Articles

A former Belarusian political detainee reveals the remarkable depth of cohesion and trust between women activists confined for weeks in overcrowded prison cells.

Once the heart of a civilization, the inland sea connecting Europe and Asia has lost most of its astonishing wildlife and is suffocating under marine mucilage. Industrial pollution and reckless sewage policies feed the phytoplankton that took over the sea. Kaya Genç recalls the rich history of his beloved Marmara and identifies the culprits behind its rapid demise.

Attacks on academic freedom in Hungary are rife: the Central European University and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences being recent victims. But what does ‘freedom’ mean in a country with such a short history of democracy as Hungary? And how is the situation in post-Brexit UK different?

Public housing projects in French Algeria often sought to further the social and political aims of the colonisers. But residents weren’t always prepared to play ball.

Oppressed people who retaliate are up against the privileged and powerful. Fighting back often places them outside the system. But what happens when the suppressors’ tools are turned on themselves? Can a colonial education – the underhand offer of ‘a pencil for land’ — be turned into an emancipatory counter movement?

Once referring to natural resources and collectively managed land, the notion of the ‘commons’ has expanded across cultural, scientific and digital realms. Can commonality dodge the threat of capitalist exploitation and develop into an organizational principle for complex societies?

Journalism is steadily becoming less and less liveable, due to structural problems and political interference. From heroic poses to varying degrees of denial, each professional develops their own individual strategies to cope with sustained pressure.

Reading faces has no place in law books. Yet the assessment of appearance and demeanour, largely unspoken, still plays a role in ascertaining truth in court. Unscientific and obscure, this practice can lead to discrimination targeting specific ethnic groups.

A great poet and novelist, one of the most important female writers in Croatia, influenced a generation – even if she was sometimes bewildered by her impact.

Three opposition journalists from Turkey, Russia and Hungary talk to Eurozine’s editor-in-chief about repressive regimes, personal risk, migration, the role of the media and the future of their profession in the digital age.

The rapid dismay of Hungarian universities has upset international observers recently. However, the illiberal vanguard state doesn’t hold a monopoly on academic pressure. In this conversation, Hungarian critic Anna Gács and German historian Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger discuss political interventions, cancelling and more.

Public displays of dissatisfaction against leading politicians make for striking headlines, especially when they expose a blatant inability to discuss key topics. Racism in France, hidden by a colour-blind society on both the left and the right, benefits Le Pen’s self-professed defenders of the Republic. So how can race and immigration take a more positive centre-stage position?

Wildlife conservationists often have to risk their own safety to protect endangered species from armed gangs. The market value of Asian elephant tusks, for example, entices certain impoverished locals into poaching. And at the crux of this perilous and twisted Anthropocene reality lies an increasingly aggressive animal’s fight for survival.

Use of high-tech surveillance is on the rise: in a moment when controlling the spread of COVID-19 is paramount, a global regime of technologically enabled exclusion has been bolstered. But what might be the long-term implications of accepting being tracked before we even move?

Those forced to flee from conflict, persecution, violence or human rights violations need protection; recognition of their plight is an ongoing struggle. And the causes of forced migration are growing. What now defines ‘survival’ – that all important refugee watchword – may indeed need reconsideration.

When political points can be scored by tearing up children’s books that are deemed too tolerant, what is a writer to do? Should they become an activist?