Strength & Solidarity

Back in 2020, a hashtag - #MilkTeaAlliance – began appearing across the Internet. Netizens in Hong Kong and Taiwan, Thailand, Japan and the Philippines seemed to be building a cross-regional solidarity movement to support pro-democracy activists, like the young people defying the generals who launched Myanmar’s coup in 2021.  Even though the hashtag was so visible online, it was hard to see an actual movement in the real world.  Did it really exist?  How did it come about and who did it represent? And with the apparent waning of the hashtag’s use, is it about to disappear? We talk to Marc Batac, co-founder and facilitator of the Milk Tea Alliance (Friends of Myanmar). And in the coda… Why does a Malaysian human rights leader moonlight as a TV script writer? https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/ Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org

Sevan Doraisamy started writing film scripts when he was still a student and despite a shift into social justice activism and – eventually – leadership,  he has never stopped.  He explains why it’s important to him and how it helps him to avoid burning out. https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org

In 2022 the United States’ Supreme Court ruled that there is no constitutional right to an abortion, triggering a flood of measures in multiple states to restrict reproductive rights. But further south, that same year, Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled in the opposite direction.  Colombian feminists had mounted a massive campaign and legal strategy to get abortion removed from the penal code and although they didn’t fully achieve that goal, abortion was decriminalized up to 24 weeks - a huge victory for the reproductive rights movement.  Catalina Martínez Coral, Vice-president in Latin America for the Center for Reproductive Rights recalls the strategy behind the campaign.  And in the coda… a library becomes an inspiration and a home for Germany’s black and diaspora community.  https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/  Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org   

Racial justice activist Daniel Gyamerah celebrates the foresight of an Afro-German woman who over the course of her lifetime collected hundreds of books by black authors and bequeathed them to Berlin’s black and diaspora community to create the library that became EOTO – Each One Teach One.  https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/  Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org 

The podcast explores the powerful organizing efforts of Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa, defending communities against eviction despite violence and corruption. It also delves into the importance of unity, political education, and collective action in empowering marginalized populations, and highlights the challenges faced in electoral processes and the call for alternative political strategies for empowerment.

Eleanor Thompson, a Sierra Leonean human rights lawyer and social justice activist in Freetown has been reading an essay by Audre Lorde, written during a period of heightened awareness of her mortality. Lorde reflects on the ways we avoid speaking our truth in case we provoke anger or rejection and comes to see that our fear may in fact be a guide to our purpose, a powerful insight for Eleanor.   https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/ Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org 

Activists can boost their power and impact by combining their efforts, but persuading diverse actors to work together can be challenging.  Organizations and movements working on multiple issues may disagree on policy and principle or set conditions on their collaboration so bringing them into alignment can take energy and resources that are in short supply. The Rising Majority coalition with around 70 member organisations combines black, indigenous and other groups of people of colour, as well as movements on race, climate, gender, policing, labor issues, immigration and economic and environmental justice – in short, its members’ priorities are varied. Rising Majority grew out of the Movement for Black Lives - M4BL for short - amid the realisation that even though individual groups had overarching goals in common, they weren’t taking advantage of their collective power.  Rising Majority’s National Director Loan Tran, explains why that changed in 2017.    And in the coda…a UK activist discovers that if you want to keep going, you have to learn to stop.  https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/  Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org 

Katrina French is an activist in constant motion, pursuing multiple projects in her area of expertise, racism in UK policing and the criminal justice system.  But there came a moment when she realized she was close to burning out and decided to take avoiding action. https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/ Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org  

Many grow up being told that although there are bad guys in the world, the police are there to keep you safe. But this episode hears from someone who had to recognize that police saw her community not as deserving of protection, but as the source of problems. In communities where there is already too much traumatizing violence, a heavy-handed police response frequently increases the harm. According to the British campaigning organisation, 4Front, 193 teenagers died at the hands of London police between 2009 and 2019. 4Front’s Executive Director Temi Mwale describes her early awakening to this reality, her search for tools and strategies to respond, and activists’ efforts to hold police to account . For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/ Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org

For decades, Latin America’s reporters have treasured a celebration of their craft by one of their most beloved writers, the late Gabriel Garcia Marquez - a great novelist but also a passionate journalist. Jonathan Bock was, until recently, one of them. He runs an organization in Colombia that defend media freedom and he is having to face up to a harsh reality.For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org