Strength & Solidarity

What’s your image of an activist? Someone in a bandanna facing down a line of cops? Or chaining themselves to a tree? You may well have imagined someone young because that’s the stereotype: the student ready to take on the world - until they get bogged down in work obligations and childcare. But veteran climate justice organizer Bill McKibben thinks that cliché is due for retirement. Four years ago he co-founded Third Act, a campaigning organization in the United States for the over-60s, working on climate, democracy and racial justice. He tells host Akwe Amosu how well that bet has turned out, and about a game-changing development in renewable energy that’s giving him hope. Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org We are now publishing our newsletter on Substack, if you would like to subscribe: https://strengthandsolidarity.substack.com/ [https://strengthandsolidarity.substack.com/] Quick Links: * Bio: https://billmckibben.com/ [https://billmckibben.com/] * Third Act: https://thirdact.org/ [https://thirdact.org/] * GrayPAC: Political Action committee powered by Third Act: ⁠https://graypac.org/⁠ [https://graypac.org/] * Third Act: Ten working principles:  ⁠https://thirdact.org/about/working-principles/⁠ [https://thirdact.org/about/working-principles/] * Meet the seniors of the Rocking Chair Rebellion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNmdVI7QrlA [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNmdVI7QrlA]

A young boy growing up in South Bend, Indiana, goes to the library every week with his mother and comes back with a brown grocery bag full of books. He doesn’t know it then, but it’s the start of a lifelong journey of involvement in the human rights movement. Listen to Chris Grove, executive director of ESCR-Net explain how books showed him a lineage of struggle he could join, and how they are still guiding him – and his young son.  From now on we are releasing the Coda as a separate show, not just part of the main Strength&Solidarity podcast. You will find both of them in our feed here, or on our Substack page, with transcripts, and related links. If you subscribe at https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity [https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity], you will receive the “host’s note” accompanying each show.   Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org [pod@strengthandsolidarity.org] MUSIC * Abdullah Ibrahim - Mannenberg (live) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSPq4AZ2GAI] * Abdullah Ibrahim - Ancient Africa (live) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHG4Sjkso0Y]

The levels of stress and – at worst – burn-out in the human rights field are, anecdotally at least, at remarkably high levels.   That may not be surprising in an era of rising authoritarianism, shrinking funds and expanding abuse of rights.  But is the impact on those who organize and work in human rights sufficiently understood and recognized? If the rights movements and organizations are to meet this moment, is there a need for a new strategy?   Host Akwe Amosu seeks the view of Trine Christensen, coach and formerly the secretary general of Amnesty Denmark, until she herself burned out. Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org [pod@strengthandsolidarity.org] We are now publishing our newsletter on Substack, if you would like to subscribe: ⁠https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity⁠ [https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity]

These are stressful times for human rights activists where every day, a new development may cause despondency or rage. Feminist activist and campaigner Francoise Girard explains why you really need some seventeenth century music in your life. Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org [pod@strengthandsolidarity.org]   We are now publishing our newsletter on Substack, if youwould like to subscribe: ⁠https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity⁠ [https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity] Contactus at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org [pod@strengthandsolidarity.org]   We are now publishing our newsletter on Substack, if youwould like to subscribe: https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity⁠https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity⁠ [https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity]

The United States has gone, in less than six months, from being seen by many as a defender of democracy and human rights, to being the latest – and most powerful - administration to embrace authoritarianism.  Amid a head-spinning flood of presidential orders and harsh policies - towards women, immigrants, the poor, the disabled and the sick, it’s hard to know where to focus. In this episode, veteran Turkish journalist and human rights activist Murat Celikkan tells host Akwe Amosu what he has been paying attention to, and reflects on how Turkey’s human rights  movement has been trying to strengthen its own work. And in the Coda, why a dose of Baroque music might ease your mind.   Contact us at pod@strengthandsolidarity.org [pod@strengthandsolidarity.org]   We are now publishing our newsletter on Substack, if youwould like to subscribe: https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity⁠https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity⁠ [https://substack.com/@strengthsolidarity] Quick Links * Interview * Bio: Murat Celikkan: https://hakikatadalethafiza.org/en/team [https://hakikatadalethafiza.org/en/team] * LitHub: Murat Celikkan: Another Turkish Journalist in Prison for ‘Unspecified Reasons’ https://lithub.com/murat-celikkan-another-turkish-journalist-in-prison-for-unspecified-reasons/ [https://lithub.com/murat-celikkan-another-turkish-journalist-in-prison-for-unspecified-reasons/] * StrengthandSolidarity.org: Murat Celikkan reads Ariel Dorfman: https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcast/rebuilding-a-movements-culture-after-crisis/ [https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcast/rebuilding-a-movements-culture-after-crisis/] * Hafiza Merkezi: https://hakikatadalethafiza.org/en/en/why-hafiza-merkezi [https://hakikatadalethafiza.org/en/en/why-hafiza-merkezi] * Chatham House: The future of the Trukish opposition after Imamoglu’s arrest https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/05/future-turkish-opposition-after-imamoglus-arrest [https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/05/future-turkish-opposition-after-imamoglus-arrest] * HRW: Turkey Events of o2024 https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/turkiye [https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/turkiye] * Wikipedia: Gezi Park protests https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gezi_Park_protests [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gezi_Park_protests] * Wikipedia: Saturday mothers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Mothers [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Mothers] Coda * Francoise Girard: https://www.fmus.org/about [https://www.fmus.org/about] * Feminism Makes Us Smarter (FMUS): * https://www.fmus.org/ * Wikipedia: Baroque Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_music [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_music] * FMUS podcast: https://www.fmus.org/fmus-podcast [https://www.fmus.org/fmus-podcast] Music credits: * Juditha triumphans, RV 644: Air "Veni, veni me sequere fida" by Antonio Vivaldi, performed by Lea Desandre, Jupiter Ensemble, Thomas Dunford * Juditha triumphans, RV 644: “Air Armatae face et anguibus” by Antonio Vivaldi, performed by Jupiter Ensemble * Ariodante, HWV 33, Act 2: Aria. "Se l'inganno sortisce felice" (Polinesso) by George Frideric Handel, performed by·Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocco * “Forêts paisibles” from Les Indes Galantes by Jean-Philippe Rameau, performed by Les Arts Florissants Strength&Solidarity podcast: * Episodes 1-50 shows and transcripts [https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcasts/]: Episodes 51 onwards, shows and transcripts [https://strengthandsolidarity.substack.com/]