Conflict and state violence

Panthers in the promised land: Race, Zionism and the Black Panthers of Israel

Alissa Brook September 10, 2026

Israel’s ethnic politics don’t just define relations between Jews and Arabs, they have also shaped the lives of Israelis whose heritage challenges the idea that these two identities are mutually exclusive. When second-generation Jewish immigrants from North Africa and West Asia came of age in the early 1970s, a movement born in a Jerusalem slum exploded into national politics, challenging Zionist ideology at its core.

A woman in a colorful headwrap looks up at a large tree, in the background is a city

According to tradition: Kenya revives customary laws to battle ecosystem loss

David Njagi April 15, 2026

Facing ecological degradation under climate change, some in Kenya are looking back on traditional indigenous knowledge that prioritizes sustainable harmony with nature over short-term profits. Now, these customary rules may become laws on paper as well.

Iran’s internet blackout shows an increasingly powerful tool to reign in democratic movements

Sabrina Faramarzi January 20, 2026

Sophisticated new techniques for blocking public access to the internet show how autocratic governments have benefited from the monopolized tech landscape. It’s time to rethink how we connect and report, writes Sabrina Faramarzi.

Venezuela without Venezuelans

Gabriela Ramirez January 13, 2026

As bombs fall and power shifts, Venezuela is reframed as a geopolitical case study, while the voices of those living through the crisis are pushed aside. The gap between global commentary and lived reality turns human crisis into abstraction and exposes what is lost when journalism explains power while erasing the people who endure it, writes Gabriela Ramirez.

Vietnamese activists’ dilemma: Go public and risk reprisals, or go undercover and go it alone

Hướng Thiện January 5, 2026

Arrests of high-profile campaigns suggest that even those working on government-approved green initiatives with international backing aren’t safe from Vietnam’s crackdown on environmental activism. But some warn that staying below the radar can be even more dangerous.

“We can only get out of here if we die”: How EU funds to help Roma communities are reinforcing isolation, prejudice and exclusion

Róbert Báthory, Zsófia Fülöp, Ernő Kadét, Ronald Rodrigues, Mihail Mishev and Vittoria Torsello December 5, 2025

Roma people are routinely excluded from jobs, housing and public services. Yet tens of billions of euros to promote Roma inclusion are vanishing into projects with no transparency or measurable impacts. Our investigation found evidence of some of this EU money being spent on displacing or demonizing Roma communities in Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechia and Italy.

Children walk alongside a border fence with the shadow of security over them

Growing up too fast: Children struggle with aftermath of state violence in India-Bangladesh border villages

Ritwika Mitra November 13, 2025

India and Bangladesh share a 4,000 kilometer-long border, which looms large for children of living alongside it, particularly those whose parents have suffered abuse at the hands of the Border Security Force.

People carry a banner with Imamoglu's name to the government

Building from the base: How Turkey’s opposition mounted a comeback

Selin Bucak September 5, 2025

Imprisoned since March, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu is considered the greatest threat to Erdogan’s power in decades. But how did Imamoglu and the CHP mount a successful comeback despite a captured media and demoralized opposition? Research, militancy, and relentless positivity proved key.