Governments are purposefully using laws that lack clarity, or ignore laws completely, to carry out illegal surveillance of their citizens.
The Picts, the indigenous people of what is today northern Scotland, were documented by Roman historians as having complex tattoos.
Theodor de Bry, via Wikimedia Commons
The pandemic has made some people rush to get tattoos for different reasons. A tattoo historian explains why tattoos are often seen to be ‘trashy,’ a view likely influenced by colonialism.
As the government cracks down on the right to protest, we should remind ourselves of similarities between new legislation and older legacies of imperialism.
Tahrir Square, then and now.
Khaled Desouki, Pedro Ugarte/AFP
South Africa frequently invokes its celebrated constitution that is based on human rights, but has often failed to live up to its ideals.
Ethiopian protestors march down 42nd Street in New York during a “It’s my Dam” protest on March 11, 2021.
Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
Her 1975 novel demonstrated a far more radical feminism than was common in Africa and the Arab world – a precursor of the #MenAreTrash anger of today.
The procession of ships in the Suez canal for its opening. Illustration from the magazine “The Illustrated London News, volume LV, November 18, 1869.
DEA / BIBLIOTECA AMBROSIANA/Getty Images
Prior to the mid-19th century, the Isthmus of Suez – the 125km strip of land that lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea – was a quiet spot.
Nawal El Saadawi protesting at Tahrir Square, Egypt, 2011.
Amel Pain/EPA-EFE
To understand her contribution to public debate, it’s important to see her in the context of the historical moment that made her work possible, necessary and provocative.
Nawal El Saadawi at home in 2015.
David Degner/Getty Images
A firebrand activist for women’s rights, her novels espoused truths that made her hugely unpopular with the government.
The container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal on March 23, blocking the passage of other ships and causing a traffic jam for cargo vessels.
EPA-EFE/Media Suez Canal Head Office