Image via Facebook By Molly Dhlamini South Africa witnessed a historic Conference of the Left convened by the South African Communist Party (SACP) from 29–31 May 2026. The gathering brought together communist parties, socialist organisations, trade unions, community formations, women’s organisations, youth movements, progressive intellectuals and academics, progressive traditional leadership, faith based organisations and international solidarity partners in what can confiden

The famous wall painting from Çatalhöyük depicts tightly clustered domestic houses beneath an erupting volcano. Photo/Illustration by Asya Denk. By Erdem Denk The theme for an exhibition that opened on June 4, 2026, at Ankara University’s Faculty of Political Science (Mülkiye), World’s First City Plan/Map, as part of my Arkeopolitics initiative, was met with reservations by a group of students from the Middle East Technical University’s faculty of architecture. They questione

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

Each leap in human communication—from vocal anatomy to writing to digital networks—followed the same pattern: faster, more complex, less individual. By Deborah Barsky Many people are overwhelmed by the fast-paced evolution of mass communication in a world increasingly shaped by the internet and artificial intelligence (AI). Yet ideas have not always circulated across the globe at lightning speed. Looking into deep time allows us to view our current mode of existence from a br

A rally of Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement -- Photo source: redacaonline By Guillermo Barreto The right to food and to choose what we plant, how we plant it, how we harvest it, how we distribute it, and even how we cook it is what is known as food sovereignty: a central concept when discussing people’s sovereignty, introduced by the international peasant movement known as La Vía Campesina during the World Food Summit in 1996. Food sovereignty is defined as ‘the right of p

Archaeological ruins at Mohenjo-daro, Sindh, Pakistan -- Saqib Qayyum, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Adam S. Green Inequality and Urbanism Today’s cities are hotbeds of inequality. Urban real estate is one of the most expensive kinds of land in the world. It attracts billionaires looking to store their wealth and hedge funds looking to garner predictable returns: New York’s avenues, Paris’s thoroughfares, and Dubai’s dazzling skyscrapers are great at making the rich

The Republican Party’s crusade to cap or abolish local property taxes is the latest tactic in their effort to drain funding from public education. By Jeff Bryant In what is being touted as the “Golden Age of School Choice,” the option that is most popular with American families—to fund and attend their local public schools—is gradually being made less viable. Take North Carolina, for instance. For years, the Republican-dominated state legislature has chosen to cut the state’s

Trump is flouting regulations to reap billions for himself, as ordinary Americans teeter on the edge of economic ruin. Trump on May 19 -- public domain image By Sonali Kolhatkar President Donald Trump has brazenly engaged in what appears to be insider trading. A bombshell story published in Bloomberg on May 14, 2026, revealed that Trump made thousands of stock trades in the first quarter of this year with companies connected to the government. This isn’t fake news. Bloomberg

Rally for Iván Cepeda and Aida Quilcué on May 15 -- image via X By Laura Capote This May, which began with International Workers’ Day, has seen us navigate one of the most defining moments in the regional landscape: the presidential elections in Colombia have entered their final phase. With four intense weeks shaping the scenario that will be fully unveiled on 31 May, when the elections take place, we will find out what the balance of power will really be in a country that t

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

La gestión del presidente de El Salvador, Nayib Bukele ha dado pie a la conformación de una propuesta que podríamos denominar el “Modelo Bukele”, en el que, de forma aparente, se ha logrado seducir políticamente a grandes mayorías de nuestra región hasta hacerlas preferir un autoritarismo extremo a cambio de una supuesta seguridad ciudadana. Gracias a una efectiva propaganda, este modelo puede consolidarse como un fenómeno regional en una Nuestra América signada por la violen

The administration of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has given rise to a proposal we might call the ‘Bukele Model,’ in which, on the surface, has managed to politically seduce large majorities in our region to the point of making them prefer extreme authoritarianism in exchange for supposed public safety. Thanks to effective propaganda, this model may establish itself as a regional phenomenon in a ‘Our America’ marked by structural violence, where the promise of immedia

Often promoted as sustainable, fish farming can increase pressure on wild fisheries, deepen global food inequities, and damage marine ecosystems. Asc1733, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Laura Lee Cascada Fish farming, a form of aquaculture, is now the fastest-growing form of factory farming worldwide. This rapid expansion can be attributed to the industry’s emphasis on buzzwords such as “climate,” “conservation,” and “sustainability.” While discussions about land-base

Viewing food as a system of biological signals helps explain why diets affect people differently and how nutrition can better support metabolism, mental health, and long-term well-being. Touzrimounir, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Michael S. Fenster Modern nutrition science has continued to see food through numbers. Calories, macronutrients, ingredient lists, and percent daily values have become the primary language of eating. This approach, often referred to as “nut

A dangerous right-wing solution to homelessness is to hide the unhoused in out-of-sight detention camps. Image via X By Sonali Kolhatkar A 2024 Treasury Department report articulated the leading cause of homelessness in the United States: “For the past two decades, rents and house prices have been rising faster than incomes across most regions of the United States.” The logic of this claim—based on documented evidence—is straightforward. People aren’t earning enough to pay re

Tax the Rich placard -- Yuri Keegstra from Milwaukee, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Gary M. Feinman Political debates about democracy often focus on culture, leadership, or polarization. But history points to a more prosaic—and more powerful—driver of political outcomes: how governments raise revenue. Across thousands of years of human history, the strongest predictor of whether power is shared or concentrated is not population size, technological sophistication

A scene from Beirut after Israeli bombing, April 8, 2026 -- Megaphone, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad Mientras los Estados Unidos abandona de manera ridícula las negociaciones con Irán en Pakistán, siempre fue motivo de preocupación si Israel acataría cualquier acuerdo de este tipo. Este fue particularmente el caso del Líbano y los territorios palestinos, donde Israel parecía absolutamente empeñado en crear nuevos “hechos sobre el terreno”, incluyendo la

From Arthurian epics to submerged cities, Lyonesse shows how folklore and history intertwine to shape a region’s cultural identity. Tristan and Isolde, miniature of the XV century, cropped -- public domain image By Samantha Sudol For centuries, the waters off Cornwall’s Atlantic coast have kept a secret: the legendary drowned land of Lyonesse. Stories of a prosperous kingdom swallowed overnight by the sea have persisted in Arthurian tales, medieval manuscripts, and Cornish fo

Çatalhöyük, 7400 BC, Konya, Turkey - UNESCO World Heritage Site. A very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia, 7400 BC (photo 2019) -- Murat Özsoy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Erdem Denk Standing in the dust of Çatalhöyük —a 9,000-year-old Neolithic site known to archaeology since the 1960s, yet virtually non-existent in discussions about political science and law—a question haunted me: “How come no one told us about it?” My tr

Signs at a protest in Minneapolis on January 23, 2026 -- Chad Davis, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Carmen Navas Reyes From the raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at U.S. airports to the approval of the controversial Return Regulation in the European Union, the world is witnessing an ‘ ICE-ization ‘ of migration policies. This ‘ICE-ization’ is characterized by the externalization of borders, prolonged detention, and the criminalization of undocumente