Citizens International

30/07/2026

Tak Kenal Maka Tak Cinta.

For those who just started to find out more about us, here are a one page infographic that describes the works that we do.

Feel free to reach out to learn more or pitch any ideas for collaborations.

25/07/2026

Puisi yang menjentik jiwa, menyulam kasih, membina solidariti.

Malam membaca puisi kami anjurkan semalam di Rumah Mandiri bertemakan Kedamaian dan Kemanusiaan: Menolak Imperialisme dan Hegemoni.

Puisi-puisi yang dibacakan menyentuh pelbagai cerita dan eemosi

Pun demikian, kesemuanya bertaut di bawah satu aspirasi untuk mempertahankan kedamaian dan kemanusiaan, dari diruntuhkan sistem-sistem eksploitasi.

22/07/2026

𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐈𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄

𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐙𝐄𝐍𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐍𝐒 𝐔.𝐒. 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐍: 𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐀’𝐒 𝐒𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐍𝐎𝐍-𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐄

22nd July 2026

[KUALA LUMPUR] – Citizens International unequivocally condemns the recent threats issued by a group of United States lawmakers—including Greg Landsman, Josh Gottheimer, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz—who have demanded that Malaysia reverse its sovereign policy regarding Israeli citizens within a 15-day ultimatum.

These lawmakers have gone so far as to urge U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to consider punitive measures, including the suspension of International Military Education and Training (IMET) funding and a wholesale review of our bilateral security and economic relationship.

This demand is nothing short of unacceptable political intimidation and a direct affront to the fundamental principle of sovereign equality enshrined in the United Nations Charter. For many countries of the Global South, sovereignty is not a ceremonial title. Malaysia, as a sovereign nation, has the capacity to say no to the demands of the powerful, and to say yes only when a policy serves its own people.

21/07/2026

𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐀 & 𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐀 (𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐢 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐤𝐮𝐬𝐢 𝐁𝐮𝐤𝐮) - 𝐈𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐦 & 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐞( #𝟓)

Buat sesi diskusi buku seterusnya, kita akan membedah esei-esei pilihan karangan Syed Jamaluddin Al Afghani berkenaan dengan imperialisme. Ramai tidak tahu bahawa al Afghani antara tokoh terawal yang mengkritik fenomena imperialisme di peringkat global. Kritikan-kritikan beliau diajukan bersulamkan tradisi Islam yang menentang sebarang dominasi dan eksploitasi.

Jom ikut serta perbincangan ini bersama saudara Imran Mohd Rasid dan Nazhrin Faisal

📌 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦:
📅 Tarikh : 30 Julai 2026 (Khamis)
⏰ Masa : 5.30 PM - 7.00 PM
📍 Lokasi : Gerakbudaya, PJ

𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐏𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdzA4CsH129WTGJb-pmDLMHe1i_QKIeQffXu5jPrmil0KrodQ/viewform?usp=publish-editor

29/06/2026

Dear friends,

The video recording of our Webinar yesterday ( *Global South Webinar: Diplomacy of the Bully: Coercion, Ceasefire and the New Architecture* ) with Sara Larijani and Helen Yaffe is now available on YouTube! It was a very inspiring and informative discussion!

Feel free to share it around! Youtube link below ⬇️⬇️

We are living through a structural transformation in how powerful s...

26/06/2026

We are living through a structural transformation in how powerful states pursue their interests. The post-Cold War grammar of diplomacy — multilateral negotiations, international law, rules-based consensus — is increasingly being displaced by a rawer logic: compel, threaten, and reward on one’s own terms. This forum examines that transformation through the lens of the global south crisis.

With Iran, the pattern is even more acute. A sequence of failed negotiations, military strikes, and intermittent ceasefires mediated by Pakistan has produced a volatile, unresolved standoff over nuclear enrichment, freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the future of Iran’s regional posture. The US-Israeli military campaign of 2026, the assassination of senior Iranian figures, and a naval blockade have created a negotiating environment defined entirely by one-sided leverage — a textbook case of coercive diplomacy, with all its inherent instabilities.

Against this backdrop, the concept of ‘bully diplomacy’ deserves rigorous examination. Is coercion an effective path to durable peace? What happens to the rules-based international order when great powers operate purely through threat and reward? And what are the options — and obligations — of smaller and middle powers, regional actors, and civil society in such an environment?

📆 Date : 28 June 2026 (Sunday)
⏰ Time : 8:30 PM (Malaysia Time)
📍 Medium : Zoom Meeting

Registration can be done below 🔽
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/ztaL0m79TeKtoaskj5e9hA #/registration

17/06/2026

*Global South Forum Series: What to Make of The Global South Today? Charting Pathways in the Present Crisis*

Friends!

Citizens International wishes to invite you to join our next Global South Forum Series featuring Chee Yoke Ling (Executive Director of Third World Network) and Nurul Izzah Anwar (Executive Chairperson of Polity). The forum shall be discussing the historical traditions and movements that shaped the Global South agenda, as well as examining the challenges it faces today.

📌 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬:
📅 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 21st June 2026 (Sunday)
⏰ 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞: 9.30 AM - 11.30 AM
📍 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞: Bayang Coffee TTDI

*Registration Link:* https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScsODubFVp3zthtlOqC-sC_DuRI-FL9pRpcQ3bf8wr-YYf0IQ/viewform?usp=dialog

** Seats are limited, so please register ASAP to reserve your seats!

Citizens International is an action-based NGO in George Town, Penang. We are committed to peaceful co-existence and global cooperation, addressing global disparities and injustices, and promoting inclusive multilateralism for a sustainable planet.

15/05/2026

𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: "𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲: 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫." (𝐋𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟 𝐉𝐨𝐦𝐨 𝐊𝐒)

Dear friends,

Citizens International wish to extend the invitation to you to join our Global South Lecture Series delivered by Prof. Jomo Kwame Sundaram, titled “ _What is at Stake in a Fragmented World Today: Rethinking Peace, Imperialism, and the Global Disorder_ ”. This session will be joined by two esteemed discussants: Dr. Farwa Sial (IDEAs) and Dr. Sh Fatimah Alzahrah (IIUM).

This lecture seeks to discuss how imperial competition deepens inequalities and normalizes militarism, thereby threatening global peace as rival powers are now actively reshaping the world order through coercion and spheres of influence.

Details of the event are as follows:

📌 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬:
📅 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 21st May 2026 (Thursday)
⏰ 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞: 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. (KL Time)
📍 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞: Senate Hall, Level 5, Muhammad Abdur Rauf Building, IIUM Gombak, Kuala Lumpur

*Registration Link:*
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeJMp5m1B_iX4S5M4Lt_6yTQuy8ZIzTjxF21RfROhxEYzu4lQ/viewform?usp=header

Please share it around, and we hope to see you soon!

Best wishes,
Citizens International

15/05/2026

𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐞𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: 𝐍𝐞𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐁𝐲 𝐃𝐫 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐳

Friends! We would like to invite all of you to join our Global South Webinar Series featuring important scholars in the International Relations (IR) world.

This session will feature Dr. Pascal Lottaz, leading researcher in Neutrality studies as the speaker, and Dr. Munirah Alatas, another important thinker in Global IR and Higher Education, as the discussant.

𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: Neutrality in international relations is often assumed to be a passive Western concept. However, the underlying logic of third-parties distancing themselves from the conflicts of others is neither Western in origin nor passive statecraft. From Kautilya's political treatises in ancient India to the nonalignment movement's deliberate rejection of Cold War bloc politics, non-Western traditions have long grappled with the same fundamental predicaments: how to remain outside the conflicts of others without surrendering political agency.

This talk disentangles the historically Western layers of neutrality—its legal codification and European institutional form—from the universal social dynamic that underpins all neutral-belligerent relationships, arguing that nonalignment represents not a deviation but its most consequential global expression with very important implications for the multipolar future.

Date: Monday, 25th May 2026
Time: 2.00 PM KL/Singapore | 3.00 PM Kyoto | 7.00 AM Istanbul | 11.30 AM Delhi

𝐙𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/dkQ8B0W2TcuDkRYF0KxIrA #/registration

Co-organised with School of Islamic Thought & Komuniti Bedah Buku