In Soviet times, the KGB kept a close watch on intellectuals – they might turn out to be dissidents. Today, the FSB still skulks on university corridors…
Although Helen Bamber has been celebrated as an ‘iconic’ human rights defender, the most fitting way to honour her is to redirect our attention to the marginalised and silenced people to whom she devoted her life. We don’t have to look hard to find them.
Militarisation of the police is a developing phenomenon, spreading into nominally democratic societies as the bonds of popular consent to the status quo weaken.
The recent death of an Algerian national at the hands of the police during deportation should provoke public indignation. It demands explanation, says Nath Gbikpi.
Russia has been fanning the fires of separatism in Ukraine, but the government is not so keen on separatism at home.
If you want to know what the Soviet Union was like, go to Belarus.
It is now official: on stage and screen you cannot say: блядь [blyad - slut], хуй [khui - cock], пизда [pizda - cunt], ебать [yebat - fuck], and мудак [mudak - dickhead].
What is happening in Ukraine comes straight out of Bosnia-Herzegovina – same playbook, same hired guns. на русском языке.
The new draft law for NGOs proposed by the Egyptian state further narrows the space for civil society, and openly contradicts the new constitution.
International attention is focused on Gaza thanks to the brutal Israeli offensive, but the real problem has always been daily life under occupation.
The military-backed authorities in Egypt refused entry this week to two top officials of Human Rights Watch, seeking to launch their report on the massacre a year ago in Cairo. They blocked the messengers but they may have more trouble blocking the message.
In Azerbaijan, prominent human rights defenders are being arrested; and NGOs raided. ‘Caviar diplomacy’ covers it all up.
