Dissidents and Dictators

In this episode, recorded at the 2022 Oslo Freedom Forum, we hear from human rights activist Tawakkol Karman, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her non-violent struggle for democracy and women’s rights in Yemen. In her roles as a journalist, politician, and founder of the Tawakkol Karman International Foundation, she is also known as “mother of the revolution,” “the iron woman,” and the Lady of the Arab Spring.

In this episode, recorded at the 2022 Oslo Freedom Forum, exiled Afghan activist and politician Zarifa Ghafari speaks on the challenges faced under the Taliban — particularly concerning women’s rights, freedom of speech, and human rights. After making a daring escape from the Taliban, Zarifa now lives in exile, where she continues to advocate for human rights in Afghanistan and globally.

In this episode, recorded at the 2022 Oslo Freedom Forum, we hear from Carolina Barrero, an art historian, activist, and human rights advocate fighting for peace and civil and political rights in Cuba. As a member of the 27N movement of artists and intellectuals, Barrero participated in 2021 protests that challenged Cuba’s totalitarian regime.

In this episode, recorded at the 2022 Oslo Freedom Forum, Chemi Lhamo discusses the annexation of her homeland, Tibet, by the authoritarian Chinese government, and urges the international community to help amplify the Tibetan peoples’ calls for freedom.

In this episode, recorded at the 2022 Oslo Freedom Forum, Eritrean human rights activist and software developer Filmon Debru recounts his experience in the expansive human trafficking cycle. Since his escape, Debru has raised awareness about human trafficking and testified before international bodies, including the European Parliament.

In this episode, recorded at the 2022 Oslo Freedom Forum, we hear from author and Uyghur advocate Jewher Ilham about the widespread use of Uyghur forced labor and how the international community must respond. Jewher has testified before the U.S. Congress, published op-eds in The New York Times and Guardian, and received numerous international awards on behalf of her father, imprisoned academic Ilham Tohti.

In this episode, recorded at the 2022 Oslo Freedom Forum, we hear a conversation between renowned journalist Michaela Wrong and Carine Kanimba, an activist and daughter of Hotel Rwanda’s Paul Rusesabagina — who saved more than 1,200 people in his hotel during the 1994 genocide.

Over the past several decades, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has relentlessly attacked human rights in order to advance its political goals. This episode explores how youth in the diaspora are grappling with the Chinese government’s abuses in their respective homelands, and mobilizing in exile. Guests include Babur Ilchi from the Campaign for Uyghurs, Tenzin Yangzom from Students for a Free Tibet, Anna Kwok from Hong Kong Democracy Council, and Mustafa Aksu from the Uyghur Human Rights Project.

In this episode, recorded at the 2022 Oslo Freedom Forum, we hear from three Belarusian activists –– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Veronica Tsepkalo & Tatsiana Khomich –– who have spent years fighting corruption under Alexander Lukashenko’s regime, and rallying for a free and democratic Belarus. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is a former presidential candidate and leader of the national democratic movement in Belarus; Veronica Tsepkalo was one of the three leaders of the national democratic movement in Belarus and currently chairs the Belarus Women’s Foundation; and Tatsiana Khomich is a Belariusian activist and sister of political prisoner Maria Kalesnikava.

In this episode, recorded at the 2022 Oslo Freedom Forum, we hear from Areej al-Sadhan, a Saudi activist and sister of Red Crescent humanitarian worker Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, who disappeared in 2018 during a mass crackdown on critics and rights activists in Saudi Arabia. Areej remains outspoken on the ill-treatment of her brother and other activists, and has publicly denounced Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s brutal human right abuses.