Sur Journal celebrates its 20 th anniversary with an issue on authoritarianism and human rights in the Global South
Collective publication suggests paths to rebuild alliances, strengthen movements, and answer to threats that are found in multiple democracies
How do we defend human rights when authoritarianism is no longer the exception and begins to shape our everyday life? The question becomes urgent in the face of the erosion of democratic institutions, the intensification of inequalities and the concentration of power by governments, corporations, and other entities that restrict rights, criminalize dissent, and weaken social participation and control mechanisms.
This is the context that births the 33rd edition of Sur Journal – International Human Rights Journal, Light solidarity, transcend authoritarianism. The publication is also a celebration of the journal’s 20th anniversary, restating its commitment to the promotion of critical reflections and stronger dialogue among researchers, activists, and organizations committed to social justice.
Find the 33rd issue of Sur Journal here
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More than analyzing the multiple guises of authoritarianism in our time, the new issue suggests an exercise in political imagination: reflecting on paths to rebuild alliances, strengthening movements, and recovering a collective capacity to answer threats faced by democracies and societies in different parts of the world.
Perspectives, practices, and plural strategies
Inspired by discussions held in the 2024 International Human Rights Colloquium, the journal collects articles, interviews, essays, and a visual section dedicated to core topics in the contemporary human rights agenda. With a new visual approach and, for the first time, produced entirely by guest writers, this issue offers theoretical, practical, and strategic perspectives that converge around a common challenge: the rise of authoritarianism as an increasingly present reality in institutions and social life, requiring renewed responses from organizations, social movements, and human rights defenders.
The challenges approached include the climate emergency, the defense of traditional territories, the persecution of activists, challenges imposed by digital technologies, the question of Palestine, and the impacts of the progress of the far right and authoritarian practices on historically marginalized populations.
This issue offers contributions from researchers, activists, and specialists from Brazil, South Africa, Argentina, Palestine, Kenya, Egypt, and Indonesia, among other Global South countries. Highlights include the essay by Sueli Carneiro, inspired by her opening speech at the International Human Rights Colloquium; articles by Camila Asano and Júlia Mello Neiva on the challenges of Brazilian democracy; interviews with Hossam Baghat, Haris Azhar, and Suely Araújo, approaching topics such as the criminalization of human rights defenders, social mobilization, and the socioenvironmental agenda; a tribute to Pedro Paulo Poppovic, the founder of the Sur Journal, penned by Oscar Vilhena; and a visual section dedicated to the memories of resistance in the Global South, curated by Jeferson Batista Silva.
Twenty years of connections and human rights defense
By completing its two decades, the Sur Journal restates its mission to amplify voices, promote discussions and connect resistance experiences. More than recording challenges of the present, the publication seeks to contribute to build collective responses capable of rekindling solidarity and strengthening the defense of human rights.
The 33rd issue of Sur Journal is available free of charge in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. Access the publication today and discover analyses, reflections, and experiences that help think of the paths to human rights defense today and in the coming years.
