A Common Pot: Stories and Recipes for Grassroots Justice

Grassroots Justice Network

What does it look like when the power of law and the power of people come together? When we look at the global grassroots justice movement, we see innovative recipes for systems change. We see people and organizations pushing boundaries and finding ways to build community power despite growing authoritarianism. A Common Pot is a podcast where we explore stories and recipes for grassroots justice from around the world. Listen to real stories from grassroots justice advocates combining the power of law with community organizing, along with recipes that carry the flavor of the struggle itself.

Episodes

  1. 06/09/2025

    Vagabonds in Power feat. CHREAA and SALC

    On March 27, 2018, three men were swept up in a police raid in Kasungo District, Malawi. Overnight, they were each jailed and convicted of being a “rogue and vagabond.” What followed wasn’t just a fight to overturn a colonial era law, but a community’s struggle to change a deeply embedded national mindset that the poor are criminals. Special thanks to Anneke Meerkotter of SALC and Ruth Kaima of CHREAA. This episode was produced by Jackie Sofia and Poorvi Chitalkar.  A Common Pot: Stories and Recipes for Grassroots Justice is a production of Namati and the Grassroots Justice Network. Support for “A Common Pot” is provided by IDRC Canada.  Follow the Grassroots Justice Network on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @grassrootsjn, and share your thoughts with us by emailing community@namati.org. For a full transcript of this episode, ⁠⁠visit our website by clicking HERE. SHOW NOTES: No Justice for the Poor: A Preliminary Study of the Law and Practice Relating to Arrests for Nuisance Related Offences in Blantyre, Malawi (CHREAA & SALC - 2013) (02:00) Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) (03:00) Centre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREAA) (03:00) Research: Critiquing Legal Empowerment Approaches to Address Police Abuse in Malawi  (06:00) Vagrancy Act of 1824,  UK (07:00) African vagrancy laws continue to discriminate, despite court victories (International Bar Association - May 2023) (07:00) Nyasaland Becomes Malawi (NYT - July 6, 1964) (07:00) Malawi: Challenging the constitutionality of police sweeping exercises (SALC - January 2019) (10:00) Court declares police sweeping exercises unconstitutional (Nation Online - July 23, 2022)  (10:00) TIMES TV Interview: Chikondi Chijozi from SALC and Victor Mhango from CHREAA (SALC - July 23, 2022) (16:00) “Street Connected Children Cry” (CHREAA - September 11, 2023) (23:00) Kitchell, Erin. Grassroots Justice: Pathways to Systems Change, p. 42-45 (Grassroots Justice Network, 2024) (30:00) Grassroots Justice Network  (31:00) A Year of Coming Together (GJN learning agenda - 2023) (33:00) Nsima  (34:00) Chambo

  2. 04/01/2025

    What Lies Beneath feat. FIMA

    What happens when an Indigenous community in Chile combines the power of law and organizing to take on a multibillion dollar global industry, in an attempt to protect their sacred waters? Special thanks to Macarena Martinic, Gabriela Simonetti Grez and FIMA. This episode was produced by Jackie Sofia and Poorvi Chitalkar.  A Common Pot: Stories and Recipes for Grassroots Justice is a production of Namati and the Grassroots Justice Network. Support for “A Common Pot” is provided by IDRC Canada.  Follow the Grassroots Justice Network on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @grassrootsjn, and share your thoughts with us by emailing community@namati.org. For a full transcript of this episode, ⁠visit our website by clicking HERE. SHOW NOTES: (01:00) Macarena Martinic, Coordinator of Empowerment and Public Participation, FIMA (01:00) FIMA (03:00) Figueroa, Dante. Chile: New Law Creates Ministry for the Environment, Other Environmental Agencies. (Library of Congress - 2010) (04:00) FIMA’s work alongside the Kawésqar community (04:00) Kawésqar Wæs - Chilean Patagonia's greatest wilderness is a home (IUCN - August 28, 2023) (05:00) Salmon Farms in Patagonia Face Growing Opposition (NYTimes - August 13, 2024) (06:00) Salmon Farming in Chile: The Ugly Truth (The Borgen Project - June 6, 2020)  (06:00) 'A silent catastrophe': Chilean fishermen protest failure to mitigate toxic 'red tide' (The Guardian - May 3, 2016) (07:00) Salmon in protected areas, pigs in mass (La Segunda - June 6, 2023) (09:00) Canoeros: Memoria Viva (Pristine Seas, National Geographic Society - 2022) (10:00) Leticia Caro guest interview segment, Podcast Ladera Sur- Inspirados por la Naturaleza (11:00) Leticia Caro guest interview segment, Ciclo Pueblos Originarios (13:00) “Justice from the Ground Up: Legal Empowerment in Action Across Latin America” (Grassroots Justice Network) (14:00) Legal empowerment and defense of the territory in Magallanes: The case of resistance to the salmon industry (English, Spanish; FIMA - 2024) (15:00) New victory in the Kawésqar National Reserve: Environmental Court blocks the installation of a new salmon farm for the fifth time (FIMA - June 7, 2023) (17:00) Hidrógeno verde “a la chilena”: Análisis crítico de la (des)regulación del hidrógeno en Chile (FIMA - March 20, 2025) (17:00) Strengthening Environmental Justice through Legal Empowerment: Lessons on Participation, Organizing, and the Role of Women (Grassroots Justice Network - 2026) (21:00) Transmisión causa R-31-2023 Comunidad Indígena Aswal Lajep y otros con COEVA Región de Magallanes (Tercer Tribunal Ambiental - June 4, 2024) (26:00) FIMA’s recent statement on media-based attacks aimed at the organization’s environmental defense work (January 6, 2025) (29:00) Legal Empowerment: A Pathway to Strengthening and Amplifying Community Narratives (Grassroots Justice Network - 2026) (32:00) The calafate berry

  3. 01/07/2025

    From Regime to Rendang feat. YLBHI

    In Indonesia, a small group of rural farmers fight for the land that was ripped from them decades earlier during a violent and deadly military dictatorship. Special thanks to Pratiwi Febry, Rakhma Mary Herwati and YLBHI- the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation. This episode was produced by Jackie Sofia and Poorvi Chitalkar.  A Common Pot: Stories and Recipes for Grassroots Justice is a production of Namati and the Grassroots Justice Network. Support for “A Common Pot” is provided by IDRC Canada.  Follow the Grassroots Justice Network on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @grassrootsjn, and share your thoughts with us by emailing community@namati.org.  For a full transcript of this episode, visit our website by clicking HERE. SHOW NOTES: (02:00) Rendang  (02:00) Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) (02:00) Siti Rakhma Mary Herwati, Co-Chair, Knowledge Management, YLBHI (04:00) Pratiwi Febry, YLBHI (05:00) 1965 military coup led by General Suharto (05:00-06:00) The New Order (1965-1998) (06:00) YLBHI founded in 1971 (08:00) Kitchell, Erin. Grassroots Justice: Pathways to Systems Change, p. 28-32 (Grassroots Justice Network, 2024) (10:00) Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW)  (10:00) KontraS (Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence) (10:00) Consortium for Agrarian Reform (KPA) (10:00) Voice of Human Rights media Youtube channel  (11:00) “In 1996, an economic crisis hit Indonesia.” (11:00) “Locomotive of Democracy” (12:00) President Suharto resigns, May 21, 1998; Associated Press Archive  (12:00) Case documentation: Land reclaiming experience of Indonesian farmers. Asian Farmers' Association for Sustainable Rural Development. October 20. 2006.  (13:00) Semarang, Central Java (14:00) Fajfrlíková, Pavla (2018), Kejawen as the Traditional Mystical Belief on the Contemporary Java Island, Kulturní studia / Cultural Studies.  (15:00) Bachriadi, Dianto. Fighting for land. Inside Indonesia. January, 2012. (21:00) black campaigns vs. negative campaigns  (21:00) “Indonesia: Millions of victims and families still abandoned 50 years after mass killings,” Human Rights Watch. September 30, 2015. (29:00) Grassroots Justice Network  (29:00) learning agenda participatory action research projects (30:00) The Indonesian People’s Tribunals (34:00) “Indonesia’s Shrinking Civic Space for Protests and Digital Activism.” Usman Hamid and Ary Hermawan. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. November 17, 2020. (34:00) “Why Indonesia’s omnibus bill will not create jobs and only strengthen the oligarchy.” Aulia Nastiti. The Conversation. October 20, 2020. Chitalkar, Poorvi. How legal empowerment efforts are fighting repression and deepening democracy (Grassroots Justice Network, 2024).

  4. 10/16/2024

    Leave No One Behind feat. AMT

    In Kenya’s Mukuru settlements, a woman finds herself fed up with not having access to a toilet in her own home. What happens next is a community-wide movement, using the power of the law to fight for basic services and transform the settlements from the ground-up. Special thanks to Jane Weru, Patrick Njoroge and AMT- Akiba Mashinani Trust in Nairobi, Kenya.  This episode was produced by Jackie Sofia and Poorvi Chitalkar.  A Common Pot: Stories and Recipes for Grassroots Justice is a production of Namati and the Grassroots Justice Network. Support for “A Common Pot” is provided by IDRC Canada.  For a full transcript of this episode ⁠visit our website by clicking HERE.⁠ SHOW NOTES: (00:01) Dorice Bosibori (Muungano wa Wanavijiji - 14 March 2016) (00:01) Mukuru  (4:00) Jane Weru, Executive Director, AMT (4:00) Akiba Mashinani Trust (AMT) (5:00) Muungano wa Wanavijiji  (5:00) Patrick Njoroge, Deputy Director, AMT (9:00) Katiba Institute (11:00) “the poverty penalty” (12:00) Grassroots Justice Network membership (13:00) AMT’s research project, Unlocking the Poverty Penalty and Upscaling the Respect for Rights in Kenya's Informal Settlements. (IDRC - 2020) (14:00) Mukuru Special Planning Area (SPA) (22:00) Jane’s UN Habitat lecture, “Too Pressed to Wait” (UN-HABITAT) (23:00) Muungano Alliance  (23:00) Kitchell, Erin. Grassroots Justice: Pathways to Systems Change, p. 36-41 (Grassroots Justice Network, 2024) (25:00) Understanding the Special Planning Area (SPA) and community participation organizing structure (Muungano wa Wanavijiji)  (27:00) Voices of community mobilizers - Christine Mwelu (Muungano wa Wanavijiji) (30:00) Mau Mau fighters and the Mau Mau Uprising (South Africa History Online) (31:00) The Mukuru People’s Manifesto (Ruben Centre - 2022)  (34:00) Access to education in Mukuru (Ruben Centre) (37:00) Kenyan githeri  (39:00) Muungano Youth - Tuungane (KYC.TV Official Video)

  5. 08/29/2024

    The Dance feat. ACIJ

    In Argentina’s dangerously polluted Matanza-Riachuelo River Basin,  informal settlement communities stand up against corporate and state powers, and fight for their rights to health and a home. Special thanks to Catalina Marino and ACIJ - the Civil Association for Equality and Justice in Argentina.  This episode was produced by Jackie Sofia and Poorvi Chitalkar.  A Common Pot: Stories and Recipes for Grassroots Justice is a production of Namati and the Grassroots Justice Network. Support for “A Common Pot” is provided by IDRC Canada. For a full transcript of this episode visit our website by clicking HERE. SHOW NOTES: “6 metas para villa inflamable” / “6 Goals for Villa Inflammable” (ACIJ - 2016) “LA VUELTA AL RÍO”/ “The Return to the River” (FARN documentary - 2014) Flammable: Environmental Suffering in an Argentine Shantytown (Javier Auyero And Debora Alejandra Swistun - 2012) (03:05) ACIJ, the Civil Association for Equality and Justice / Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia and the Right to the City program  (06:57)  Dr. Andrew Napoli, CELS-FARN-Greenpeace, Supreme Court of Argentina, Beatriz Silvia Mendoza and others v. National State of Argentina. July 2008.  (07:13) Dr. Jorge Mosset Iturraspe speaking on behalf of the plaintiff. Supreme Court of Argentina, Beatriz Silvia Mendoza and others v. National State of Argentina. July 2008.  (12:26) Translation: Cuerpo de Delegados (ES) / body of delegates (EN) (12:29) Translation: Cuenca (ES) / Basin (EN) (14:31) “Ciclo de Formación para Promotores Jurídicos de Villa Inflamable 2016” / “Training Cycle for Legal Promoters of Villa Inflamable 2016” (ACIJ)  (16:52) Claudia Espínola, community leader, Villa Inflamable  (17:48) Asunsulo, Carlos. Strengthening Environmental Justice through Legal Empowerment: Lessons on Participation, Organizing, and the Role of Women (Grassroots Justice Network - 2026) (20:55) “Buenos Aires: bringing public services to the 'invisible' slums” (The Guardian - 2015) (25:42) Javier Milei’s presidential victory announcement, BBC News (BBC News - November 2023) (26:02) Javier Milei: “la justicia social es violenta / social justice is violent” (La Nacion - February 2024) (28:54) Legal Empowerment: A Pathway to Strengthening and Amplifying Community Narratives (GJN - 2026) (29:33) The Grassroots Justice Network  (26:53) The World Bank investment into the Riachuelo System “mega project” (World Bank - September 2023) (31:58) “Justice from the Ground Up: Legal Empowerment in Action Across Latin America” (GJN)

Ratings & Reviews

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About

What does it look like when the power of law and the power of people come together? When we look at the global grassroots justice movement, we see innovative recipes for systems change. We see people and organizations pushing boundaries and finding ways to build community power despite growing authoritarianism. A Common Pot is a podcast where we explore stories and recipes for grassroots justice from around the world. Listen to real stories from grassroots justice advocates combining the power of law with community organizing, along with recipes that carry the flavor of the struggle itself.