Civic Resistance

How do people stand up to injustice, defend democratic values, and drive change in times of crisis? The Civil Resistance Showcase brings together powerful stories and perspectives from across Europe, exploring the many forms resistance can take. Through cross-border journalism, it highlights acts of courage, solidarity, and civic engagement that shape societies and challenge the status quo. From grassroots movements to individual acts of defiance, the showcase reveals how ordinary people can make an extraordinary impact.

CC0

Iranian Women wearing mini-skirts and grouping in the sun © Wikimedia Commons / The Land of Kings (1971), public domain (Iran)

The Iranian Lion on the Path to Freedom

News is gradually reaching Iranians in exile about which of their loved ones have fallen victim to the regime’s violence. The bloody suppression of anti-government protests by the local Islamist regime at the turn of 2025 and 2026 ranks among the most tragic events in Iran’s modern history. According to independent estimates, members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps killed up to thirty thousand people and injured tens of thousands more. How do Iranians who have found a new home in the Czech Republic perceive the origins of the current Iranian Islamist terror, civil resistance, and the struggle for freedom?

  • Author: Afra, Ali, Sanam, Yasmin
  • Medium: Revue Prostor
  • Original title: Íránský lev na cestě za svobodou
  • Global Social Transformations

A book cover saying "Hyper" © Chatto & Windus

Hypercapitalism as Seen Through the Kurdish Lens

The debut novel by Swedish-Kurdish author Agri Ismaïl, titled *Hyper*, follows in the tradition of family sagas and literature written by second- or third-generation immigrants. The main character—the proud founder of the Communist Party of Iraqi Kurdistan—flees the country only to watch his ideals crumble as his children strive to succeed in London, New York, and Dubai. The novel captures the hyper-fragmented life under capitalism in the wake of the financial crisis from the perspective of uprooted Kurds.

  • Author: Laura Vassileva
  • Medium: Revue Prostor
  • Original title: HYPERkapitalismus v kurdském zrcadle
  • Global Social Transformations

A protester in a chair © Multitude Films

“Crip History”: on its erasure and on films that preserve it

The experiences and struggles of people with health-related disadvantages have been, and continue to be, systematically erased from our collective memory. In her reflection on a number of groundbreaking films, the author Petra Eller explores this erasure and the power that can bring these experiences back into the public consciousness.

  • Author: Petra Eller
  • Medium: JÁDU
  • Original title: Crip dejiny: ich vymazávanie a filmy, ktoré ich uchovávajú
  • Culture and Identity