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About David Hayes

David Hayes is deputy editor of openDemocracy, which he co-founded
in 2000. He has written textbooks on human rights and terrorism, and was a contributor to Town and Country (Jonathan Cape, 1998). His work has been published in PN Review, the Irish Times, El Pais, the Iran Times International, the Canberra Times, the Scotsman, the New Statesman and The Absolute Game.

He has edited five print collections of material from the openDemocracy website, including Europe and Islam; Turkey: Writers, Politics, and Free Speech; and Europe: Visions, Realities, Futures. He is the editor of Fred Halliday's Political Journeys - the openDemocracy Essays (Saqi, 2011)

Articles by David Hayes

England, a country of the mind

David Hayes 19 September 2011
The tendency to press reality into a heritage mould traps England in political aspic, says David Hayes.

9/11, ten years on: reflections

David Hayes 7 September 2011

A terror-filled day of mass murder in the eastern United States imprinted itself on the world's consciousness - and became the prelude to a decade of further violence. openDemocracy writers reflect on the impact and legacy of the events of 11 September 2001.

England’s two solitudes

David Hayes 19 August 2011
A four-night outbreak of riotous disorder in London and other English cities in early August 2011 is a potent argument for social repair. But lack of agreement on fundamentals could soon prove fatal to progress, says David Hayes.

Derick Thomson at 90: Gaelic poet in the world

David Hayes 5 August 2011
Ruaraidh MacThòmais (Derick Thomson) has as poet, scholar, teacher and editor made a profound contribution to Gaelic literature over six decades. The quality and range of his work deserve belated recognition in the context of the culture he has done so much to enlarge, says David Hayes.

The London bombs, five years on: a digest

David Hayes 7 July 2011

The coordinated bomb-attacks on London’s transport network on 7 July 2005 (“7/7”) left dozens dead and hundreds wounded, and marked the lives of millions in the city and beyond. The political, intellectual and security issues raised by the event were extensively discussed on openDemocracy in the ensuing months. A retrospect of unforgettable days, by David Hayes.

(This article was first published on 7 July 2010)

The foreign correspondent: James Cameron, 1911-85

David Hayes 17 June 2011
A voice of wry observation and quiet authority that made humane sense of distant events to a domestic public helped James Cameron become the most respected international journalist in post-1945 Britain. But is there room for his world-reporting craft in a very different media age, asks David Hayes.

In with the bricks, out for life

David Hayes 12 May 2011
A recollection of openDemocracy’s early days, by David Hayes.

Ten years, ten articles: a retrospect

David Hayes 12 May 2011
openDemocracy is ten years old. Its deputy editor David Hayes chooses his favourite articles from the archive, one from each year of publication.

Cornelius Cardew: a life unfinished

David Hayes

The English composer Cornelius Cardew (1936-81) was among the most adventurous, controversial and innovative musicians of his generation. After an initial association with Stockhausen and the European avant-garde, he became engaged with the aesthetic ideas of John Cage and the New York school. A leading figure in the experimental music of the 1960s, Cardew is widely acknowledged as a pioneer of indeterminacy, graphic notation, free improvisation and performer involvement.

Thinking of Cambodia

David Hayes

I was thinking about Cambodia tonight.

I remembered the Ben Kiernan story about his first visit back after the genocide, and how he asked a Khmer Rouge cadre what had happened to an arrested man in a village. “We killed him for the time being”.

I remembered the story of how the peaceable Cham were hunted down and massacred because they were not pure Khmer.

I remembered reading Francois Ponchaud and Lek Hor Tan on the pathology of absolute power, and then finding a leftist magazine discussing the Kampuchean “workers’ state”.

The Arab spring: protest, power, prospect

David Hayes 11 April 2011
What is the “Arab spring” becoming? After three months of upheaval, repression and conflict, the democracy wave in the region, including Iran, is at a crucial stage. openDemocracy authors offer concise perspectives on a complex and fluid political moment.

(The first contributions in this series were published on 4 April 2011)

Japan: from tsunami to change

David Hayes 14 March 2011
The effects of the catastrophic earthquake in Japan’s northeast will be felt for years to come. How Japan responds will help to define its capacity to meet other 21st-century tests, says David Hayes.

The 2011 outlook: ideas and agents

David Hayes 12 January 2011

Where are the sources of inspiration that can improve global and national prospects in 2011? openDemocracy writers across the world offer their thoughts.

(The first contributions in this collection were published on 3 January 2011)

A free media: Tasneem Khalil’s project

Timothy Sowula and David Hayes 14 September 2010
The work of a Bangladeshi journalist offers a different perspective on some of the professional and ethical dilemmas raised by the WikiLeaks project, say Timothy Sowula & David Hayes.

Edwin Morgan, 1920-2010

David Hayes 19 August 2010
The poet and translator Edwin Morgan has died at the age of 90 in his beloved home city of Glasgow. David Hayes salutes a "Glasgow internationalist and Scottish universalist", who made the world new for generations of readers.

This week's editor

Heather McRobie


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

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European Union stars in Paris. Flickr/notarim. Some rights reserved.

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