In Europe’s not-so-distant history, as well as presently in Ukraine, ordinary people achieve the extraordinary when their freedom, human dignity, and security are threatened–even without weapons. This blog series shows that there exists a “narrow, dangerous, uncertain but very real path towards a better world”, in the words of French graphic novelist Xavier Dorison. That path is unarmed resistance, widespread in Ukraine since 2022, yet poorly documented and little-understood.

“Between 2004 and 2018, I covered Russia’s war and the aftermath in Chechnya. On the way to and from Grozny, my childhood friends often called me a killjoy at their parties in Moscow, when I shared the stories from the field and said that the Russian war machine was using Chechnya as a training ground to then expand beyond the borders. I wish I had been wrong. But when I heard the first reports of the Bucha massacre in 2022, it vividly reminded me of my nightmares based on testimonies collected in Chechnya. But now my uncle Samuil and other family members were part of these nightmares. […]”

Three years ago, a tragedy ignited one of the most powerful civil movements in Iran’s modern history. In September 2022, Mahsa (Jina) Amini, a young Kurdish woman, was arrested by Iran’s so-called morality police for what the Islamic Republic deemed an “improper hijab.” She died in custody under suspicious circumstances, and her death sparked nationwide outrage. […]

En avril 2018, un groupe de manifestants, pour la plupart des personnes âgées, ont été sauvagement agressés par des forces de choc adeptes du gouvernement nicaraguayen. Il s’agissait de civils armés avec la liberté de réprimer, même en présence des forces de police. La manifestation pacifique avait pour but de rejeter les réformes du système de retraite de l’Institut nicaraguayen de la sécurité sociale (INSS). La répression a fait des centaines de morts, des prisonniers politiques, des exilés, des estropiés et des étudiants expulsés des universités. Cet événement a déclenché le soulèvement populaire dans tout le pays. […]

Nonviolent struggle requires a lot of emotional intelligence and spiritual strength. Non-cooperation as a method of struggle refers to actions through which citizens, deliberately and consciously, withdraw their support for economic and social cooperation activities. Specifically, economic noncooperation (boycotts and strikes) is refusing to buy, sell, handle, or distribute specific goods and services.[…]

The Ugandan state branded it a ‘common nuisance,’ but this nude protest, echoing the 1929 Nigerian Women’s War, wielded cultural defiance to expose forty years of authoritarianism under Yoweri Museveni. It was the language spoken by tired citizens. The language of the unheard. It was a radical act by three young women, slapping decades of injustice and shame onto the walls of the Ugandan parliament. It was a cursing ceremony to say, enough is enough. […]

The Karibu Residence is an initiative of the Senegalese civil society movement Y en a Marre. The name Karibu, which means “welcome” in Swahili, the most widely spoken language in Africa, captures the philosophy of this program, which is steeped in the tradition of Senegalese hospitality. It is intended to be a place of refuge and respite for activists in distress.  But much more than a place of shelter, it is a holistic, integrated program designed to make exile not a graveyard of the convictions and ambitions of exilées, but a springboard to recharge their batteries, reinvent themselves, and continue to pursue their ideals—even far from home.[…]

La maison Karibu est une initiative du mouvement de la société civile sénégalaise Y en a Marre. Le nom Karibu, qui veut dire « bienvenue » en Swahili, la langue la plus parlée en Afrique, résume en lui seul toute la philosophie de ce programme totalement trempée dans la tradition d’hospitalité sénégalaise. Il se veut un lieu d’accueil et de répit pour militants en détresse.  Mais bien plus qu’un simple lieu d’accueil et d’hébergement, il s’agit de tout un programme global intégré qui vise à faire de l’exil, non pas un tombeau des convictions et autres ambitions de l’exilé, mais plutôt un tremplin qui lui permette de se ressourcer, de se réinventer et pouvoir poursuivre toujours ses idéaux, même étant loin de sa résidence habituelle.[…]