She turned down a career as a model because she didn't like make-up. She lost her job as a journalist because she refused to back down in face of the censorship of the Suharto military regime. But as an author, she's the most succesful writer of her generation in Indonesia. Ayu Utami on freedom, monotheism and the expiration date of extramarita ...

The Mapuche, an ancient Native American people from Chile and Argentina, have been the victim of human rights violations for decades. The government treats them as criminals, while large energy corporations gain an ever greater influence over their native lands. The Mapuche try to raise their voices through international means without much success. ...

I spent the last twenty days of June in the Congo. Most of that time, I visited people and communities at grass root level. In brief, I went to Fizi – Baraka – Uvira – Bukavu – Kalehe – Minova – Goma. All by road. I ended my trip in Kinshasa, trying to wrap with a more national perspective. What follows is not really an article, nor is it an elabor ...

Despite its 160 million inhabitants, Bangladesh is the kid brother of South Asia. Yet fascinating things are happening in the delta created by the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna, as economic miracles coexist with political nightmares and social dream scenarios. An update from the land of water par excellence.

A quarter of all countries worldwide maintain a fleet of submarines. Submarines continue to be of crucial importance as nuclear deterrents, for espionage and for asymmetrical warfare. A survey of the geopolitical hotspots where submarines rule the waves.

In 2008, Africalia and the city of Ghent chose South African Ismail Farouk to create a work of art for Ledeberg, a borough of Ghent. His functional artwork ‘Smaaklik’ is not there yet, in the meantime Farouk shares his views on space and society in Ledeberg, Europe and his home country South-Africa.

On 29 of May, relatives of some of the people killed or missing in Mexico have met the four candidates in July's presidential poll demanding more commitment to end drug violence. Since the crackdown on cartels, figures show that around 50,000 people have been killed and 5,000 are missing. Ahead of the elections protests are intensifying against the ...

A controversial environmental policy has created serious concerns that a non-committal attitude of the U.S. to RIO+20 will prevent any meaningful outcomes. In times of presidential elections with two candidates – Obama and Romney- having different approaches to ‘green economy’, what are the chances that a position will be defined for the summit? ...

The global youth unemployment rate for 2012 shows an entire generation mummified by a lack of prospects. Phenomenon defined as “youth paradox”; a blooming generation - more educated than ever – but with 75 million unemployed young people scouring the labour market. Employment is not only the main source of financial independence but it is also a cr ...

A bomb targeting an unbending former interior minister killed 2 and injured at least 54 people in Bogotá. Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are being accused by many. The guerrilla group recently manifested interest in ending the country's civil war, so why murder Fernando Londoño? Just how likely are negotiations with the ...

The deep economic crisis which is slapping the European Union has evolved into a social crisis with growing resistance to EU economic policies. The "European Spring" is rapidly paving its way across the continent. Social movements such as the Indignados with “slow impatience” are fighting for a drastic change, as the social activist Esther Vivas to ...

Colombia's main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), is suspected of holding French journalist Roméo Langlois. The rebel group announced in February that they would no longer kidnap civilians for purposes of extortion, a pillar for the stability of Colombia that now seems to stagger.