Minds of the Movement
An ICNC blog on the people and power of civil resistance
Minds of the Movement bloggers are taking a deep dive into largely under-reported movements for rights of women and sexual & gender minorities, as well as women-led pro-democracy campaigns. They chronicle how these groups and their allies—in countries as disparate as Belarus, Brazil, India, Mexico, Pakistan, and Sudan—are disrupting oppressive spaces and taking the lead in transformative politics with creativity and stamina.
By: Mariam Azeem, August 4, 2020
Women’s rights have been on the social agenda in Pakistan for years, but the media largely ignored it until recently. Journalists have become more independent over the past few years, coinciding with the emergence of the Women’s March in the United States and around the world. These marches inspired Pakistani women to finally take action for their rights. […]
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By: Maciej Bartkowski, July 29, 2020
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He is learning firsthand about the “power of the powerless” as he and others witness a major awakening of a heretofore withdrawn and passive population. In a break with precedent, his political opposition is led by several women who, until recently, were not widely known. […]
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By: Poncho Hernandez, July 22, 2020
Last August, during a press conference with Mexico City’s police chief, a group of young women were seen breaking windows and throwing pink glitter in the police chief’s face. This was to demand justice for a teenager allegedly raped by four police officers. The episode sparked what became known as the glitter revolution, a new wave of feminist activism in Mexico with connections to other feminist collectives worldwide. […]
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By: Sonja Stojadinovic, June 18, 2020
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. […]
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By: Stephen Zunes, April 15, 2020
Related to this diversity was the strong participation and leadership by women, which not only helped increase the number of protester, but also provided a perspective that encouraged nonviolent discipline, democratic process, greater credibility, and better popular perception of the movement and its goals. Under al-Bashir’s rule, women had been severely repressed in terms of dress codes, employment, and even the ability to leave home without the accompaniment of a close male relative. A frequent theme illustrated in murals, signs, and elsewhere during the revolution involved the Kandaka, a matrilineal dynasty of powerful queens from the first millennium BCE. […]
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By: Binalakshmi "Bina" Nepram, September 20, 2019
Last January, the people of the state of Manipur and northeast India rose up against the Indian government’s attempt to introduce the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which they found discriminatory and a grave violation of the Indian Constitution and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Millions mobilized in protest across the region. A group of Manipuri women who call themselves the Meira Paibis ("Women with Torches") led many extraordinary nonviolent demonstrations that lasted for weeks […]
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