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The Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF) are a paramilitary organisation which fights for the independence of Ambazonia. Ambazonia is a self-proclaimed independent state in the Southern Cameroons. The ADF is fighting since the 9th of September 2017 — the same day that the Ambazonian separatists declared independence. The Southern Cameroons refer to the Anglophone regions of Cameroon, mostly located in the south of the nation. Most separatist groups within the region have gone to war against regional forces, yet the ADF has declared war against the Cameroonian national government as a whole (as well as its forces). The group’s only official political ideology is Ambazonian Nationalism. Moreover, the ADF is allied with the Indigenous People of Biafra. In June 2018, the ADF has claimed to have 1500 soldiers fighting for Ambazonian independence. Moreover, the Cameroonian government has officially admitted its weakness in fighting the Ambazonian guerrillas outside of the main cities within the Southern Cameroons. This is most likely because of the poor infrastructure which is familiar to the guerrillas. Since the beginning of the war in 2017, there have been thousands of casualties and around half a million internally-displaced people. In 2019, the ADF entered a formal dialogue with the Cameroonian national government. These talks led to a the Anglophone regions gaining a special, partly-autonomous status. However, this has not stopped the war; in 2020, extreme escalations of the conflict took place when the national government sent more troops to the region and the ADF became more politically organised. The ADF’s approach to resistance is very similar to that of a typical guerrilla group. The ADF’s main attacks against national forces take place through rapid hit-and-run offensives, surprise ambushes, as well as raids. NOTE: This article will be updated soon.

Collaboration with Meridian News Just yesterday in Ecuador, the federal government and the CONAIE found an agreement in order to end the 18-day long violence-filled riots. These agreements have marked the start of a 90-day dialogue between both parties. The recent protests have led to the death of 4 people due to clashes between police and protestors and have frozen the country’s domestic affairs. The CONAIE is the largest and most influential indigenous rights organisation in Ecuador. The confederation represents 14 native populations and pursues social justice and social change through the advocation of indigenous rights. Unlike some other emancipation groups, however, the CONAIE has a history of using direct action and popular uprisings to pressure the federal government. CONAIE is renowned for its blockades of commercial infrastructure and its seizures of government buildings. On more political grounds, CONAIE proclaims in favour of the recuperation of land rights, environmental sustainability, and a strict opposition to neoliberal ideology — particularly a fierce rejection of US military involvement in South America. The recent protests have risen due to deals made between the Ecuadorian government and polluting transnational corporations. CONAIE’s current discussions with the government seek reductions in oil prices, as well as the closing of oil and mining projects within protected lands. The Ecuadorian government is facing extreme pressure as its oil production continues to be stalled by the confederation. NOTE: This article will be updated soon.

The Western Sahara remains one of the most disputed territories around the world, with Moroccan authority being challenged by the Al-Sahrawi People. Morocco has long claimed the territory as its own on constitutional grounds, yet global recognition over the Western Sahara remains ambiguous. The Polisario Front is the group of resistance fighters formed by the Al-Sahrawi people to fend off Moroccan forces. Historically, the Polisario Front was formed in order to liberate the Western Sahara from Spanish colonial rule. When Spain had left West Africa, however, it offered the Western Sahara to be partitioned by Mauritania and Morocco. Despite liberating the territory from Mauritania in 1979, the Polisario Front has been in a stalemate with Moroccan forces since the 1991 UN ceasefire. Just two years ago in 2020, however, the Polisario declared the ceasefire as over and outdated. Armed conflict between Moroccan forces and the Polisario Front has since resumed. The Western Saharan question is one of the most ignored geopolitical conflicts globally. Although the United Nations has emphasised the Sahrawi people's right to self-determination, it has not truly enforced this right. In fact, it remains illegal for the Sahrawi people to cross the Berm Line (a large sand-made border between Moroccan-occupied land and the Sahrawi people's land). It is also illegal for the Western Saharan flag to be waved in the occupied territory. What remains of the Sahrawi-claimed land is relatively unstable. Humanitarian aid is scarce and the outstanding majority of the Sahrawi people live in refugee camps. The headquarters of the Polisario Front are located in similar refugee camps in the Tindouf Province of neighbouring Algeria. All in all, the Western Sahara has often remained ignored and isolated by the international community.

The Libyan National Army is a component of Libya's national military forces which are under the command of Khalifa Haftar. The LNA is based in Tobruk and opposes the GNA (the internationally-recognised government of Libya). Moreover, this insurgency is backed by Egypt, France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, mainly due to its strong stance against the Muslim Brotherhood. The LNA’s commander — Haftar — was nominated as the commander of the LNA by the House of Representatives of Libya. Haftar is a heavily authoritarian figure that also despises the sharing of power, a factor which leads to speculation by numerous political scientists that the LNA is seeking dictatorship. The current situation in Libya has led to a severe internal conflict between the LNA and the GNA. The United Nation’s direct support and involvement in the creation of the GNA often leads to the classification of the LNA as “illegitimate”. In 2019, the LNA’s army was composed of around 7,000 regular Libyan soldiers, as well as around 18,000 Salafist militias, Sudanese, Chadian, and Russian mercenaries. The LNA’s army even has its own airforce as most members of the original Libyan airforce and navy have remained loyal to the GNA. The LNA’s approach to resistance involves direct confrontation with the GNA forces. However, the LNA was also heavily involved in the Libyan regime change, as many of its initial founders were involved with the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. In 2016, the LNA also replaced elected municipal councils, elected mayors, and have even allegedly kidnapped Seham Sergiwa (a member of the House of Representatives), despite denying this. NOTE: This article will be updated soon.

The Women Democratic Front (WDF) is a socialist-feminist political protest organisation which is based in Pakistan. The WDF seeks to unite women in Pakistan and help them revolt to what they view as sexist and systematic oppression. It aims to do so by building a socialist-affiliated feminist movement strongly opposed to capitalism, patriarchy, religious fascism, and authoritarianism. The WDF was created on International Women's Day in 2018 after a large number of students, working women, intellectuals and political activists gathered and participated in the Aurat Azadi March. The WDF esteems that Pakistan is a country filled with systematic sexism — a form of oppression which they claim finds its roots in the country’s division genders and mass exploitation of the working class. The group consequently vows to continue its struggle until Pakistan emancipates women to the largest extent and until its government prioritises societal development. The WDF — being a legitimate political protest organisation — has four national units. These units are located in Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provinces. As a result, most of the women allied to the movement are from these regions. Interestingly, the WDF’s unit in the Kashmir region remains unrecognised due to the disputed nature of the territory. This has made it significantly more difficult for women in the region to protest for their emancipation. Despite its radical stances and political views, the WDF is a peaceful protest organisation and has no record of violence or rioting. As stated in the Front’s manifesto, this willingness to remain peaceful during its protests comes from the group’s prioritisation of democracy and legitimate political action. NOTE: This article will be updated soon.

The Free Republic of Liberland, referred to casually as Liberland, is an unrecognised micronation which claims an uninhabited and disputed territory of 7 km2 (2.7 square miles) on the western bank of the Danube, between Croatia and Serbia. The sovereignty movement began in April 2015 and is continuing to this day under the leadership of Vít Jedlička — a Czech right-libertarian politician. Liberland’s official website highlights that the micronation was birthed after the Croatian-Serbian border dispute. Jedlička emphasises that this dispute led to a legal loophole which left a small parcel of land west of the Danube river unclaimed by either country. This unclaimed territory was then claimed by Jedlička in the name of Liberland under the Terra Nullius doctrine. As aforementioned, the Liberlandian territory only spans a small 7 kilometres square, making it approximately the same size as Gibraltar. Not a single country in the world recognises Liberland and — internally — it is almost completely undeveloped. The micronation has a population of 0 people (as even Jedlička doesn’t live in Liberland, despite being its self-proclaimed president). Interestingly, the currency of the micronation is the Liberland Merit — a cryptocurrency. In 2015, 30 people signed up for Liberlandian citizenship on the micronation’s website, yet none of them managed to enter the territory as they were initially detained by Croatian police officers. These people were later on also denied by Serbian fishermen who refused to take them across the Danube by boat. Crazily enough, Liberland received 200 thousand citizenship applications in a single week in 2015, during the European refugee crisis. The vast majority of these applicants were Libyan and Syrian individuals. This motivated Jedlička to host a Liberlandian recruitment programme in Istanbul that same year. Evidently, numerous journalists and reporters who have covered the Liberlandian cause esteem that Jedlička is simply conducting a publicity stunt and that his claims are not genuine. However, the micronation’s self-proclaimed leader re-assured that he was very serious about his motives and that he esteemed Liberland to be the ultimate example of ‘peak libertarianism’. NOTE: This article will be updated soon.

The Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP) is a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group active since March 2008 in Paraguay. Nonetheless, the EPP’s political struggle traces back to the 1990s, where its members served as the armed wing of the leftist political party Patria Libre. The EPP is active in northeastern Paraguay and its members are trained by other regional guerrilla groups, one of which is the FARC. The EPP’s ideology is very far-left oriented. The group seeks to overthrow the Paraguayan government and establish a de facto socialist state. The overall revolutionary socialist motives of the EPP are guided by Guevarist principles and Foco theory. In essence, the EPP considers the past Paraguayan governments (those or Fernando Lugo and Nicanor Frutos) to have implemented an oligarchical system which led to social alienation and harmed the agrarian sector. These objectives and core motivations have made the Paraguayan government classify the group as a terrorist organisation. However, numerous Paraguayan analysts claim that the EPP is widely popular amongst the country’s poorer social classes as their respective populations feel that they’ve been abandoned by their state. In fact and as Galeani Perrone (former Paraguayan minister) states, the EPP’s members are often seen as the Paraguayan “Robin Hoods” as they redistribute wealth. The EPP’s approach to resistance is almost identical to that of other South American guerrilla groups. Essentially, the EPP targets businessmen, bankers, and even ranchers and has conducted numerous kidnappings and expropriations thereof. The EPP has also orchestrated armed attacks where they conducted arson attacks, bombings, and shootings. NOTE: This article will be updated soon.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is one of the largest and most influential militant groups in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The group is active since 2004 and directly opposes the national Nigerian army, some other militant groups in the region, and two oil and gas corporations (ExxonMobil and Chevron). The MEND seeks to increase the self-reliance of the Niger Delta region and utilises guerrilla tactics. The MEND’s main objective is to crack down the oil production in the region of the Niger Delta and to punish those who exploit and oppress the regional population. The MEND declares that its motivations are fuelled by the degradation of the natural environment — which they claim has resulted from collaboration between oil and gas corporations and the Nigerian government. The MEND (a group mainly composed of Izon ethnic fighters) accuses the Nigerian government and all oil corporations around the world to be enabling economic inequality, mass-scale fraud, and ecocide. The MEND’s guerrilla tactics have been observed to be significantly more advanced than those employed by other militant groups in the Niger Delta. One of the reasons for the group’s advanced abilities involves its access to technology. For instance, the MEND uses speed boats to navigate the swamps and streams and even utilises improved and upgraded firearms. These factors — along with successful guerrilla strategies — have enabled the MEND to out-power its opponents. Oil corporation Shell’s private military (which is Western-trained), for example, has fallen numerous times to MEND ambushes. The MEND’s approach to resistance includes kidnappings of oil workers (done in order to receive ransoms), armed assaults on oil production plants, the murder of Nigerian police officers, and the destruction of oil pipelines. Controversially, the MEND has also drained oil supplies and resold it on the black market — an approach considered to be hypocritical by the general Nigerian population. The militant group has repeatedly bombed pipelines, triggering an international increase in the cost of oil. NOTE: This article will be updated soon.

The ‘Comité Régional d'Action Viticole’ (CRAV) is a French militant group for wine producers. The group was formed in 1970 and is primarily active in the southern region of Languedoc-Roussillon. CRAV esteems the region has been plagued by surplus production and that wine producers have become disadvantaged. The insurgency is responsible for numerous attacks in the region which involved dynamiting grocery stores and wineries, or even burning cars. Ideologically, the CRAV seeks to pressure the government to adapt the quality and the quantity of wine production to changing market realities. Essentially, the group seeks to make the government acknowledge and react to the falling domestic, daily demand for French wine. The CARV emphasises that this impact on the French wine market has been caused by the European Union’s subsidies, which have negatively influenced smaller producers. Amongst the other workers’ protest organisations in France, CRAV is the most violent. CRAV's official political demands include elements which are considered impossible to French politicians due to the European Union’s rules; many of the group’s demands would require interference with a single market (the wine market), as well as introducing restrictive tariffs against the rising imports of Spanish and Italian wine. The insurgency has orchestrated numerous attacks (primarily throughout the southern region of Languedoc-Roussillon), such as dynamiting grocery stores, wineries, the agriculture ministry offices of two cities, burning a car in another city, hijacking a tanker, and destroying large quantities of non-French wine. Moreover, the French manager for the E. & J. Gallo Winery in California has reported that he — along with his sales staff — have been physically assaulted by alleged members of the CARV. In May 2007, the group also released a video where spokesmen threatened that “blood would flow” if President Sarkozy failed to rise the price of foreign wine. NOTE: This article will be updated soon.

The Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) is the armed separatist movement in the Casamance region of Senegal. The MFDC was founded as a body of resistance in 1947 and is centred around the Jola people. The ‘Atika’ armed wing of the MDFC, however, only began fighting for the independence of the Casamance region in 1982. Guinea Bissau’s former president, João Bernardo Vieira, supported the MFDC and was one of the group’s main supporters until he was overthrown in 1999. The Senegalese government and the MFDC signed a cease-fire agreement on the 31st of May 1991. Nevertheless, separatist violence escalated in the Casamance province and this forced the government to send back the troops which had initially been withdrawn following the aforementioned ceasefire. The military response by the Senegalese national forces resulted in the death of 500 people and led to around 25,000 refugees: 10,000 internationally displaced people and 15,000 refugees in Guinea Bissau. The MFDC was actively backed by the government of Guinea-Bissau under João Bernardo Vieira presidency. This backing stopped when the latter was overthrown in 1999. Evidently, Guinea-Bissau’s backing of the insurgency sparked regional tension with Senegal. Interestingly, the MFDC is divided into two ‘resistance fronts’ which combat for different objectives; the Southern Front (‘Front Sud’) became a predominantly Diola organisation which fights for secession and full independence. The Northern Front (‘Front Nord’), in contrast, serves as an alliance of several peoples (Diola and non-Diola) who are willing to settle for less than independence and who are open to negotiation under the terms of the 1991 agreement. Negotiation remains difficult as the MFDC is spread in three countries (Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, and the Gambia). NOTE: This article will be updated soon.

The People's Mojahiden Organization of Iran (MEK) is an Iranian political-militant organisation which advocates in favour of the overthrow of Iran’s current government. The MEK — also known as the PMOI or MKO — wishes to install its own government guided by its revolutionary interpretation of Islam; an interpretation which does not align with the conservative Islam of the traditional clergy. The MEK is Iran's largest and most influential political opposition. It was founded in September 1964 by leftist Iranian students which were involved in the Freedom Movement of Iran — a movement opposing the US-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The MEK entered armed confrontation with the Pahlavi dynasty in the 1970s and was one of the mort active contributors to the overthrow of the Shah during the Iranian Revolution. Ideologically, the MEK pursues the establishment of a democracy in Iran and gains popularity by primarily appealing to the Iranian middle class. In 1981, Iranian authorities banned the MEK and started a major suppression campaign against the group's members as well as its supporters and followers. This has since caused the MEK to become an underground rebel organisation. For instance, the MEK’s orchestration of the June 1981 Iranian protests were followed by the government’s arrest and execution of numerous MEK protestors and sympathisers. The MEK conducted numerous attacks in Iran in retaliation to what they viewed as a breach of civil and human rights by the Iranian regime. These attacks classified the group as a terror organisation in the eyes of the EU, the US, Canada, and Japan. In 2003, the MEK signed a ceasefire with the US, gave up its arms, and became a major source for claims and information about Iran’s nuclear program. This has made the aforementioned parties remove the terrorist classification from the MEK after 2009. Contemporarily, only Iraq and Iran classify the MEK as a terror organisation. NOTE: This article will be updated soon.

The East Turkestan Liberation Organization (ETLO) was a secessionist Uyghur organisation which fought and protested for an independent Uyghur state. This movement attempted to form a state named East Turkestan in the Western Chinese province, Xinjiang, where the Uyghur population is prominent. The organisation was founder in the early 1990s in Turkey, where it was safe to speak out and fight against the Chinese government. Contemporarily, the ETLO is designated as a terrorist organization by the governments of China, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. However, the ETLO has undergone several structural changes since 2006 and is now known as the ETIP. The ETLO’s is ideologically affiliated to Uyghur nationalism, Islamism, and Turanism. In December 2003, the Chinese government issued a list of terrorist organisations affiliated to East Turkestan. The ETLO was named inside of this list amongst the ETIM, WUYC, and the ETIC. These counter-separatist measures by the Chinese government have been criticised worldwide, particularly in recent years, as the general public disapproves of China’s systematic repression against the Uyghur population. The ETLO’s approach to resistance has involved both peaceful protests as well as alleged acts of fierce retaliation. In 1998, for instance, the ETLO’s members were accused by the Chinese government of orchestrating 15 acts of arson. In 1999, moreover, Turkish police arrested 10 members of the organisation for a series of violent attacks on Chinese individuals in Türkiye. NOTE: This article will be updated soon.