The African Union turns 50, but the continent's people deserve so much more
Martin Plaut asks how a body with so much hope can have done so little?Some 15,000 guests have been invited to attend celebrations to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the African...
View ArticleImran Khan still has an important role to play
The UK has long enjoyed a rich relationship with Pakistan.Pakistan often finds itself in the world news for the wrong reasons. Attempts to promote its rich history and culture cannot seem to shake off...
View ArticleColombia: The long march
Activists are finding renewed hope in the emergence of a grassroots left-wing movement called the Patriotic March. If your impression of Colombia has been formed solely by Hollywood movies, you’d be...
View ArticleWu Ming: A band of militant storytellers
The Celluloid Liberation Front speak to the Italian literary collective Wu Ming, whose work draws readers in to exchange, sharing and confrontation.A collective of militant storytellers opposing the...
View ArticleOut of the cold
A cultural renaissance in Siberia.The Yenisei River rises in the Mongolian mountains above Ulan Bator and traces a wide arc through southern Siberia before arrowing northwards to the distant, frozen...
View ArticleThe Belgrade train
A journey to the troubled heart of the Balkans.At Cortanovci in November, the Belgrade train enters the wet woodland of the Danube shore. Egrets stand at ease by poplars. Warblers scatter as the train...
View ArticleBeware the undertow on the Jersey Shore
Governor Chris Christie's cosy relationship with Obama could turn and bite him in the Primaries.The Jersey Shore is a very important place for the people of New Jersey. This is where they come to play,...
View Article“Ask anyone who has blood in them to help us”
Fleeing Syria does not always protect women from sexual violence.This month, the number of refugees who have fled the conflict in Syria officially passed the 1.5 million mark, according to the UNHCR....
View ArticleThe Last Train to Zona Verde by Paul Theroux: How not to write about Africa
A decade after his last African travelogue, Dark Star Safari, Paul Theroux picks up where he left off. “What am I doing here?” begins to appear as a refrain. I began asking it, too: “What are you doing...
View ArticleLeon Wieseltier: “I don’t believe that civility or tenderness is a primary...
An interview with New Republic literary editor Leon Wieseltier, winner of the US$1m Dan David Prize, on critical standards in a technological age, slowing the march of Big Data and Barack Obama's moral...
View ArticlePeople have killed their fear of authority - and the protests are growing
What began in an Istanbul park has tapped in to years of grievances."Well, we are just filling light bulbs with paint," said my friend, a cafe owner in Cihangir, the Soho of Istanbul. Speaking to me on...
View ArticleHow many people have to die before Obama takes personal responsibility for...
"I will go back at this," the President claimed. But when? While he wrings his hands and blames Congress, men who have been denied justice are protesting in the only way they can - refusing to eat.I am...
View ArticleMau Mau settlement: the Kenyan government’s shame
The British are certainly in the dock today, but so are the Kenyan authorities.The British government has, finally, been forced to make an apology and a financial settlement to those victims of the...
View ArticleWill Obama be remembered as the Snooper President?
The President is caught riding rough-shod over privacy for the second time in a month.This is a bad one. At 7:05PM last night, the Guardian published this story, that the National Security...
View ArticlePunk and disorderly
An interview with Pussy Riot's Yekaterina Samutsevich.The young woman who saunters out of Kuznetsky Most Metro station in central Moscow might be a member of the world’s most notorious punk band but...
View ArticleThe NSA's data tapping: America through the PRISM
The Guardian's stories of the last two days are the highest-level US leaks since the Pentagon Papers.Yesterday, I asked if the story about the US National Security Administration secretly...
View ArticleThe real winners from today's hunger summit
The real causes of hunger are inequality of wealth and power, not a lack of big business. So the G8 leaders should abandon their efforts to promote the corporate takeover of African agriculture, and...
View ArticleWhy the world needs better loos
Somehow I don’t think I’ll get many takers for my next Faeces Are A Feminist Issue rally.If you want to know a country, look at its loos. I’ve just returned from two weeks in Japan, and in between...
View ArticleEdward Snowden: The NSA whistleblower unmasks
The whistleblower who leaked Top Secret documents to the Guardian about NSA domestic spying practices has revealed himself to be 29-year-old Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee.In an absolutely...
View ArticleGiving back choice: why New York's sex trafficking law needs to change
It's time to listen to the real experts, says Lauren Hersh.Three months ago, Ruth came into my life. Sixteen years and two weeks old, Ruth is spunky and smart. She loves Hello Kitty and iced coffee,...
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