Why social movements need the radical imagination

Book extract: The radical imagination often emerges most brilliantly from those who encounter the greatest or most acute oppression and exploitation, and is often stunted and diluted in those who enjoy the greatest privileges.

By Max Haiven

/ 22 Jul 2014

Let's share! Please provide your credit card information to get started

Sharing has been monetized – from Task Rabbit, which allows you to pay people to go grocery shopping, to websites where you can rent a puppy for the weekend. But goodwill is best left off the shelves.

By Open democracy

/ 21 Jul 2014

Trigger warning: trigger warnings (towards a different approach)

The main point of trigger warnings is to open up the possibility for people to determine what they engage with, when and how.

By Open democracy

/ 15 Jul 2014

Israel's wall: 10 years justice denied

"Operation Protective Edge" is under way, with air strikes in Gaza, 22 Palestinians killed and rockets fired at Israel. 10 years ago the International Court of Justice declared the Israeli separation wall illegal under international law. Has anything changed?

By Open democracy

/ 9 Jul 2014

What do you think of Transformation?

Transformation, openDemocracy’s newest section, turns one year old today. We want your help in evaluating our progress.

By Michael Edwards

/ 8 Jul 2014

The case for hard: why social transformation demands lots of social friction

Hovering above the restrictions of place and culture, detached from democracy, and technocratic to its core, a new discourse favours a frictionless approach to solving social problems.

By Open democracy

/ 7 Jul 2014

American politics: beyond angels and demons

In celebration of July 4, Independence Day in the United States, Transformation asks what lies in store for democracy in America?

By Open democracy

/ 4 Jul 2014

This is what life is like for an asylum seeker

Survival on £35 a week, the everyday boredom of waiting for a trial, and how the system needs to be humanised: a UK asylum seeker speaks out.

By Open democracy

/ 27 Jun 2014

Should we fight the system or be the change?

Short-term campaigns versus building the beloved community: what are the real costs and benefits of pre-figurative politics?

By Open democracy

/ 25 Jun 2014

I am sorry for you, you mean well: trust and history in the making of a better world

Why do foreign aid and advice so often fail? A transformative social vision means nothing without humility.

By Open democracy

/ 24 Jun 2014

Economic growth: getting beyond fairytale policy

Against the myth of trickle down economics.

By Open democracy

/ 13 Jun 2014

Safe white hands: Hollywood's problem with minorities in film

White men make films about the emancipatory struggles of everybody else. The final article in Transformation's liberation series.

By Open democracy

/ 11 Jun 2014

Transforming Politics