As the year comes to a close, activists across Southeast Asia are still on the frontlines, defending democracy at enormous personal risk . ✊🏽🌏 From youth leaders and feminists to Indigenous and grassroots organisers, communities are standing up to authoritarian systems who use increasingly violent tactics to repress defenders. But recent USAID funding cuts have weakened the feminist safety nets that protect defenders, including Manushya Foundation’s. These cuts have put man