Strength & Solidarity

Many grow up being told that although there are bad guys in the world, the police are there to keep you safe. But this episode hears from someone who had to recognize that police saw her community not as deserving of protection, but as the source of problems. In communities where there is already too much traumatizing violence, a heavy-handed police response frequently increases the harm. According to the British campaigning organisation, 4Front, 193 teenagers died at the hands of London police between 2009 and 2019. 4Front’s Executive Director Temi Mwale describes her early awakening to this reality, her search for tools and strategies to respond, and activists’ efforts to hold police to account .

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For decades, Latin America’s reporters have treasured a celebration of their craft by one of their most beloved writers, the late Gabriel Garcia Marquez - a great novelist but also a passionate journalist. Jonathan Bock was, until recently, one of them. He runs an organization in Colombia that defend media freedom and he is having to face up to a harsh reality.

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It is now three months since the October 7 brutal attack by Hamas on targets in Israel which triggered the Israeli bombardment of Gaza in which a reported 21,000 people have so far been killed. In the US, as much as widespread condemnation was expressed after the Hamas attack, the subsequent death toll in Gaza and suffering of surviving civilians have shattered whatever remained of a consensus on Israel. Polls show rising public criticism of Israel’s actions, and of the Biden Administration for continuing to supply Israel with arms. Week after week there are protests, and present in large numbers among the diverse crowds are Jews carrying signs that say, “Not in my name.” One of several organisations mobilising those protests is Jewish Voice for Peace. JVP’s Executive Director Stefanie Fox explains how they have built their movement against the grain of mainstream US politics.

And in the Coda, a human rights lawyer talks about her artistic practice and how it connects with her work supporting communities to seek justice.

For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit: https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/

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Human rights lawyer Carmen Cheung Ka-Man helps communities around the world secure accountability for crimes committed against them. But she is also an artist, for whom making is a metaphor – an effort to find solutions within the constraints of her craft and skills. She sees printmaking is a restorative practice, reconnecting beauty with the struggle for truth and justice.

For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit: https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/

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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) turned 75 on the 10 December 2023. Passed by the UN General Assembly in the wake of two brutal world wars, it expressed an aspiration for a new world, one in which every human being’s rights would be acknowledged and respected, and international law would regulate the actions of states and hold them accountable for violations. That vision is as powerful today as it was then and it has sometimes, and in some places, been realized. But the failures are many. Despite their pledge, governments have repeatedly abandoned principle to pursue their own interests, leaving ordinary people – sometimes an individual, sometimes millions – without protection from brutal mistreatment or immiseration and lacking any recourse. Why does the the global human rights system fail? And can it be made to work? A group of moderators from the Symposium on Strength and Solidarity for Human Rights get round a table to argue it out.

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Lissette Gonzalez leads the investigations and research team at PROVEA, a Venezuelan human rights organization. Well-versed in the tools of human rights activism, she knows they don’t resonate for everyone. A poem, however, channels what people are feeling and can have greater impact. She makes her case with Rodilla en Tierra, by Oriette D’Angelo.

For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/

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You can find the poetry of Oriette D'Angelo on her website: ⁠https://www.oriettedangelo.com/⁠⁠

Thank you to Lupita Eyde-Tucker for her translation of Oriette's poem. You can find out more about her work at her website: https://notenoughpoetry.com/

An activist finds themselves in conflict with their government and they make the decision to go into exile. They are able to find somewhere to take them in. Do they sigh with relief and keep a low profile? Stay engaged in the struggle but leave the frontline work to others? Or do they double-down on publicly challenging the oppression that drove them into exile? Bahraini activist Sayed Al Wadaei was jailed for his part in Arab Spring protests, hounded after his release and went into exile in 2012. After getting asylum in the UK he began to use high-profile tactics to shame Bahrain’s rulers. In this August 2023 interview, he spoke about the choices an exiled activist faces and how he reacted when his country raised the stakes.

And in the Coda, a Venezuelan rights investigator on what poetry can do that activism can’t.

For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit

https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/

Contact us at [email protected]

You can find the poetry of Oriette D'Angelo on her website: https://www.oriettedangelo.com/⁠

Thank you to Lupita Eyde-Tucker for her translation of Oriette's poem. You can find out more about her work at her website: https://notenoughpoetry.com/

Uganda has become one of Africa’s frontlines in the battle for LGBT rights. In 2014 a law was passed criminalizing same-sex conduct but it was nullified by the courts on a technicality. This year that same legislation was revived, passed again in parliament and signed into law by President Museveni. The penalties it prescribes include the death penalty and the queer community is vulnerable and anxious. Uganda lawyer Nicholas Opiyo talks about a litigation effort underway to nullify the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 and shines a light on the role of actors behind the scenes, including US Pentecostal activists.

And in the Coda, a young Mexican disability leader finds inspiration and joy in a film about a brilliant generation of activists.

For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/

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In the early 1970s, a group of disabled American teens found themselves at a summer camp with new freedom to think for themselves. The selfhood, courage and joy they tapped into was to power a revolution in US culture and policy towards disability. The story of those activists is told in the documentary film, Crip Camp, and Mexican disability activist Maryangel Garcia-Ramos explains how much it means to her.

For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit

https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/

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Strength & Solidarity Season 5 will start in November. Meanwhile we’re repeating some of our favourite shows, continuing with episode 27,  first released,  December 8, 2022.

Palestinian activist Issa Amro grew up studious and apolitical – until his university was permanently shuttered in 2003 by the Israeli military in response to the second intifada. The campaign he and others launched to get it reopened was successful but as the full reality of the Israeli Occupation struck home, he decided to commit to non-violent activism and has been organizing in his community ever since. Almost two decades on, a senior UN official has called 2022 the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2005. In this episode, Amro explains how he and others have, over the past two decades, built a resilient movement, focused especially on young people, to resist the violent seizure of Palestinian property by illegal settlers and harassment by Israeli security forces.

And in the Coda, a Colombian human rights worker tells us how dancing Salsa lifts her spirits. 

For a list of supplemental readings and additional information about this episode’s content, visit https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/

Contact us at [email protected]