Category: Human rights

Pervasive protests affirm civic activism, but carry serious risks

     

People all over the world are resorting to mass demonstrations to express grievances and press unmet demands, notes Aryeh Neier, President Emeritus of the Open Society Foundations and a founder… Read more »

National security still tied to fate of freedom, democratic solidarity

     

  Today, sophisticates on both the political Left and Right argue that the United States has no business supporting the democratic aspirations of the Venezuelan people, or that Iraqis were… Read more »

A new ‘Totalitarian Temptation’? Authoritarians rely on ideas too

     

Sudan’s transition promises to be anything but easy. Economic problems that sparked initial protests in 2018 still await complex solutions, and the state bureaucracy remains weak. How will the military… Read more »

The other ‘God That Failed’? The triumph and tragedy of 1989

     

“Always prepared!” For decades, it was a catchphrase of the Pioneers, an outdoorsy youth group that was a hallmark of communist indoctrination efforts targeting schoolchildren throughout the U.S.S.R. and its… Read more »

Liberal democracy ‘alien to human nature’? Intense battle for political minds and souls

     

A dramatic debate between US strategist Stephen Bannon and French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy* at the Athens Democracy Forum, illustrated the intensity of the battle for political minds and souls, The… Read more »

Demolishing Faith: China sharpens hacking to hound minorities, home and abroad

     

China’s hackers have since built up a new arsenal of techniques, such as elaborate hacks of iPhone and Android software, pushing them beyond email attacks and the other, more basic… Read more »

Bending the knee to Beijing’s ‘proxy power’. Can democratic values survive in a Chinese world?

     

If you want to understand what’s happening in the National Basketball Association, turn off SportsCenter and pick up “The Art of War,” argues Ben Sasse, a Republican, who represents Nebraska… Read more »

First post-Castro crisis: A path toward change in Cuba?

     

For all the talk of restructuring (aka re-branding) in the face of an acute economic crisis, Cuba’s Communist regime is sticking with the same apparatchiks. “#Cuba maintains current leaders in… Read more »

Iraq’s ‘wobbly democracy faces most dangerous moment yet’

     

The streets of Baghdad were silent Tuesday after a week of peaceful protests — against corruption, unemployment and lack of basic services — turned deadly. More than 100 people were… Read more »

Poland’s populist turn: A looming Hungarian scenario

     

Poland’s election on Oct. 13 is the biggest test of the Law & Justice Party’s durability, say Bloomberg analysts Wojciech Moskwa and Rodney Jefferson. It has increased its popularity by… Read more »