Register for Upcoming Webinar: How Polish Judges Fought to Keep Their IndependenceA webinar featuring Marcin Mrowicki alongside panelists Elizabeth A. Wilson and Doug Coltart
December 11, 2024 12:00pm to 1:30pm EST
Webinar details:
This webinar explores the ways in which lawyers can draw practical lessons from the Polish judiciary's resistance to authoritarian pressures under the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS). It delves into the tactics judges employed to safeguard their independence, from subtle acts of defiance within courtrooms to collective public resistance. By analyzing these actions, the webinar aims to uncover the role of judges as defenders of democratic principles, even under significant state pressure. Attendees will consider how lawyers, like judges, can maintain ethical standards while navigating political conflicts that threaten judicial autonomy. Furthermore, the webinar emphasizes the importance of understanding resistance strategies for legal professionals facing similar challenges globally. Ultimately, it sheds light on the judiciary's critical role in upholding the rule of law in the face of authoritarian encroachment.Furthermore, key speaker Marcin Mrowicki will be discussing his monograph, All Rise: Judicial Resistance in Poland, which investigates the strategic and organized resistance of Polish judges against the authoritarian encroachments on judicial independence by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party from 2015 to 2023. The resistance movement led to significant national and international outcomes, including presidential vetoes of controversial judicial reform bills, the reinstatement of judges, and actions by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against Poland.
More About the Presenter and Author:
Marcin Mrowicki, PhD, is Assistant Professor of EU Law and Human Rights at the University of Warsaw (Centre for Europe). He is an author of many academic and popular science publications. He worked as a lawyer at the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg (2012-2016), and at the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights’ Office in Poland (2016-2024). Since February 2024, he is also a Secretary of the Inter-ministerial Committee for Restoring Rule of Law and Constitutional Order and a Deputy Head of the Criminal Law Department of the Ministry of Justice in Poland.
About the Respondents:
Elizabeth A. Wilson has a JD from Harvard Law School and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. She has taught public international law and international human rights at Seton Hall’s School of Diplomacy, Rutgers Law School, and Columbia University’s Institute for Human Rights, and has been a visiting senior fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany. She is the author of People Power and International Human Rights: Creating a Legal Framework, an ICNC monograph. She is now an attorney with Gilbert Employment Law, a civil rights law firm.Doug Coltart is a Zimbabwean lawyer, human rights activist, social movement coach, and writer. His legal practice focuses on providing representation to journalists, activists, trade unionists, etc who are prosecuted for exercising their rights. Mostly, he just loves to dance!
Register for Upcoming Webinar: How Polish Judges Fought to Keep Their Independence
A webinar featuring Marcin Mrowicki alongside panelists Elizabeth A. Wilson and Doug Coltart
December 11, 2024 12:00pm to 1:30pm EST
Webinar details:
This webinar explores the ways in which lawyers can draw practical lessons from the Polish judiciary's resistance to authoritarian pressures under the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS). It delves into the tactics judges employed to safeguard their independence, from subtle acts of defiance within courtrooms to collective public resistance. By analyzing these actions, the webinar aims to uncover the role of judges as defenders of democratic principles, even under significant state pressure. Attendees will consider how lawyers, like judges, can maintain ethical standards while navigating political conflicts that threaten judicial autonomy. Furthermore, the webinar emphasizes the importance of understanding resistance strategies for legal professionals facing similar challenges globally. Ultimately, it sheds light on the judiciary's critical role in upholding the rule of law in the face of authoritarian encroachment.Furthermore, key speaker Marcin Mrowicki will be discussing his monograph, All Rise: Judicial Resistance in Poland, which investigates the strategic and organized resistance of Polish judges against the authoritarian encroachments on judicial independence by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party from 2015 to 2023. The resistance movement led to significant national and international outcomes, including presidential vetoes of controversial judicial reform bills, the reinstatement of judges, and actions by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against Poland.
More About the Presenter and Author:
About the Respondents:
Marcin Mrowicki, PhD, is Assistant Professor of EU Law and Human Rights at the University of Warsaw (Centre for Europe). He is an author of many academic and popular science publications. He worked as a lawyer at the European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg (2012-2016), and at the Polish Commissioner for Human Rights’ Office in Poland (2016-2024). Since February 2024, he is also a Secretary of the Inter-ministerial Committee for Restoring Rule of Law and Constitutional Order and a Deputy Head of the Criminal Law Department of the Ministry of Justice in Poland.
Elizabeth A. Wilson has a JD from Harvard Law School and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. She has taught public international law and international human rights at Seton Hall’s School of Diplomacy, Rutgers Law School, and Columbia University’s Institute for Human Rights, and has been a visiting senior fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg, Germany. She is the author of 
Doug Coltart is a Zimbabwean lawyer, human rights activist, social movement coach, and writer. His legal practice focuses on providing representation to journalists, activists, trade unionists, etc who are prosecuted for exercising their rights. Mostly, he just loves to dance!Voices of Resilience: Women Defending Human Rights in Southeast Asia
Webinar Description:
This webinar featured five women human rights defenders (WHRDs) participating in nonviolent struggles for rights, democracy and peace. Based in Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, webinar speakers Evy, Nilda, Ei Mon, Yin Lae and Memee are all contributors to the REACT Activist Writing blog series, "Voices of Resilience: Women Defending Human Rights in Southeast Asia", powered by ActionAid Denmark.In this webinar, we heard how WHRDs are organizing in environments that are extremely hostile towards human rights activism. Speakers highlighted how they are navigating unique challenges they face as women, both young and elderly. Beyond movement organizing, these women HRDs engage in writing, knowledge sharing and solidarity building, namely intergenerational solidarity.Presenters' ideas, experiences, stories and analysis were particularly relevant to activists facing similar challenges in any region of the world, as well as policymakers and civil society actors working with movements.This webinar took place on October 16, 2024. Check out the full REACT Research-in-Action series powered by ActionAid Denmark.About the Speakers:
- Defiance and Determination: A Feminist Activist's Journey in Thailand
- Triumphing Grief with Engaged, Collective Writing
- “Don’t Move, Stand Still!”: Inside Myanmar’s Intergenerational Struggle for Democracy
- Legacy of Resistance: Defending Human Rights Across Generations in the Philippines
- Dare to Cross or Cross to Dare: A Woman’s Fight for Freedom for Myanmar
About the moderator:
Nitchakarn Rakwongrit (Memee) Nitchakarn Rakwongrit (Memee)is a young feminist activist based in Bangkok,Thailand. She became involved in the Thai pro-democracy protests in 2020 and has been actively engaged in activism ever since. Despite her young age, she has faced political prosecution in at least seven cases, with five occurring when she was still a minor. Currently, Memee is actively involved with the Milk Tea AllianceThailandand strives to incorporate feminism and collective culture into social movements.Read her REACT blog post:
Evy Zulyaniis a history graduate working in the fields of communication and knowledge management. After graduating, she focused on labor, human rights and gender issues. Her research was published in the 2020 edition of the Indonesian Feminist Journal, focusing on women migrant workers. She is also an active member of the Asia solidarity movement, known as the Milk Tea Alliance. Currently, Evy serves as an education and research coordinator at the Media and Creative Industry Workers Union for Democracy (SINDIKASI). In her free time, she enjoys walking to explore the city and making zines.Read her REACT blog post:
Ei Mon Soe is Rakhine, one of the ethnic minority groups in Myanmar. She is currently based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She decided to drop out of university as a form of civil disobedience after the 2021 coup, with a strong will to pursue her education in a democratic country and not under military rule. She was actively involved in anti-coup, pro-democracy protest against the military junta in 2021. She is currently a data science junior student at Parami University (Myanmar) while working as a teaching assistant at Spring University Myanmar (SUM), which was established after the coup to support interim education youths.Read her REACT blog post:
As a human rights defender for over fifty years, Nilda Sevilla steadfastly worked for institutional reforms and societal justice in the Philippines. She taught political science in college before, during and after the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship. At the height of the resistance to the repressive regime, she helped organize a faculty union, serving as its president and achieving legal victory for her illegally dismissed colleagues. As Co-chairperson of the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) and as legislative staff chief in the House of Representatives, she actively participated in lawmaking that led to landmark human rights laws notably against enforced disappearance and torture, on death penalty prohibition, and giving martial law victims recognition and reparation, among others.Read her REACT blog post:
As a young woman from one of the ethnic minorities in Myanmar, Yin Lae Aung started her activism during at university and worked for academic freedom and environmental issues. After the 2021 coup in Myanmar, she mobilized and organized youth protests against the military dictatorship, including boycotting education under junta control and joining art strikes. When the military government threatened and attempted to arrest her because of her activism, she was forced to flee to the border area in Thailand. She initiated Rangoon Voice-Cast (RVC), a platform for marginalized voices, youth and the working-class community.Read her REACT blog post:
Maneesh Pradhan is guest editor of the REACT series "Voices of Resilience: Struggles and Triumphs of Women Human Rights Defenders in Southeast Asia". He is a passionate advocate for social and ecological justice, with over 20 years of experience in international development and human rights. A firm believer in the power of collective actions, he has an extensive background in collaborating with human rights defenders and building alliances with social movements across Asia. His track record includes strategic planning, rights-based advocacy, campaigning and organizational development. As a pragmatic critical thinker who champions the praxis approach, Maneesh currently serves as the Asia Regional Coordination Lead at ActionAid International, based in Nepal. In his free time, he enjoys music, poetry, and sharing reflections on life through his blog.Activism in Exile – REACT webinar in Arabic w/English interpretation
ENGLISH BELOW[embed]https://youtu.be/uy7v0GLi_uA[/embed]
وصف الويبينار:
الناشطون في المنفى: التحديات، الفرص، التجارب المعاشة ندوة عبر الإنترنت مقدمة من المركز الدولي للنزاع غير العنيف ومؤسسة HuMENA لحقوق الإنسان والمشاركة المدنية، بدعم من ActionAid الدنمارك. الجمعة 21 يونيو 2024 من الساعة 17:30 إلى 19:00 بتوقيت وسط أوروبا (اعرف منطقتك الزمنية). سجل هنا تقدم هذه الندوة عبر الإنترنت موضوع النشاط السياسي في المنفى شهادات وتجارب معاشة لأشخاص أجبروا أو اختاروا مغادرة بلدانهم، والتحديات التي يواجهونها في التكيف مع المجتمعات الجديدة. سيتناول المتحدثون التقاطع المعقد بين النشاط والهوية والتجارب العميقة للمنفى - رحلة مليئة بالبحث المستمر عن المعنى والانتماء.سيتناول المتحدثون التقاطع المعقد بين النشاط السياسي والهوية والتجارب العميقة للمنفى - رحلة مليئة بالبحث المستمر عن المعنى والانتماء. تطلق الندوة سلسلة مدونة REACT (https://everytimezone.com/s/843bb73c : البحث الإجرائي) بعنوان "الناشطون في المنفى: التحديات، الفرص، التجارب المعاشة"، والتي تنقل العديد من الروايات الشخصية التي ستظهر خلال مايو ويونيو 2024. قم بزيارة موقع mindsofthemovement.org بشكل منتظم لقراءة المقالات فور نشرها! ----Webinar Description:
A REACT webinar hosted by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement, powered by ActionAid Denmark. This webinar on activism in exile presents testimonies and lived experiences of people who were forced or chose to leave their countries, and the challenges they face in adapting to new societies. Speakers will delve into the complex intersection of activism, identity, and the profound experiences of exile—a journey marked by an ongoing search for meaning and belonging. The webinar launches the REACT (Research-in-Action) blog series, entitled “Activism in Exile: Challenges, Opportunities, Lived Experiences”, which channels numerous personal narratives to appear throughout May and June 2024. Check back regularly on mindsofthemovement.org to read the articles as they are pushed live!About the Speakers:
- The Road to Exile: Paths of Identity and the Search for Homeland
- The Road to Exile: Paths of Identity and the Search for Homeland
- Unyielding Voices... A Journey from Darkness to Justice and Freedom
- “Once on the Other Side…”: Venturing into Exile, and Its Challenges and Opportunities
Sarah Sheik Ali is a migrant woman of color, a feminist, and a human rights defender from Lebanon, fighting double battles against patriarchy and dictatorships and advocating for the engagement of activists in exile in change-making back home. She is a Ph.D. candidate in political science with a concentration on diaspora and gender at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles. She is the co-founder and executive director of 
Mostafa Fouad is an exiled Egyptian human rights defender and lawyer with over ten years of experience in MENA civil society. He previously worked as a researcher at Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression project. Currently, he leads HuMENA's programs, focusing on capacity building and empowering HRDs, activists, the MENA diaspora, and social movements across the region to foster transformational change in innovative ways. He is also a co-founder of several networks, including the Innovation for Change Network – MENA Hub and the MENA Network for Countering Hate Speech. His human rights research covers various topics such as gender, exile, democracy, justice, hate speech, and accountability. Mostafa is dedicated to creating positive change.Read his REACT blog post, co-authored with Sarah:
Solafa Magdy is an award-winning Egyptian journalist and human rights defender who endured nearly two years of imprisonment in Egypt due to her journalistic work and advocacy for human rights. She lives in exile in France, having been recognized by the Paris mayor for her dedication to defending human rights in the face of threats and unjust sentences. A graduate of Ain Shams University in Cairo with a law degree, Solafa has contributed to national and international media outlets, her experiences have fostered a deep understanding of the issues facing the Middle East and North Africa, from political transitions to pressing human rights concerns.Read her REACT blog post:
Sayed Yusuf Almuhafdha is a prominent human rights defender, researcher, trainer and expert with 15 years experience in human rights advocacy in Bahrain. He has been awarded several international awards in recognition of his continuous efforts in advocating for justice and freedom of the press in Bahrain. Sayed held leadership positions with the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and Salam for Democracy and Human Rights working on human rights advocacy in Europe. In spring of 2014, Sayed Yusuf went into exile in Germany, following continuous judicial harassment and threats to his life.Read his REACT blog post:Supporting Nonviolent Action When You’re New to the Movement Space
Webinar Description
A webinar with Shaazka Beyerle about her new U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) publication, Supporting Nonviolent Action and Movements: A Guide for International Actors. Many organizations are becoming interested in engaging with activists. Yet how does a "newbie" organization—one that is new to the movement space and does not have an activist network per se—decide whether to develop an initiative to support activists? What internal and external factors should the newbie organization look at to make that decision? When should an organization not engage with activists directly, and what are their alternatives?In this webinar, Shaazka Beyerle will discuss concrete approaches to addressing these questions, touching on shifting power relations, constructive engagement and alternative approaches for implementation of support activities. The guide is based on extensive interviews with international actors from bilateral government donors, implementing partners, private foundations, donor collaboratives, INGOs, multilateral development institutions, and multi-stakeholder initiatives, as well as a USIP-led, multi-country field investigation on the effects of external support for social movement actors.About the Presenter
Shaazka Beyerle is a senior fellow with the Terrorism, Transnational Crime, and Corruption Center, George Mason University. She’s a researcher, writer, and educator in nonviolent action, focusing on anti-corruption, accountability, peacebuilding, gender, and human rights. Her new publication isSupporting Nonviolent Action and Movements: A Guide for International Actors(United States Institute of Peace). She’s also the author ofCurtailing Corruption: People Power for Accountability and Justice(Lynne Rienner Publishers); and chapter coauthor on enabling civil society and social movements inUntapped Power: Leveraging Diversity and Inclusion for Conflict and Development(Oxford University Press).Supporting Activist Writing: A Conversation with Social Justice Editors
[embed]https://youtu.be/CLwDahwDINY[/embed]
Webinar Description:
A webinar with social justice editors Firoze Manji (founder of Daraja Press and Pambazuka News and Press), Arzu Geybullayeva (digital activist, journalist, board member and editor with Global Voices), Laurence Cox (co-editor of the brand new Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements, Edward Elgar Publishing), and Eric Stoner (founding co-editor of Waging Nonviolence) about best practices in supporting activist writing. This panel discussion was facilitated by Nadine Bloch (Training Director of Beautiful Trouble) and Amber French, REACT Project Co-Lead and Managing Editor of ICNC’s blog, Minds of the Movement.Are you an activist-writer or are aspiring to do more writing about your activism? This webinar will be a unique opportunity for you to exchange directly with prominent editors who run news and/or writing outlets focused on movements, social justice and human rights. Are you an activist or professional whose work intersects with movements, who is interested in pursuing research about movements or activism? This webinar will be your chance to interact with an expert on research methods about, and for, social movements.We will explore the common challenges and opportunities of activist writing; the themes of power asymmetries in writer/editor relationships; best practices for supporting activist-writers; and many other pressing questions. The webinar will last 1H30 total (including 30-45 minutes for participant Q&A).About the Presenters:
Firoze Manji is a Kenyan with more than 40 years’ experience in international development, health and human rights, founder of Daraja Press,the prize-winning pan African social justice newsletter and website Pambazuka News and Pambazuka Press, founder of Fahamu – Networks for Social Justice (1997-2010), and host of the online interview series Organising in the time of Covid-19. He is Adjunct Professor at the Institute of African Studies and Contract Instructor, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada; Richard von Weizsäcker Fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy, Berlin; Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford (2001-2016) and Associate Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies. He is a member of several editorial and editorial review boards including the Global Critical Caribbean Thought, Nokoko, to name a few.
Nadine Bloch is an activist artist, political community organizer, strategic nonviolent actionista and the Training Director for Beautiful Trouble. Her work explores the potent intersection of art and politics, where creative cultural resistance is an effective political action, and a powerful way to reclaim agency over our own lives, fight oppressive systems, and invest in our communities — all while having more fun than the other side! In addition to contributing content to Beautiful Trouble, Beautiful Rising, and We Are Many: Reflections on Movement Strategy from Occupation to Liberation (2012, AK Press), she is the author of Education & Training in Nonviolent Resistance (2016, USIP) and the co-author of SNAP: An Action Guide to Synergizing Nonviolent Action and Peacebuilding (2019, USIP). Find more of her writing on arts and activism at WagingNonviolence.org.
Amber French is ICNC Senior Editorial Advisor, Managing Editor of the Minds of the Movement blog (est. June 2017) and Project Co-Lead of REACT (Research-in-Action). For the Minds of the Movement blog, she has commissioned 290+ articles by 130+ activist writers, academics, and others around the world. Having launched and managed ICNC Press in its first three years, she edited nine publications written by scholars and activists. Currently based in Paris, France, writes frequently about civil resistance for a variety of French journals; teaches a People Power course at the European School of Social and Political Science in Lille; and is leading the development of an ICNC online course in French (forthcoming 2024/2025). She is originally from New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
Laurence Cox is a Dublin-based writer, teacher and researcher who has been involved in many different movements since the 1980s. He has edited many activists' work as co-editor of Interface (https://www.interfacejournal.net/), the activist/academic journal for social movement research. Laurence has written and edited 15 books, ranging from an ebook to support the Zapatista delegation to Europe to an Oxford University Press hardback (The Irish Buddhist: the Forgotten Monk who Faced Down the British Empire). With Sutapa Chattopadhyay, Alberto Arribas Lozano and Ania Szolucha he's just edited the Handbook of Research Methods and Applications for Social Movements (introduction available for free here: https://www.elgaronline.com/downloadpdf/edcollchap/book/9781803922027/book-part-9781803922027-6.pdf) which emphasizes research from and for movements and experiences from the global South. Laurence is professor of sociology at the National University of Ireland Maynooth and has been writing for ICNC's blog, Minds of the Movement since January 2020.
Eric Stoner is a co-founding editor at Waging Nonviolence, a non-profit media platform that covers social movements and activism around the world. Since 2009, it has published original reporting from contributors in more than 90 countries. He also teaches civil resistance at St. Joseph’s University, New York.Eric has reported from Afghanistan and the Philippines, and his articles have appeared in The Guardian, Sojourners and In These Times, among other publications. His op-eds are nationally syndicated and have appeared in dozens of newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Newsday.
Arzu Geybullayeva is Board Member, South Caucasus and Turkey Editor of Global Voices, which she joined in 2010. An Azerbaijani columnist and writer, she has a special focus in digital authoritarianism and its implications on human rights and press freedom in Azerbaijan.Arzu has written for Al Jazeera, Eurasianet, Foreign Policy Democracy Lab, CODA, Open Democracy, Radio Free Europe, and CNN International. She is a regular contributor at IWPR, Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso and Global Voices. In 2019, Arzu launchedAzerbaijan Internet Watch, a platform that documents, and monitors information controls in Azerbaijan.Resisting Violence & Dictatorship in Africa
[embed]https://youtu.be/FHGkoqREnk8[/embed][En français ci-dessous]
Webinar Details
Listen to activist-writers present their REACT blog posts about nonviolently resisting violence and dictatorship in Francophone Africa. We heard about:Steward Muhindo of La LUCHA, a nonviolent movement for a more just and peaceful Congo, facilitated the webinar, alongside the above contributors to his guest-edited REACT blog series.
- the Y'en a Marre movement ("Enough is Enough") for a more democratic Senegal, a country considered for a long time as a stable African democracy but that is now facing electoral turmoil and resurging authoritarianism;
- the On Est Ensemble movement in Cameroon, which is organizing to win environmental justice and workers' rights against the multinational corporation, Castel; and
- Bosembo, the art of slam (poetry in rap) in service of advancing peace and justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country whose people have suffered for decades from societal violence and impunity. Due to connection difficulties, we did not hear all of Eliane's presentation. Read her article here.
- + Anonymous presenter from Cameroon
About the Presenters
Writing is a central building block of our collaboration. We—the REACT team alongside a dozen activist-authors from all world regions—will use Minds of the Movement as a space to explore, express, exchange and elaborate. Check out our work so far: "REACT Series, powered by ActionAid Denmark".Our activist-writers are engaged in nonviolent movements for diverse causes, but they all have one thing in common: A relationship to writing that transcends the personal and ventures well into the domain of collective power.
- Addressing understudied areas and research lesser-known cases and realities
- Engaging activists as authors and guest editors
- Focusing on issues, collaborators, cases, networks and stories from outside the Global North
- Experimenting with new engaging formats
Résister à la violence et à la dictature en Afrique francophone
Webinaire avec Steward Muhindo, Abdou Khafor Kandji, Eliane Feza, et un présentateur anonyme du Cameroun
4 avril 2024Détails du webinaire
Ecoutez des militants-écrivains présenter leurs articles de blog REACT sur la résistance non-violente à la violence et à la dictature en Afrique francophone. Vous entendez parler (LIENS AUX ARTICLES EN BLEU) :Steward Muhindo de La LUCHA, un mouvement non-violent pour un Congo plus juste et pacifique, a animé le webinaire, aux côtés des contributeurs à sa série de blogs REACT.
- Du mouvement Y'en a Marre au Sénégal, un pays considéré pendant longtemps comme une démocratie africaine stable mais qui était récemment confronté à des troubles électoraux et à la résurgence de l'autoritarisme ;
- Du mouvement On Est Ensemble au Cameroun, qui s'organise pour obtenir la justice environnementale et les droits des travailleurs contre la multinationale Castel ; et
- du Bosembo, l'art du slam (poésie en rap) au service de la paix et de la justice en République démocratique du Congo, un pays dont le peuple souffre depuis des décennies de la violence sociétale et de l'impunité. Ecoutez un enregistrement audio de l'intervention d'Eliane (des problèmes de connexion nous ont empêché de tout entendre).
À propos des intervenant.e.s
L'écriture est un élément central de notre collaboration. Nous, l'équipe REACT, ainsi qu'une douzaine de militants-auteurs de toutes les régions du monde, utiliserons Minds of the Movement comme un espace d'exploration, d'expression, d'échange et d'élaboration. Découvrez notre travail jusqu'à présent : "REACT Series, powered by ActionAid Denmark" (en anglais pour la plupart, avec certains traduits en espagnol et en français).Nos activistes-auteurs sont engagés dans des mouvements non-violents pour des causes diverses, mais ils ont toutes et tous une chose en commun : une relation à l'écriture qui transcende l'aspect personnel et s'aventure dans le domaine du pouvoir collectif.
- Aborder des domaines peu étudiés et rechercher des cas et des réalités moins connus
- Impliquer les activistes en tant qu'auteurs et éditeurs invités
- Se concentrer sur des questions, des collaborateurs, des cas, des réseaux et des histoires en dehors des pays occidentaux.
- Expérimenter de nouveaux formats engageants
Steward Muhindo Kalyamughuma is an activist with the non-violent, non-partisan citizen movement LUCHA (Lutte pour le Changement), which has been campaigning peacefully for peace, democracy, justice and good governance in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2012. A lawyer by training, Steward Muhindo is also attached to the Centre de Recherche sur l'Environnement, la Démocratie et les Droits de l'Homme (CREDDHO) as a researcher on human rights and the armed conflicts that have shaken the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since 1996.
Abdou Khafor Kandji was born and raised in Diourbel, a region of Senegal located over a hundred kilometers from Dakar. He holds a degree in business and organization management from the Institut Africain de Management (IAM). He became an activist in the Y en a Marre movement in 2012. Since 2014, he has held various positions within the movement, notably in coordination. Since October 2023, he has been pursuing a master's degree in monitoring and evaluation of projects, programs and policies at the Centre Africain d'Etudes Supérieur en Gestion (Cesag).
Eliane Feza was born in Goma in the province of Nord-Kivu in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Trained as a lawyer with a master's degree in criminal law, Eliane is a slam artist with the Goma slam session collective, and a trainer in slam therapy and slam-feminin. Blogger, women's and children's rights activist, environmental activist, public speaking trainer, peacebuilder, humanitarian volunteer with the GOMA ACTIF collective, PRIX RÉGIONAL DES JEUNES INNOVATEURS (2023) of the Great Lakes region and PRIX JEUNES ESPOIRS (2023) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its diaspora, awarded to 100 young Congolese who initiate initiatives contributing to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.+ Anonymous presenter from CameroonAbout REACTICNC launched in 2023 a collaboration with ActionAid Denmark entitled, "Research In Action" or REACT for short. The project was conceived as a global research program with the goal to create useful knowledge from and for nonviolent movements. The collaboration is based on four key principles:
Book Launch: How Youth in Zambia Are Reclaiming Politics
Webinar with Nalishebo Sinyama and Mary Mwaba
[caption id="attachment_48375" align="alignright" width="1024"]About the Webinar
Join ICNC for the release of our newest publication, New Blood: How Youth in Zambia Are Reclaiming Politics. This book was written by the founders and core team of Youth4Parliament, a dynamic movement that has transformed the political landscape in Zambia. Movement Manager Nalishebo Sinyama and Core Team Member Mary Mwaba will discuss the story of the movement so far and how they are preparing for the 2026 elections.About the Book
In 2018, Zambia grappled with political turmoil, a stifled democratic process, and marginalized youth voices. Physical violence among youth from different political factions was a hard reality. Amid this chaos, two friends from opposing parties began the Youth4Parliament (Y4P) movement, igniting a transformation that would reshape Zambia’s political landscape.Discover how Y4P’s pioneering spirit united young activists across party lines, inspiring a historic shift in the country’s politics. From fostering youth leaders to run for office to mobilizing youth to vote and join an unprecedented emergence of social movements, Y4P’s journey is a testament to the power of youth determination.This is the story of Youth4Parliament’s first few years—their challenges and victories—told in their own voices. But this book is more than a recounting of their journey; it’s a guidebook for changemakers.Download Book
About the Presenters
Credit: Youth4Parliament[/caption]
Nalishebo Sinyama is co-author of New Blood and currently serves as the Movement Manager of Youth4Parliament. She is a community organizing specialist, feminist, and young female politician. Nalishebo is the first and youngest woman to be appointed as provincial chairperson in one of the biggest political parties in Zambia. In 2021, Nalishebo was the only female aspirant vying for the Kabwata Constituency parliamentary elections under the opposition political party (the Patriotic Front).
Mary Mwaba is a core team member of Youth4Parliament. She joined the movement in 2019. She is a graduate of the University of Zambia. She is passionate about youth and women leadership, governance, human rights, and sustainable development.How Israelis Are Fighting Against Democratic Backsliding
Webinar with Doron Shultziner, May 2, 2023
Webinar Outline
Introduction of Speaker: 0:00 – 2:10Presentation: 2:11 – 32:01Discussion: 32:02 – 59:14Webinar Description
Over recent months, Israelis from many parts of society have united and mobilized to oppose a power grab by the incumbent government against the judiciary. How did this popular movement against democratic backsliding form, what are the impacts and implications of its strategies and tactics, and what broader lessons can be learned?This webinar highlights the main strategies and tactics that have helped channel the fears over the government’s actions into effective political pressures. The webinar illustrates the importance of the weekly mass protests every Saturday alongside a “national disturbance day” to keep the matter on the public agenda and to influence public opinion against the government’s so-called reforms. This webinar assesses how this strategy enabled various groups to participate in line with their specific characteristics and geographic heterogeneity.In addition, the webinar highlights the major protest tactics that have been most effective in pressuring the government, such as direct pressure on specific politicians, the mobilization of experts (e.g., legal scholars, economists, political scientists), women’s groups, and IDF veterans and pilots, as well as international players. Furthermore, it discusses the importance of social media in organizing protests and disseminating information, along with the role of traditional media channels.About the Presenter
Doron Shultziner received his B.A. from the Political Science Department and the Middle Eastern Studies Department in the Hebrew University (2000), and his M.A. (Summa Cum Laude) from the Political Science Department at the Hebrew University (2004). He received his Ph.D. from the Politics & IR Department at the University of Oxford (2008). Later he worked as a post-doctoral fellow and visiting lecturer at Emory University. He returned to Israel in 2009 and worked as a post-doctoral fellow until 2012. He then became the academic director of an Israeli think tank for Zionist, democratic, and liberal thought. Prof. Shultziner joined the Politics & Communication Department at Hadassah Academic College in 2014.Prof. Shultziner's main areas of research are democracy and democratization, politics and law, theories of social movements, media coverage of protest activity, and partisan media bias, as well as multi-disciplinary approaches to political behavior. Prof. Shultziner is the head of the Politics & Communication Department at Hadassah Academic College Jerusalem since 2018. He is also one of the founders of Mali-Center for Enterprising Citizens, a nonprofit that advances social entrepreneurship.Prison Hunger Strikes: How Prisoners Weaponize Their Lives to Win Dignity
A webinar with Malaka Shwaikh and Rebecca Ruth Gould
April 11, 2023
Webinar Outline
Introduction of Speakers: 0:00 – 5:54Presentation: 5:55 – 33:16Discussion: 33:17 – 1:00:04Webinar Details
How do prison hunger strikers achieve demands? How do they stay connected with the outside world in a space that is designed to cut them off from that world? And why would a prisoner put their lives at risk by refusing to eat or, at times, drink? This research shows that sometimes prisoners’ need for dignity and freedomtrump their hunger pangs and thirst.In ICNC's newest monograph Prison Hunger Strikes in Palestine, authors Malaka Mohammed Shwaikh and Rebecca Ruth Gould evaluate the process of hunger striking, including the repressive actions prisoners encounter, and the negotiation process. The work’s critical and grassroots understanding of prison hunger strikes fully centers the voices of hunger strikers. The analysis results in actionable takeaways that will be as useful to prison activists as they will be to their allies around the world.About the Presenters
Malaka Mohammed Shwaikh is a Palestinian academic from the Gaza Strip, based at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland where she teaches and researches prisons as spaces of power, resistance, and peacebuilding. She is the author of several works at the intersection of prison resistance and power, including “Dynamics of Prison Resistance: Hunger Strikes by Palestinian Political Prisoners in Israeli Prisons” (Jerusalem Quarterly, 2018), “Engendering Hunger Strikes: Palestinian Women in Israeli Prisons” (British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 2020), and most recently, “Prison Periods: Bodily Resistance to Gendered Control” (Journal of Feminist Scholarship, 2022). She finds purpose and joy in giving back to the community and being involved in social justice work. Her most recent and ongoing project (since 2021) is Freelancers in Gaza, with Candace Amani, to connect freelancers in Gaza with clients around the world and provide them with tailored mentorship.
Rebecca Ruth Gould is the author of numerous works at the intersection of aesthetics and politics, including Writers and Rebels: The Literature of Insurgency in the Caucasus (Yale University Press, 2016), The Persian Prison Poem: Sovereignty and the Political Imagination (Edinburgh University Press, 2021), and, most recently, Erasing Palestine: Free Speech and Palestinian Freedom (Verso Books, 2023). Together with Malaka Shwaikh, she is the author of “The Palestine Exception to Academic Freedom: Intertwined Stories from the Frontlines of UK-Based Palestine Activism,” Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly (2020), which brought together their shared interests relating to Palestinian liberation. She is Professor, Islamic World & Comparative Literature, at the University of Birmingham, where she directs the GlobalLIT project.Dollars and Dissent:
How Donors Can Support Grassroots Organizing and Nonviolent MovementsA webinar with Benjamin Naimark-Rowse andTom Perriello
September 13, 2022
Webinar Presentation
Introduction of Speaker: 00:00 – 08:23Presentation: 08:24 – 37:37Respondent: 37:38 – 46:23Questions and Answers: 46:24 – 1:08:51Additional Questions and Answers
Webinar Details
More people than ever before are using nonviolent collective action for rights, justice, and democracy around the world. Research shows that nonviolent action has been twice as effective as violence at achieving revolutionary movement goals. And political transitions initiated through nonviolent action have been three times as likely to lead to democracy as political transitions initiated through all other means. Yet, from 2011 to 2018, public charities and private foundations gave only three percent of their total human rights funding to support nonviolent collective action.Drawing from his ICNC special report, Dollars and Dissent, in this webinar Benjamin Naimark-Rowse outlines trends in donor support in the 2010s, and details how donors’ values, organizational structures, and perceptions of risk affect their support for grassroots organizers and nonviolent social movements.Former Congressman Tom Perriello, who is currently Executive Director of Open Society-US, offers remarks as respondent.This event is co-sponsored by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) and Human Rights Funders Network (HRFN).Download Special Report
About the Presenter and Author
Benjamin Naimark-Rowse is the Topol Fellow in Nonviolent Resistance and a PhD candidate at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is a Term Member in the Council on Foreign Relations and a Truman National Security Fellow. Ben’s expertise in social movements and resourcing of movements draws on two decades of experience in the donor, NGO, and academic worlds. He has served as a Program Officer with the Open Society Foundations, an electoral observer with The Carter Center, a board member of the University of Chicago’s Human Rights Program, and an advisory committee member of the Leading Change Network. His publications include “Liberating the ‘Enemy’,” “Nonviolent Resistance,” “Darfurian Voices,” “Surviving Success: Nonviolent Rebellion in Sudan,” and “The Founding Myth of the United States of America.” Ben holds a M.P.A. from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and a B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago. His research has been supported by a Harvard Program on Negotiation Graduate Research Fellowship and as a USIP-Minerva Peace and Security Scholar. He is married toNadia Marzouki. They are the parents of twin girls.About the Respondent
Tom Perriello is a former Congressman (VA-05), diplomat (State Department) and advocate for human rights and democracy within the United States and around the world. Tom currently serves as the Executive Director of Open Society Foundations for the United States (OSUS), a philanthropy dedicated to supporting open, inclusive, democratic societies. During his time in Congress, Tom voted in favor of the landmark legislation for healthcare reform, climate change, immigration, antitrust, and economic recovery. During the Obama Administration, he served as the Special Envoy to the African Great Lakes region and authored the second Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. Tom also served as the President of Center for American Progress Action, and Senior Counselor to CAP, as well as co-founder of Avaaz.org and Faithful America. Tom’s writing has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlantic, Democracy Journal, The Hill, CNN.com, Slate.com, and Politico.
How Donors Can Support Grassroots Organizing and Nonviolent Movements
A webinar with Benjamin Naimark-Rowse andTom Perriello
September 13, 2022
Webinar Presentation
Introduction of Speaker: 00:00 – 08:23Presentation: 08:24 – 37:37Respondent: 37:38 – 46:23Questions and Answers: 46:24 – 1:08:51Additional Questions and Answers
Webinar Details
More people than ever before are using nonviolent collective action for rights, justice, and democracy around the world. Research shows that nonviolent action has been twice as effective as violence at achieving revolutionary movement goals. And political transitions initiated through nonviolent action have been three times as likely to lead to democracy as political transitions initiated through all other means. Yet, from 2011 to 2018, public charities and private foundations gave only three percent of their total human rights funding to support nonviolent collective action.Drawing from his ICNC special report, Dollars and Dissent, in this webinar Benjamin Naimark-Rowse outlines trends in donor support in the 2010s, and details how donors’ values, organizational structures, and perceptions of risk affect their support for grassroots organizers and nonviolent social movements.Former Congressman Tom Perriello, who is currently Executive Director of Open Society-US, offers remarks as respondent.This event is co-sponsored by the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) and Human Rights Funders Network (HRFN).
Download Special Report
About the Presenter and Author
About the Respondent
Benjamin Naimark-Rowse is the Topol Fellow in Nonviolent Resistance and a PhD candidate at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He is a Term Member in the Council on Foreign Relations and a Truman National Security Fellow. Ben’s expertise in social movements and resourcing of movements draws on two decades of experience in the donor, NGO, and academic worlds. He has served as a Program Officer with the Open Society Foundations, an electoral observer with The Carter Center, a board member of the University of Chicago’s Human Rights Program, and an advisory committee member of the Leading Change Network. His publications include 
Tom Perriello is a former Congressman (VA-05), diplomat (State Department) and advocate for human rights and democracy within the United States and around the world. Tom currently serves as the Executive Director of Open Society Foundations for the United States (OSUS), a philanthropy dedicated to supporting open, inclusive, democratic societies. During his time in Congress, Tom voted in favor of the landmark legislation for healthcare reform, climate change, immigration, antitrust, and economic recovery. During the Obama Administration, he served as the Special Envoy to the African Great Lakes region and authored the second Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. Tom also served as the President of Center for American Progress Action, and Senior Counselor to CAP, as well as co-founder of Avaaz.org and Faithful America. Tom’s writing has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Atlantic, Democracy Journal, The Hill, CNN.com, Slate.com, and Politico.2022-2023 Online Teaching Fellowship
In 2022, ICNC with support from the Carnegie Corporation grant, has launched its new entirely Online Teaching Fellowship program where its fellows will develop online courses with customized content specifically designed to meet the needs of their local audience and translated into local languages. The program goal is to increase civil resistance skills and capacity and further civil resistance education to the members of local communities that can become civil resistance knowledge distributors and trainers themselves.When the program was launched, ICNC has reached out to its 100 star alumni from the ICNC online moderated and participant-led courses that were held over the years. More than 20% of the alumni applied for the new Online Teaching Fellowship by June 2022 and ten fellows were selected from Australia, Bangladesh, Catalonia, China, Kenya, Myanmar, Northern Ireland, Russia, Turkey, and Zimbabwe.The 2022 Fellows are:Harley McDonald-EckersallIlker KalinKnowledge MwonzoraLeah ReaMaria TsehaiMd. Moynul HaqueNemoLili SooXavier Majó Roca
Harley McDonald-Eckersall is a social change organiser, specialising in areas of strategic communications and movement strategy. In 2016 at age 19, Harley became involved with the Animal justice movement, co-founding the organisation Young Voices for Animals with the mission to educate and inspire the next generation of animal liberation activists. In January 2020, Harley moved to the UK from Australia to work on narrative and strategy at the social movement organisation Animal Rebellion where she used social movement and narrative theory to bring the impacts of animal farming and fishing into the broader conversation around climate action. Harley has recently returned home to Australia to continue her work as a communicator, facilitator and presenter who is passionate about sharing the power of nonviolent action in creating social change. Harley has presented at a number of conferences and events in Australia and internationally on topics of social change, direct action and civil disobedience.Course Title: Action in the OutbackCourse Abstract: When we think about social change movements and civil disobedience, far too often our main points of reference are what happens in cities and urban spaces. Yet, so many of the destructive, violent and exploitative practices we oppose as grassroots campaigners happen far out of the city limits. This course will focus on the potential for nonviolent civil resistance to help rural climate action groups build power and make change in their communities and beyond.
Fostering a Fourth Democratic Wave
The Fostering a Fourth Democratic Wave project seeks to catalyze support for nonviolent pro-democracy movements fighting against authoritarian rule.
Fostering a Fourth Democratic Wave is a joint project between the Atlantic Council and the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC), aimed at catalyzing support for nonviolent pro-democracy movements fighting against authoritarian rule. If democracies are to prevail in an era of great power competition, they need an actionable, evidence-based plan for pushing back on authoritarianism and supporting a new wave of democratic transitions, which we refer to as the “Fourth Democratic Wave.”The project recognizes that civil resistance movements—using tactics such as strikes, boycotts, civil disobedience, and a range of other nonviolent tactics—are one of the most powerful forces for democracy worldwide and therefore central to reversing the last fifteen years of democratic recession.The projected resulted in the reportFostering a Fourth Democratic Wave: A Playbook for Countering the Authoritarian Threat, that centers on steps that the US and its allies can take to support pro-democracy civil resistance movements, which are at the core of democratic transitions. The Playbook:
1. Proposes new approaches and tools to support civil resistance movements.
2. Advances a new international norm — the “Right to Assistance” to pro-democracy movements — and identifes steps to advance and implement it.
3. Develops strategic and tactical options to constrain authoritarian regimes and drive up the cost of their repression.
Key activities:
Fostering a Fourth Democratic Wave: A Playbook for Countering the Authoritarian ThreatThe playbook will draw on cutting edge research to articulate effective strategic and tactical options.WorkshopsEngage scholars, experts, and activists on democracy and human rights across all major regions to address topics critical to effective international support forcivil resistance movements.
