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Who’s afraid of the diplomatic dwarf?
A name-slinging diplomatic quarrel has erupted between Brazil and Israel over the Gaza war. But does Brazil really have the clout or track record to weigh in on international human rights issues? Among...
View ArticleBusiness & human rights standards fail indigenous peoples in Bolivia & Chile
Many international standards require business to consult with indigenous groups regarding major infrastructure and mining projects, but recent research in Bolivia and Chile shows too few do, and...
View ArticleDishonourable tv fiction: ‘The Honourable Woman’, BBC 2
The risible notion of balance, a smokescreen for privileging the Zionist narrative, has been taken to extremes in the BBC’s treatment.Where to start with a critique of this series? With the finale...
View ArticleThe BBC and the Scottish referendum
Lord Birt suggests a yes vote in Scotland would be a threat to the BBC. It needn't be.With less than a month to the vote on independence, it seems an odd moment for the BBC’s former Director-General,...
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When marches aren't news, and media stunts fail
The strategic step to convert people and energy on the streets into material gains for Palestinians is never taken, replaced with the easier 'raise even more awareness'.Thousands of people march in...
View ArticleLiberal Democrats health policy: who is the rebel?
Lib Dem supporters of the NHS have come up with simple, radical suggestions for saving it from privatisation. But the party leadership is trying to suppress their recommendations.Traditional Labour...
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Review: Serhii Plokhy, 'The Last Empire'
When the Soviet Empire collapsed, Ukraine was the key. For those of us who were there at the time, it is sometimes disconcerting to follow the rise and fall of new interpretations and old myths about...
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@FuckingPutin
The rhetoric of hatred describing the situation in Ukraine misses the point – Ukraine has problems that are not derived from Russia or the Putin presidency.Slowly, the Ukrainian government’s...
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The Governorate of Homs: the Islamic State’s new fiefdom?
The Islamic State (IS), has been able to assert its dominance over wide areas of Iraq and Syria. The Province of Homs is particularly interesting, because the IS is expanding there, but has been unable...
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The BRICS and Gaza
Where do the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries stand in relation to the current conflict in Gaza? How do they compare to the dominant external power in the region, the US?...
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Collective memory, collective trauma, collective hatred
Trauma runs through the narratives of both Israelis and Palestinians in the form of the Holocaust and the Nakba. But in order to rationalize their moral superiority, both sides actively deny the...
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Rome’s rebel lake is a parable of the contemporary commons
Earlier this summer activists in Rome won the right to self-manage a vast lake in the city’s capital, effectively expropriating a private company from prime real estate. From marches and public debates...
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The power of stories: raising the profile of African women’s cultural production
"I’m concerned about the fact that we download a lot about ourselves yet upload very little into mainstream media, no matter which media we are talking about”, Sandra Mbanefo Obiago, Nigerian filmmaker...
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Is Piketty right, is growing inequality inevitable?
Reducing inequality is a complex task and will required a broad mix of reducing unemployment, increasing manufacturing jobs, lowering debt and cracking down on tax avoidance.image: wikimediaProfessor...
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Nationalism: a war over a word
A vote for independence may be the right or wrong answer for Scotland. What it won’t be is a vote for ‘nationalism’. New Statesman cartoon by Dan Murell, 4/6/14From the Oxford English Dictionary:1....
View ArticleThe truth behind the "Turkish model"
Contrary to received wisdom, the “Turkish model” was not based on the entrepreneurial potential of emerging conservative businessmen of Anatolia nurtured by market reforms and the Islamic outlook of...
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Human rights and its inherent liberal relativism
Liberal relativism that celebrates civil and political rights is a neo-colonial construct which should be understood as such. What we see is really competing relativisms prioritised by the whims of...
View ArticleTwo killings, two videos–and a double standard
The world now knows the name of James Foley, the US journalist brutally murdered by Islamic State. Rather fewer have heard of Kajieme Powell, also a US citizen—also now dead.Like a great many other...
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The refugee 'burden'
Refugees are often labeled a 'burden' by their host countries. This label is inaccurate and misleading. We must bring to light the benefits of refugees to their host communities.Students at school at...
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Authoritarianism on the rise: the War on Drugs and Mexican democracy
With no end in sight for the War on Drugs, the Mexican government will only further restrict civil liberties and endow the military with unchecked powers. The collapse of liberal democratic values...
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