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The long year of migration and the Balkan corridor

Recent migration movements have not only challenged borders and border regimes, but core narratives of the EU as well.

openDemocracy.net - free thinking for the world

The long year of migration and the Balkan corridor

Recent migration movements have not only challenged borders and border regimes, but core narratives of the EU as well.

openDemocracy.net - free thinking for the world

This week's editor

MM

Mairi Mackay is openDemocracy’s senior editor.

Feminist Dissent: why a new journal on gender and fundamentalism?

A new journal, Feminist Dissent, aims to create a space to interrogate the multi-faceted links between historical and resurgent religious fundamentalism and gender.

Sophie's journey: three countries, three stories, same abuse

Female migrant labourers face discrimination and marginalisation all over the world. Sophie’s stories from Dubai, Turkey and Saudi Arabia can tell us a lot about their experiences.

Beyond the Zombie Economy

The present day metaphor is the ‘Zombie’ economy depicting the economic system as an unthinking monster in relentless pursuit of a single objective. Part of the Anti-Austerity and Media Activism series with Goldsmiths.

The Czexit debate is coming - are you ready?

Czexit? With President Milos Zeman calling for a referendum, it is becoming increasingly possible.

The persistence of elite control in Syria

If lasting political change is to occur in Syria, the experience of its neighbours must be heeded.

When our watchdog becomes a bloodthirsty attackdog, be wary

Jeremy Corbyn has been variously described in the British press as unelectable, comic and highly dangerous. How should a healthy democracy respond to politicians pursuing a different kind of democracy?

Success in parliamentary strengthening: What does it mean?

We must not lose sight of the virtues of promoting the development of strong parliaments, independent of issues deemed important by donors.

We have lift-off on speaking out on sexual violence

In Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, many reactions to a recent online flashmob against sexual violence have been depressing and misogynistic. But this controversy can also be a path toward change. 

The young are particularly distressed by Brexit - how should the rest of us respond?

We need to listen to young people's fears, and make sure the services are there that they need too.

China and Latin America: strategic relations in times of change

Anxiety over economic and political crises and changes in Latin America is palpable in China. Español Português

Why America needs a truth commission

In the United States, gun deaths over the last three decades far exceed those reported in truth commissions and civil wars around the world in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

Nepali widows: changing colours, changing mindsets

The growing widows’ movement in Nepal is winning rights for single and widowed women, and challenging the deprivation and discriminatory practices that stem from age-old social norms and customs.

Partners, payoffs and power plays: researching mobility across north-south divides

Research across multiple sites comes with many rewards, but the partnerships required for multi-sited work often reinforce power imbalances in ways that compromise our scholarship and ethical policy engagements.

Lost in space? Silicon Valley and the future of democracy

When Elon Musk talks about governance on Mars, what’s really scary are the implications for democracy on Earth.

Austerity and the mediated networks of solidarity in Greece

An aura of political creativity and a sense of ‘media justice’ have emerged in Greece; evolving communication practices have shaped the nature and character of solidarity.

Egypt: targeting Mozn harmful to MENA regional gender justice struggle

If Mozn Hassan and other activists are not able to continue their work for human rights the road towards gender equality and long-term stability in Egypt is not within reach.    

Silence in the media brings more destruction to Turkey

The Kurds are now asking world media to inform ‘Superman’ of yet another attack on their homeland in Turkey.

Behind the Dhaka attack: radical secularisation and Islamist terror in Bangladesh

Beyond talk of an ISIS-inspired attack, the Dhaka cafe massacre’s more immediate roots lie in a crisis of political legitimacy, and religion’s precarious position and instrumentalisation within the national imaginary. 

Reading Martin Luther King’s ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail’ after the Dallas shooting

King shows us a way of addressing the vacuous nature of our politics, without submitting to the nihilism of sniper fire.

Ideología: how the social and cultural aspects of immigration shape Latinos’ attitudes toward political parties

In the end, immigration is more than just a policy issue to Latino/as. It is about how welcome they feel in American society. Español

No country for young men?

Conversations with people on the street in Wales help clarify why Britain voted for Brexit. Why weren't MEPs having those conversations all spring?

Who are they, these revolutionary Rojava women?

Meredith Tax just had to find out who they were - the revolutionary women of Rojava, bearing arms against ISIS, building a new world...she had to find their story, for herself, and in her new book, for us.

The long year of migration and the Balkan corridor

How European narratives are being challenged by migration movements.

The promises and pitfalls of mobile polling

Mobile polling could revolutionize how civil society and human rights groups operate—if it’s done right. A contribution to the openGlobalRights debate on public opinion and human rights. Español

The UN had to go, but is Liberia really prepared for peace?

Liberia’s peace will continue to be fragile if it focuses exclusively on security while neglecting the rule of law, poverty, unemployment, health and the youth bulge.

Zimbabwe in turmoil: from the trenches

Despite constant harassment and brutal repression, one by one all sectors of society are expressing their discontent publicly.

Paris after Orlando: gay prisoners of racial prejudice

This erasure by journalists and politicians has highlighted the lasting homophobia of French society. It served also as a reminder of how fragile the tenuous progress made for gay rights is.

Way down in Pankisi

Georgia’s Pankisi Valley has gained a reputation for violent extremism in recent years. But the international community’s attention isn’t just unwanted, it’s harmful.