> ## 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.

# Mental health, deaths in detention and citizens engaging – The Week in 1 Minute: April 1 – 7 on openDemocracy
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/mental-health-deaths-in-detention-and-citizens-engaging-week-in-1-minute-april-1-7-on-opendemocr/
- Published: 2014-04-06T23:04:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-23T01:38:23.000Z
- Description: This week, openDemocracy has been publishing articles on citizen engagement as part of our Participation Now series with the Open University. Activists and practitioners who work in public participation speak about everything from participatory budgeting and online democracy, to direct action and
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: The Week in 1 Minute, #Migrated, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 17:46, #appended-excerpt

Citizens have been creating revolutions not just in the Arab Spring, but across the globe. Geoffrey Pleyers talks about the journey from [Facebook movements to City Square movements](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/5624bd822c&ref=opendemocracy.net). In Venezuela, **revolution and counter-revolution** are pitted against each other – but Ivan Briscoe says [the picture is more complex than that](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/e87ba2cbe5&ref=opendemocracy.net).  
  
The crisis in **Ukraine is slipping from the front pages**. But Zbigniew Wojnowski maintains that the question of '[where Crimea belongs to](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/1989046425&ref=opendemocracy.net)' is far more complicated than you think; while President Putin is accused of making some of the same mistakes in the [Ukraine that the USSR did in Poland](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/8ed7216bc4&ref=opendemocracy.net).  
  
Ray Filar launches Transformation's new series on the **politics of mental health**, explaining [why we're all sick under neoliberalism](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/27cb44a593&ref=opendemocracy.net). As part of the series, Huma writes about [how feminism helped her survive a forced marriage](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/274411421b&ref=opendemocracy.net).  
  
An anonymous detainee [talks](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/d22bcb181a&ref=opendemocracy.net) about **a death at Yarl's Wood detention centre**, a tragedy which brings the total number of [deaths in detention to at least 20](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/f559b294f1&ref=opendemocracy.net). Beatrice Botomani outlines a campaign by refugee women that is bringing [pressure to bear on the UK government to end detention](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/14af7601ca&ref=opendemocracy.net).  
  
**European elections** are in just six weeks, and we ask young Europeans to [discuss voter apathy](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/23f5337eea&ref=opendemocracy.net). In France, local election results point to a rise in support for the far-right and Patrice de Beer tells us [why this isn't necessarily a bad thing](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/b46d1d034a&ref=opendemocracy.net). Strengthened by these results and other advances for the far-right, a new grouping in the next European Parliament may yet cast [a dark cloud over Europe](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/9d0fa25bc2&ref=opendemocracy.net), according to Alex Sakalis.  
  
The balance between history and broadcasting is examined as the BBC's coverage of **the centenary of the First World War** [**comes under criticism**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/e4949f9f92&ref=opendemocracy.net). [The BBC Controller of the season responds](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/58ed059a98&ref=opendemocracy.net). Walid Khalidi looks at the [history of Palestine](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/8c6c2314be&ref=opendemocracy.net) a century on from World War One and the Balfour Declaration.  
  
Finally, Amira Bouraoui, who co-founded the Barakat (Enough!) movement, [speaks to Karima Bennoune](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/69c24a9aab&ref=opendemocracy.net) about **a new citizens' movement to establish democracy in Algeria.** 
  
  
**Not to miss**:

- [Somalis yearn for a musical renaissance](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/96cacf85e7&ref=opendemocracy.net) – Al Jazeera
- [Campaign of Resilience](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/04e4621095/ref=world&ref=opendemocracy.net) – New York Times
- [Squatters of the Lower East Side](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/ee40aee004&ref=opendemocracy.net) – Jacobin Magazine
- Only available in the UK: [Which way is the front line from here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/a06e3937a4&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/9374b80239/7262321cfa/0af3e8ea34/openDemocracy/bb28beb484/946f39415f/51634b1085/openDemocracy/d4022f1a75/TEST/e64101092e&ref=opendemocracy.net) **or email us (**[**supporters@opendemocracy.net**](mailto:supporters@opendemocracy.net)**).**

This week, openDemocracy has been publishing articles on **citizen** **engagement** as part of our [Participation Now](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/671d876dcb&ref=opendemocracy.net) series with the Open University. Activists and practitioners who work in public participation speak about everything from [participatory budgeting](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/1d38b0e486&ref=opendemocracy.net) and [online democracy](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/a60bea7809&ref=opendemocracy.net), to [direct action](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/7ae65107b6&ref=opendemocracy.net) and the [Complaints Choir](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/9374b80239/7262321cfa/e83c203ac7&ref=opendemocracy.net).