Cultures of Resistance

The United States has the highest rate of incarceration of any country in the world, with a criminal justice system that is marred by racial and class-based disparities. Learn more about how students at the Innocence Project, a leading national litigation and public policy organization, work to correct the wrongful convictions of the failing U.S. system.

During Existence is Resistance's first Bus Stop Hip Hop tour through Israel and the West Bank, artists like M-1 of the American duo Dead Prez and British-Iraqi Lowkey joined grassroots activists to organize interactive educational workshops on break dancing, graffiti, and other forms of urban expression. Read on to learn more about their work and to watch the trailer for their 2011 feature documentary, "Hip Hop is Bigger Than the Occupation."

Skateistan is Afghanistan’s first and only co-ed skateboarding school, where girls are given the same opportunities that are afforded to boys and are provided a safe space where they can develop a sense of freedom. Learn more about how the founder hopes the school will help young women take charge of rebuilding of a society fractured by war.

Artists in Iran have been fighting for decades for greater democratic freedoms. Follow this link to learn more about the struggle for freedom of expression in Iran and what you can do to help!

Expanding access to education is at the core of Cultures of Resistance's vision for change. Particularly in contexts where power is concentrated in the hands of the few, expanding educational opportunities to those who are otherwise excluded can help give rise to a democratic spring. Learn more about scholarship programs that are opening doors for students who ordinarily wouldn't get a shot at an education.

Capoeira originally came out of tropical Brazil's plantations, where slaves combined martial arts, song, and dance as an expression of resistance. Today, groups like CapoeirArab are spreading the tradition to unlikely places like Al-Tanf refugee camp, just outside Damascus. Read on to learn more about this form of creative, cross-cultural engagement.

Cultures of Resistance praises the work the the Family Health Alliance, which teaches family planning in Afghanistan and distributes public educational materials that cover topics such as contraception, STIs, and HIV/AIDS. These initiatives are in particularly high demand in places where the state’s capacity to provide services to its people has been destroyed by widespread military conflict