Analysis

Analysis

A three-headed dragon is depopulating Europe

1 December 2021 -

A three-headed dragon is haunting Europe. It is ageing the population, causing women to have fewer children and pushing hundreds of thousands away from their homelands. Bulgaria, for example, has the fastest declining population in the world. The European Commission is putting up its defences against this threat. It appointed a first-ever and ...

Analysis

War on journalism in Belarus: ‘European Union is reacting too slowly’

23 March 2021 -

‘Every journalist has spare clothes in his or her backpack. Because we are never sure we will make it home again.’ For more than a month now, Belarusian President Lukashenko has been waging a war on journalists. ‘But we keep on writing. That is our responsibility.’

Analysis

Belgium slams doors on asylum seekers from El Salvador

25 January 2021 -

Asylum seekers from El Salvador hardly ever receive a positive answer to their application for protection in our country. In 2020, barely 10 percent of Salvadoran asylum applications were approved; in 2019, the number was 90 percent. Does the change in trend indicate a revision of the policy?

Analysis

How the dictator of Cameroon gives millions to American companies to polish his reputation with “fake news”

3 November 2020 -

In 2020, locking up opposition members and forging ballot papers is passé for dictators. A better strategy is to call in PR companies to boost the reputation of your state abroad. This investigation shows how Cameroonian President Paul Biya uses American companies for that purpose.

Flickr / Vetustense Photorogue (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Analysis

‘Lowlifes, Scum, Shut up, Stay Home, Bitches’. Swearing in Political Discourse

27 October 2020 -

‘He is back, bitches,’ ‘Lowlifes, scum, thug,’ or, ‘just shut up,’ ‘stay home.’ Even in the Low Countries, the use of profanity by politicians is no longer an exception. Is this profane language spontaneous and innocent, or is there a calculated strategy behind it? And what are the consequences?

Analysis

In Kenya garbage is recycled into opportunities for the young

14 October 2020 -

As the Kenyan economy grows, the amount of waste grows along with it. A flood of new disposable materials, from mouth masks to gloves, puts extra pressure on faulty policies. Can a sustainable waste policy offer young people growth opportunities and reduce the waste heap?

Analysis

Money, Power and Politics at the WHO

7 October 2020 -

Fien Van den Steen takes a look at the geopolitics that shaped the WHO’s manoeuvring throughout the global coronavirus pandemic.

Analysis

Ethiopian migrants chased and shot at in the Gulf: ‘Just let them die. Their lives are worthless’

24 September 2020 -

In Yemen, Houthi militias have used the corona crisis to violently chase out Ethiopian migrants across the border with Saudi Arabia. Now, more than five months later, hundreds of Ethiopians migrants are still being held in Saudi detention centres in dire circumstances.

Analysis

Zimbabwe deposed a dictator, but could not eliminate corruption. Time for a second chance?

8 September 2020 -

Despite promises to improve the human rights situation in Zimbabwe, president Emmerson Mnangagwa's country continues to excel in repression of peaceful protest and freedom of speech. Three years after the expulsion of dictator Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe seems to be back at square one.

Analysis

Under Bolsonaro healthcare is a form of violence

4 September 2020 -

On Sunday the 9th of august, activists all over the world demanded attention for the precarious living conditions of indigenous peoples in Brazil’s Amazon forest. The 'Indigenous Emergency Action’ demanded attention for deforestation, which has increased by 98% since Bolsonaro took office, and for the ways in which the COVID-19 pande ...

Analysis

Modi’s new education policy: a next step in the saffronisation of India?

26 August 2020 -

End of July, the Modi government approved a lengthy proposal to reform education policy and structures in India. This New Education Policy is presented as the stepping stone to bring india in the right position to be a main player in tomorrow’s knowledge economy. Critics fear it is rather turning India towards an imagined past of Hindu glory, under ...

Analysis

Chinese and Russian ‘aid propaganda’ hijacks European corona crisis

15 June 2020 -

The coronavirus is a magnifying glass that allows us to see the fault lines and changes in the world more sharply than ever. In the early days of the crisis, the EU showed a great inability to react in a coordinated manner, which in turn gave China and Russia much extra room to increase their influence in Eastern Europe. Are we bringing in the ...