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Politics + Society – Articles, Analysis, Comment

Displaying 1 - 25 of 342 articles

Yemeni women take part in a sit-in and a protest against the ongoing conflict in the Arab country, outside the UN offices in Sana'a, Yemen, 16 March 2017. EPA/YAHYA ARHAB

How Yemeni women are fighting the war

Many Yemeni women are not victims of war or just escaping or hiding. In many and contrasting ways they are actively supporting it, and not only on humanitarian grounds.
Joshua Wong (left), Alex Chow (centre) and Nathan Law (right) speak to the press outside the Court of Final Appeal after the first hearing in their bid to appeal their jail sentences in Hong Kong on November 7, 2017. ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP

How Hong Kong Umbrella movement was crushed and pro-democracy activists gradually silenced

In Hong Kong, challenges for the new generation of activists are not how to mobilise mass protests, but how to wrestle with the state’s innovative strategy to manage society.
Maratha Kranti Morcha, a rallye for Marathi castes demanding respect of their rights in Mumbai last year. Mhidanesh/Wikimedia

The caste politics curse that India just can’t shake off

India is not able to do away with its caste politics. It has been apparent in the dramatic turn of Narendra Modi’s regime to woo lower castes through multiple policy measures.
The US Embassy in Havana is now more crime scene than diplomatic center as both countries look into the mysterious illnesses suffered by Foreign Service officers there. AP Photo/Desmond Boylan

Is Trump using ‘health attacks’ on US diplomats in Havana as an excuse to punish Cuba?

After a baffling, silent attack on US Embassy staff in Havana, the Trump administration is using concern over its diplomats’ health as an excuse to reverse Obama’s rapprochement with Cuba.
Unlike napalm, which immediately scalded its victims, Agent Orange kills and maims slowly over time, its effects passed down through generations. U.S. Army Operations in Vietnam R.W. Trewyn, Ph.D/Wikimedia

Agent Orange, exposed: How U.S. chemical warfare in Vietnam unleashed a slow-moving disaster

The use of Agent Orange in Vietnam had deep impacts, including a poisoned water supply, birth defects and cancer. Despite decades of attempted litigation, justice for spraying victims seems unlikely.
Homeless residents of El Bronx embrace after a May 2016 raid that displaced thousands, sending some to shelters and others to streets elsewhere in the city. Fernando Vergara/AP

Who are the real targets of Bogota’s crackdown on crime?

Bogota’s mayor wants to make the city ‘better for all,’ but repeated police crackdowns have displaced thousands of homeless Colombians. Are clean streets really more important than human rights?
What do you mean you can’t stick your hands up? DVA security operative at Poland’s private European Security Academy. JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP

In Central Europe, militarised societies are on the march

Politicians are promising to advance their countries’ international positions through nationalist militarisation and celebration of virile men.
Syrian refugees wait on August 28, 2017 at the Oncupinar crossing gate, close to the town of Kilis, south central Turkey, as they wait to cross to Syria for the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday. BULENT KILIC / AFP

Syrian refugees in Turkey: time to dispel some myths

In Turkey, while many have left Syria to find asylum, most refugees are struggling to be socially and economically integrated.
Few Puerto Ricans expect the Trump administration to help the island as it did hurricane-hit Texas and Florida, yet the island’s recent bankruptcy has left it facing a humanitarian disaster. Reuters/Ricardo Rojas

Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy will make hurricane recovery brutal – here’s why

Hurricane Maria has left 3.4 million Puerto Ricans facing shortages of food, health care and transit, an American humanitarian crisis fueled by the US territory’s May 2017 bankruptcy.
Rescue workers arrive to Juchitán, Oaxaca, which was almost completely destroyed in Mexico’s September 7-8 earthquake. Reuters/Edgard Garrido

Twin earthquakes expose Mexico’s deep inequality

Shattered by powerful back-to-back earthquakes, Mexico is facing daunting damages across six states. Now Chiapas and Oaxaca, the country’s two poorest states, which were hit first, fear neglect.
Though British officials have foiled far more terrorist plots than they’ve missed, the United Kingdom is on edge after its fifth terrorist attack this year alone. Reuters/Kevin Coombs

London train bombing: Why is Europe seeing so many terrorist attacks?

The September 15 London train bombing that injured 30 was the UK’s fifth terror attack this year. A security expert looks at why Europe has been seeing more frequent and bloodier jihadist assaults.
Supporters listen as Colombia’s disarmed Marxist insurgency, the FARC, publicly launches its new political party, also called the FARC. Jaime Saldarriaga/Reuters

Colombia’s FARC rebels have rebranded as a political party – now they need a leader

Meet the Commoners’ Alternative Revolutionary Force, Colombia’s newest political party. To move beyond its violent past, the new FARC will need a charismatic leader who can win over voters.