For younger Palestinians, most of them diasporic, the heroics of the past are no compensation for the absence of an organized liberation movement. Abandoning the myths of statehood through negotiated settlement, they are defining the goals of liberation and return anew.
From raising awareness of inequality to its derision, ‘woke’ has become a controversial English term. Set the debate in Wales, where English has dominated the national language, and complications increase. A cancelled Welsh author reveals how the overt politicization of literature is forcing some writers to abandon their mother tongue.
On political speech and the paradoxes of critique after Trump and Gaza; why the far right fills the gap left by restorationist liberalism; and how fascization depends on white middle-class solidarity.
Founded to eradicate the legacies of colonialism, the African Union was supposed to have been a means to assert sovereignty. But it has proven ineffective in countering not just western power.
It’s over five years since COVID-19 broke out and changed the world. Yet many are still reluctant to discuss it’s impact. Nevertheless, the fallout stays with us, institutionally, economically and emotionally.
Israel has authorized a full military takeover of Gaza exactly twenty years after declaring it had ‘left’ the Strip. Disengagement failed because it was never designed to succeed – least of all on Palestinian terms.
Education has become another battleground in the Kremlin’s campaign to militarize the Russian public consciousness. Youth organizations, book bans, changes to school curricula – all amount to a ‘special anthropological operation’.
Russian drones entering Polish airspace, militarily seen as intensified provocation rather than open warfare, have nevertheless provoked costly responses – both from NATO’s air defence systems and civilian reactions to disinformation. A war correspondent’s view of what can be done technologically – for greater military efficiency and improved civil defence.
Why was the distinguishing mark of female genitalia erased from NASA’s 1970s image travelling outer space? And will compromised depictions of life on Earth avoid sexist, racist and anthropocentric simplifications by 2036?
Imperial Russia saw the nation as the sea into which all the other Slavic cultures flowed. The idea persists today not only in Russia’s attitude towards its neighbourhood, but also in the way eastern Europe is studied in the West.
While book publishing is an ailing industry, children’s books are booming. But political attacks and censorship are also threatening this thriving sector.
João Cabral de Melo Neto’s 1955 verse drama ‘Death and Life of Severino’ accompanies Brazilian migrants in Portugal. Having fled violent crime, they seek freedom yet commonly find a life of servitude and institutional violence, where only art provides solace from poverty and hunger.
France risks becoming ungovernable. While Macron’s autocratic style is much to blame for the current impasse, the fundamental problem lies in the development of the parties and party elites.
Ex-USSR youth pioneer camps – once heavily supervised yet remembered surprisingly positively – have become sites of trauma, where Ukrainian children are being deported en masse, incarcerated and re-educated. The complex legacy that Russia is exploiting encompasses infrastructure, ideology and personal memory, raising questions about the role of individuals in implementing state policy.
Being diagnosed with ADHD can be a relief for those who have struggled long and hard to adopt constraining social norms. For neurodivergent women, masking can lead to poor mental health, substance abuse and hyper-sexuality. Vox Feminae takes a first-hand dive into positive coping mechanisms for the inattentive and/or hyperactive.
Cancel culture is a loaded term with roots that reach back decades. What emerges when today’s popular boycotts against offensive content are confronted by more traditional means of censorship? Art critics weigh in on their professional relevance and work circumstances.