Tous les articles et traductions

The fact that the Israel-Palestine conflict grinds on without resolution might appear to be rather strange. For many of the world’s conflicts, it is difficult even to conjure up a feasible settlement. In this case, it is not only possible, but there is near universal agreement on its basic (…)

This article was originally published in French by InfoSud. Translation by Jessica Edwards.
May 8, 2010 – The arrival in force of Chinese operators on the African market is forcing both developed and African countries to reevaluate.
“When I want to build a highway, I need five years to (…)

Fifty years on from the beginnings of liberation in Africa, John S. Saul finds there is still much work to be done, especially in southern Africa where the final triumph over colonial and racial domination occurred. In each of the five sites of the overt struggle against domination – Angola, (…)

A South African government agency has become the first to join the world’s leading patent pool for neglected diseases, a move that could bolster home-grown innovations in the fight against diseases including tuberculosis (TB). Read more

Written by some of the leading experts on lobbying transparency in Europe, this book provides an eye-opening insight into decision-making within the European Union – and offers a valuable guide to fighting for greater transparency and accountability.
Bursting the Brussels Bubble is a valuable (…)

On his first day in office, President Barack Obama promised that he would close the Bush-era prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, “as soon as practicable” and “no later than one year from the date of this order.” By now, it’s painfully obvious that the rejoicing, like the president’s can-do optimism, (…)

From the LTTE to the Sinhala chauvinist forces, the Taliban to the forces of Hindutva, we have seen reactionary and rightwing forces attack our communities, but why is our solidarity and mobilisation against such reactionary forces so limited in the region? We have seen the onslaught of (…)

‘There is no doubt that South Africa will become the next frontier for "land invasions"’, writes Grasian Mkodzongi, ‘the situation in the country is a ticking time bomb. It’s almost impossible to think that a system of extreme injustice and poverty reflected across the country could be sustained (…)

In Timbuktu, Islamic Africa is rediscovering its written culture. Charlotte Widemann travelled to the site of the oldest library south of the Sahara to report on the race for influence over this ancient heritage, played out on a small stage of sand and parchment. Read more

On the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day: the good, the bad, and the potentially ugly. Read more

Helen Thomas, a veteran reporter, asked the question at a White House press conference on al-Qaeda and terrorism. US administration officials stonewalled. “In these times” asked several contributors with various profiles, including Noam Chomsky and Gaytari Chakravorty Spivak, to provide some (…)

The IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) Summits were held this week in Brazil, both aimed at securing a greater say for top emerging economies in world affairs. Six forums were held in parallel, bringing together women, researchers, journalists, (…)

With piracy raging in the Indian Ocean, international disputes over undersea oil and gas, and chronic overfishing, the oceans have rarely been subject to such varied and environmentally damaging conflict outside a world war. In Who Rules the Waves? Denise Russell gives us a rare insight into (…)

With the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) deciding in favour of Kenya’s Endorois people, Korir Sing’Oei Abraham hails an unprecedented court victory. The Endorois were forcibly evicted by the Kenyan government in the period 1974–79, and their victory suggests positive (…)

The ambitious desire to close Guantánamo hailed the coming of a new era, a feeling implicitly recognised by the Nobel peace prize that President Obama received. Unfortunately, what we witnessed was a false dawn. The lawyers for the Guantánamo detainees with whom I am in touch in the US speak of (…)

The first decade of the 21st century has been dominated by wars that have killed or injured close to half a million people, wars that arose after determined paramilitaries used parcel-knives to exploit the weaknesses of the world’s most advanced state. That incident might in principle have been (…)

The Stockholm Programme, the latest in a series of EU agreements on security policy, was endorsed in December 2009. Based on the "principle of availability", the Programme plans to enable the cross-border collection, processing and sharing of data on a massive scale. Supposedly promoting (…)

Shifts in global power, ongoing or potential, are a lively topic among policy makers and observers. One question is whether (or when) China will displace the United States as the dominant global player, perhaps along with India.
There is yet another significant shift in global power: from the (…)

In the London Review of Books, Tariq Ali tells about his recent trip to Yemen, after Obama and other US politicians started hinting that this country might become a new frontline yet in the ’war on terror’.
Recounting the country’s history since World War II, and in particular the war and (…)

UN-HABITAT launched its report State of the World Cities 2010/2011: Bridging the Urban Divide in the run up to the World Urban Forum 5 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The world’s mega-cities are merging to form vast "mega-regions" which may stretch hundreds of kilometres across countries and be (…)