Ecuadorians voted for their next president on Sunday 7 February, but it wasn’t the only significant decision on ballots. Cuenca, the third largest city in the South American country, voted to ban mining projects within the nearby drainage basins of five rivers. There are over 4,000 large and small bodies of water in the sensitive… Read More Indigenous, green movement resists Ecuador’s pro-mining politics
Police in Belarus carried out 22 raids on the homes and offices of journalists, human rights activists and trade union members on Tuesday. The raids were part of an investigation into mass anti-government protests, officials said. The former Soviet nation has been gripped by weekend protests ever since strongman President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in… Read More Belarus: Police raid homes of journalists, activists // ‘Nowadays I often cry’ An interview with Victor Martinovich
Why would the Indian state arrest a 21-year-old woman activist who seeks a cleaner and safer planet? Should not the country want young people to look beyond their narrow personal interests to the interests of society at large? Why did our government lock up a young citizen seeking to build a better future for herself… Read More Ramachandra Guha: Why Modi And Shah Fear Young Activists // "Attempt To Browbeat Disha Ravi Into Submission": Mount Carmel Alumni
Let me tell you what the Delhi Police knows. And I do not mean the abstract entity called Delhi Police. I mean every single IPS officer and every constable involved in carrying out the “toolkit investigation.” They know that 22 year old Disha Ravi is not the Prime Mover along with the relatively recently formed… Read More Nivedita Menon: Toolkits of democracy and a paranoid Hindu Rashtra
Nine high-profile activists and pro-democracy figures have gone on trial in Hong Kong in one of the biggest court cases linked to the protest movement that paralysed the city for more than a year. Among the defendants are Martin Lee, considered the father of the democracy movement in Hong Kong, media tycoon Jimmy Lai, veteran activist Lee Cheuk-yan, and… Read More Helen Davidson: High profile pro-democracy figures go on trial over Hong Kong protests
NB: This article is presumably meant to explain the ongoing Indian farmers’ movement to Western audiences. If it was intended to help the farmers’ struggle, it will do just the opposite. The author highlights the Sikh and Punjabi element in the protests, when in fact it has been a non-denominational movement from the start. He… Read More SIMRAN JEET SINGH: The Farmers' Protests Are a Turning Point for India's Democracy
The protesting farmers on Monday wore as a badge of honour Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reference to some of them as “Andolan Jeevi” and handed him a lesson in history. Modi’s comment had come in the Rajya Sabha while he was replying to the motion of thanks to the President’s address. “Farmers would like to… Read More Protesting farmers hand PM a lesson for his 'Andolan Jeevi' comment
The number and size of protest meetings or Mahapanchayats across villages of North India against the government’s obduracy on farm laws recalls the crisis faced by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in 2011. Six years into power, and with just about three years to go till the next general elections, its credibility was so eroded by… Read More Bharat Bhushan: How farm protests may change political equations and hurt BJP in key states
Alexei Navalny was in defiant mood last Tuesday, as he waited for his inevitable sentence. He made a heart gesture for his wife, Yulia, who was sitting at the back of Moscow’s city courtroom. Navalny smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t be sad! Everything is going to be all right,” he yelled at her. She… Read More The extraordinary power struggle between Vladimir Putin and Alexei Navalny
On 26 January, India celebrated the anniversary of its constitution, which 74 years ago promised citizens a secular, democratic state and justice, equality and liberty for all. But as the traditional Republic Day parade took place in New Delhi’s centre, across the city those very values were being violated in the most egregious manner. Hundreds… Read More Martand Kaushik, Ahan Penkar: Reporting is not a crime. So why has India’s government charged our magazine?
After the truth-shower 