
CIVICUS Voices is a podcast that brings you voices of people, communities, and organisations defending civil liberties and human rights.
Hosted by Aarti Narsee, the second season of the podcast is focused on the right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly (aka protesting). In this 6-part series, we will be joined by civil society experts and on-the-ground activists to tell us about their experiences with protesting. Check out season 1 of the podcast here.
All Episodes
1. Protesting 101
We kick off the second season by discussing the basics of protesting: Protesting 101. What is protesting? How do we do it? Why should we mobilise?
In this episode, Luciana, Busisiwe and Abigail will be answering our questions.
Resources
- Luciana Pol (CELS) - Argentina
- Busisiwe Zasekhaya (Right2Protest) - South Africa
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Abigail Freeman (Alliance for Gender Justice and Human Rights) - Liberia
2. Protests & Repression: How does it work?
The authorities and governments of closed or repressed countries do everything in their power to curtail the right of its citizens to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly. So how do people living in these repressed spaces go about mobilising and protesting? In this episode, we speak to Nadim Nashif, the founder and executive director of 7amleh, and Sandra Sierra, a protest organiser from Colombia.
Resources
- Nadim Nashif (7amleh) - Palestine
- Sandra Sierra - Colombia
- Against all odds, Afghan women and girls mobilise for their right to education - CIVICUS Lens
- Get involved in the PayPal4Palestine campaign and sign the petition
- Activism gone digital - CIVICUS Lens
- Palestine country update - CIVICUS Monitor
- Colombia: Se cumplen cuatro meses desde el inicio del paro nacional - CIVICUS Monitor
3. Young people: Loud & relentless
There are over one billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24 worldwide, but their voices are often left out in policy spaces and in decision-making. Youth-led movements are an important part of civil society, and key in motivating for change that will affect generations to come. In this episode, we speak to Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi, who is involved with HIVE Pakistan, and Wits Fees Must Fall leader Busisiwe Catherine Seabe from South Africa.
Resources
- Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi from HIVE Pakistan
- Busisiwe Cathrine Seabe, former protest leader Fees Must Fall
4. Reproductive rights: Struggle, resistance & victory
The fight for sexual and reproductive health and rights is being waged in countries around the world, as people seek to access legal and affordable reproductive health care services, like contraception, sex education, safe pregnancies, and abortions. In this episode, we speak to Justyna Wydrzyńska, from the Polish group Aborcyjny Dream Team (ADT). Justyna is the first pro-choice activist in Europe to have been charged with aiding someone in an abortion.
Resources
- Justyna Wydrzyńska, co-founder of Abortion Dream Team - Poland
- Giselle Carino, CEO of Fòs Feminista - Argentina
5. Resisting coup d’état: Determination & hope are key
When there has been a coup d’état in a country, the protests surrounding this regime-change are often critical but difficult.In this episode, we look at how this works, through the example of Myanmar, where the military junta took over control from the democratically elected ruling party in 2021. Thinzar Shunlei Yi, the advocacy coordinator at the Action Committee for Democracy Development speaks about the role of protests in the country, before Wai Hnin Pwint Thon from the Burma Campaign UK shares how she has been supporting the cause from abroad.
Resources
- Wai Hnin Pwint Thon - Burma Campaign UK
- Thinzar Shunlei Yi - Action Committee for Democracy Development
- Myanmar: The deterioration of civic freedoms a year on from the coup - CIVICUS Monitor
- Rohingya refugees: Still far from home - CIVICUS Lens
- Myanmar: Junta’s economic power in the firing line - CIVICUS Lens
- Five years since genocide, the world must act to ensure justice for Rohingya - CIVICUS
- Arrests of activists, journalists continue in Myanmar as Military tribunals impose harsh sentence - CIVICUS Monitor
6. Refugees’ double fight: Escaping home & surviving the host
At the beginning of 2022, there were more than 27 million refugees worldwide, and their right to protest is often limited or repressed. Nadia Hardman, a researcher in the Refugee and Migrants Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, speaks to us about these challenges. Abdul Aziz Muhamat shares his story as a Sudanese refugee who became an advocate for refugee rights while under long-term detention at the Australian government detention centre on Manus Island.
Resources
- Nadia Hardman - Human Rights Watch
- Abdul Aziz Muhammat - The Messenger podcast
- Migrants pay the deadly cost of Spain’s harsh approach - CIVICUS Lens
- Ukraine’s refugees: Will compassion prevail over prejudice? - CIVICUS Lens
- No safe haven: Migrants face restrictions across the Americas - CIVICUS Lens
- Danmark: From good international citizen to anti-refugee fortress - CIVICUS Lens
Meet the host
Aarti Narsee She/Her
Aarti is a South African feminist, writer, and journalist who documents human rights violations across the world in her role as civic space researcher for the CIVICUS Monitor. Aarti has written extensively about gender and LGBTQI+ rights and has worked for eNCA, BBC, Sunday Times. Follow Aarti on twitter: @ajnarsee.