Jan McGirk - openDemocracy

A curse on difference: gays vs zealots in Israel

After a week of death threats against Israel's homosexuals, law-enforcement officials were braced for pitched battles on Jerusalem's streets on 10 November 2006, but a last-minute

By Jan McGirk

/ 17 Nov 2006

Christians and Zionists: apocalypse row in Jerusalem

Like a fractured mosaic that can crumble under stress, the ancient walled city of Jerusalem often feels as if it might be on the verge of destruction. The place is

By Jan McGirk

/ 12 Oct 2006

A blow to Israels heart

In a bitter twist of the month-long war in the middle east, one of Israel's most prominent peace activists, David Grossman, now is grieving for his middle son,

By Jan McGirk

/ 15 Aug 2006

Israelity check

The standard greeting here in west Jerusalem is Shalom (Hebrew for "peace"), while in the eastern half of the city, Arabic speakers echo the same sentiment with Salaam

By Jan McGirk

/ 30 Jul 2006

Thailand's king and that democracy jazz

A throng of exhilarated Thais all clad in bright yellow shirts and wearing saffron silicone bands on their right wrists to salute the king clogged the last two miles of

By Jan McGirk

/ 11 Jun 2006

Thaksin Shinawatra: the end of the affair

The political career of Thaksin Shinawatra is approaching its end. After barely scraping victory in the snap election he had called for 2 April 2006, even after much of the

By Jan McGirk

/ 3 Apr 2006

Thailand's rising tide

Anti-Thaksin protest in Bangkok on 26th February 2006 Photo: 2Bangkok.com Thailand's populist prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, is thumbing his nose at mounting demands that he quit. To

By Jan McGirk

/ 27 Feb 2006

Western NGOs and the tsunami test

A year on, western NGOs are being forced to learn some bitter lessons from their attempts to aid survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami, reports Jan McGirk. The earthquake-triggered tsunami

By Jan McGirk

/ 21 Dec 2005

Thailand's endemic insurgency

Old Siam used to be a cosmopolitan kingdom, where the nobles took great pride in the diversity of its people. Their god-king granted protection to all his subjects, including people

By Jan McGirk

/ 28 Nov 2005

Kashmir: the politics of an earthquake

The jihadi-led aid efforts after the cataclysmic Kashmir earthquake expose deep fractures in Pakistani politics, reports Jan McGirk. They say that not even a single leaf on a tree can

By Jan McGirk

/ 18 Oct 2005

Balis agony, Thailands turmoil

The suicide bombs that ripped through the Balinese tourist resorts of Jimbaran Bay and Kuta on 1 October, killing nineteen innocent people and wounding ninety (most of them Indonesians) are

By Jan McGirk

/ 2 Oct 2005

Balis message of dialogue

The last time I visited Bali, a defiant slogan was omnipresent on tourist T-shirts and even appeared on some memorial wreaths for the 202 victims of the October 2002 nightclub

By Jan McGirk

/ 1 Aug 2005