Arab Awakening's columnists offer their weekly perspective on what is happening on the ground in the Middle East. Leading the week: Brothers in the hood: Egypt’s soft powers and the Arab world
Continuing the openDemocracy series marking fifty years of Algerian independence, one of the series editors, Martin Evans, explores Algerian history through six objects. Lecture (6,500 words)
We are making a mistake, a very big mistake if we look at what we call the Arab Awakening only by looking at the whole dynamics in political and not in economic terms.
During the current economic crisis, the European Union has focused its efforts on building a financial union – while making next to zero progress on a political or social one. If there is really no alternative on the table, then democracy becomes a façade (“Fassadendemokratie”).
On 31 October 2012, OurBeeb held a day-forum at King’s College London to discuss the future of the BBC. Full audio and video highlights start with a discussion between David Elstein and Lis Howell on how to fund public service broadcasting.
Desperate to eject some refugees it does not want, the Netherlands is refining the art of radical deprivation. No single step, no single decision, no single action in this process is horrible. Yet the cumulative effect is grotesque.
Corruption traditionally involves the spiriting away of public funds for private gain, here the ultimate gains were arguably public. Poverty levels in the country fell more than 51% between 2002 and 2010.
To the memory of Mother Berfo who has searched for her disappeared son for thirty years.
Britain has been fooled. Told that 'republicanism' just meant sacking the monarchy, the British have missed its radical vision for the future. We interview the author of a new pamphlet that seeks to ignite the flame.
Women led many of the protests, and were vital in the sustainability of the movement during the Yemeni revolution, but as preparations for the national dialogue to be held under the transitional unity government go ahead, many women fear that the rival political parties will only unite around one
