A fortnight after Myanmar’s military coup and the momentum of protest is growing. On February 1 2021, Myanmar’s armed forces, officially known as the Tatmadaw, announced on the military-run TV channel that it had taken control of the country, declaring a year-long state of emergency. Earlier that day, several electedContinue Reading
Myanmar’s popular leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in custody since the country’s military seized power in a coup on February 1, has been charged with a new crime: that of violating the country’s National Disaster Management Law. It’s proof, if any were needed, of the extent toContinue Reading
The murder of five students at a farm in Buga, in south-western Colombia, on January 24 highlights the fragility of the 2016 peace deal which brought to an end more than five decades of civil conflict between successive governments and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). January 2021 wasContinue Reading
Shutterstock The scene was set for May 6 2021 to be a historic day for democracy in Wales. It would be the first time that 16 and 17 year olds would be able to vote in an election in UK history. It still might be. Although the pandemic has forcedContinue Reading
Children marvel at the new decimal 50 pence coin, the world's first seven sided coin. PA It’s 50 years since the UK replaced its centuries-old £sd coinage with a new, streamlined decimal currency. The shift away from a currency that divided the pound into 20 shillings, each of which wasContinue Reading
Anna Nahabed/Shutterstock “Mixed race? What’s all this mixed-race nonsense? If you’re not white, you’re black.” So said a legendary black British broadcaster to Sunder Katwala, a mixed-race Briton I interviewed for my new book Biracial Britain, during a conversation they had on identity. Katwala has an Indian father and IrishContinue Reading
What do the internet memes Doge and Cheems, the Hollywood film franchise The Hunger Games, and a sachet of instant tea have in common? They are all part of a rich lexicon of protest now being deployed by young activists contesting Myanmar’s military coup. The country has been in turmoilContinue Reading
The tenth anniversary of the Arab Spring has been an opportunity for some to declare the protests a failure – not least in the face of ongoing conflict in Syria, Libya, and Yemen. Looking back on those turbulent events, it’s become fairly common for analysts to blame shortcomings in AmericanContinue Reading
If elections in the UK go ahead in May some incarcerated British citizens will have the right to vote for the first time. Scotland has passed legislation enfranchising prisoners with sentences of less than 12 months. Wales looks set to follow suit, with plans to allow prisoners serving less thanContinue Reading
As the popular refrain of “ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam” rang out across the Middle East in the early months of 2011, the nature of political life and relations between rulers and ruled began to fragment. The chant – which roughly translates as “the people want the fall of the regime”Continue Reading
