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In this episode, we chat to Ravi Madasamy, better known as M. Ravi, an international human rights lawyer in Singapore, who was recently disbarred as a result of his human rights work.

He has argued in favour of landmark human rights and constitutional law cases regarding the mandatory death penalty, freedom of expression, defamation laws, freedom of assembly, and more. M. Ravi is also the founding member of the Anti‐Death Penalty Asia Network and the Singapore Anti‐Death Penalty Campaign (S.A.D.P.C.) community group.

He tells us more about his journey as a human rights defender and lawyer in Singapore, where the space for human rights defenders is becoming increasingly narrow.

Read about his case here: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/ravi-madasamy

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Indigenous women human rights defenders in Africa face unique challenges, from standing up to patriarchal norms and fighting land grabs by extractive industries, to resisting the gendered impacts of climate change and forced evictions-

In this episode, we chat to two indigenous women human rights defenders - Janepher Baitwamasa from Uganda, and Ilaria Potipa Loonkolia from Kenya, both of whom organise for women’s rights, land rights and access to justice within their communities.

They’ve faced pushback from within their communities, harassment, and threats. They speak candidly about what it means to work as a woman human rights defender in patriarchal societies, confronting both cultural and systemic violence; and how they continue to resist, organise, and protect land and people.

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Mona Shtaya is a pioneering digital rights defender with more than a decade of experience. Her advocacy and campaigning has resulted in exposing digital discrimination against oppressed people, building coalitions, and mobilising groups to hold governments and tech giants accountable.

In this episode she talks about:

- What it means to be a digital rights defender (1:00 +)
- Challenges in the digital space in the MENA region (4:00 +)
- The (mis)use of laws to criminalise HRDs online (8:00)
- Digitial rights aspects of Israel/Palestine and the most recent Gaza genocide: (11:00 +, 46:00 +)
- Shadow banning (20:20 +; 29:00 +)
- How social media companies have responded to the violation of rights online (22:00 +)
- Personal challenges she has faced online as a woman human rights defender (25:00 +)
- Technology facilitated gender based violence (27:00+)
- How algorithms and other technical aspects of censorship works (35:00 +)
- How to beat the algorithm (41:00+)

*Note: This was recorded in October 2024, prior to the ceasefire of the Gaza genocide.

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