Forty years ago this shocking event paved the way for a 24-year rule of fear that saw Iraqi citizens repressed, tortured and murdered.
Seven years after Tahrir Square became the focal point of the Egyptian Revolution, towering metal gates now control access.
Ahmed Abd El-Fatah/Wikimedia
Today’s urban public spaces tend to represent governments and cities rather than people and citizens. Architects and urban designers should contribute to shaping spaces for freedom and interaction.
Repression is a defensive process where the mind forgets or places events, thoughts and memories we cannot acknowledge or bear elsewhere.
Roxanne Milward/Flickr
Angola’s president-elect, João Lourenço, has a reputation for relative probity. But, he’s unlikely to rock the boat as Eduardo dos Santos remains party chairman.
Facing hunger, scarcity, sickness, protest and no clear path toward salvation, Venezuela is on the brink of something, but just what is not clear.
ビッグアップジャパン/flickr
Stephan Schmidt, The Conversation et Catesby Holmes, The Conversation
The best news and analysis of Venezuela’s dangerous descent into crisis, written by local economists and political scientists who are living it every day.
Citizens and digital-rights advocates are pushing back against growing cyber repression in Thailand, where sharing the wrong Facebook post can land you in jail.
Twitter logo mod from graffiti seen on a wall during protests in Turkey in July 2013.
Ian Brown / flickr
Turkey’s authoritarian regime has ruined the lives of many intellectuals and opponents of the regime. Resisting, even softly, is an act of survival.
Tshwane Executive Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa, surrounded by school pupils and officials, samples the metropole’s free internet service.
Pretoria News/Masi Losi
That South Africa has voted against rights enshrined in its globally celebrated, progressive constitution suggests a troubling indifference to its human rights commitments.
An Eritrean refugee at ‘The Jungle’ camp in the port of Calais. Thousands of Eritreans flee repression at home to seek a better life elsewhere.
EPA/Stephanie Lecocq
Eritrea achieved independence 25 years ago amid high expectations for its future. Today, the country’s youth make up a large portion of the refugees risking their lives for a better future in Europe.
How Stalin and his successors maintained an iron grip on power.
High-rise buildings amid shacks in Luanda. President Dos Santo has announced plans to retire amid growing unease among Angolans over deepening poverty despite a recent oil boom.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Angola’s Dos Santos is buying time. His promise to step down is an attempt to diffuse growing political tensions, as repression continues. He might relinquish his position, but not his power.
Riot police detain a supporter of Forum for Democratic Change, Uganda’s leading opposition party, as they break up a campaign procession.
Reuters/James Akena
The heavy-handed tactics used by Uganda’s authorities during the 2016 elections have raised questions about a return to an oppressive past.
Yahya Jammeh, president of Gambia, addresses the United Nations in September 2014. The dictator is notorious for human rights violations.
Reuters/Lucas Jackson
President Jammeh has ruled Gambia with an iron fist since he seized power more than two decades years ago. He is responsible for gross human rights abuses, yet he hosts Africa’s human rights watchdog.