Dissidents and Dictators

In this episode, recorded at the 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum, we hear from Pastor Seungeun Kim, a prominent Korean human rights activist and leader of a modern-day underground railroad. He passionately serves North Korean defectors and works tirelessly on their behalf, rescuing and helping them become self-sufficient. Note: This episode is recorded in Korean.

Hanna Liubakova is a Belarusian journalist, analyst, and non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council. After protesting Alexander Lukashenko’s regime, Liubakova was forced into exile, yet she fearlessly continues to report on the developments in her home country. In this episode, recorded at the 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum, she reveals the Lukashenko regime’s abuses of political prisoners and its corru...

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has increased its efforts to stifle dissent beyond its borders, discreetly intimidating individuals from various religious, political, and dissenting groups. The Uyghur diaspora's experience of such repression has worsened since the 2016 crackdown, leaving Uyghurs across the globe facing the pressure of state violence and harassment even in their supposed places o...

In 2009, Swazi human rights lawyer Mzwandile Masuku launched, with the late renowned human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko, the only law firm in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) fully dedicated to public interest litigation against the kingdom’s repression law and pro-bono legal representation of ordinary Swazis. In this episode, recorded at the 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum, Masuku advocates for the protecti...

Nazanin Boniadi is an award-winning actress and Iranian human rights activist who focuses on the unjust conviction and treatment of Iranian youth, women, and prisoners of conscience. In this episode, recorded at the 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum, Boniadi speaks on the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests in Iran and unearths the rich history of her home country that the oppressive regime has diluted.

Note: This episode is recorded in Spanish. Abraham Jiménez Enoa is an exiled Cuban journalist and author of “La isla oculta,” a collection of stories of ordinary Cubans living under the dictatorship. In this episode, recorded at the 2023 Olso Freedom Forum, Jiménez Enoa shares his experience calling for action against the tyranny that oppresses ordinary Cubans.

Aug. 9 marks the third anniversary of the Belarus presidential elections, followed by nationwide protests and violence. Alexander Lukashenko has increasingly turned to Russia, which provided him with resources and diplomatic support to help him stay in power. This episode looks at Lukashenko’s role in the conflict in Ukraine and the strategies the international democratic community can pursue to c...

Kristen Ulmer is a high-performance facilitator and thought leader on fear and anxiety, drawing from her experience as the world’s most “fearless” female extreme skier for 12 years and studying Zen for 15 years. In this episode, recorded at the 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum, Ulmer provides strategies to conquer our fear and anxious feelings.

Note: This episode is recorded in Spanish. Víctor Navarro is a Venezuelan human rights activist who was arbitrarily detained in 2018 and held in El Helicoide, Venezuela’s largest and most notorious prison. In this episode, recorded at the 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum, Navarro shares how he struggled to find his voice and identity under the regime's oppression and how he is using technology to fight tyr...

Malcolm Bidali is a former Qatari migrant worker and the co-founder of Migrant Defenders, a Kenya-based civil society organization defending the rights of migrant workers in the Gulf. While in Qatar, he became an anonymous whistleblower about brutal conditions for migrant laborers before Qatar’s 2022 FIFA World Cup. In May 2021, the Qatari regime unmasked his identity and subjected him to solitary...

Lisa Yasko is a member of Ukrainian Parliament, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Interparliamentary Cooperation, and the Ukrainian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. In this episode, recorded at the 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum, Yasko reveals the reality of living in Ukraine during the Russian invasion and the powerful role of being a mother while navigating the war.

Note: This episode is recorded in Uyghur. An Uyghur survivor of China’s concentration camps, Gulbahar Haitiwaji, was tricked into returning to China in 2016 after seeking asylum; she vanished into the camps. When she was finally released in 2019, Haitiwaji publicly shared her account, describing life inside the camps and the brutalities Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples have suffered. Kalbinur Sidi...

Félix Maradiaga is a Nicaraguan democracy advocate arrested in 2021 for leading a nonviolent movement against President Daniel Ortega. After being imprisoned for three years, he was forcibly exiled to the United States and saw his citizenship revoked alongside 222 other political prisoners. In this episode, recorded at the 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum, Maradiaga shares his prison experience, his reunio...

In this episode, recorded at the 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum, American political scientist and author Francis Fukuyama discusses how democracy can be a resilient tool in denouncing authoritarianism and dissecting the principles of liberalism, the false strength of dictatorships, and what the future holds for democracy.

Ketakandriana Rafitoson is a prominent Madagascan human rights defender, political scientist, and anti-corruption activist. In this episode, recorded at the 2023 Oslo Freedom Forum, Rafitoson addresses the mass corruption within Madagascar and how it impacts ordinary citizens' lives. Russian and other dark sponsors continue to influence the country’s elections, but Rafitoson provides hope in the f...

In Cameroon, while thousands of minority Anglophones have peacefully protested for their rights, Paul Biya’s regime has responded viciously. Cameroonian human rights lawyer and activist, Felix Agbor Nkongho, has fought to bring global attention to the blood-stained crisis. In this episode, recorded at the 2019 Oslo Freedom Forum, Agbor Nkongho speaks about his work transforming cruelty into positi...

Thae Yong-Ho is a North Korean defector and the former deputy ambassador of North Korea to the United Kingdom. He is the highest-ranking official to have ever defected from North Korea, fleeing to the South with his wife and two children in 2016. In this episode, recorded at the 2019 Oslo Freedom Forum in New York, Yong-ho speaks about the oppression he experienced inside North Korea, his escape,...

Arthur Holland Michel is a Peruvian-born writer and researcher focused on artificial intelligence, advanced surveillance technologies, and drones. In this episode, recorded at the 2021 Oslo Freedom Forum, Michel reveals how little the average person knows about modern surveillance technologies and its power.

Wai Hnin Pwint Thon is a Burmese human rights activist. Her father, Ko Mya Aye, is a leader of Burma’s 88 Generation Students Group and is currently detained by the Burmese military. In this episode, recorded at the 2021 Oslo Freedom Forum, Pwint Thon calls out the Burmese military’s violence and urges the international community to support Burma’s struggle for peace and democracy.

Dr. Essam Daod is a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and co-founder of the mental health aid organization, Humanity Crew. During a 2015 humanitarian rescue mission, Daod provided medical aid to refugees in Greece, triggering his trauma and PTSD. In this episode, recorded at the 2021 Oslo Freedom Forum, we hear Daod’s story, through which we learn that only when we care for our mental health can we c...

Ahmed Albasheer is an Iraqi comedian and political satirist best known for hosting “The Albasheer Show,” a weekly program that humorizes Iraqi politics. In this episode, recorded at the 2021 Oslo Freedom Forum, Albasheer shows the power of humor in challenging corruption, war, repression, sectarianism, and authoritarianism in Iraq.

When bank accounts are closed or currency devalued, pro-democracy activists have turned to Bitcoin to keep their advocacy afloat. Simultaneously, in El Salvador, populist leader Nayib Bukele has used Bitcoin to further his authoritarian agenda. In this episode, recorded at the 2022 Oslo Freedom Forum, activists from Belarus, Russia, and Togo discuss whether Bitcoin is compatible with liberal democ...

In 2019, Tanzania outlawed child marriage, but marriage laws have yet to be amended and child marriage remains a serious issue. In this episode, recorded at the 2022 Oslo Freedom Forum, Zuhura Abdul Sakaya, a young Tanzanian advocate for girls' and women’s rights, discusses the situation in Tanzania, the lifelong consequences for girls, and the next steps in the struggle against child marriage. Fe...

For years, Nicaraguan dictator Daniel Ortega has abused opponents almost entirely free from the world’s attention. But in 2018, democracy advocate, Félix Maradiaga, took the country’s future into his own hands, exposing Ortega’s rampant crimes. In this episode, recorded at the 2019 Oslo Freedom Forum, Maradiaga discusses how he rallied the world to pay attention. In 2021, Maradiaga was arrested an...

The Chinese government goes to extreme lengths to silence criticism and instill fear among Chinese, Uyghur, Hong Kongers, Tibetan, Taiwanese, and religious communities abroad. In this episode, frontline activists discuss transnational repression and the Chinese government’s various methods of monitoring, surveilling, and intimidating dissidents abroad. Featured Guests: Joey Siu, Hongkongese-Americ...