On 14th May 2024, Netiporn “Bung” Sanesangkhom, a 28-year-old pro-democracy activist from Thailand and member of Thaluwang, died in custody while in pre-trial detention. She had been detained after her bail was revoked in a lèse-majesté (Section 112) case and had gone on hunger strike to protest the denial of bail and the imprisonment of political dissidents. Bung should still be here. She was not convicted. She was not sentenced. She was a young woman human rights defender d

When diplomatic pressure cancelled the world's leading digital rights forum, we made a choice: keep going. Join us for a critical conversation that was meant to take place in Zambia, now coming to you through a webinar. 🌐 How the UN Cybercrime Treaty is Advancing Transnational Repression in Southeast Asia 📅 Monday, 29 June 2026 📍 LIVE on Manushya’s Facebook and YouTube 🕝 2:15 - 3:45 PM Kathmandu 🕞 3:30 - 5:00 PM Bangkok 🕧 6:30 - 8:00 PM Naarm 🌏 Across Southeast Asia, g

✂️ On 10 May 2026, in Soi Ramkhamhaeng 53, Bangkok, an online controversy became offline violence. A trans woman known as “Madam Lor” was surrounded by a large, angry crowd after a dispute that reportedly began with criticism of transgender Muslim women wearing hijabs, then escalated over alleged offensive remarks about Islam during a livestream. A restaurant meeting meant to ease tensions quickly turned into public humiliation: under intense pressure, she was made to apologi

For over 80 years, a heavy veil of silence has covered one of the most brutal chapters of World War II: the systematic sexual enslavement of over 200,000 women and girls in Southeast Asia by the Japanese Imperial Army. They were euphemistically called “Comfort Women”, but there was NOTHING comforting about military sexual slavery. Many were teenagers who were abducted and brought to “comfort stations” where they were raped around the clock by soldiers in occupied territories.

We jumped on the Millennial vs Gen Z social media trend, because hey, we're a proudly intergenerational feminist team at Manushya. And as a team of decolonial and intersectional feminists at Manushya, we don’t see the Global North and Global South as just geography. We see them as lived realities shaped by privilege, marginalisation, and structural inequality. You can live in the North and experience the realities of the South through poverty and exclusion. You can also live

In a Devex article by Rebecca L. Root, Manushya’s Founder & Executive Director Emilie Palamy Pradichit reveals how the cuts gutted life-saving protection systems for the growing number of repressed activists and citizen journalists. “When the USAID funding cuts came in, it became a question of life or death. There were several activists, including citizen journalists, who we were not able to protect right away,” Emilie Palamy said. At Manushya, the suspension of US funding fo

🌐 A feminist digital future is possible, BUT only if it is rooted in justice. On 23 April, our Founder and Executive Director, Emilie Palamy Pradichit, spoke at the panel “Digital Rights, Gender Equity and Youth Protection in ASEAN’s Digital Transformation,” moderated by Angela Romano from the University of Queensland. As part of a leadership training for emerging Southeast Asian women leaders in digital transformation, the panel brought together feminist voices with one sha

In this interview, Saluai Hantale, a Chao Lay Indigenous woman activist from Koh Lipe and member of the Indigenous Women's Network of Thailand (IWNT) and Indigenous Women’s Association for Development (IWAD), speaks with Manushya about being sued for defending her community’s ancestral land. Koh Lipe is often seen as one of Thailand’s most beautiful island destinations. But behind the image of paradise, Chao Lay Indigenous sea peoples face land grabbing, blocked access to fis

This Friday, Meta will remove end-to-end encryption from Instagram DMs. Mark Zuckerberg's company said that this is due to low opt-in rates. It is true that Instagram was never built for private communications, but for activists, grassroots organisers, queer support networks, mutual aid groups, and community campaigns, Instagram IS the infrastructure. Telling people to "just move to Signal" ignores the fact that you cannot move a decade of community building overnight. The pe