew exactly my path in fighting for what was most relevant to me: women’s liberation. […]”

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Defiance and Determination: A Feminist Activist’s Journey in Thailand 

“I was born and raised in the northeastern region of Thailand, in a province known as Isan. I grew up in a society that identified itself as the “Red Shirts,” a grassroots movement striving for political and economic democracy. When I turned sixteen, I left Isan to attend high school in Bangkok. It was during this time that I was introduced to feminism and began reading about the struggles faced by women and LGBTQ+ communities in their fight for self-affirmation and the recognition of their traumas.” […]

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Interviews & People

La Francophonie: Broadening Horizons with an International, Interdisciplinary Working Group

The working group of the Institute for Peace (IPP), “Civil resistance, nonviolence and the culture of peace”, focuses on three concepts or approaches that intersect both in their theoretical dimensions and in their practical expressions. The aim of the group is to develop its research axes and to pursue targeted activities for the academic, activist, media, associative and political communities, with an emphasis on educational materials. We aspire to bring together diverse Francophone communities of thought and practice, to broaden the horizons of a still very young field of study, and to promote the work that has been produced on our subjects in French over the past several decades. […]

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Movement Commentary

XR: Orientarsi nel grande paradosso dell’azione climatica

Una delle prime cose ad avermi colpito quando mi sono unita a un gruppo di Extinction Rebellion (XR) Francia è stato che c’erano molti meno studenti rispetto alle mie aspettative. Invece, il gruppo era costituito anche da molte persone anziane, professionisti full-time, mamme lavoratrici. Poco dopo avrei scoperto da un mio amico che ha frequentato XR a Leiden, che nei Paesi Bassi, in realtà, il movimento ha organizzato dei blocchi stradali di alcune delle autostrade principali del paese con una partecipazione rilevante di over-60. […]

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Movement Commentary

Extinction Rebellion: Navigating the Great Paradox of Climate Action

There is a paradox in climate justice today. It is that we must be highly focused on local, short-term campaigns to even have a chance of achieving our goals, which are usually at the global scale (curb global warming, put an end to rising sea levels, etc.). Having participated in an XR local chapter in Lille, France for five months, I wrote this post to explore three characteristics of XR more broadly, which I believe can help environmental movements navigate this great paradox. […]

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The Shadow Activists: On Disabled Activists in Exile

I became visually impaired two years after my birth due to a genetic disorder resulting from consanguineous marriage. This compelled my family to move to Riyadh in hopes of finding a glimmer of hope for my treatment, which unfortunately did not happen. Nevertheless, my father’s work led us to settle in the Saudi capital. In 2011, multiple revolutions erupted in several Arab countries, including Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and my homeland, Syria. […]

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مناضلي/ات الظل: عن ناشطية الأشخاص ذوي الإعاقة في المنفى

” في هذه البقعة من الأرض يمكن لك أن تكون عصامياً، لكن يستحيل أن تصبح بطلاً، لأن همومك هي هموم الملايين وأنت لست وحدك”

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