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# Artists, monsters and the jobless – The Week in 1 Minute: January 6 – 12 on openDemocracy
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/artists-monsters-and-jobless-week-in-1-minute-january-6-12-on-opendemocracy/
- Published: 2014-01-12T00:01:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-23T01:34:39.000Z
- Description: openDemocracy kicks off the week with a revealing and moving interview with Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, talking frankly to En Liang Khong about China's exploitative development, and an artist’s duty.
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: The Week in 1 Minute, #Migrated, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 17:36, #appended-excerpt

On openSecurity Jimmy Carter and Robert Pastor discuss the **increasingly complex conflict in** [**Syria**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/89a7961801&ref=opendemocracy.net); while [Iraq's Sunni civil war](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/0cbadc8d6c&ref=opendemocracy.net) and the rise of Al-Qaeda is examined by Juan Cole. The [influence on Moroccan cinema](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/80d84a5073&ref=opendemocracy.net) of the classic film *The Battle of Algiers* is the latest in [this series](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/3d05cdbef1&ref=opendemocracy.net) from the partnership on [Algeria and the Arab Revolutions: Pasts, Presents and Futures](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/56bddcf058&ref=opendemocracy.net).  
  
Playwright [Ann Henning Jocelyn](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/8fdf8082dd&ref=opendemocracy.net) delves into history to [explore](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/9bbdbe5266&ref=opendemocracy.net) **what Scottish Independence might learn from Irish Independence**. Poet [Marisa Handler](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/e91ef81536&ref=opendemocracy.net) writes on the hunger strike her friend is undertaking to protest against [forced-feeding at Guantanamo Bay](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/4baaa8ed41&ref=opendemocracy.net). The mythical monster Grendel also makes an appearance, as [Janey Stephenson](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/b8d7787e39&ref=opendemocracy.net) argues that challenging the '[Beowulf Complex](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/9ffc8d6578&ref=opendemocracy.net)' needs to be top of the activist agenda.  
  
**Relations between Russia and Belarus** have thawed, with the help of some [Machiavellian foreign policy](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/a392e3d545&ref=opendemocracy.net) – according to [Arkady Moshes](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/603ce31567&ref=opendemocracy.net). Yaroslavl was called 'the birthplace of the Russian Spring' after the election of reformist [Yevgeny Urlashov](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/04a9eaf7be&ref=opendemocracy.net) as mayor: now he [has been jailed](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/c13d78bf39&ref=opendemocracy.net)…? And in the Russian outpost of Kaliningrad, [Ola Cichowlas](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/02dd4977e3&ref=opendemocracy.net) reports on an [initiative](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/abb3ca918a&ref=opendemocracy.net) allowing Russians to travel to Poland for Lidl and bright lights.  
  
In Europe there is much [trouble in Austeria](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/d17fce8741&ref=opendemocracy.net), according to [John Grahl](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/7c60960656&ref=opendemocracy.net), with a slim window of opportunity for social democracy. The Director of European Alternatives urges that **Europe is heading into a '**[**joyless and jobless stagnation**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/1049463ad4&ref=opendemocracy.net)**'** to be ignored at our peril. What Europe needs, argues former Danish government speechwriter [Rune Kier Nielsen](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/dca162c7b7&ref=opendemocracy.net), is a [big bold idea.](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/494d403961&ref=opendemocracy.net)  
  
[Machismo is on the move](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/f10911600b&ref=opendemocracy.net) in Finland, dangerously **connected to the rise of populist politics**, argues [Johanna Korhonen](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/3e13a70f88&ref=opendemocracy.net). In a global information age, it is time to get serious about [data on women](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/289dec38e7&ref=opendemocracy.net) to tackle inequality, says [Valerie Hudson](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/7366591071&ref=opendemocracy.net). And in Cambodia, [Theresa de Langis](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/09cff21062&ref=opendemocracy.net) looks at the [textile workers’ strike](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/681a88c149&ref=opendemocracy.net) to improve women’s wages.  
  
After the election of a new mayor in New York, [Max Holleran](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/9edaca722f&ref=opendemocracy.net) and [Sam Holleran](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/e61fdac304&ref=opendemocracy.net) look back at the [Bloomberg years](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/f573238bc7&ref=opendemocracy.net) in city government. Meanwhile, **Honduras is contemplating privatised '**[**charter cities**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/83f71614ad&ref=opendemocracy.net)**'** to tackle violent crime, state violence and institutional disarray. In Indonesia, the President is granting ['special autonomy plus' status ](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/faf0dc6d23&ref=opendemocracy.net)to West Papua, but many Papuans are concerned about the downside. Finally, [Liam Barrington-Bush](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/af4b768c91&ref=opendemocracy.net) considers '[The constructive radical's guide to organisational change](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/53796d84bc&ref=opendemocracy.net)', and in particular some tips on **how to undermine hierarchies in NGOs**.  
  
  
**Don't miss**

- [The plight of African migrants in Israel](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/16fa38573c&ref=opendemocracy.net)
- [Why Are the Poor and Minorities Less Likely to Vote?](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/1480c6a8cf&ref=opendemocracy.net)
- [Kenyan families flee Embobut forest to avoid forced evictions by police ](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/f978f019a9&ref=opendemocracy.net)

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openDemocracy kicks off the week with [a revealing and moving interview with Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/d31526f1c4&ref=opendemocracy.net), talking frankly to [En Liang Khong](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/bae959c07c/7262321cfa/a3f14dec79&ref=opendemocracy.net) about **China's exploitative development**, and an artist’s duty.