Pick of the Web
F.A.: no home in the world
The West African state of Guinea is home to thousands of refugees, in flight from its neighbours’ wars. One mutilated teenager – born in Sierra Leone, raised in Liberia, in limbo in Guinea – has nowhere left to turn.
The "Mother Of All Bombs" - how the US plans to pulverise Iraq
A devastating new weapon will be part of the US’s massive assault on Iraq. Paul Rogers, openDemocracy’s international security correspondent, explains what it is, how it developed, and why its use is likely to destroy civilian lives in their thousands.
Through other people's eyes
Exclusively for openDemocracy, a young artist and curator explains why, this time, she went in search of other peoples’ eye-views. Plus, a selection of images from her exhibition.
After the Iraq war: planning the humanitarian response
To win a war in Iraq, the US has to win the peace. Its military forces as well as one of its leading independent humanitarian agencies, the International Rescue Committee, will have a crucial role. But can the military work with the United Nations and non-governmental organisations in ways that save lives, secure post-war order, and preserve the latter’s independence?
Your TV is watching you
The interactive television revolution will mean more choice, more control and more freedom for the viewer, right? Wrong says the man behind White Dot – the campaign to switch off television – all it means is more ways for media corporations to keep tabs on your viewing habits and tailor their products to your tastes. Don’t believe him? Listen to what the corporations say…
The net as a global library
The internet is culture not trade, library not warehouse, treasure-house not bank, popular not elitist. Free it, train everyone to use it, and it will fly – and carry democracy on its wings.
We'll Always Have Paris!
A grand tour reveals that France’s attitude to America mirrors its soul: jealous, glorious, sensual and venal. Between Seine, Sorbonne, and Algeria, Dominic Hilton listens to the voices off – and ends up with a scoop about the Foreign Legion.
Liberate Iraq on the world's terms
The slogan ‘No to war: No to Saddam!’ leaves the world polarised and incapable of concerted action. What would it take to reconfigure this crippling divide so that a clear choice helps the world move forward? Could the European Union’s foreign policy coordinator, Javier Solana, lead the way?
Witch-hunts and War Jitters
Hollywood protest, human shields, and Swiss utopia
Bush: Home Alone - America's futile attempt to woo its insulted allies
The US advance toward war has myriad justifications, but is best understood in the framework of a new world order: perpetual war for perpetual peace, says Michael Naumann. Multilateralism is dying, but what will take its place? At the least, existing nuclear powers like North Korea look set to buttress their defences...
Civic hacking: a new agenda for e-democracy
The political potential of the internet lies not in connecting people to politicians, still less in online voting; it lies in the possibility of bringing citizens together to help themselves, argues a veteran of online politics.
Decoding broken promises
Five years ago, the company deCODE made the first bid to set up a comprehensive, medical records database, in Iceland. A leading activist explores the ways in which the equation of medical data with economic promise can lead to the erosion of truth, raising the key issue of presumed versus informed consent and other challenges for any democratic society.
My American dream
This Sierra Leonean filmmaker was saved from prison and torture in Liberia by Americans. But when he worked in Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan, American good intentions appeared in a different light. Can democracy’s ‘big daddy’ learn from its mistakes?
A conflict of loyalties: 1999 and 2003
On Saturday 15 February I joined the anti-war demonstrations in London. I did not agree with everyone there, particularly not with those few carrying anti-Semitic slogans, but my personal opposition to war provided a good enough ‘justification’ for me to join in.
FT: Forked Tongue?
The Financial Times’ coverage of the global antiwar protests of 15 February differed markedly between its German and English editions. This unsettling discovery, framed by an imaginary encounter on a Berlin–London flight, brings Michael Rebehn down to earth with a jolt.
With the Iraqi opposition: if, how, and then what?
What comes after regime change in Baghdad? For delegates at the Iraqi opposition conference in northern, Kurdish Iraq, the long wait for the US envoy reveals doubts about American diplomacy and Turkish intentions. Will ‘free Iraqis’ be masters of their own fate, or once again betrayed?
<i>Ring a Ring o' Roses</i>: Malawi's dance of death
What is the main reason for southern Africa’s immense human problems? ‘Famine’ and ‘drought’ are familiar answers from aid agencies and media. Such words are a distraction, says this report from Malawi. The core problem is HIV/Aids, and only changes within African society itself can open the way to solving it.
On the nuclear slope
The US war on Iraq might include the first use of nuclear weapons since 1945. Our international security correspondent sets out the rational, historical context of a terrible possibility.
A big mess in Kurdistan
From Sulaimaniya to Halabja, our Tehran correspondent continues her travels in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq. Some Kurds dream of using the impending war to march south to oil-rich Kirkuk. But are they watching their back?
The end of Realpolitik
The coming US war in Iraq will create a graveyard of hope. In its promise of war without end, and blindness towards its catastrophic political consequences, America is ignoring lessons of history that Europe has bitterly learned.
This week's editor
Europe from the bottom up
European debate
Democratic Wealth
Nuclear non-proliferation
Women and the Arab Spring
oDRussia at journalismfestival .com
Mali - the plot thickens
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Remote control war
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Conference coverage from 50.50
Articles exploring the themes of the fourth international Nobel Women's Initiative conference May 28-31. Jennifer Allsopp and Heather McRobie will be reporting for 5050
Articles exploring the themes of the fourth international Nobel Women's Initiative conference May 28-31. Jennifer Allsopp and Heather McRobie will be reporting for 5050
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Martin Rose Bliss Was It in that Dawn to Be Next Door
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Markha Valenta Inter Alia: religion, politics, culture
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