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This week's window on the Middle East - February 4, 2013
Arab Awakening's columnists offer their weekly perspective on what is happening on the ground in the Middle East. Leading the week: I can’t believe it’s not Qatar!: addressing the Brotherhood’s other...
View ArticlePaths to change: peaceful vs violent
The diverse experiences of the Arab spring renew the question of whether non-violent movements are more effective than armed struggle in achieving the overthrow of authoritarian regimes, says Martin...
View ArticleCameron opens Europe’s Pandora’s box
As the dust settles on David Cameron's speech, what real impact has it had? Despite being met with scepticism throughout Europe, it has above all highlighted the need for an open discussion on the EU...
View ArticleDouble Bind: tied up in knots on the left
Instead of sanitizing the Muslim right as a way of fighting racism in the North, Meredith Tax argues that the left should develop a strategy of solidarity with democrats, trade unionists, religious and...
View ArticleOur youth justice system's fatal flaw: it is harming children
Child suicides, staff assaults on children (often legally sanctioned). . . children are plainly not safe in the youth justice system of England and Wales.Behind the veil of good news headlines being...
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The European radical left and the international economic crisis: opportunity...
Has the European radical left missed an unique opportunity to advance its ideas and political weight in the wake of the global economic meltdown?At the Syriza polling center during the May 2012 Greek...
View ArticleSyria's activists: politics of anger
The hopes of Syria's opposition for external support are turning into bitter suspicion of the west's real motives in refusing to intervene in the war, says Vicken Cheterian.Amer Matar is a Syrian...
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The sneak attack on Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information Act is an essential tool for the British people to hold authority to account. The Coalition's new proposals will erode its powers, expose the NHS still further and deliver an...
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Women in the US military – uncomfortable power
Last week saw the lifting of the ban on women in combat in the US military. How will this change the dynamics within and perceptions of the American military, and will it help reduce the current...
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A European Spoon River: migrants without names, without voices and without...
As economic logic supplants all other considerations in crisis-ridden Europe, the plight of immigrants who knock on the doors of Fortress Europe becomes inextricable, often ending with tragic...
View ArticleMedicine as a weapon of war in Syria
With international humanitarian access and staff limited by the Assad government, liberated areas see not only deteriorating conditions but also new roles for Syrians outside and inside the country...
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In memoriam Valery Abramkin, Russia's prison reformer
Celebrated Russian activist Valery Abramkin has died aged 66. Here we republish extracts from a lecture delivered in 2006, which contains many fascinating insights into the rules of behaviour,...
View ArticleThe SWISH Report (22)
The multiple fronts of an evolving war - from Yemen to Mali, Syria to Nigeria - have led al-Qaida to commission its chosen management consultants to assess its progress. openDemocracy again has...
View ArticleA New Levant: a possible way through in the Syrian crisis
War is not the only solution. Iranian flexibility and political creativity in Syria, and Saudi flexibility as well as political creativity in Iraq, could offer a way through.The “civil war” appears to...
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Of power and democracy: the rise and fall of Mario Monti
In November 2011, Mario Monti, an academic and former European Commissioner, was seen as the providential man to save Italy from its troubles. Now, only one year and a few months later, he is trailing...
View ArticleThe enemy within: the new antagonists in Hollywood
There has been little ambiguity in Hollywood movies over the years as to who the bad guys are. But there has been a paradigm shift inr recent years - the threat is now found within our midst. The great...
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Health and a fair society: prevention rather than cure
Britain's population is growing and ageing, yet funding for the National Health Service has stagnated for the first time since its birth. A large scale shift is needed, moving from cure to prevention,...
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Would democratic change in Russia transform its foreign policy?
The incompatibility of an anachronistic and arbitrary regime with the modern world is leading many to consider that democratic change is possible — likely even — in Russia. But those expecting that a...
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Social democracy must radicalise to survive
Social democracy is at an impasse, bereft of an economic programme, but history is on the march. Democratic wealth-holding can give social democrats a new set of economic institutions and political...
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An apparition: extraditing Victor Jara’s suspected killer
The struggle to bring one of the protest singer’s suspected killers from the USA back to his native Chile will remind Chileans of the struggle to extradite and try Pinochet himself. And while Jara’s...
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