Public domain image By Guillermo R. Barreto It happened on 25 May 2020, in Minneapolis, USA. George Floyd (a Black man) was arrested on suspicion of attempting to pay for a pack of cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. Police officer Derek Chauvin (a white man) pinned him to the ground and pressed down on his neck for more than 9 minutes. It was to no avail that George Floyd repeated ‘I can’t breathe’ more than 20 times. He lost consciousness and died of asphyxiation. In ot

Daniel Noboa, March 2026 -- public domain image By Pilar Troya Fernández President Daniel Noboa governs Ecuador with increasingly authoritarian methods. Elected in 2023 and reelected in 2025, he has concentrated power in the executive branch, clashed with the Constitutional Court, abused states of emergency, and turned the justice system into a tool against his opponents. Analysts and human rights organizations describe a drift toward a dictatorial edge: a leader who preserve

A displaced Palestinian girl sleeps in the street after the Israeli army ordered them to evacuate the Abu Areif and Al-Mazra'a areas in Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip, 21 August 2024 -- Ashraf Amra, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO, via Wikimedia Commons By Guillermo Barreto It is 19 April 2025. A 12-year-old girl and her 3-year-old brother are playing in front of their house in the village of Bert-Furik. A group of Israeli settlers kidnaps them. At knifepoint, they drag the children to an olive

Humanitarian organizations invest in education to promote safety, resilience, and social cohesion, but researchers continue to debate its long-term impact on conflict and human well-being. By Chloe Bruce Humanitarian education refers to educational initiatives developed or supported by humanitarian organizations to reduce suffering, protect vulnerable populations, and help communities recover from conflict and disaster. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees define

From war and environmental disaster to poverty and public policy, children face systemic harm that societies often fail to recognize—and can choose to change. Representational image By Colin Greer and Reynard Loki Few ideas command more universal agreement than the belief that children must be protected. Across cultures, religions, and political traditions, they are regarded as uniquely deserving of care, safety, and opportunity. Yet a glaring contradiction emerges when we lo

Around the nation, citizens are resisting the mass warehousing of immigrants—and finding some success. Alligator Alcatraz detention center, July 2025 -- SovNAT, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Sonali Kolhatkar As the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency rapidly expands its carceral powers, immigrant detention centers around the United States have been facing relentless public scrutiny. It appears the pressure campaigns are finally having an impact as some cent

A girl walks amid the devastation in Gaza, August, 2024 -- Jaber Jehad Badwan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad On June 23, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel release done of the most devastating reports ever produced by a UN investigative body on the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Its title is almost unbearable to read: The Essence of Childhood Has Been

Women and girls are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, yet women’s leadership and local knowledge are critical to building more resilient communities. Two women navigating flood waters (representational image) -- Djuulume, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Ruhi Bhasin The climate crisis is worsening many of the economic and social inequalities already faced by women and girls, making it harder to access health care, education, employment, and other necess

From vaccine hesitancy to conflict-zone rumors, false information is making it harder for humanitarian organizations to build trust, protect civilians, and save lives. mikemacmarketing, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Chloe Bruce In today’s post-truth era, where “objective truth” has lost influence in the public sphere, it is becoming increasingly difficult for humanitarians, who seek to preserve human life, to carry out their work. “The post-truth era has dramatic reper­

Israeli forces operating around Beaufort Castle in Lebanon on May 31 -- IDF Spokesperson's Unit By Vijay Prashad There are moments in history when words lose their meaning. Not because dictionaries are rewritten, nor because language itself changes, but because political power empties words of the realities they once described. The word ceasefire has increasingly acquired this desolate quality when used by Israeli and US officials. What was once understood to mean the suspens

Itamar Ben Gvir in May, 2025 -- משטרת ישראל-לשכת גיוס, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad The Theatre of Punishment The treatment of the flotilla activists by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was shocking only to those who continue to clothe colonial violence in the soft language of security. There is now a mountain of evidence before humanity: Gaza has become not merely a place under siege but a geography of calculated despair, where star

Trump and Xi Jinping on May 15 -- public domain image By Vijay Prashad The scenes unfolding in Beijing were carefully choreographed, yet politics can never be reduced to mere spectacle. When US President Donald Trump traveled to China for his summit meeting with Xi Jinping, Western media, as it often does, fixated on spectacle: lavish banquets, honor guards, theatrical gestures that were designed to flatter the US president. Yet beneath all this ritual lay another reality, ha

Automation has shaped governments for decades, but new AI-driven systems are taking on functions from warfare to welfare. Promising speed and efficiency, their growing influence over decision-making complicates political accountability and risks autonomous governance being beyond human control. Miami-Dade fully autonomous patrol vehicle -- image via news video screenshot By John P. Ruehl In April, the General Services Administration announced plans to automate 1 million work

From child labor to incarceration, U.S. laws often treat youth as disposable rather than nurturing their potential. Youth line up in prison in a US jail -- image via a Change.org petition By Colin Greer and Reynard Loki [Editor’s Note: This article is the second installment of “Does Your Community Care About Children?”, a four-part series by Colin Greer and Reynard Loki that examines overlapping crises facing vulnerable youth in America—including poverty, child labor, juvenil

Poor health, hunger, and malnutrition are not just symptoms of poverty—they are barriers to education, socialization, and hope. Aaron Burden aaronburden, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Colin Greer and Reynard Loki In Peoria, Illinois, children living in federally subsidized housing have been getting sick in the very places meant to shelter them. An investigation by ProPublica documented that apartments at the city’s Taft Homes were plagued by mold, water damage, pest infestati

Emancipation and Freedom Monument on Brown's Island, Richmond Virginia -- WomenArtistUpdates, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Guillermo Barreto When one person hurts another, common sense dictates that the person should apologize and, preferably, make amends for the harm they may have caused. Apologize, make amends, and ensure it won’t happen again. These seem like basic rules of coexistence. Coexistence among people, but also among sectors of a society and among entir

Noboa on March 7 -- Presidencia de la República del Ecuador, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Pilar Troya Fernández After losing the 16 November 2025 referendum—when the Ecuadorian people rejected the government’s four questions, including the one that opened the door to foreign military bases—Daniel Noboa’s regime accelerated its assault on democracy. In the weeks that followed, it launched a multi-pronged operation that, taken together, constitutes a semi-dictatorshi

Coup president Jorge Rafael Videla assuming power in 1976 -- public domain image By Julián Bokser It has been fifty years since the coup d’état of 24 March 1976, one of the most tragic chapters in Argentina’s recent history: a dictatorship that combined state terrorism with a structural transformation of its economy. Throughout the 20th century, the country experienced six interruptions of its democratic order—in 1930, 1943, 1955, 1962, 1966, and 1976—but the last coup ushere

Trump and Vance at a ceremony for the return of the remains of six U.S. soldiers killed in an Iranian drone strike in Kuwait, Saturday, March 7, 2026 -- public domain image By Vijay Prashad Last year, in July, the United States and Israel bombarded Iran’s nuclear energy and nuclear research facilities over twelve days. After a few days, the two belligerent powers—who had no United Nations authorisation for this war of aggression—opened the door for a ceasefire . At that time,

Flag at a ceremony on Wednesday March 18, 2026 -- Tasnim News Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad Wars are rarely decided on the battlefield alone. Military campaigns can destroy cities and kill large numbers of people, but political outcomes are defined by endurance, legitimacy, and the historical currents that flow beneath the immediate violence. While the war that US President Donald Trump imposed on the people of Iran may produce tactical victories f