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About Tom Burgis

Tom Burgis is a freelance reporter. He has written for openDemocracy’s debates on protest and globalisation and has contributed to many newspapers.

Articles by Tom Burgis

Wednesday 5th August

South Africa’s unequal prospect

Tom Burgis, 5 August 2009
The gap between South Africans’ life-chances undermines their dream of an inclusive future
Thursday 21st December

A Loong and winding road

Tom Burgis, 21 December 2006
A year and seventy-two nominees later, openDemocracy readers vote for and against the world's primary Bad Democrat. Tom Burgis opens the envelope.
Friday 3rd November

Addicted: William Burroughs and a world in heat

Tom Burgis, 3 November 2006
A controversial work of the beat generation’s leading junkie casts surprising light on the world’s climate-change predicament at the start of the 21st century, finds Tom Burgis.
Monday 30th October

Democracy bites

Tom Burgis, 30 October 2006
The Bad Democracy award for October – the last before openDemocracy's grand poll for the year's worst democrat – became the object of Hungarian passion and the target of the country's hackers, reports Tom Burgis.
Sunday 1st October

All hail the Sun King

Tom Burgis, 1 October 2006
Rupert Murdoch has been voted winner of opendemocracy's tenth Bad Democracy award. What shameful ingratitude, says Tom Burgis.
Thursday 7th September

A guide to the post-9/11 world

Tom Burgis, 7 September 2006
The world was changed by the events of 11 September 2001, often in unexpected ways. The impact of the attacks can be felt in many areas of global public life – from civil liberties to trade, technology to international law. Five years on, Tom Burgis charts eleven aspects of a tremulous new era.
Thursday 31st August

G8gate

Tom Burgis, 31 August 2006
Asked to choose the month's worst democrat, openDemocracy's readers voted for the G8. That'll be a first, says Tom Burgis.
Monday 31st July

The skewed pride of the IDF

Tom Burgis, 31 July 2006
The justifications for the Israeli Defence Forces' bombardment of Lebanon bulge with doublethink and muddled excuses. Small wonder, reckons Tom Burgis, that openDemocracy readers voted to give it the ninth monthly Bad Democracy award.
Thursday 29th June

North Korea's Dr No

Tom Burgis, 29 June 2006
He may be a basket case, a depraved decadent, an unparalleled genius or a combination of the above. Either way, North Korea's colourful dictator Kim Jong-il has scooped our latest Bad Democracy Award.
Sunday 25th June

Michelle Bachelet's hard lesson

Tom Burgis, 25 June 2006
Massive student protests are forcing the Chilean president to address inequalities implanted during the country's long Pinochet dictatorship, writes Tom Burgis.
Wednesday 31st May

Singapore's phoney democracy

Tom Burgis, 31 May 2006
Singapore's increasingly hard-pressed people deserve better than the electoral charade offered by their prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, the recipient of the seventh monthly "bad democracy" award.
Monday 1st May

Who's the daddy?

Tom Burgis, 1 May 2006
Alexander Lukashenko's brutal brand of paternalism has won him openDemocracy's sixth "bad democracy" award. Tom Burgis examines the Belarusian batka’s parenting methods and finds the kids are revolting.
Sunday 2nd April

Clerical errors

Tom Burgis, 2 April 2006
Abu Laban, the Danish imam at the centre of the apocalyptic row over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, is the recipient of openDemocracy's fifth monthly "bad democracy" award. Tom Burgis explains the accolade.
Tuesday 14th March

Free trade? When it suits us

Tom Burgis, 14 March 2006
The world's leading trade powers are seeking to carve out a new deal on globalisation. Tom Burgis suspects the rich world is hoping to have its cake and eat it.
Wednesday 1st March

Meles unveiled

Tom Burgis, 1 March 2006
A smooth operator and consummate diplomat, he was hailed in the west as one of Africa's democratic messiahs. But as Ethiopia's prime minister scoops the fourth "bad democracy" award, Tom Burgis asks if Meles Zenawi was ever anything but an autocrat.
Tuesday 31st January

George W Bush's nemesis

Tom Burgis, 31 January 2006
He’s got power, rich friends, and God on his side. But not Tom Burgis, who explains the selection of the United States president as January winner of the "bad democracy" award.
Tuesday 3rd January

Howard's way

Tom Burgis, 3 January 2006
The Australian prime minister has seen off a gallery of rogues and murderers, to claim the second "bad democracy" award. Our readers’ choice shows how democratic indignation works and exposes the underbelly of John Howard’s premiership, finds Tom Burgis.
Monday 19th December

The WTO's raw deal

Tom Burgis, 19 December 2005
As another global trade summit ends in a raw deal for the poor, Tom Burgis reports from Hong Kong on the changing dynamics between protest and power.
Monday 12th December

The siege of Hong Kong

Tom Burgis, 12 December 2005
As thousands of ministers, trade mandarins and protesters gather for this week’s crunch World Trade Organisation ministerial, Tom Burgis reports from Hong Kong, where the stakes could not be higher.
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