Europe after Europe: the other Europe in waiting

With so many conflicting interpretations of what post-crisis Europe should look like, it is easy to forget that another Europe will only come by reconciling the people across the continent, through initiatives and institutions that sew up a broken social fabric.

Outsourcer Nick Buckles retires at 52, a multimillionaire

Security company G4S and its executives have got rich dismantling public services.

Desegregating Roma and Croat schoolchildren: what has been done?

Three years after the ECHR's decision in Oršuš and Others v. Croatia found "separate but equal" education to be unconstitutional, the Roma Education Fund traveled to Međimurje County in Croatia to see how the integration of Croat and Roma schoolchildren had progressed.

Sri Lanka remembers to forget

Celebrations to mark the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war perform the function of collective forgetting. If the country looked back at recommendations made in the past, Sri Lankans might understand better how to go forward.

The myth of resettlement in Delhi

Since 2000, activist groups across India have sought to defend slum communities from dispossession in favour of 'participatory' resettlement on the urban periphery. The popularity of such reasoning has lead to the myth that squatters prefer resettlement to illegality, denying squatters a right to remain and masking the real, everyday exclusions in the lives of the resettled.

Not everyone can be a world citizen

Recent calls for 'renewed' identities in the UK mean little so long as they fail to assess the role of the state in a multicultural society. Certainly, a fundamental recognition is needed: that it is easier to be a global citizen when you are confident in the fulfilment of your rights as a national citizen.

Problematic protection: the law on Elimination of Violence against Women in Afghanistan

The attempt on May 18th to get the Afghan parliament to ratify a key law on violence against women ended in a fiasco and has been angrily dismissed as the politicking of a single ambitious female politician. But the controversies around the EVAW law show that there are no perfect strategies available to women activists in Afghanistan.

Sri Lanka's BBS: an old spectre in new garb?

Though interreligious violence in Sri Lanka is not new, the emergence of the well-organized, well-connected Buddhist radical group reflects a broader problem today - the alarming shortage of critical and constructive public debate.

The foundation of human security in every society

The social fabric of a group is woven, in the first place, by the efforts of women. After war, the surest way to rebuild society is to protect and empower those who will re-weave the torn social fabric if given half a chance to do so: the women.

Washington and Caracas: hegemony vs maturity

Venezuela's presidential election presents the United States with a historic choice, says Juan Gabriel Tokatlian.

Four years on, genocide continues off the battlefield

On the anniversary of the 26-year civil war, the Sri Lankan state celebrates its 2009 victory while Tamils mark the bloody nadir of the campaign to systematically dismantle the Tamil nation - one which continues today.

Europe after Europe: the other Europe in waiting

With so many conflicting interpretations of what post-crisis Europe should look like, it is easy to forget that another Europe will only come by reconciling the people across the continent, through initiatives and institutions that sew up a broken social fabric.

The Great Tax Robbery - reviewed

Private Eye's Richard Brooks has released a new book, The Great Tax Robbery, reviewed here by a former colleague. How did HMRC come to be 'captured' by big money, and why is government doing so little to correct it?

The incompetent many or the corrupt few?

Recent protest rallies and continuing opposition sentiment have provoked the Kremlin into reform.  The first part of the process sees the partial return of regional governor elections, abandoned nine years ago in favour of appointment by the president. Democractic Russia should be very wary of the changes, thinks Grigorii Golosov

Glass ceiling and rock bottom: women in 2013 Britain

Gender equality is on the rise amongst the British elite. But outside of this bubble, women are suffering disproportionately from austerity and its fall-out.

Why politicians can’t be honest about the EU

Responding to Stuart Weir's recent article, Damian Hockney says the EU's supposed benefits are as illusory as the supposed damages the UK would suffer from leaving.

Sexual violence, access to justice, and human rights

The patriarchal framework of justice which reflects gendered stereotypes, cultural and traditional prejudice has to change. Whilst there is slow progress in implementation, international law is drifting inexorably into recognising the integrated role of human rights in addressing sexual violence, Madeleine Rees analyses how this can be done

Building a culture of love: replacing a culture of violence and death

What unites people's movements from the Arab 'spring' to Occupy, is a new consciousness that a good life, with dignity, freedom, fairness and human security, is their right -  and by the law of love and logic, the right of every man and woman, says laureate Mairead Maguire.

Beyond war: women transforming militarism, building a nonviolent world

If we want to ensure that humanity is not doomed to repeat its bloodiest century, the logical move would be to mount an international campaign to see that competent women are swiftly accepted into policy-making positions in all conflict countries, says Scilla Elworthy

Unpacking the idea of “Islamophobia”

The term “Islamophobia” is everywhere, but its meanings work at cross purposes - to liberals, it refers to discrimination and hate crimes that can be addressed through existing laws, but to fundamentalists, it refers to offenses against religion that must be addressed through censorship or death.

UK immigration policy: more than an enforcement issue

The enforcement culture that frames Home Office immigration policy has manifested itself in a defensive and largely negative approach to policy. Meanwhile public anxiety about immigration in the UK remains high. Positive, customer-focused services need to be introduced into policy making, says Alice Sachrajda

This week's editor

Heather McRobie


Niki Seth-Smith is a freelance journalist and co-editor of OurKingdom.