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# Economic dysfunction and organised resistance – The Week in 1 Minute: April 21 – 27 on openDemocracy
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/economic-dysfunction-and-organised-resistance-week-in-1-minute-april-21-27-on-opendemocracy/
- Published: 2014-05-13T11:05:36.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-23T01:39:14.000Z
- Description: We have tributes to two anniversaries this week: one to an event which surely saved lives, the other to an event which cost more than a thousand. Mandela's iconic speech from the dock, “it is a cause for which I am prepared to die” perhaps saved his life, and contributed, eventually, to the transf
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: The Week in 1 Minute, #Migrated, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 17:46, #appended-excerpt

That **economic system** can also be found on *OurKingdom* on [discussions of](https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/thomas-mc-donagh/allowing-corporations-to-sue-governments-for-changing-their-laws-may-be-) the [Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/6406b0e1c8&ref=opendemocracy.net) and [austerity](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/2087ccda74&ref=opendemocracy.net) [in Britain](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/24007ab777&ref=opendemocracy.net) – including the resulting rising numbers of [fascists](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/56a6fd5e99&ref=opendemocracy.net) and [hungry children](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/1febe1fe3b&ref=opendemocracy.net), and falling numbers of [hospital bed](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/c8267f80bb&ref=opendemocracy.net)[s](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/1f28c2be4a&ref=opendemocracy.net); and the [woes of the EU](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/74e4538c93&ref=opendemocracy.net) on *Can Europe Make It?*.  
  
But while the world may dance to a systemic tune, it plays out differently in each country. This week, we learn from *50.50* about the [murder of a student protester in Sudan](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/16e53f69c1&ref=opendemocracy.net) and the link between violence against women and [HIV rates](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/4123213993&ref=opendemocracy.net); from *Arab Awakening*about the failure of [Tunisia's justice system](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/62b02cbe0b&ref=opendemocracy.net); from Transformation about [Body Dysmorphic Disorder](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/e9d93c2d2d&ref=opendemocracy.net), from *oDR* about Russia's continued [involvement in Ukraine](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/a549867b56&ref=opendemocracy.net); and about [sexism in China.](https://www.opendemocracy.net/linda-van-der-horst-en-liang-khong/china%E2%80%99s-leftover-women-interview-with-leta-hong-fincher)  
  
We look too at resistance and at how things could be different, with an [examination ](https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/louise-hallman/building-bridges-in-russian-civil-society)of Russian [civil society](https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/alex-jackson/trusting-in-russian-civil-society), a rallying cry [to anti-fracking protesters](https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/caroline-lucas/fight-against-fracking-continues) from Britain's only Green MP and a [commemoration of](https://www.opendemocracy.net/pierre-schori/garc%C3%ADa-m%C3%A1rquez-and-latin-american-who-came-in-from-cold) that great resister **Gabriel García Márquez**, from Sweden's former foreign minister.  
  
This theme continues with a look at the [global human rights movement](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/fd8c14de15&ref=opendemocracy.net), [a new series](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/1025fec3ab&ref=opendemocracy.net) on [economic alternatives](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/f2c310d0a4&ref=opendemocracy.net) in the UK and explanations of why [well-being](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/8f35fdd06e&ref=opendemocracy.net), [devolving power](https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/clifford-singer/we-must-find-ways-to-devolve-economic-power), [care and the environment](https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/anna-coote/dont-forget-what-economy-is-for-response-to-mills) must be at the core of economics and why **a better education system** [really is child's play](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/1f9f7a7adc&ref=opendemocracy.net).  
  
We hear from '60s student radical and intellectual power-house Tom Nairn on how **Scottish independence** aligns [with the shifting nature of the modern world](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/939a2af1da&ref=opendemocracy.net), and Adam Ramsay's written up [the first six](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/ade7d83ea0&ref=opendemocracy.net) of [forty reasons ](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/cba7349347&ref=opendemocracy.net)why he supports it.  
  
In all of this, it's important for those who write or talk about the world, from [Easter Europe](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/1affc1d0a7&ref=opendemocracy.net) to [Syria](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/2166f38d28&ref=opendemocracy.net), to [Rwanda](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/e1a4c1f992&ref=opendemocracy.net) to understand our role in shaping it and to ensure that the stories we tell are about those we are talking about, not just ourselves. This will never happen unless the **media reflects** [on its ownership](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/0a13dd15b4&ref=opendemocracy.net) and whether it is holding power to account, or perpetuating it.  
  
Elsewhere:

- [Naomi Klein writes about climate change](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/a5ba0e8b7b&ref=opendemocracy.net) in the Guardian
- oD contributor Robin McAlpine [writes in the Scotsman](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/d0a2d67f17&ref=opendemocracy.net) about how parties have lost control of politics in Scotland
- Thomas Piketty's book, [reviewed by *New Republic*](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/4864993538&ref=opendemocracy.net), is a surprise global best seller
- Peter Geoghegan writes for al Jazeera about [the surprising story of](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/efd36f14d4&ref=opendemocracy.net) protestants learning Gaelic in Northern Ireland.

We have tributes to two anniversaries this week: one to an event which surely saved lives, the other to an event which cost more than a thousand. **Mandela's iconic speech** from the dock, “[it is a cause for which I am prepared to die](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/3216d6213e/sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCwQFjAA&url=http://www.opendemocracy.net/awol-allo/nelson-mandela%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98i-am-prepared-to-die%E2%80%99-speech-fifty-years-on&ei=iDFgU9rSKsXbPP7lgTg&usg=AFQjCNEdIpT4w1-y0awBq86fDprdrzZZ9Q&bvm=bv.65397613,d.ZWU)” perhaps saved his life, and contributed, eventually, to the transformation of his country. The [Rana Plaza disaster](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/9649825203&ref=opendemocracy.net), as openSecurity reminded us, shows that his work is not yet done and that we must continue to question the [foundations of our economic system](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9049affa33/7262321cfa/92c85705d1&ref=opendemocracy.net).