There is a paradox in climate justice today. It is that we must be highly focused on local, short-term campaigns to even have a chance of achieving our goals, which are usually at the global scale (curb global warming, put an end to rising sea levels, etc.). Having participated in an XR local chapter in Lille, France for five months, I wrote this post to explore three characteristics of XR more broadly, which I believe can help environmental movements navigate this great paradox. […]

The Taliban takeover on August 15, 2021, was a huge setback for civil liberties and the young democracy in Afghanistan. The takeover was a tragedy for all Afghans, women in particular. Within weeks, the Taliban banned girls’ education beyond the sixth grade (11-12 years old) and imposed restrictions on women’s work in the public and private sectors. With half of the country’s population deprived of education and work, that means more than 20 million Afghans are deprived of their basic human rights. Through my recent work, I have spoken with some of the female protesters in Kabul and Mazar Sharif. […]

Last fall, I participated in the Copenhagen People Power Forum, which brought together movement leaders from all over the world to speak with leaders in public, private and humanitarian sectors to critique and advise the forms their solidarity with movements can take. It was an immense effort toward globalizing our struggles, but as with any other recent global gatherings, many invitees from Africa and elsewhere were unable to attend because of visa denials/delays at destination and transitory country embassies. […]

Village Prospérité, which regroups part of the nation of Kali’na in French Guyana along the northeastern coast of South America, is nonviolently resisting the construction of the West Guyana Power Plant (Centrale électrique de l’ouest guyanais, CEOG), a photovoltaic power plant coupled with hydrogen. The project launched in 2016 and the plant has been under construction since October 2022. Its completion is projected for 2024—unless the Kali’na nation succeeds at their objective to preserve their region from extractive-industry related degradation. […]

Mohsen Sazegara has been a social media influencer since before it became a thing. Having started his YouTube channel in June 2009 to share knowledge and resources on nonviolent action in Farsi, he pre-dates nearly every pioneer of the influencer phenomenon. But Mohsen’s influence has nothing to do with the fashion or fitness industries. The only “brand” he represents is nonviolent revolution for rights, freedom and democracy. […]

From July 2 until today, July 4, 2023, police have been raiding the homes of several pro-democracy activists in Djibouti, a highly geostrategic country in the Horn of Africa, where the world’s major powers jostle for influence—each with their respective military bases. At the time of writing, seven activists, including four women, have been arrested and the general secretary of the movement “RADDE” are in custody. The police are still looking for others. The reason for their arrest was the impersonation of military, police and Republican Guard uniforms as part of a recent nonviolent campaign organized by RADDE. […]

Depuis le 2 juillet et jusqu’à ce 4 juillet 2023, la police a perquisitionné plusieurs domiciles de militants pro-démocratie à Djibouti, pays hautement géostratégique de la Corne de l’Afrique où les plus grandes puissances mondiales se disputent l’influence—chacune avec leurs bases militaires respectives. À l’heure où nous écrivons ces lignes, sept militants, dont quatre femmes, ont été arrêtés et le secrétaire général de la RADDE (Rassemblement pour l’Action, la Démocratie et le Développement Ecologique) est en détention. La police est toujours à la recherche d’autres personnes. Le motif de leur arrestation était l’usurpation de l’identité des uniformes des militaires, des policiers, de la garde républicaine dans le cadre d’une récente campagne non violente menée par le RADDE. […]

On May 14, 2023, Thai democracy made history. Two opposition parties—Move Forward and Pheu Thai—gained the most and the second most votes in the national election, defeating all pro-establishment parties, particularly the United Thai Nation Party led by former coup protagonist and Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-ocha. This electoral blow has major implications on a possible democracy pushback against growing autocratization in Thailand and other countries. It also showcases a pathway of collaboration between pro-democracy nonviolent movements and opposition parties. […]

The more I read and the more I conversed with Somalilander women, the more I came to admire their sense of fraternity—by which I mean the social bond that unites all of us as part of the human family. Fraternity allowed these women to surpass clan differences and the limitations of a traditionally patriarchal Muslim society. As we approach the next presidential Somaliland elections in July (originally scheduled for last November), we are reminded of the delicate nature of transitions to peace and democracy—and the important role of women’s power in consolidating those dynamic processes. […]