Rethinking Political Violence Through African Urban Spaces: Activist Experiences from the DRC

As part of the conference, this keynote will be delivered by Fred Bauma, a leading figure of the Congolese citizen movement LUCHA and the Executive Director of Ebuteli. Today, he stands as one of the most influential voices on issues of democracy, governance, and citizen mobilisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A former prisoner of conscience, human rights defender, and political analyst, he works to strengthen African social movements and everyday democratic practices.

In this keynote lecture, he offers a reflection grounded in his activist experience: how Congolese urban spaces — their dynamics, constraints, and potentialities — reshape forms of political violence, while also reconfiguring modes of action, resistance, and citizen solidarity.