The latest developments translate as the end of justice and legality as we know it. What we are experiencing is a ‘state of exception’ par excellence, in Agamben’s terms, as the rhetoric of ‘necessity’ is creating a ‘space devoid of law’.

Arab Awakening's columnists offer their weekly perspective on what is happening on the ground in the Middle East. Leading the week, Libyans say no to militias.

This week G8 leaders hail the opening of EU/US Free Trade negotiations as 'a once in a generation opportunity' to create jobs and growth. But behind the rhetoric, leaks of the secretive negotiating mandate suggest that its real intent is an undemocratic power grab by corporations at the expense of the public interest, affecting everything from health and workers rights to the ennvironment. 

More than most, South Africa is expected to be a defender and a promoter of human rights, because of its past. The country has the potential to lead the way in pushing for a more democratic international order. Translations: Español.

Más de la mayoría, Sudáfrica, se espera sea un defensor y promotor de derechos humanos, gracias a su pasado. El país tiene el potencial de marcar el camino para un orden internacional más democrático.

In February 2009 the Convention of Modern Liberty gathered a distinguished crowd who cared about the issues raised by a growing UK surveillance state. Their words are worth revisiting today. 

Using cutting-edge human rights perception polls, the authors explore links between social class and domestic human rights movements in Mexico, Colombia, Morocco, and India. Social elites, they find, are better connected to human rights representatives than the masses. Translations: Español, Français. 

Usando encuestas de percepción de vanguardia sobre derechos humanos, los autores exploran los vínculos entre la clase social y los movimientos nacionales de derechos humanos en México, Colombia, Marruecos y la India. Las élites sociales, encontraron, están mejor conectadas con los representantes de derechos humanos que las masas.

Hilary Wainwright reports from Thessaloniki on what happened when the state ordered Greece’s state broadcaster to shut down