Opinions

The Chinese State, or Communist Party-run People’s Daily’s overseas edition on Friday blamed the United States for being behind the pro-democracy protests that are unsettling Hong Kong. That pointer immediately averted by the State Department. The report said the National…

This prize is not a human rights or do-good prize. The two – excellent – people who are awarded the prize for 2014 have done great work for children’s rights but, unfortunately, human rights is not what Alfred Nobel sought…

It is difficult to find US officials directly claiming that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is in league with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), but you will find plenty who will allude to it using specious reasoning.…

The demands of business dominate our politicians and embed inequality. It’s a full-blown assault on democracy By George Monbiot for The Guardian The more power you possess, the more insecure you feel. The paranoia of power drives people towards absolutism. But it…

Hong Kong’s Occupy Central protests have reached a stage that could be called, ‘in the doldrums’, at least if you judge by the few hundred remaining day-time protesters and the lacklustre news reportage as everyone repeats the few press announcements…

  Human Wrongs Watch The knowledge and traditional practices of indigenous people and local communities are key to halting biodiversity loss and achieving sustainable development, a United Nations official on 7 October 2014 stressed at a major meeting on biological diversity…

The student curtainraiser in Hong Kong appears to be over for now. A few hundred diehard students remain on post at the three main demonstration sites. In some places there are more journos than demonstrators. But don’t get the impression…

  This two-part article offers a pro-peace perspective on the present war on ISIS in Iraq and Syria. First some principles to stimulate another discourse, another way of thinking that is not militarist – and then some concrete proposals –…

“The End of the World is Nigh” is a slogan that has been repeated ever since human beings could formulate the concept.  Prehistoric cavemen found meteorites, volcanos, unusual weather patterns, changes in animal behaviour, and other such omens to be…

The streets and echoes resounding in Hong Kong in this moment are energised by an invigorating turmoil. It’s as if the shrouded urbanity had shook itself and woken up. People found themselves shoulder to shoulder, fired into a new solidarity.…