Advocacy and Social Movements

The 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” Movement in Iran highlighted how girls, women, ethnic, and religious minorities have emerged as leaders in the struggle, a phenomenon not uncommon as the marginalized frequently become catalysts for revolution.

Sheikha Munira Qubaysi is not a household name when it comes to recalling influential people in the Middle East. However, her recent passing shook the region to its core since her prominence was both seen and felt throughout modern Syria after leading generations of Muslim women in an Islamic revivalist movement.

While much of the Western world has provided legal protections for the LGBTQ community, this is not the case in most of the Islamic world.

Black metal artists in Iran use their art to preserve their ancient heritage and defy social norms.

For African countries to address their political, economic and development challenges, the new generation of leaders from the continent must speak truth to power. This was the opinion of Sir Sam Jonah, the CEO of Jonah Capital during an interview with Africa Policy Journal’s Enitan Okedji, Lead Interview Editor (Policy Engagement).  Sam Jonah was in […]

As Zimbabwe heads to the polls in April 2023, spokesperson for the opposition Citizen Coalition for Change, Fadzayi Mahere, has stated that it is time for the youth to take over the mantle of leadership in the country. Mahere was speaking during an interview with Africa Policy Journal in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There are more than […]

Sarkawt Shamsulddin provides his insights on the recent student protests in Kurdistan, what led to them, and what they mean for the region.

Interview with Jay (Jihad) Abdo. Photo credits to Fadia Afashe. On 24 October 2020 Syrian-American Hollywood actor Jay (Jihad) Abdo cast his vote for the first time ever in a presidential election. He and his wife Fadia Afashe, a lawyer and visual artist, were never allowed to participate in free elections before or even have […]

The morning of Saturday, April 3rd, reports of an alleged national security threat targeted at the reigning Jordanian monarch, King Abdullah II, by his younger half-brother, Prince Hamzah, were headlining news sources across the world. Recently, Prince Hamzah has been publicly critical of King Abdullah II’s rule during the COVID-19 public health crisis.  In a […]

Lubana Al Quntar is a rare talent that, if given the proper support, has the power to uplift her entire nation, putting Syria, and the Arab World, on the map of classical opera globally. Yet, in Assad’s Syria talents like hers are systematically eliminated.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) in Manhattan is known for its vast collections of contemporary art, not the workers who keep it running. However, as its galleries shut down, MoMA’s labor organizing has gone on display. Thanks to the advocacy of its five unions, when MoMA shut its doors during Covid-19, […]

All fifty states in the U.S and over thirty countries around the world have participated in the protests initiated by the murder of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis. As coverage of the protests continued through the first week, the conversation unsurprisingly moved away from the police’s disproportionate […]