By Gurnam Singh | Opinion |
As we move into 2026, the weight of the past year sits heavily on our hearts. We have continued to despair at unfolding tragedies in Gaza, Ukraine, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar, and the devastating loss of innocent lives, especially women and children.
On a personal level, as someone who remains proud of his Panjabi heritage, I continue to despair at the plight of the Panjabi people for whom climate change is not a future projection but a present reality. They face a paradox of extremes. Whether drowning in excess or parched by drought, the people of Panjab are living at the epicentre of a global environmental collapse that their local infrastructure is no longer equipped to handle. And if that was not enough on a daily basis, they are having to defend themselves against the ongoing violences of the Far-Right Hindutva Nationalist India state.
As if this were not enough, the global political climate has continued to drift further towards the extreme right, consolidating hateful narratives of exclusion and othering. In my writing over the past year, whether blogs, academic work or social media, I have consistently challenged the dangerous and largely false claims deployed in the right-wing rhetoric against migrants and asylum seekers. I have also maintained a laser focus on those who promote hate behind the smokescreen of religion.
Yet amidst the darkness, there have been powerful reminders of hope, from small and large acts of courage. One that stands out for me the case Ahoo Daryaei and the struggle for bodily autonomy that began in 2024 but reached a peak in 2025. This was following an extraordinary act of individual courage by Ahoo Daryaei, a doctoral student in French literature at Islamic Azad University, in Tehran. After being harassed by campus security for her choice of dress, Daryaei stripped to her undergarments and walked through the university grounds in a silent, powerful protest against the mandatory hijab laws. This act reignited the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement and despite the government opening the absurdly termed “Anti-Unveiling Clinics” to pathologise dissent as a mental health issue, women across Iran continue to appear in public without headscarves.
Another highlight of 2025 for me was the opportunity to participate in the Global Interfaith Commission, GIC+ project: religious leadership and LGBTQ+ rights, held at Regent’s Park College, Oxford in June 2025. I had the great honour of spending a whole week with esteemed scholars, theologians, people of all faiths, politicians and activists all focussing on how we can expand the project of human rights and dignity to all oppressed people with a specific focus on those fellow human beings who, because of their sexuality, face all kinds of personal, professional, cultural and institutional oppression. More than anything else, it reminded my that true human rights are not about protecting the rights of those who you agree with, but also of those who you might disagree with.
On a deeply personal level, related to issue of human rights, another defining moment of 2025 was the commemoration of the 350th anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, the 9th Guru of the Sikhs who was publicly executed on the orders of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb on November 11, 1675, in Delhi, for refusing to convert to Islam and for defending the religious freedom of non-Muslims. Remembered as the ‘Protector of Humanity’, his sacrifice embodies principles that would later resonate with French and American revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity. The famous phrase, “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” wrongly attributed to French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, penned by his biographer, Evelyn Beatrice Hall in 1906, finds its embodied manifestation in Guru Tegh Bahadurs sacrifice over 250 years earlier.
My hope for 2026 is simple. Under threat from the rightward political shift across the world and the unleashing of all kinds of extremism’s, be they religious, ethnic or national, we must reaffirm our belief that there is only one race, that is the human race. This means refusing to look away from injustice and confronting oppressive ideas, policies and practices. It means confronting the corrosive phenomena of ‘cancel culture’ and, following the lead of Guru Ted Bahadur Ji, this means defending the right to dissent, to alternative lifestyles and beliefs, and engaging with those with whom we disagree with humility, courage, evidence and thoughtfulness.
Gurnam Singh is an academic activist dedicated to human rights, liberty, equality, social and environmental justice. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Warwick, UK. He can be contacted at Gurnam.singh.1@warwick.ac.uk
* This is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.
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