Chile's coup: the perspective of forty years
The military seizure of power in Chile on 11 September 1973 continues to influence the country's politics, and its reverberations around the world were also to last for decades. Alan Angell, a...
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Romanian spring or Carpathian autumn?
After more than a decade, the fight to save Rosia Montana has entered its final phase. It would be an incredible lack of responsibility if the government and parliament went forward with the mining...
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The hypocrisy of the badger cull
The badger cull seeks the reduction of tuberculosis in our farmers' livestock, but are badgers the real cause of this epidemic, or just the scapegoats for an ill-informed policy? Flickr/David Clare....
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The challenge and usefulness of R2P in the Syrian context
Syria shows the difficulty of translating Responsibility to Protect (R2P) into action, but we must if R2P is to be more than a fancy acronym. But any military intervention must be linked to dialogue...
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On my holiday: the heroes of the Highlands (including the other David Cameron)
The side of this story which you hear less often is that the communities across the Highlands did what people do when they are oppressed. They organised.Adam and friends on the beach overlooking...
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Community action against property markets
Dan Strange's cartoon is a bold image of transformation through community action. It is a response to Jane McAlevey's article Organizing as whole people. Credit: Dan Strange. All rights reserved. Click...
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A monstrous right royal carbuncle
Vernon Bogdanor would have us believe that the Prince of Wales’s “controversial” meddling in public policy is a good thing. But Prince Charles’s interventions and lobbying activities demean our...
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Drugs: a war lost and a way forward
A former Deputy Chief of the LAPD explains how prohibition has failed again, and offers 10 concrete ways of improving US drug policing.“Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance....
View ArticleLebanon at breaking point
Two out of three Lebanese believe that the conflict in Syria could lead to a new civil war in Lebanon. For many, the question is not if there is going to be a war or not, but when it is going to break...
View ArticleWhat do Syrians eat? Food and the war economy
The long-run viability of Syria will depend on economic recovery, it will not be decided by military victory on whichever side.After chemical attacks and expectations of US intervention, analysis of...
View ArticleWho wants democracy in Egypt? Many!
Barbara Zollner asks: Who wants democracy in Egypt?, as there are increasingly obvious signs that democracy is in retreat in the country. However, the answer is still simple: many. The question is more...
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Belarusian Warsaw – ghetto or gilded cage?
For twenty years, Alexander Lukashenko, president of Belarus, has ruled with an iron hand, and ruined the economy; and still there is no sign of the screws loosening. Meanwhile, as Annabelle Chapman...
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Not working enough? The morality of work in contemporary politics
As Iain Duncan Smith blames the low paid for their poverty, is the left falling into the trap of embracing the ethic of the workhouse? Do we work too hard? - Flickr/Tahir Hashmi The Department for Work...
View ArticleWhose “Mission”? Celebrities, voice and refugees
A new Italian reality TV show is sending celebrities to refugee camps, but for refugees to be able to speak for themselves and convey the message they want to convey, the cameras must be given to...
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Idealism and politics: the case of Uruguay
What makes Uruguay different, is that apparently utopian dreams are being implemented - not in half-measures but fully, openly and with the participation of the people. José Mujica Cordano, in São...
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Rising child poverty – what role does philanthropy play?
As child poverty in the UK rises, it's time to ask about a century of charitable giving: does philanthropy just exist to protect a system which makes some people very rich?Oxfam released a report...
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R2P – hindrance not a help in the Syrian crisis
The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine has failed to build an international consensus for action to protect civilians in Syria. Worse, R2P’s implicit support for military action without UN...
View ArticleSyria isn’t Kosovo and this isn’t 1999. Not even close
Grasping at vague notions of Kosovo as a ‘good war’ may be expedient - any precedent will do in a pinch. But this comparison is inaccurate and dangerously misleading.“The Balkans have long been the...
View ArticleOur fossil-fuelled future
What sort of fabulous new energy systems will the world possess in 2040? Which fuels will supply the bulk of our energy needs? And how will that change the global energy equation, international...
View ArticleLiberal Democrats, resist the attack on Legal Aid!
The LibDem Lawyers Association has proposed an emergency motion in defense of Legal Aid at the party conference in Glasgow. Two leading barristers urge members to support the motion.Last week Chris...
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