by Moira Birss
-USA/Colombia-

The first thing I notice after disembarking from the canoe that carries me across the Curvaradó River are palm oil trees. Their rows of short, stout trunks topped by long green fronds, stretch as far as the eye can see. I am visiting the Curvaradó River basin in Northwest Colombia where afro-Colombian farming communities have been violently displaced and their land usurped by palm oil companies destined to profit from the trees that will one day become cosmetics and snack foods.

by Alexandra Marie Daniels
-USA-

Would David McKay and Bradley Crowder have made eight homemade bombs had they not come under the leadership of the charismatic, macho, and at times violent protest organizer Brandon Darby? How much did the United States government’s post 9/11 counter-terrorism efforts influence McKay, Crowder and Darby in what ultimately led to the incarceration of two naïve, idealistic, and impressionable boyhood friends with no prior arrests or criminal records?

by Alexandra Marie Daniels
-USA-

Someone tried to silence Anna Politkovskaya. An investigative journalist with a bleeding heart, she was assassinated on October 7, 2006 at age 48 in her apartment building in Moscow.

As expressed in the opening scenes of the new film A Bitter Taste of Freedom, Anna was Russia’s conscience. Despite fear, earlier assassination attempts and arrests, she exposed the wrongdoings of Russian authorities and became a voice for the innocent victims of the Chechen war.

by Zubeida Mustafa
-Pakistan-

The story of Parveen Lateef and her home school was first published on October 22, 2010. This version includes an update on Lateef and her students. It is as relevant today as it was when it was originally featured. – Ed.

Floods in 2010. Earthquake in 2005. Pakistan has been severely battered by the elements. Thousands have died and millions have become internally displaced. But even without Nature’s unkind revenge, life in Pakistan is not easy for the teeming masses who toil hard to feed themselves and their families. Poverty is their biggest adversary, and according to one estimate over 40 percent of the country’s 180 million live below the poverty line.

by Manar Ammar
-Egypt-

In a sea of local press coverage and media appearances of presidential nominees for Egypt’s upcoming election, Bothaina Kamel’s name is left out. As the country’s first woman to nominate herself for Egypt’s highest position, she is doing more on the ground than any of her male competitors.

The 49-year-old former talk show host is no stranger to breaking social norms of what a woman can and cannot do. A self-proclaimed social democrat, her campaign motto is simple: “Egypt is my agenda.”

by Alexandra Marie Daniels
-USA-

So often when people we love pass away too soon, we just want to hear their voices and see their smiles one more time. For Formula One fans and the many people who adored Ayrton Senna, the documentary film Senna is a gift - a gift in the form of an adrenaline-spiking, while tears-may-fall-compelling, drama.

by Jessica Mosby
-USA-

After watching the new documentary Crime After Crime at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, I was angry. I felt an intense call to action – to tell everyone I know that they must see the 93-minute film as soon as possible. The injustices documented on screen are unbelievable and the dramatic twists put fictional crime drama to shame, as the story is too sensational for even Law & Order.

by Lesley D. Biswas
-India-

A version of the following article was originally published on October 1, 2010. Despite staggering rates of illness and disease from poor sanitation, mobile phones carry higher status than toilets amongst the poor in India.- Ed.

Among the first things you notice when you come to India is the repelling sight of people defecating in the open. Be it a rural village or the teeming city slums, you see people lined up besides railway tracks, fields, and rivers answering nature’s call.