For this week's episode, host Muna Gasim and panelist Eddie Kembery speak to Alfredo Romero, one of the founding members of Foro Penal, a human rights organization that won the 2017 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for its work in Venezuela. Beginning with Alfredo’s own story, this episode is a masterclass in grassroots activism as we explore what has driven Foro Penal’s growth from four lawyer’s pro-bono work to an organisation of over 7000 activists. On the way, we discuss the difference between macro and micro resistance, activism without sacrifices, and Alfredo’s unconventional use of music.

Foro Penal & Macro/Micro-Resistance in Venezuela, featuring Alfredo Romero

A show about human rights coming to you every week from the Cambridge Centre of Governance and Human Rights. 

Tune in each week as our panel explores the impact of new technologies on human rights, joined by fascinating guests from the University of Cambridge and around the world.

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In episode 9 Declarations host Neema Jayasinghe is joined by panellist Aimee Hobley and guest speaker Kristin Hughes. Their discussion explores the potential human rights challenges raised by the ongoing green transition. Kristin offers insight and expertise on how the multistakeholder green transition can mitigate against the potential threats created by rare earth mining and resource insecurity, and how upscaling a circular economy can be part of the solution. In order to avoid repeating the ecological and humanitarian injustices of the fossil fuel revolution, human rights need to be at the forefront of a just renewable energy transition and global climate change response.

Season 7 Episode 9: Prioritising Human Rights in the Green Transition

In this episode of Declarations, Neema Jayasinghe and panellist Isabella Todini sit down with Dr. Lorena Gazzotti, a research fellow at the University of Cambridge and Vice President of the Cambridge branch of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) to discuss the right to strike, why lectures across the UK have been striking this year, and why urgent action is needed. We focus on lecture strikes and the marking boycott taking place at present and discuss what the implications of continued industrial action will be for students and for teaching staff. Dr. Gazzotti offers inspiring words on why workers should join unions, and together we envision what the future of higher education could look like – if the right action is taken as soon as possible.

Season 7 Episode 8: Voices from Across the Picket Lines

In our seventh episode, host Neema Jayasinghe joins panellist Yasmin Homer to discuss the work of women peacebuilders with guests Eva Tabbasam (GAPS UK) and Andrea Filippi (PeaceWomen Across the Globe). We discuss the importance of fostering and protecting civil society networks in peacetime and wartime, the challenges of political will, and how the Women, Peace, Security Agenda needs to expand its feminist focus through a more inclusive intersectionality. With insights from GAPS UK's work in Afghanistan and PeaceWomen Across the Globe’s networks between Columbia, Nepal and the Philippines, this episode crosses local, national, and international borders in a timely conversation about conflict resolution and representation.  

Season 7 Episode 7: Women peacebuilders in a conflicted world order.

In our sixth episode, host Neema Jayasinghe is joined by previous podcast host and panellist, Dr Maryam Tanwir. With special guest, Professor Sam Vaknin, the episode unpacks discourses related to the psychology of personal border violations in mental abuse. The conversation questions how borders and boundaries are not only demarcated, violated, or transgressed in global politics, but also at the level of the personal. Here, physical or mental abuse is a form of structured aggression, and can be surreptitious, coercive, or disguised in a myriad of ways. Invariably, it involves the violation of our borders and boundaries - both personal and societal. In this episode, we explore these various levels of abuse and their psychological implications.

Season 7 Episode 6: The Psychology of Border Violations in Mental Abuse

In this episode, panellist Clare Francis discusses the interplay of poetry and protest in the Iranian state with Dr. Fatemeh Shams, an activist, award-winning poet, and Persian literary scholar. They explore the boundaries of art and activism in Iran, where successive regimes have historically sought to enforce strict limitations around acceptable versus unacceptable forms of activism. Protest movements challenge these boundaries in myriad creative ways, but they are at constant risk of co-option by the state. By examining the intersection of poetry and protest in Iran’s women-led uprising – known globally by the catch cry ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ – Dr. Shams gives voice to both the challenges and the revolutionary potential of women’s activism in Iran.

Foro Penal & Macro/Micro-Resistance in Venezuela, featuring Alfredo Romero

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