#5 Rethinking (shrinking) spaces in times of crises
22 September 2021, 6 pm CEST
From widespread surveillance, torture and disappearances to the increased criminalization of protest and restrictive rules on associations, we are unquestionably witnessing a global pushback against civic spaces.
The repressive tactics that seek to strip legitimacy and rights from activists and other civic actors is not just to be deplored in authoritarian countries, but also a very real threat in liberal democracies as well. While the phenomenon of shrinking spaces is certainly not new, the intersectional crises we face – from socio-economic inequality to climate change, the global pandemic, the rise of far-right populism, new technologies and the further concentration of wealth and power into fewer hands – demand that we rethink our approaches and strategies for resistance.
In this 5th series event, we explore how the closing of civic spaces has occurred despite the existence of supposedly well-established human rights systems. What have we learned and unlearned from the conversation around shrinking spaces over the last decade? In which ways have these trends solidified? And how and where has resistance proven (in)effective?
With our guests Ben Hayes, co-author of “Rethinking civic space in an age of intersectional crises: a briefing for funders” (2020), Isha Khandelwal, a human rights lawyer who can speak to the situation in India and Wolfgang Kaleck (ECCHR General Secretary), we will discuss concrete visions for organized forms of resistance. To tackle the structural challenges we face, individualized solutions will not be enough. In times that require the forging of new alliances and sustainable responses, our guests will discuss not only how to react to current trends, but also how to collectively rethink spaces and develop counterstrategies for resistance.
Guests
Isha khandelwal
Isha Khandelwal is a lawyer from India. She co-founded Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group (JagLAG), an organisation which provided legal representation to indigenous people in India between 2013-2019. During those years, JagLAG worked on cases involving arbitrary detention, custodial torture, extra-judicial killings and sexual violence by the security forces.
Ben Hayes
Ben Hayes has worked on a range of counterterrorism issues over the past 20 years, with human rights organizations, research institutes and international organizations. Working with a variety of organizations, Ben has explored the broader context and systemic drivers behind the phenomenon of "closing civil space" and the challenges posed by today's global crises.
Wolfgang Kaleck
Wolfgang Kaleck founded the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights with other internationally renowned lawyers in Berlin in 2007. As a lawyer, he represents whistleblower Edward Snowden, among others. Kaleck has also published numerous books.
“A comprehensive human rights program involves the actual overthrow of the conditions in which man (and woman) is enslaved by men.” – Wolfgang Kaleck
The event series is hosted by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights
and funded by the Federal Agency for Civic Education.
ECCHR is a non-profit organization that depends on donations.
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