Activist Strategies in Repressive Conditions

In an era of accelerating autocratization and geopolitical realignment, the space for rights-based activism is narrowing—politically, financially, and discursively. Regimes deploy increasingly sophisticated tools to suppress dissent, while international support for human rights and democracy is declining. This session centers on how activists respond: What strategies emerge when traditional channels close? How do movements adapt when external solidarity wanes, funding contracts, and repression intensifies? Grounded in African experiences but with global relevance, this session analyzes activist strategies under constraint—from legal mobilization and cultural resistance to digital innovation and transnational reconfiguration. Drawing on theories of political opportunity, civic agency, and institutional power, we ask how resistance is sustained in difficult times—and what these strategies reveal about the future of human rights activism in a less supportive international order.