In July of 2024, we gathered practicing lawyers, academics, and activists in Rio de Janeiro to discuss how movement lawyers in different global contexts have used law to support social movements in the face of repressive or authoritarian regimes. 

By Lamine Benghazi Avocats Sans Frontières en Tunisie - ASF spotlighting Tunisia as a case study on democratic backsliding - acting as a cautionary tale for what we may lose when we allow authoritarians to seize power and reflecting on the ingredients necessary for building a robust democratic polity post-revolution.

Photo by Xingtu

Under slogans such as “The Canary Islands have a limit,” “Enough! Let’s put limits to tourism,” or “It’s over! Let’s lower the rents,” mass mobilizations have recently spread throughout Spain. The movements are a reaction against the overexploitation of the territory, real estate speculation fueled by international capital, and the effects of extreme touristification.

We asked eight international legal scholars, human rights attorneys, and experts on Palestine to share their reflections on the role of international law in the struggle for Palestinian liberation. How does international law currently hinder this cause? And how might it be used — or how must it transform — to contribute to it?

Foto de Gigi Ibrahim

Since Javier Milei came to power in December 2023, his government has combined what is now a familiar repertoire for extreme right-wing governments of the “anarcho-libertarian” variety: it has sought to dismantle all vestiges of the welfare State and social protection, while engaging in an authoritarian denial of any dissent and targeting existing rights as part of left-wing ideologies that must be eradicated.