> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Blood, freedom and the nation: May 20th – 26th on openDemocracy - URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/blood-freedom-and-nation-may-20th-26th-on-opendemocracy/ - Published: 2013-05-25T23:05:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-04-23T01:27:07.000Z - Description: In Britain, the brutal murder of a soldier in south London provoked media hysteria that openDemocracy set out to counter. Anthony Barnett warned that the act of terror would strengthen the surveillance state, while Paul Rogers urged us to recognise the links between the killing and Britain's recor - Author: openDemocracy Supporters - Tags: The Week in 1 Minute, #Migrated, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 17:36, #appended-excerpt Just days before, our columnist Jim Gabour [wrote on](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/afc6ad0d4a&ref=opendemocracy.net) **killing and media coverage around the globe**, and his words rang true again for Britain. Meanwhile, the UK confronts [two very real threats](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/5be6f97b1b&ref=opendemocracy.net) to the status quo: the referendums on the EU and Scottish independence. Sri Lanka, through its [celebration of the end of its civil war](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/9a828b1943&ref=opendemocracy.net), both[remembers and attempts to forget](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/1c22cea2e3&ref=opendemocracy.net), while the spectre of interreligious violence [is again raising its head](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/fbac2b9cce&ref=opendemocracy.net) with a **new Buddhist radical group, the BBS**. In Syria, [the deadlock](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/f53c610dea&ref=opendemocracy.net) continues to block any attempt at a resolution, and [an opposition activist asks](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/dad20cc1d1&ref=opendemocracy.net) whether **the fracturing of the Syrian identity** is a price worth paying for peace. Japan, meanwhile, looks set to row back on its [historic Peace Pledge](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/e1da5848e2&ref=opendemocracy.net). Over at 50.50, solutions to violence are discussed through their coverage of the **Nobel Women's Initiative Conference, *Beyond Militarism and War***. While laureate Mairead Maguire calls for the building of [a new culture of love](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/35beedc21e&ref=opendemocracy.net), Madeleine Rees conveys the urgency of addressing the [patriarchal framework](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/8662da1d9e&ref=opendemocracy.net) of justice.[Valerie Hudson](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/698f0893e8&ref=opendemocracy.net) meanwhile advocates for a world in which women are empowered to rebuild societies after war. Questions of European identity are raised in Niccolo Milanese’s vision of [a post-crisis Europe](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/d82e9f8be2&ref=opendemocracy.net), philosopher Etienne Balibar[explores](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/6782a92adc&ref=opendemocracy.net) **how we can create a ‘European party of Europe’**, while we have a foretaste of a new book on the very future of[transnational cooperation](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/e5e4024208&ref=opendemocracy.net) in an essay on its global breakdown. OurKingdom, meanwhile, discusses whether we can [all be global citizens](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/ab04284a7d&ref=opendemocracy.net), or whether action for democracy in Britain [begins with the local](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/581f6f916d&ref=opendemocracy.net). We get a glimpse of [Jordanian identity](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/7756b693c6&ref=opendemocracy.net) through the stories of its citizens, and see how anti-austerity protests [in Israel](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/7966339a21&ref=opendemocracy.net) relate to the Palestinian question. In Spain, meanwhile, the [government](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/350b577070&ref=opendemocracy.net) is**cracking down on a citizen’s campaign to support mortgage victims**. Elsewhere, [David Graeber](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/dac7690b8d&ref=opendemocracy.net) attempts to untangle liberty and slavery, our power over our own bodies is examined in [Notes on a Hunger Strike](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/e4182e44d1&ref=opendemocracy.net), while [a US army veteran and former diplomat](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/48fea130b5&ref=opendemocracy.net) tells us **why she resigned in favour of the freedom to protest**. We also have dispatches [from Romania](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/2c635c434c&ref=opendemocracy.net), on their troubled media,[from Moldova](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/b22b408938&ref=opendemocracy.net), on a bitter struggle for power, and Croatia, on an initiative to [end segregation in schools](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/855a39503b&ref=opendemocracy.net). **Links not to miss**: - [Stiglitz on globalisation and taxes](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/8462a95b1e&ref=opendemocracy.net) - [Obama’s speech on drones – winding down the war on terror?](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/8585daf12c/pagewanted=all&%5Fr=0&ref=opendemocracy.net) - [Scale of UK housing crisis revealed](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/246fc72373&ref=opendemocracy.net) **openDemocracy’s week in 1 minute is emailed to Members, Friends and authors who help pay for and create our great content. Please forward this to any contact you think might be interested and** [**want to join**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/ede5e535b8/openDemocracy/bb28beb484/946f39415f/51634b1085/openDemocracy/d4022f1a75/TEST/e64101092e&ref=opendemocracy.net) **or email us (**[**supporters@opendemocracy.net**](mailto:supporters@opendemocracy.net)**).** In Britain, the **brutal murder of a soldier in south London** provoked media hysteria that openDemocracy set out to counter. Anthony Barnett [warned](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/558a4e5a3b&ref=opendemocracy.net) that the act of terror would strengthen the surveillance state, while Paul Rogers [urged us to recognise](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/47185e9269/7262321cfa/4991024a2f&ref=opendemocracy.net) the links between the killing and Britain's record in Afghanistan.