At the recent Kinotavr film festival — "Russia's Cannes" — the main competition featured no less than three films dealing with the hitherto ignored plights of Russia’s migrant workers. For various reasons, all three films fell short of painting a realistic picture of the situation. But their produ
Diplomatic reminiscences from Herat in the 1970s; delicate interventions, fragile civil society.
As ethnic and sectarian solidarities and conflicts sharpen in this part of the world, it may be worth reminding ourselves of another way of being - ‘new Ottoman’ cosmopolitanism, with its complex relationship to colonialism
Translating Alexander Pushkin’s novel The Captain’s Daughter launched Robert Chandler on a journey of revelations into this ‘most subtly constructed of all nineteenth-century Russian novels’. The story leads Chandler to reflect on the fate of translators: as mediators between two cultures, maybe t
Nonviolence is a value, a tool, and a force which ordinary people can and do use daily. The undocumented nature of much nonviolent action perpetrates the myth that it is ineffectual: it is our duty to tell the stories.
A ban on the burqa will not resolve the identity crisis many European countries are going through, nor will it help towards the integration of European citizens.
Russia’s greatest poet Alexander Pushkin is notoriously hard for non-Russian speakers to appreciate. So Susan Richards welcomes a concise new biography of the poet by his translator Robert Chandler which strips the varnish off
With its dominance by overseas players, managers and finance, the Premier League is a symbol of the UK's failed economic model.
Plans for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport set out yesterday completely miss the plot when it comes to public service broadcasting. Continuing a theme, DCMS Minister Jeremy Hunt puts his faith in a Stakhanovite effort from the commercial sector once media regulations are revised, and fai
Several European states - France, Italy, Belgium and Britain among them - are involved in legal, social or political disputes over the dress-codes of Muslim women. A detailed and alert survey of the variegated experiences and attitudes involved is the best way to understand a complex issue, says S
On 12 July, the judge found Andrei Erofeev and Yurii Samodurov, organisers of the exhibition Forbidden Art – 2006, guilty of inciting hatred and enmity, and insulting human dignity. Samodurov was fined 200,000 roubles, and Erofeev 150,000 (some $12,000 in all). But they have not been sent to priso
Our correspondent in the Gaza Strip invites you to spend the day with him
