the challengers
LIKE A COAT OF MANY COLORS, THESE INDIVIDUALS SHOWED THAT AGITATION TAKES MYRIAD FORMS. A RUNNER BROKE OLYMPIC PROTOCOL TO STAGE A SOLO PROTEST. A BUREAUCRAT SEARCHED FOR SOLUTIONS TO RELIGIOUS RADICALIZATION IN FRANCE’S PRISONS. IN SAUDI ARABIA, A WOMAN REGISTERED TO RUN FOR OFFICE; IN THE PHILIPPINES, A TRANSGENDER WOMAN WON AN ELECTION. IF STARTING A POLITICAL PARTY PREMISED ON SELF-DETERMINATION IN HONG KONG IS DARING, AND FACING DOWN A HOMOPHOBIC CATHOLIC CARDINAL IS BRAVE, THEN KINDLING A NATIONWIDE MOVEMENT AGAINST ZIMBABWE’S ROBERT MUGABE WITH A FACEBOOK VIDEO IS DOWNRIGHT REVOLUTIONARY.
Leila de Lima
SENATOR
PHILIPPINES
For standing up to an extremist leader.
Since taking office in June, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has waged a brutal war on drugs. Thousands of alleged traffickers, dealers, and users have been executed by state forces or pro-government vigilantes. In response, Sen. Leila de Lima has been a steadfast advocate for the rule of law. As the chair of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, she spearheaded an investigation into the extrajudicial killings—work that landed her firmly in Duterte’s crosshairs. The president’s loyalists accused de Lima of being involved in the drug trade and ousted her as head of the investigation in September. That didn’t silence her, though. She called on the United Nations to examine the violence, arguing that Manila isn’t
