History

Malian master puppeteer, Yaya Coulibali: “Puppetry is the sum of the collective human imaginary”

“We need to be able to promote unity in diversity. We puppeteers have always experienced difficulties with religions, and with power in general, because we speak the truth. And now we are the target of the jihadists, who consider the representation of human beings as [...]Read the full article

10 January 2024

The Zapatista uprising, 30 years on

Bernard Duterme: “While the rebels of Chiapas may not have succeeded in reforming Mexico’s constitution, decolonising its institutions or even gaining a foothold in the country’s political scene, they have nonetheless given unprecedented local, national and international visibility to peasant and Indigenous [...]Read the full article

Restitution of historical objects between DR-Congo and Belgium: beyond symbols, the need for lasting cooperation

8 November 2023

Restitution of historical objects between DR-Congo and Belgium: beyond symbols, the need for lasting cooperation

Bettina Zourli: “While the repatriation of goods stolen during the colonial period is a key issue, the word ‘restitution’ in the DRC refers to a much broader concept. The term refers more readily to a long process involving not only the reconstruction of history but also the reconstitution of knowledge, [...]Read the full article

11 October 2023

The case for a European prize for art

Ned Hercock: Europeans are living through an extraordinary historical moment. Great contemporary works of art help them grasp it.Read the full article

28 August 2023

Culture is resistance: from hip hop at 50 to Indigenous sexual identity in the face of ‘pink capitalism’

“As centuries of conquest have shown, once the land has been conquered and the people uprooted, once new rulers, laws and languages have been imposed, and the names of people and places have been changed, all that remains is memory and the collective desire to keep it [...]Read the full article

Indigenous trade unionists from around the world call for more inclusion and solidarity: “We are not just there to sing the songs and do the opening prayer”

9 August 2023

Indigenous trade unionists from around the world call for more inclusion and solidarity: “We are not just there to sing the songs and do the opening prayer”

Indigenous peoples are often among the workers most discriminated against and in the most precarious jobs, but they have an ally in the trade union movement to help defend their rights and improve their social and working conditions. Māori, Sami and Mapuche trade union leaders talk to Equal [...]Read the full article

The Maricas Bolivia Movement is waging a cross-cutting, decolonial fight for the emancipation of sexual dissidents

26 June 2023

The Maricas Bolivia Movement is waging a cross-cutting, decolonial fight for the emancipation of sexual dissidents

The Maricas Bolivia Movement, which has been occupying the media and the public space for over 10 years, fights not only against homophobia and transphobia in Bolivian society, Indigenous communities included, but also against white hegemony in the social imaginary of the institutional LGBTQI+ [...]Read the full article

The forced privatisation of tribal lands in Morocco continues unabated

23 June 2023

The forced privatisation of tribal lands in Morocco continues unabated

The Moroccan state is pushing, as if it were the owner, for the sale and privatisation of tribal lands it considers unproductive.Read the full article

California opens the door to reparations for the descendants of enslaved people

7 June 2023

California opens the door to reparations for the descendants of enslaved people

Two years ago figures in the reparations movement helped set up a task force to come up with a series of recommendations to compensate Californians who are descendants of enslaved Africans and African Americans and right the wrongs caused by [...]Read the full article

New capital cities, deforestation and social apartheid: the parallels between Brazil and Indonesia

12 May 2023

Environment

New capital cities, deforestation and social apartheid: the parallels between Brazil and Indonesia

“A striking parallel between both stories of the new capital cities is how both projects only reinforce a colonial state, in spite of their promoters claiming the opposite. Both projects dominate and destroy the life spaces and territories of forest communities for economic and political [...]Read the full article

20 April 2023

Alarmist rhetoric about ‘mass immigration’ paints a picture out of step with reality

Abdeslam Marfouk: Despite the increase in absolute terms, the number of international migrants is still a very small fraction of the world population: 3.6 per cent in 2020, compared to 2.5 per cent in 1960. This means that 97 out of every 100 people in the world today still live in their country of [...]Read the full article

The Kuwaiti Bidoon: neither nationals nor foreigners

5 April 2023

The Kuwaiti Bidoon: neither nationals nor foreigners

Not registered with the nationality committees set up to take a census of Kuwait’s inhabitants when the country gained independence in 1961, those known in Arabic as the ‘Bidoon’ are now undocumented in their own country.Read the full article

A sprawling musical showcase of Iraq's most diverse region aims to help restore community cohesion

13 February 2023

A sprawling musical showcase of Iraq’s most diverse region aims to help restore community cohesion

A new arts project is bringing together various communities in Nineveh province, northern Iraq, to restore peaceful coexistence following the overthrow of the so-called Islamic State in 2017.Read the full article

The cultural genocide committed against the Yenish people in Switzerland is a crime that remains unpunished

27 January 2023

The cultural genocide committed against the Yenish people in Switzerland is a crime that remains unpunished

From 1926 to 1972, Pro Juventute, a private foundation, forcibly separated 600 Yenish children from their parents with the backing of the Swiss government. Fifty years later, this community of Travellers still suffers from the impact of this racist policy while those responsible have yet to [...]Read the full article

Thirty years on, Bosnia and Herzegovina is still without a shared history

30 November 2022

Thirty years on, Bosnia and Herzegovina is still without a shared history

“Each group exaggerates the crimes it has suffered, and minimises the crimes committed by its members or institutions. There is not even a consensus on what to call the war in Bosnia: civil war, war of aggression, war of religions.”Read the full article

2 September 2022

Stambeli’s last dance in Tunis

Riadh Ezzawech has devoted his life to the practice and dissemination of stambeli, a musical genre born centuries ago with the arrival in Tunisia of enslaved people from Sub-Saharan Africa. In the last four decades, much has changed and, today, stambeli is in serious danger of becoming [...]Read the full article

19 August 2022

Development

Breaking moulds and barriers

Agricultural innovation from scratch, entrepreneurship in the face of poverty, leading as a woman in traditional societies, and solving concrete problems on a local scale: this summer reading compilation brings together tales of ingenuity and [...]Read the full article

In a fast-changing world, what can be done to preserve cultural heritage?

16 August 2022

In a fast-changing world, what can be done to preserve cultural heritage?

Efforts are being made, the world over, to save the treasures forged by history.Read the full article

In an impoverished hinterland of Brazil, inequality is fought with creativity and resilience

1 July 2022

Development

In an impoverished hinterland of Brazil, inequality is fought with creativity and resilience

Selma Jesús de Souza promotes community work that brings social, environmental and quality-of-life improvements to her village and her territory. This includes the manufacture of acoustic insulation panels from wild cane fibre, as well as a multitude of initiatives aimed at empowering young [...]Read the full article

Building Hong Kong's civil society was a decades-long process; destroying it took just months

30 June 2022

Building Hong Kong’s civil society was a decades-long process; destroying it took just months

Macy Leung : The very systems that have made Hong Kong an open society, a remarkable success story and a free place distinctly different from repressed China, have all but disintegrated.Read the full article

As coal mines close, Silesia's miners face an uncertain future

17 June 2022

As coal mines close, Silesia’s miners face an uncertain future

Poland has closed two-thirds of its mines over the last 30 years, reducing the number of jobs in the sector from 300,000 to 80,000. The energy transition raises both hopes and fears. While miners understand the need for change, they fear for their future and the future of their [...]Read the full article

15 June 2022

Motherhood on the stage

Writers, directors and playwrights break with the idealised narrative of motherhood to give real mothers a voice.Read the full article

Could workers' assembly halls soon become World Heritage sites?

7 June 2022