Strength & Solidarity

With the fall of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 ,four decades of tyranny came to an end and Libya experienced an all too brief period of optimism–its own Arab Spring. But the hopes were overwritten by a lawless and violent competition for power and resources, egged on by foreign actorskeen to access the country’s mineral wealth.  If you were an advocate of justice and human rights in a democratic state of laws, where did that leave you? How could you advance your vision in such conditions? Human rights lawyer Elham Saudi was eventually forced into exile by hostile militias but she tells host Akwe Amosu how she and the rest of civil society are keeping the flame alive, albeit at great personal cost. And in the Coda, Guatemalan activist Gabriel Wer shares a haunting poem by Argentinian poet Juan Gelman on keeping faith with the country and culture that made you, even if you have to leave.  For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/ Contact us atpod@strengthandsolidarity.org

For the human rights defender forced to leave their home country to get away from threats of violence or detention, there is a strange life ahead –of dislocation and adaption to a new culture, while remaining umbilically connected to their place of origin. Guatemalan activist Gabriel Wer shares a poem by celebrated Argentinian poet Juan Gelman who lived much of his life in exile.

It is 14 months since the military once again seized power in Myanmar, using merciless brutality to suppress civic protest. From day one of the coup in February 2021, millions of students, workers, opposition politicians, and professionals have mobilized daily with extraordinary courage. The International Crisis Group reports that 1,500 civilians have been killed and nearly 9,000 more arrested, charged or jailed. Even as public protest continues, a great many have concluded that armed resistance is the only option. Help from international actors has been slow to build, an ambivalence all the more glaring amid the global mobilization to defend “democracy’s frontline”in Ukraine. Rohingya organiser Wai Wai Nu reflects on the roots of Burmese protest and determination. And in the Coda, LGBTQ+ activist Ryan Figueiredo shares a Denise Levertov poem that lightens the spirit. For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/Contact us atpod@strengthandsolidarity.org

Denise Levertov’s poem, Making Peace, says that we bring peace into the world by speaking it and for Ryan Figueiredo, there’s special meaning here for the social justice activist. Fighting to make rights and justice a reality inevitably causes in friction but that’s not a negative, Ryan says, it polishes us in the work that we do, perhaps-as the poem has it-“facets of the forming crystal.”

After the shock of Russia’s invasion, Ukrainians who did not enlist to fight mobilized around other pressing tasks. For human rights workers, one of the most obvious was documentation. There are multiple instances of Russian missiles hitting civilian targets – hospitals, residential buildings, schools and evacuation convoys – and local and international digital activists have rushed to collect the evidence. Their work will support future litigation to hold Russia accountable for war crimes. But is that hope realistic given the record of international justice processes to date? Roman Romanov, Human Rights and Justice Program Director at the International Renaissance Foundation in Ukraine reflects on why accountability for Russia is critical and calls for new thinking and better results. For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, please visit https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/ Send your ideas and feedback to pod@strengthandsolidarity.org

Most would agree that social justice and human rights movements should be led by those who need the change they’re fighting for. But what’s the best way to achieve that? In this episode, we hear about a South African organizational model that centers community ownership by electing leaders and board. But if a movement has to double as a professional NGO, meeting legal, bureaucratic and donor obligations, things can get complicated. Axolile Notywala has led two organizations doing rights and justice work in Cape Town and shares some insight. And in the Coda, human rights lawyer Nani Jansen Reventlow gets Gil Scott Heron to remind us that real activism happens in the real world, not online. 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

Human rights lawyer and racial justice activist Nani Jansen Reventlow has been helping to build a vibrant digital rights field. But as important as online spaces are, she's worried that people tend to value online activism too highly. The late poet, musician and social critic, Gil Scott Heron helps her make the point.

In late 2019, activists across Sudan thought they had won a remarkable victory against military dictatorship and a transition to civilian rule had begun. Just two years later, though, their worst nightmare was realized when General Abdel Fattah Al Burhan declared the military was back. Those who had lived through the intense street battles of 2019, now faced a gruelling return to the barricades and the risk of more death and injury. Remarkably they did not hesitate. Veteran Sudanese rights activist Hala Al Karib reflects on their resilience. And in our Coda, an Irish human rights leader puts down his phone and picks up a book instead. For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/ Contact us atpod@strengthandsolidarity.org

Irish human rights leader Liam Herrick doesn’t know exactly how it happened, but one day he realized he had stopped reading even though he had always loved books. Inspired by his kids’ love of stories, he set out to regain the reading habit.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

When the pandemic brought New York’s economy to a shuddering halt in 2020, there was a safety net for workers –if they were US citizens. But over half a million undocumented workers in the state weren’t included and faced a sudden loss of income. Strength & Solidarity returns with this close look at the “Fund Excluded Workers”campaign which used both street-level activism and behind-the-scenes advocacy at the state’s legislature to win a staggering $2.1bn in pandemic relief for workers without legal status. And in the Coda, queer Malaysian activist Henry Koh reflects on poetry and music as solace for LGBTI people forced to remain closeted by a conservative, religious society.  For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, please visit https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/ Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org