Religion and after: Bangladeshi identity since 1971
Secularism was one of the cornerstones of Bengali nationalism, but its spirit was enforced only by pen and paper. How can demands to ban religion from politics be satisfied? The United Nations...
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North Korea and Trident: challenging the nuclear non-proliferation regime
As representatives of 189 governments meet to discuss strengthening the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Kim Jong-un and David...
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Chronicle of a lie foretold: or, how I failed to stop Spain’s rightwing press...
I replied to individual tweets with my concerns. But I have 50 followers; they had hundreds of thousands. I was like a cartoon character plugging holes in my boat as the water rose around my ankles.On...
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Algerians in London protest against shale gas and the lack of a national debate
Fracking has raised major concerns for its substantial use of water (particularly worrying for the Sahara) and for the potential leaking of these chemical substances into groundwater.Mr. Yousfi...
View ArticleTransparency International raises serious concerns about corruption in the UK
The creep of the market into almost all areas of public life has brought with it a steady and damaging growth in corruption. Both the media and the political class insist the UK is largely free of...
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How capitalism is turning the internet against democracy, and how to turn it...
As capitalist corporations have come to dominate the internet, is it possible to fulfil the genuine democratic potential of this technology within the context of the current economic crisis? A review...
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Nude protests and political contradictions
Femen’s April 4 protests in response to death threats against Tunisian nude blogger Amina Tyler have prompted much debate. How do we reconcile the need to defend free expression with the ambiguities...
View ArticleThe Egyptian opposition: from protestors to revolutionaries?
The failure to translate the momentum of the heady days of the January 2011 protests in Egypt into an effective revolutionary force is closely related to the organisational forms adopted by...
View ArticleTwenty years after the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence, what has changed?
The Institute of Race Relations examines racial violence in Britain since 1993.Twenty years ago today an 18 year old waiting for a bus with his friend was brutally murdered by a gang of white youths...
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Life on an Island
Russia may be a huge land mass, but Maksim Trudolyubov believes it is better to think of it as a pattern of islands, divided not by geography but by a host of other factors. Here he looks at the island...
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The battle for Golibar: urban splintering in Mumbai
The ‘Mumbai model’ of public-private partnerships in urban land and housing development is being adopted and piloted across India, and the world. So why has the ‘Mumbai model’ in Golibar provoked such...
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Italy's political situation: hubris and nemesis in slow motion
The concept of a "grand coalition" in Italy is unlikely to work due to a history of distrust between the two main parties, and the emergence of Beppe Grillo's Five Stars Movement as a considerable...
View ArticleTruly working-class politics in America
Government always claims they are protecting the downtrodden by monitoring the powerful, though nowadays through standards often written by the lobbyists of the powerful, which has a remarkable...
View ArticleDiasporic youth: untapped asset in rebuilding Somalia
There has been little consideration of the possible positive contributions of Somali youth from the diaspora. For the last two decades, Somalia has been widely known for famine, anarchy and piracy....
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Beyond Arab vs Berber: the rich complexities of Algerian identity should be...
In launching their war of independence in November 1954, Algerians emphatically rejected this divisive bait, presenting instead an unshakeably united front against French hegemony, and rejecting...
View ArticleThis week's window on the Middle East - April 22, 2013
Arab Awakening's columnists offer their weekly perspective on what is happening on the ground in the Middle East. Leading the week, Beyond Arab vs Berber: the rich complexities of Algerian identity...
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When politics strike back: the end of the Icelandic constitutional experiment?
A wave of enthusiasm took Icelanders through the 2012 referendum after the 2008 crash, once the widely-praised 'crowd-sourced' constitution appeared to be within reach. But Icelanders’ hopes seem to be...
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Plans for regional banks are a radical leap for Britain
A Labour MP sets out why his party's plan to establish a network of regional banks is a step towards a fundamental reshaping of the UK economy.Outside the banking sector and its critics, not everyone...
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Britain's 'tough choices': a call for a new approach to welfare
At the Citizens Advice Bureau the real Thatcher legacy can be seen every day: social disengagement, indifference and injustice. It is Thatcherism that needs burying. I wonder what each minute gun...
View ArticleChemical weapons, the Middle East, the UN Security Council and now, Syria
In a region with a long history of nuclear and chemical weapons, when is a red line a red line?Chemical weapons have played a major role in the modern history of the Middle East, and continue to do so....
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