Shows
CIVICUS VoicesPrescription for change: Why are doctors protesting?Summary Doctors, the backbone of any healthcare system, are often at the forefront of advocating for change. In this podcast episode, we delve into recent and ongoing doctors’ protests and medical crisis in Kenya, and the UK. Why are doctors protesting? Are there any ethical implications for protesting and striking? What governments need to prioritize to respond to their grievances? Guests Steve Ougo, Sexual and Reproductive Justice Activist, medical student working in youth health in KenyaSridhar Venkatapuram, Senior Lecturer in Global Health and Philosophy at King’s College London. He sits on...2025-05-1322 minCIVICUS VoicesThe future of protestSummary From the rise of social media to the advent of Artificial Intelligence, these technologies have revolutionized how protest movements are organized and how voices are heard. Yet, with increased surveillance and stricter laws, the digital battleground is complex. This episode covers how the digital realm has opened up new frontiers for activism: what are the opportunities and challenges for the future of protest? Guests: Clement Voule, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly Kumi Naidoo, prominent South African human rights and environmental justice activ...2025-04-2921 minCIVICUS VoicesWhat's the difference between protests and riots?Summary Do you know what is the difference between protests and riots? In this episode, we delve into two examples of antidemocratic riots in the Brazilian Supreme Court in 2023 and the Capitol in the US in 2021, to explain how they differ from peaceful protests. As 2024 is the biggest election year so far, at least 65 countries will go to the polls, political results unsatisfaction can lead to riots. GuestsRoudabeh Kishi, the Chief Research Officer at the BDI - Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University. Leticia Cesarino, Brazilian researcher in Anthropology and aut...2025-04-1520 minCIVICUS VoicesProtesting in a narco stateSummary This episode delves into the complexities of protesting in countries where drug trafficking significantly impacts governance and civil liberties, as Honduras and Ecuador. In a number of countries across Latin America, the entanglement of political instability and narcotic economies often results in precarious conditions for activists. States embroiled in battles against drug cartels face a dual challenge: maintaining public order and respecting the right to protest. Allegations of corruption at the highest levels can intensify public outcry, as seen when officials are implicated in drug and arms trafficking. So, how are citizens managing to pr...2025-04-0122 minCIVICUS VoicesKnow your rights as a protesterSummary In this episode, we give tips to stay safe while protesting. What are some safety recommendations for before, during and after a march or protest? Can you lose your job or get expelled from your university for attending a protest? What happens when you protest in a country that restrict civic freedoms? Guests: Michael Wrase, a professor of public law and a constitutional law expert at the Berlin Social Science Center.Omhle Ntshingila, Project Coordinator at Right2Protest movement in South Africa.Recommendations: Know Your Rights: Prot...2025-03-1124 minCIVICUS VoicesProtests workProtests work because they disrupt the status quo and force those in power to confront uncomfortable truths. They are a direct challenge to injustice, showing that people will not be silenced or ignored. When people take to the streets, they send a clear message: change is not just desired, it's demanded. To kick off the fourth season of CIVICUS Voices, we will be sharing successful examples of how protests have been impacting society positively around the globe. Where protests have made a difference? From abortion rights in Latin America to Black Lives Matter in the US to t...2025-03-0422 min
Post Truth be toldProtecting EU elections from what exactly?"Democracy Dies in Darkness" is a motto adopted by the US newspaper The Washington Post in 2017. Does democracy need to be defended in the era of post-truth politics? How, from what or whom? Does the debate on the protection from post-truth phenomena deviate attention from other major problems democracies have? Join us for a discussion of the defence of democracy in the EU in 2024.Guest editor: Álvaro Oleart, Postodoctoral Researcher, Université libre de Bruxelles.Guests: Richard Youngs, senior fellow in the Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program at Carnegie Europe and Aarti Narsee, Senior Policy and Adv...2024-10-3036 min
Aralez: Decolonial Blog & learning sessionsDecolonizing Europe: how to engage with decolonization in European civil society? | Decolonial Learning Session 32If we want to strengthen the decolonial movement in Europe, what are aspects we need to be mindful of? What are successes that already have been achieved? And what are challenges we need to tackle? In this Decolonial Learning Session team members of Decolonial Europe Day share their experiences in European civil society on these questions. They will discuss work they do and reflect on what the decolonial movement needs considering the current political climate in European countries.
About Decolonial Europe Day:The Decolonial Europe Day is an initiative that uses the occasion...2024-03-241h 16CIVICUS VoicesBooks not guns: Protests for school safetyThe last thing students and their parents should be worrying about is whether children will be safe while attending school, and yet school shootings and attacks are a real threat around the world.Bruno Langeani, a project manager at the Instituto Sou da Paz, helps us understand the trends and nuances of school violence in Brazil, and what can really make a change. Vuk Cvetković us a Serbian high school student who works with the “I mi se pitamo” initiative and shares his views on how rare school shootings have mobilised tens of thousands to protes...2023-12-2825 minCIVICUS VoicesA precious resource: protests for the right to waterSafe and accessible drinking water is a crucial right that sadly continues to be threatened in different ways for communities around the work. So, it’s no surprise that access to water is frequently a protest demand, from Ethiopia to the United States. We speak to Alana Potter the global coordinator of EndWaterPoverty at WaterAid to give us an international perspective.Faeza Meyer, a community organiser at the African Water Commons Collective, shares her experiences from Cape Town’s ‘Day Zero’ to now.Later we catch up on the developments around persecuted Guapinol water def...2023-12-1431 minCIVICUS VoicesProtests in the time of war and conflictRussia’s war against Ukraine has taken centre stage in headlines and discussions over the last year, yet a variety of conflicts continue internationally, from Ethiopia to Palestine. Since this season of CIVICUS Voices looks particularly at protests, this episode looks at how to mobilise and campaign in the middle of conflict and war. We speak to Polina Kurakina from OVD-Info, an organisation tracking the rights to freedom of assembly and expression in Russia.Oleksandra Matviichuk is a highly experienced Ukrainian human rights lawyer who leads the Centre for Civil Liberties.Last...2023-11-3029 minCIVICUS VoicesWorkers' rightsThe global cost-of-living crisis has been met with a crackdown on the rights of working people in every region of the world, and this year has seen the violations of workers rights reach record highs. We continue this season by looking at workers' rights protests and mobilisations from across the world that have brought about real change, with a special focus on migrants, who are among the most vulnerable of all workers.In this episode, we speak to Lennon Ying Dah Wong, an activist fighting for the rights of migrant workers in Taiwan, where exploitative...2023-11-1621 minCIVICUS VoicesLGBTQI+ rights in AfricaSignificant strides have been made across the globe in recognising and upholding the rights of sexual minorities, but despite these successes, the past year has also seen major setbacks when it comes to LGBTQI+ rights. This episode talks to human rights defenders from across the African continent, where anti-rights sentiments and regressive legislation is gaining ground.We talk to Executive Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), Frank Mugisha, who is an openly gay activist in a country that recently passed what is widely considered the harshest anti-homosexuality laws in the world.Also from Uganda, human...2023-11-0223 minCIVICUS VoicesProtect the ProtestFreedom of peaceful assembly is a fundamental right exercised around the world, especially where we see democracies backsliding, governments failing to listen to the people, and amid growing anti-rights backlash.To kick of this season we look at what has been happening in the last year. Marianna Belalba Barreto leads the Civic Space Research team at CIVICUS and tracks civic space globally. Then we hear what it has been like to organise protests, with Ruki Fernando from Sri Lanka, where the economy crashed and a state of emergency was declared. Yo...2023-10-1923 minCIVICUS VoicesRefugees’ double fight: Escaping home & surviving the hostAt 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. Later, 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.You can find CIVICUS online and on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. CIVICUS Voices is hosted by Aarti Narsee and produced by...2022-09-2120 min