The United States has gone, in less than six months, from being seen by many as a defender of democracy and human rights, to being the latest – and most powerful - administration to embrace authoritarianism.  Amid a head-spinning flood of presidential orders and harsh policies - towards women, immigrants, the poor, the disabled and the sick, it’s hard to know where to focus. In this episode, veteran Turkish journalist and human rights activist Murat Celikkan tells host Akwe Amosu what he has been paying attention to, and reflects on how Turkey’s human rights  movement has been trying to strengthen its own work.

And in the Coda, why a dose of Baroque music might ease your mind.

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Quick Links

Interview

• Bio: Murat Celikkan: https://hakikatadalethafiza.org/en/team

• LitHub: Murat Celikkan: Another Turkish Journalist in Prison for ‘Unspecified Reasons’ https://lithub.com/murat-celikkan-another-turkish-journalist-in-prison-for-unspecified-reasons/

• StrengthandSolidarity.org: Murat Celikkan reads Ariel Dorfman: https://strengthandsolidarity.org/podcast/rebuilding-a-movements-culture-after-crisis/

• Hafiza Merkezi: https://hakikatadalethafiza.org/en/en/why-hafiza-merkezi

• Chatham House: The future of the Trukish opposition after Imamoglu’s arrest https://www.chathamhouse.org/2025/05/future-turkish-opposition-after-imamoglus-arrest

• HRW: Turkey Events of o2024 https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/turkiye

• Wikipedia: Gezi Park protests https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gezi_Park_protests

• Wikipedia: Saturday mothers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Mothers

Coda

• Francoise Girard: https://www.fmus.org/about

• Feminism Makes Us Smarter (FMUS):

• https://www.fmus.org/

• Wikipedia: Baroque Music https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_music

• FMUS podcast: https://www.fmus.org/fmus-podcast

Music credits:

• Juditha triumphans, RV 644: Air "Veni, veni me sequere fida" by Antonio Vivaldi, performed by Lea Desandre, Jupiter Ensemble, Thomas Dunford

• Juditha triumphans, RV 644: “Air Armatae face et anguibus” by Antonio Vivaldi, performed by Jupiter Ensemble

• Ariodante, HWV 33, Act 2: Aria. "Se l'inganno sortisce felice" (Polinesso) by George Frideric Handel, performed by·Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Alan Curtis, Il Complesso Barocco

• “Forêts paisibles” from Les Indes Galantes by Jean-Philippe Rameau, performed by Les Arts Florissants

Strength&Solidarity podcast:

• Episodes 1-50 shows and transcripts:

Episodes 51 onwards, shows and transcripts