Strength & Solidarity

Excerpted from Strength & Solidarity Episode 9. Human rights organiser Suliman Baldo on poems as the secret weapon that helped topple a regime.

Our second season of Strength & Solidarity continues to explore the world of rights, equality and justice activism. Every two weeks, we invite people working in these fields to tell us about the dilemmas they face, and the tactics they use to achieve their goals. By speaking with actors at the heart of critical struggles we hope to get an up-close view on the current and future course of human rights. In our new season -  a raft of new topics, including how rights organizations cope with vicarious trauma, relevant human resources guidance in a sex workers organization, respectful solidarity with indigenous rights defenders,  and guidance on good governance from... the Bible. Join Akwe Amosu and her smart, passionate guests and check out The Coda – a regular opportunity for someone in the human rights field to tell us about the poems, music and people that inspire them.  All this and more, in Season Two! Listen, subscribe and send your ideas for future stories to  pod@strengthandsolidarity.org.

Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 8. A 20th-century revolutionary offers solace and strength to a contemporary human rights activist Adilur Rahman Kahn.

For people who have made defending rights their life’s work, the language of rights comes as second nature. But what about those facing repression, exclusion or loss of their land and livelihood – how do they describe what is happening to them? When politicians instrumentalize human rights language to justify their interests, does the idea of rights become fatally degraded? In this episode we dig into where the language of human rights shows up, and who can legitimately use it. We speak with Thailand-based human rights lawyer Emilie Palamy Pradichit, founder of the Manushya foundation, on her work with indeigenous communties fighting for rights to their land and what that has taught her about the language of human rights. And in our Coda,  Bangladeshi human rights defender Adilur Rahman Khan celebrates his country’s national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam. In this episode: Why it matters who is doing the talking about rights The Coda: A lifelong Bangladeshi activist celebrates his national poet. For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, please visit www.strengthandsolidarity.org/podcast Send us your ideas and your feedback at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org

Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 7. Human rights leader Jessica Montell’s journey to insight and appreciation of Marge Piercy’s poem, To be of Use.

An old proverb says that a trouble shared is a trouble halved. That idea underlies a project to support leaders in human rights movements and organizations - the Symposium on Strength and Solidarity for Human Rights. This project creates space for reflection twice a year, using case histories and readings from past struggles as provocation and invites those taking part to compare experiences. For eight days in February and March, some 20 leader-activists met online to discuss the challenges they face and how they might respond. In this episode, the Symposium’s four moderators reflect on the just-completed meeting and what issues seemed most critical to participants. In this episode: A space for human rights leaders to talk – and find support The Coda:  An Israeli activist finds new meaning in a poem by Marge Piercy For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, please visit www.strengthandsolidarity.org/podcast Send us your ideas and your feedback at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org

Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 6. Brazilian activist Alessandra Orofino is enjoys the sly double-entendre of singer-songwriter Chico Buarque in his hit song against military rule.

In 2005, a small group of women began a campaign to make abortion legal in Argentina. While rich women might be able to find safe means to terminate their pregnancies, the poor were forced to seek backstreet abortions at grave risk of imprisonment, injury and death. As much as those building the movement believed in their cause, even they were stunned, a mere 13 years later, to see a million people in the streets of Buenos Aires supporting their demands. At the end of 2020, a vote in Senate brought final victory. In this episode, one of the organisers at the heart of the campaign shares the strategies that won the day. And, in this episode’s Coda, the Brazilian samba that seemed to be a lovers’ tiff but was a veiled attack on military rule. In this episode:  Feminist Victoria Tesoriero breaks down the brilliant, dogged campaign to legalise abortion in Argentina The Coda:  How a 1970 samba promised Brazilians a better future beyond dictatorship For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, please visit www.strengthandsolidarity.org/podcast Send us your ideas and your feedback at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org

Excerpted from Strength and Solidarity Episode 5. A seventeenth century nun, philosopher, composer and poet Juana Inés de la Cruz wins the admiration of South African human rights lawyer Kayum Ahmed.

Ching Yin Johnson Yeung, a driving force in the Hong Kong democracy movement and former rights activist, discusses the quest for global solidarity in the face of decentralized protests. She reveals the challenges faced in garnering international support and highlights the vital role of the Hong Kong diaspora. Keum Ahmed, a South African human rights lawyer, shares a powerful poem from 17th-century feminist Juana Inés de la Cruz, connecting historical struggles with contemporary issues. Together, they examine the intersection of activism, gender, and democracy.