Yasha Maccanico, Ben Hayes, Samuel Kenny, Frank Barat
06 နိုဝင်ဘာလ 2018
Report
Europe’s “refugee crisis” triggered a wave of solidarity actions by both civil society organisations and ordinary citizens. Their efforts were part of a wave of compassion, as people organised convoys to refugee reception centers, warmly greeted arrivals at train stations and lined highways to provide food and water to those making the journey from Syria and elsewhere. Just a few years later those same activists are treated as criminals and humanitarian search and rescue missions are criminalised.
In 2017, we marked 43 years of critical thinking, exposing the underlying causes of today’s authoritarian politics, and putting forward the real solutions we need.
Rising repression and restrictions for civil society organisations and social movements have put the issue of 'shrinking space' on the NGO agenda. TNI believes that “political space” for civil society is not ‘shrinking’, but rather being taken away, closed down and rendered uninhabitable by the same forces that have hollowed out democracy and placed it at the service of corporations and private interests. TNI is working with activists and academics to probe the issue critically.
لا يبدو أن ضمير الاتحاد الأوربي يتحرك لأزمة النازحين قسرا، والذين يبلغ عددهم 66 مليونا حول العالم، إلا عندما يُسلِط الإعلام ضوئه على المأساة حين تصل إلى حدود أوروبا. وألمانيا هي البلد الأوربي الوحيد الذي نجده ضمن قائمة العشر دول الأکثر استضافة للاجئين في العالم، مما يعني أن البلاد الأکثر فقرا هي من تأوي الغالبية العظمي من النازحين. ولذا ف”اختفاء” النازحين قسراً ينتهي فقط حين تفرد أخبار لأحد المجتمعات الحدودية، مثل مجتمعات کاليه أو لامبيدوزا أو ليسبوس، وقد وصل إليها أناس يائسون، فارين من العنف في بلادهم، ينتهي بهم الحال أمواتا أو معتقلين أو عالقين على الحدود.
The EU has made migration control a central goal of its foreign relations, rapidly expanding border externalisation measures that require neighbouring countries to act as Europe's border guards. This report examines 35 countries, prioritised by the EU, and finds authoritarian regimes emboldened to repress civil society, vulnerable refugees forced to turn to more dangerous and deadly routes, and European arms and security firms booming off the surge in funding for border security systems and technologies.
Multistakeholder approaches are becoming ever more dominant, shaping standards for products, setting the rules for global initiatives and increasingly entering every arena of global governance including the UN. What is the driving force behind these initiatives? To whom are they accountable? What are the implications for social movements seeking to challenge unjust power relations within states and globally?
Ben Hayes, Frank Barat, Isabelle Geuskens, Nick Buxton, Fiona Dove, Francesco Martone, Hannah Twomey, Semanur Karaman
07 ဧပြီလ 2017
Paper
Individual and collective activism is facing a global pushback from states, corporations and the Far Right. How useful is the metaphorical concept of ‘shrinking space’ to examine such repression of civic society? This report deconstructs the shrinking space narrative and critiques some of its inherent problems, particularly its conflation with ‘civic space’. Thus a Government can profess support for ‘civic space’ and human rights defender initiatives abroad, while adopting repressive domestic policies and promoting collusion with corporations that contribute to ‘shrinking space’.
Ben Hayes, Frank Barat, Isabelle Geuskens, Nick Buxton, Fiona Dove, Francesco Martone, Hannah Twomey, Semanur Karaman
17 ဧပြီလ 2017
Paper
في جميع أنحاء العالم، في الدول الديمقراطية وغير الديمقراطية على السواء، يتعرض عدد كبير من الناشطين ومنظمات العدالة الاجتماعية إلى بيئة قامعة تنتشر فيها ظاهرة الأمننة، إلى جانب التهجم الذي لم يسبق له مثيل على شرعيتهم وسلامتهم. فمن المحاولات التي تمت للقضاء على حركة "حياة السود مهمة" (Black Lives Matter) إلى تصفية بيرتا تشاسيريس، مرورا بتجريم حركة المقاطعة الدولية لإسرائيل إلى حين تفي هذه الدولة بالتزاماتها، ووصولا إلى قانون تنظيم الأنشطة التطوعية في بنجلادش، يواجه النشطاء منفردين ومجتمعين معوقات من دول العالم والشركات الكبرى واليمين المتطرف.
The Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) campaigns against police surveillance on political dissent and the regular smearing of activists and groups as “domestic extremists”. Kevin Blowe explains how the police are closing down the space for protest in the UK.
A widening pattern of repression of social movements has taken shape around the world. Everywhere, space for dissent is shrinking rapidly. Governments and corporations alike are working to suppress and silence movements, organisations and individuals who organise against repression. This shrinking of public space threatens virtually all social movements. Around the world, the legality, physical safety, and public access of dissident movements and civil society more broadly are being threatened. This report examines the legal and political pressure exerted on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, a global campaign aimed at pressuring Israel to end human rights violations, launched in 2005 by a group of Palestinian activists.
In austerity-stricken Europe, increasing funds are flowing to arms and security firms positioning themselves as experts on border control. Researcher Mark Akkerman documents the companies profiting from E.U. border externalization and the industry’s lobbying power.
The UN Secretary General and the World Economic Forum signed on June 13 a Strategic Partnership Agreement for the implementation of the 2030 agenda (SDG). More than 400 organisations signed the following letter demanding the end of the agreement and denouncing it for formalising the corporate capture of the UN and moving towards an increasingly privatized and less democratic global governance.
Days after the drawn-out U.S. elections, a new report reveals that the wall sold by Trump as a supposed achievement of his administration is just one of more than 63 new border walls built along borders or in occupied territories worldwide.
A short film by Netpol, made with support from the Transnational Institute and filmmaker Jason Parkinson, on the shrinking space for protest in the UK.
Over the last 50 years, 63 border walls have been built worldwide. This report maps the walls that have led 6 out of 10 people in the world to live in a nation with one of these border walls, analysing the justifications for the walls, the growing militarisation of borders everywhere and the businesses that have profited.
