by Patricia DeGennaro
- USA -

• Centuries of conflict have shaped Afghanistan's history. Photograph courtesy of the Asia Foundation. •

“It is easy to leave,” says a military colleague of mine, “but the real question we need to ask is, ‘What is our primary mission?’ If it is just leaving Iraq, we could do so at a deliberate pace in 18 months; if it is to set up a sustainable transition, it could take years.”

The U.S. entered Iraq with a shortsighted mission, and is now planning to exit without a clear transition plan. On November 17, 2008 – after a year of prolonged negotiation – the Iraqi and U.S. governments agreed on a timed withdrawal through a “Status of Forces Agreement” (SFA), a term coined by the Bush Administration. According to the SFA, troops will be out of Iraq’s cities and villages by June 2009, and out of the country by December 2011. The final departure will require just seven more months than the 16 promised by Mr. Obama during the campaign.

by Rupa Chinai
- India -

In the aftermath of Mumbai’s most recent encounter with terrorism, there is the feeling of isolation felt by those pleading for sense and reason. These voices are being drowned out amidst the jingoism and war cries of an “eye for an eye” currently heard on the streets of the city.

In this chilling environment of unreason, I wonder what would be the reaction to people like me, who feel pity for the path chosen by young men like Ajmal Kasab, the only surviving terrorist from the attacks? This sentiment does not seek to justify the heinous crimes he committed or protect him from the punishment he deserves through the due process of law. But how can one find the words to urge people to understand the context from which youth such as Ajmal develop and how civilized society must respond to the challenges they pose?

by Zubeida Mustafa
- Pakistan -

Peace activists in Pakistan and India are attempting desperately to be heard above the din raised by warmongers – elitist by all counts and claiming to be patriotic as well – in the wake of the Mumbai carnage. Jingoism is in the air - be it from so-called nationalists (posing as analysts on television) advocating a nuclear attack for the defense of their country, or the man on the street. Be they from Pakistan or India, they speak of war with great abandon as if it is child’s play. For the electronic media it is a race for sensationalism.

by Saskia van Alphen
- Argentina -

The terrain of the Escuela Mecánica de la Armada (the ESMA or Navy Mechanics School) has been open to the public for a year now. Once one of the biggest detention and torture centers during the last military dictatorship in Argentina (March 1976 to December 1983), it is now being transformed into the Space for Memory and the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights. The initiative is jointly sponsored by the national government and the city government of Buenos Aires. The management of the Space for Memory also includes representatives from 14 social organizations, such as the Mothers of the Disappeared, HIJOS (Children), various human right organizations and ex-prisoners of the ESMA, who have an important counseling roll.

By keeping the buildings as they are, the center’s planners are giving them the status of commemorative monuments, and opening a museum that will document the dictatorship, the years preceding the coup and the consequences of the military regime. Other buildings will house a library and archive, as well as provide offices for human rights and other organizations concerned with those years of repression.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

This incredible story of average Liberian women coming together to fight for peace is the subject of the new documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which is currently playing in theaters. Filmmakers Gini Reticker and Abigail E. Disney capture the inspiring story of the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET) with compassion and reverence. Their story of unbelievable heroism in the face of unspeakable violence makes for a dramatic and heart-wrenching 72 minutes.

by Kavita Bedford
- Australia -

Those seeking insight into the Chilean mentality should explore the footpaths of Santiago and Valparaíso. The desires, fantasies and messages of the last forty years are boldly expressed on walls, metro stations and buildings. Here, the streets have a voice.

The memories and consequences of Pinochet’s rule live on in Chile, but in the world of art, repression and prohibition no longer reign. The past decade has seen a powerful resurgence in artistic communities as new galleries, shows and exhibitions are popping up on every re-invigorated street corner. Yet, in formal art spaces there is a distinct lack of comprehensive and challenging visual work. Museums are lagging in attendance and flagging amid a strong collaboration of ideas between the artists and their communities.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

At the tender age of 19, Claudio Duran opened the door of his Santiago home in the middle of the night to find military secret police ready to arrest him. The officers took him to Villa Grimaldi, ironically known as the Palace of Laughter – a Chilean prison used by General Augusto Pinochet after the 1973 military coup. At that moment, he says, “my life changed.” Duran (now known as Quique Cruz) chronicles his imprisonment and the art that helped him reconcile his painful past in the new documentary Archeology of Memory: Villa Grimaldi. The film debuted at the 2008 Mill Valley Film Festival.

by Nancy Van Ness
- USA -

Their hats adorned with artificial flowers identify them at many of the protests in which I participate. The Grannies also show up on New York City's Union Square to sing their signature anti-war lyrics to well known tunes.

I hold in mind a vivid image of some of them who were arrested for trying to stop military recruitment, onstage in Philadelphia, outside Constitution Hall the Saturday after the 2006 elections. Behind them stood young Iraq Veterans Against the War - two of the bravest groups of patriots in the United States, standing together, opposing US aggression.

by Natalie Hart
- Chile -

“Impunity for human rights crimes is not just a matter of the past, but also something that continues today.” - Irene Khan, Amnesty International Secretary General

On the tenth anniversary of former military dictator General Pinochet’s arrest in London, Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan led a delegation to Chile to investigate the country’s current human rights situation. Far from a finding nation that has firmly closed the door on its dark past, Khan reports unratified human rights conventions, unresolved cases of regime era disappearance and torture, and an indigenous community subjected to marginalization and discrimination – a country that has failed to put the ghosts of its past to rest.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has made nineteen trips to the Middle East in the last two years in hopes of securing a regional peace accord. But as the Bush administration comes to an end, Rice’s goal of a two-state solution will not be realized. During her most recent trip last week, she admitted that they’re not “at the finish line” of the peace process.

by Natalie Hart
- Chile -

From the Qur’an standing on the sideboard, to the ornate Palestinian mosaic boxes decorating the room, to the anguished expressions of heavily made up Arabic soap stars filling the television screen, one could be forgiven for thinking that they were somewhere in the Middle East. We were, in fact, in La Calera – a dusty industrial town in Chile’s Quillota province, 118km from the capital Santiago – in the home of a Palestinian refugee.

by Bia Assevero
- USA / France -

Youth is wasted on the young.

How many times have we heard that before?

In my case though, I’m beginning to wonder if the right to vote isn’t wasted on me as well. I have endless people telling me that I have to vote; it’s my duty as a conscientious American citizen – never mind that I also have a French passport.

by Afsaana Rashid
- Indian-administered Kashmir -

With the US presidential election just days away, people in the Kashmir valley are not much enthused with the changing of the guard. Although there is some hope that the new president will help resolve the Kashmir issue, people in the valley largely believe that US policy on Kashmir has not been people friendly. Opinions on the tenure of outgoing President George W. Bush range from uninspiring to accusatory.

by Cheery Zahau
- Burma / India -

Burma has become well known to the world, not with good reason but for its worsening human rights violations perpetrated by the military junta ruling the country. According to Amnesty International, the regime now has more than 1,300 political prisoners, 175 of whom are women according to the Burmese Women Union Report. Last summer, the women of Burma showed their courage by resisting the junta’s many injustices during the Saffron Revolution. The regime responded violently to the protesting unarmed women citizens, nuns and monks.

by Jennifer Fenton
- USA -

Imagine what would happen if the nations of the world spent as much on development as on building machines of war. Imagine a world where every human being would live in freedom and dignity. Imagine a world in which we would shed the same tears when a child dies in Darfur or Vancouver. Imagine a world where we would settle our differences through diplomacy and dialogue and not through bombs or bullets. Imagine if the only nuclear weapons remaining were the relics in our museums. Imagine the legacy we could leave to our children. Imagine that such a world is within our grasp. - Mohamed ElBaradei (2005), Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency

Garnering national attention, peace activist Cindy Sheehan is now running for office against incumbent Democrat Nancy Pelosi in California's 8th Congressional district. Cindy promised the House Speaker that if impeachment proceedings against George W. Bush did not start when Pelosi took control of the House last year, she would run against her in the next election.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

I vividly remember the 1988 presidential election, or more accurately the months of campaigning that led up to the election. At the time, my family did not have cable television and all that was on the few channels available was election coverage. Throughout the entire summer and fall, my parents forced me and my siblings to watch the Democratic and Republican conventions, and then the nightly news coverage. Once I returned to elementary school in September, someone decided it was a good idea for everyone to gather in the cafeteria and watch more election coverage. I sat there thinking, I had to watch this all summer. Can’t I just get a break? My unending boredom was aggravated by my disinterest in candidates Michael Dukakis and George H.W. Bush. And I couldn’t even vote!

by Emily Rose Herzlin
- USA -

“I'm voting because I care about the future of this country. It's my right as a U.S. citizen [to vote] and it'd be shameful not to; it'd be like a slight to the founding fathers and women like Susan B. Anthony who all believed in the right to vote. If the next four years are terrible and I don't vote, I have no right to complain as I made no attempt to have it be otherwise.” – Nicole Long, 21

“I’m from a swing state. It’s necessary for me to be heard and have my vote counted.” – Dorie Kurtz, 22

“I already have my absentee ballot in hand. This is the first major election year that I can vote, so I'm taking full advantage of that.” – Allison Ahlgrim, 20

“Yes I'm voting – My mom would remove me from the family if I didn't.” – Lily Mundy, 21

by Melissa Hahn
- USA -

John McCain is the one constant in my life, elected for the first time the year that I was born. Voters from Arizona continue to re-elect him by a landslide, and yet most citizens would be hard-pressed to tell you what, exactly, he has done for the state.

Hardly a public figure, McCain is associated with Arizona by commentators in a way that locals would never consider. Calling himself a Washington outsider, he actually is one in Arizona. McCain moved here upon his second marriage and through Cindy, the daughter of an influential Phoenix magnate, he acquired the connections and resources to fund a political campaign. Residing here barely long enough to qualify for the ballot, he soon returned to his real comfort zone: the Beltway.

by Rosie Kuhn, Ph.D.
- USA -

My husband Todd and I traveled to Colorado recently to facilitate the 2nd Annual Colorado Wonderful Women’s Retreat in Estes Park. But first we went down to Colorado Springs for an overnight visit with my daughter Elissa. We loved the city’s small town feeling. Tucked into the side of the mountains the city is cozy; pockets of neighborhoods, each with their own unique qualities, and the small scale of the downtown area, full of interesting shops, engaged us to be curious about what might be right around the corner.

While having our tea at a local coffee shop, Todd perused the newspaper. What he found almost stopped his heart. In the State of Colorado, Proposition 48 is up for vote, which in essence defines legal personhood at fertilization and gives rights to a zygote, or premature fetus, that supercede those of the woman who happens to be carrying it. If this proposition goes through, a woman in Colorado will be committing murder if she aborts a pregnancy. Not only that, if there is any kind of unusual occurrence in the pregnancy, the woman legally can’t do anything to save her own life until an emergency presents itself. By law, the pregnancy must take its own natural course.

by Elena Ilina
- USA -

My friends and colleagues cannot wait for election day - for many of them, a new administration gives hope that the newly elected leader will address many of the critical issues facing us in domestic policy, especially the economy, and of course, cutting nuclear weapons stockpiles. Indeed, the new U.S. President will have a long laundry list of problems and issues to tackle once in office, but I strongly believe that a deep and comprehensive re-evaluation of the U.S.’ foreign policy should be the top item on the Presidential agenda.

Being a political analyst by education and profession, I have the opportunity to not only learn, but constantly analyze the implications of U.S. foreign policy for the international community, particularly Russia.

by Martín Granada
- USA -

One of the first times I ever saw my mother cry was the night Reagan was elected president. She cloistered herself in her bathroom and drank an uncustomary glass of wine. I found her crying with her face in her hands. After unsuccessfully trying to conceal her wineglass, she sobbed, "Ronald Reagan won! Ronald Reagan, every time I hear his name I think of Donald Duck. Our country has elected Donald Duck as the president!"

At the time I didn't understand what she meant, however, several months later I began to catch on when my mother began dying her hair with a product called Loving Care. Every time it came out too dark, she asked me if she looked like Ronald Reagan.

Shortly after Reagan came into office, my father lost his job as an affirmative action officer and the neighborhood where my mother taught elementary school transformed. Every morning the school janitors began having to sweep away pipes and needles from the playground. My mother transferred me to a private school, closer to home. Though I lived in a safe community, in a four bedroom house, whenever I watched President Reagan speak on the television, I wondered how he could justify that all was well? Didn't he see all that I saw?

by Priti Sehgal
- India -

Across India, the tale of baby Manhji has made headlines and gripped the nation’s attention. Born to a Japanese father and surrogate Indian mother, the two month old is caught in legal limbo. In a way, she has three mothers but none who will raise her, and she cannot return to Japan with her father due to complications of Indian law.

The saga began when Japanese citizens Dr. Ikufumi and Yuki Yamada were unable to conceive a child of their own. They obtained an egg from an anonymous donor and then travelled to India to locate a surrogate mother. In November 2007, the fertilized embryo was implanted into Pritiben of Ahmedabad, and the Yamadas began the nine month wait for their child.

The couple’s dream of completing their happy family was dashed when Ikufumi and Yuki divorced just one month before Manjhi’s birth. Apparently wanting a complete separation from her old life, Yuki took the additional step of disowning the newborn.

by Parul Sharma
- Sweden -

As it is, love can either be a blessing or a poison, depending on various aspects. But when love is felt for someone of the same sex, in some cultures, that love becomes a living hell - or simply a love created by a lesser God. Yes, a lesser God - not as strong and creative as the God we are used to. This lesser God created love but forgot to do the ample marketing needed to share the selling points of this particular love, such as poetry, music and literature.

Love knows no boundaries, but maybe our minds do. Otherwise why would I have asked my friend, Are you sure this is love and not just a greater friendship?

by Pilirani Semu-Banda
- Malawi -

No political meeting happens in Malawi without song and dance. Clad in colorful political party regalia, women and girls are the traditional singers and dancers for the country’s political parties. They sing adoring songs of praise for the political leaders they support and mock those who represent political interests different from their own. The majority of Malawi’s politicians are men.

As the country’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections draw closer, the women of Malawi want to move away from being mere singers and dancers; 425 women have mobilized to contest for the country’s 193 parliamentary positions in next May’s elections.

An aspiring MP Margret Nyakondowe says she is contesting because she understands the challenges facing people, especially women and children, better than any man.

"I am a mother and I know the needs of mothers in this country. I would like to see an end to those challenges and I will advocate for them in Parliament," says Nyakondowe.

by Afsaana Rashid
- Indian-administered Kashmir -

As the world observed the International Day of the Disappeared last month on August 30th, Asima Mohi-ud-Din attended a silent protest rally organized by the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP). For the last three months, protests over the transfer of 800 kanals of land to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) have prevented the APDP from holding their monthly protests. Desperate to share her story with the world, this eighteen-year-old resident of the Baramulla district in Indian-administered Kashmir penned her grievances in an open letter.

"The sorrow that cannot be overcome has to be tolerated,” she begins. "This is a true story of a family that lived happily until an evil spirit caught it.”

Asima was only three years old, but the incidences of that evening are burned into her memory forever. On June 22, 1993 at 11:30 p.m., her household was awakened by a sudden knock at the door. As her grandmother approached the door with a flashlight, a band of unidentified armed men broke in.

by Shenali Waduge
- Sri Lanka -

“While nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer, nothing is more difficult than to understand him” - Mikhailovich Dostovsky

The tiny island nation of Sri Lanka has been plagued by terrorism for the past 25 years. Citing irreparable differences with the majority ethnic group, the armed militant group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelaam (LTTE) is demanding 35% of the country’s landmass and over 75% of its surrounding sea for a separate Tamil state. Constituting only 6.5% of the country’s population, over half of the country’s Tamils currently live amongst the majority Sinhalese.

It was the LTTE that reshaped conventional warfare by introducing suicide bombers – in particular, the female suicide cadre. The LTTE arguably still remains the global leader in suicide terrorism, carrying out two-thirds of the world’s suicide attacks. The real “men of steel” for the LTTE have been its female suicide bombers, who account for 40% of its suicide activities. It’s difficult to understand how a woman would choose to become a human bomb.

by Jennifer Fenton
- USA -

"We have an entire generation of people in their twenties and thirties who have never gone through a war…the media and government have gotten so good at the creation of messages, people don't know the reality" - Casey J. Porter

Army Sergeant Casey J. Porter has many battles to fight, and unlike the dramatizations of politicians and media commentators, his battles are concrete, real, and hard fought. During his time as an enlisted soldier deployed in Iraq, Casey has undergone an evolutionary process, one that has taken him from warrior to peace activist. His talent and passion for filmmaking have given him the perfect medium for his personal expression. Utilizing his current circumstances and natural talent as a filmmaker to speak out against the war, Casey's films have turned the heads of people like Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! and filmmaker Michael Moore.

by Julie Chowdhury
- Sweden -

Every morning when you wake up and perform what you may perceive as insignificant chores, you might not realize that for 2.6 billion people around the world, your morning shower or just one flush of the toilet is the essence of luxury. The United Nations has declared that every human being is entitled to 20 liters of safe water every day. In Europe, we have the privilege of using 200 liters per day, while in the US, the average person uses up to 400. The average person in the developing world tries to manage on less than 10 liters of contaminated water to do all their daily chores.

by Vera von Kreutzbruck
- Germany -

Even before Elite Squad was released commercially in October 2007, the hugely popular film about police violence and corruption in Rio de Janeiro was already a major success in Brazil. Eleven million Brazilians saw the film on pirated copies and almost 3 million spectators were drawn to the theatres. It will be released this month in the United States.

by Shenali Waduge
- Sri Lanka -

At only a year old, would a child know that she was in front of a cake attempting to blow out something called a candle? When my daughter turned one she was pretty clueless - about the little Barbie that stood in front of her as much as the beaming faces egging her on. Her toothless grin in photos from that day show a little girl, full of glee and quite oblivious to all the challenges that we adults endure on a daily basis in Sri Lanka.

by Lijia Zhang
- China

Sundown left a trail of blood-red clouds in the western sky, yet evening offered no respite from the burning heat. With the plum rain season at an end Nanjing renewed its reputation as one of China’s four furnace cities, the temperature soaring over 40 degrees, or so we all believed – the government reported only 38 or 39. Yes, even the temperature was dictated by the authorities. Once it officially exceeded 37 degrees one working hour would be cut from the day. If it topped 40, all could go home.

The loudspeakers spitting propaganda and stirring tales of model workers were all the more unbearable in such heat. But I was riding away from them.

by Afsaana Rashid
- Indian-administered Kashmir -

Kashmir’s ongoing armed conflict over the past two decades has had physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral consequences for everyone living in the valley. Although no official figures exist, everyone agrees there has been an increase in the number of both physically challenged and mentally ill in Kashmir over the last 20 years.

by Nomi Prins
- USA -

Hillary Clinton’s speech has been highlighted, delivered and duly dissected. Bill’s, too. But, as focus shifts to Obama, the elephant in the hall that will linger past the DNC convention for the nearly 9 million engaged Hillary voters that aren’t yet throwing their vote to Obama is the question: why didn’t he choose her as his running mate? The Democratic Party would be naïve to suggest these people just ‘get over it,’ Hillary’s verbal push and roll call acclamation not withstanding.

Hate her or love her. It’s still a valid question given the 18 million votes and major swing states she captured, particularly for the women who did and do identify with her, and for the men who advocate equality. And it’s a question that Obama needs to at least acknowledge, if not address.

by Melissa Hahn
- USA -

On August 20th, 2008, Polish and American officials signed a missile defense agreement long pursued by Washington and strongly decried by Moscow.

American officials argue that the deal to locate ten ground-based ballistic missile interceptors in Poland is a necessary step to protect the US and Europe from attacks by “rogue states” such as Iran and North Korea. Still awaiting ratification by the Polish Sejm, the deal allows the United States to build and maintain a military base on Polish territory. The installation is part of a broader global network of radar stations and anti-missile missiles (interceptors), including a radar station planned in the Czech Republic.

Outraged at what they see as America’s attempt to establish a permanent foothold in the region under the guise of the War on Terror, Moscow has responded quickly and without mincing words. According to the BBC, Russia’s foreign ministry stated that they "will be forced to react, and not only through diplomatic demarches."

by Lijia Zhang
- China -

Since the reform and opening up, a handful of young people have begun to worship capitalism,” preached political instructor Wang Aimin, the ideologue-in-chief of our unit, spittle flying over his notes and out into the audience. His cold eyes blinked in- voluntarily, lending a sinister look that belied his given name, Aimin – Love the People.

“Unable to distinguish between fragrant flowers and poisonous weeds, these young people pick up capitalist trash like the ‘trumpet trousers’ and rotten music,” Wang spat. “We must resolutely defend the ‘four cardinal principles’ of socialism!”“

by Beena Sarwar
- Pakistan -

President Pervez Musharraf's resignation from office on August 18th under intense pressure has raised questions, particularly in the West, about the future of Pakistan's "war on terror". The following article takes a historic and political look at the background and possible future of this war. - Ed.

When the British colonizers left India in August 1947, they granted India independence, dividing it along religious lines which saw Hindus and Muslims as two different nations. Pakistan, conceived as a nation-state for Indian Muslims, consisted of the Muslim-majority provinces or states, including two states with nearly equal Hindu and Muslim populations - Punjab and Bengal on India’s eastern border, situated a thousand miles away from the other four Pakistani provinces. Two other Muslim-majority states ended up in India’s control: Kashmir to the northwest (which Pakistan also laid claim to), and Hyderabad in central India.

The two-nation theory bypassed the reality of the multinational, multi-faith and multilingual communities that make up India and Pakistan. Attempting to develop a homogenous national identity (largely to counter India), successive Pakistani governments tended to focus on Islam as the unifying factor. They also continued the authoritarian and colonist policies of the British, resulting in religious, ethnic or linguistic groups feeling excluded and discriminated against. For most of its existence, Pakistan has been governed by military rulers who have prioritized weapons and military training over education and social welfare, resulting in a sense of injustice and deprivation, and divisions along religious, sectarian, class and ethnic lines.

by Melissa Hahn
- USA -

The stunning Caucasus soar nobly over their valleys, sheltering quilt squares of villages below. Sadly, this bucolic landscape harbors ancient animosities and modern hostilities in its crags; a simmering violence which this month threatened to escalate into full-scale war.

On August 7th, Russian peacekeeping troops responded to a Georgian military action in the latter’s breakaway province of South Ossetia. Before a French-brokered cease-fire could be reached five days later, 1,500 people had died, with 100,000 more displaced. Only hours after the agreement’s announcement, fresh allegations re-emerged from both sides, dampening international hopes for peace.

With South Ossetia seizing the opportunity for self-determination, Georgia battling to escape its geographic reality, and Russia striving to regain its influence in the “near-abroad,” each refuses to back down without a fight.

by Lijia Zhang
- China -

CLICK, CLACK, CLICK, CLACK ... When the percussive tap sounded from the corridor outside I was instantly alert. Soon, the source arrived in the doorway and walked into the workshop.

“Masters, have you all eaten?” Little Zhi, a colleague who tested electric gauges in another room along the corridor offered the common greeting in China – one which required no answer. A giant by local standards at 1.86 metres tall, his eyes were long and thin; the sparse moustache on his young face as out of place as legs painted on a snake. He settled cross-legged in a chair, one foot in the air showing off his shining leather shoes with half-moon metal plates on the soles – the source of the tapping. They were considered attractive – not everyone could afford leather footwear. As the only son of the most senior deputy director of the factory, and, perhaps more importantly, the newly found nephew of a man living in Taiwan, Zhi could afford certain luxuries.

by Lijia Zhang
- China -

The end of 1980 saw the dawn of reform but also roaring unemployment. To address the problem, the government introduced a temporary policy, allowing young people to take over their parents’ positions. My mother, aged only 43, having pickled machine parts in acid most of her working life, decided to take advantage and retire, worried I might never land such a good job. Chenguang Machinery Manufacture in Nanjing, with its army of 10,000 workers, was among the largest and most prestigious enterprises in China, churning out civilian as well as military supplies, including the country’s “fist product” – missiles.

From free nurseries to cremation, with countless bowls of rice in between, the life of a state employee provided cradle-to-grave security. Workers were hailed as “big brothers”, “the masters of the nation”.

by Vera von Kreutzbruck
- Germany -

Barack Obama cast a spell on Germany. Even weeks before his visit to Berlin on July 24th, he dominated the headlines and was the talk of the capital city. Then, after much anticipation, the 47-year-old US senator delivered an idyllic speech, conquering the hearts of most Germans.

• Berliners flocked to the Brandenburg gate to hear Barack Obama's only European speech. Photograph by Vera von Kreutzbruck. •

“He is an incredibly fascinating person,” journalist Peter Intelman, 47, told me at the rally. “I just spoke with a young woman and she said: when he says ‘yes, we can,’ I believe him. He radiates credibility and this is what is so fascinating about him. But I don’t know if he will be able to fulfill his promises.”

Another Obama enthusiast, Fanny, a 22-year-old French law student told me: “Most of the European countries are Democrats so we have more affinities with Obama than with McCain. Besides, I think he can change things. I’m sure that it will be better with him than how it was with Bush.”

by Mridu Khullar
- India -

• Tibetan writers are using literature and new languages, Chinese and English, to share information about Tibet's struggle for freedom with a wider audience.
Photograph by Sirensongs. •

Their language of choice—Tibetan, English, and surprisingly, now even Mandarin.

“Although the exile Tibetan community [in India] has been very effective in providing a high level of cultural production in religious areas, it is inside Tibet that Tibetan intellectuals and artists have been able to make achievements in secular culture, such as poetry, literature, music, painting, and some forms of scholarship, despite the difficulties they face,” says Dr. Robert Barnett, Director of Modern Tibetan Studies at Columbia University and author of Lhasa: Streets with Memories.

The writings of these poets and essayists have transformed over the past decade from musings about an exotic culture and history, to more real issues of human rights, political policies, and memoirs of people loved and lost. The Tibetan writers of today, regardless of their genre, seem to write with an agenda: to spread the word about the declining situation of the Tibetan freedom movement to readers both inside and out of China.

by Michelle Chen
– USA –

“I can scream, and nobody can hear me.”

The walls had been closing in on Monica Bejar for years. She and her husband had both crossed over the U.S.-Mexico border for work, like countless other migrants. But only he had secured a green card. For over a decade, Monica’s hopes of obtaining legal status depended, as far as she knew, completely on the man who battered her.

A host of legal binds tightened the grip of abuse. Bejar had banked on the hope that her husband would help her become a legal resident. Instead, to prove a point, he tore up her immigration paperwork and threatened to report her to authorities if she tried to leave. She feared losing her children.

by Jessica Mosby
- USA -

Neil Young does not mince words. During his Freedom of Speech 2006 tour with on-again-off-again band mates David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash, the group energetically performed Young’s new songs titled, “Let’s Impeach the President” and “Lookin’ for a Leader.” But the responses to CSNY’s new songs haven’t all been positive; one woman walked out of the group’s Atlanta concert saying, “Neil Young can stick it up his ass.”

Music, politics, and controversy are all part of the powerful new documentary CSNY Déjà Vu. The film – directed by Young under his filmmaking moniker, Bernard Shakey, and currently playing at theaters nationwide – follows the “four balding hippie millionaires” (as one concert review described the aging rockers) while they tour country with their anti-war message.

by Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation
- USA -

Dear Senator Obama,

We write to congratulate you on the tremendous achievements of your campaign for the presidency of the United States.

Your candidacy has inspired a wave of political enthusiasm like nothing seen in this country for decades. In your speeches, you have sketched out a vision of a better future--in which the United States sheds its warlike stance around the globe and focuses on diplomacy abroad and greater equality and freedom for its citizens at home--that has thrilled voters across the political spectrum. Hundreds of thousands of young people have entered the political process for the first time, African-American voters have rallied behind you, and many of those alienated from politics-as-usual have been re-engaged.

You stand today at the head of a movement that believes deeply in the change you have claimed as the mantle of your campaign. The millions who attend your rallies, donate to your campaign and visit your website are a powerful testament to this new movement's energy and passion.

by Remi Adeoye
- Nigeria -

There is stiff opposition to the proposed Niger Delta Summit slated to be held in Abuja, Nigeria. The Delta’s most prominent militant group, known as The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), called it a “circus,” and "a face saving measure” by the slow-moving Yar'Adua administration to show that it has a plan to solve the area’s problems. The line of battle has been drawn between the federal government and the militants, with tensions increasing after the deployment of more soldiers and two naval warships to the oil-rich Delta, which militants described as a “callous, wicked attempt to wipe the Ijaw nation from the face of the earth.”

• The environmental devastation from installations like this one in Ikot Ada Udo has left nearly everyone living off the land without a livelihood. Photograph by Kadir van Lohuizen/NOOR. •

To the indigenous Egi women of Ijaw, it is crucial that more come out of the Abuja summit than political posturing. As the women say, “We are farmers, fisherwomen and hunters. With all the flaming and pumping oil into our swamp areas, the oil companies have denied us every living thing. Today, we have no hope, while they are making billions of naira with our gifts from God. They don’t care or hear our cry; they only throw tear gas on us, beat us, and drive us out of our land.”

by Beena Sarwar
- Pakistan -

It was painful to think of Rehmat Shah Afridi on death row, haggard and ill.

I had worked with him at the English language daily paper he launched from Lahore in 1989, The Frontier Post, originally started from Peshawar, capital of his native North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in the mid-1980s. He was not highly educated but he had a liberal, progressive vision of independent media and had brought one of the country’s finest journalists, Aziz Siddiqui, on board as the editor.

• Rehmat Shah Afridi celebrates his release from prison with his sons. Photograph by Rahat Dar, The News on Sunday. •

Aziz Siddiqui had by then joined the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) as co-director along with his close friend and fellow journalist I.A. Rehman who was Director of HRCP. The organization was among those that protested Afridi’s arrest in 1999 on what most journalists believe to be trumped up charges of drug trafficking. After a district court on June 27, 2001 condemned Afridi to death by hanging, he spent the next three years on death row. There was sporadic news of him once he was convicted. One of his lawyers told me that he was terribly ill at one point and had lost much weight. The Lahore High Court on June 3, 2004 commuted his death sentence on the grounds that trafficking in hashish is not a capital crime. Still, he remained in Lahore’s notorious Kot Lakhpat Jail for nearly a decade, with courts periodically turning down his bail applications, pleas to move him to a prison in Peshawar closer to his family and appeals for proper medical care. He was finally released on bail in May this year.

by Nadia Gouy
- Morocco -

The results of the September 2007 elections were no landmark victory for female representation in the Moroccan legislature – apart from the 30 female lawmakers elected through a 2002-instituted quota system, only four women were able to squeak into the lower house. Yet, for a country that is determined to lead the Arab pack in gender equality, the executive is a good counterbalance. And the new government counts five female ministers along with two undersecretaries, accounting for 19.2 percent of the total ministerial posts – a percentage that earns Morocco the 39th rank, second to no other Arab country, in the 2008 Women in Politics Report jointly prepared by the United Nations and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

• Anti-corruption crusader, Yasmina Badou has met with resistance by what many have referred to as her “inflexibility and refusal to negotiate” in her attempt to improve Morocco's health care system. Photograph by Houda Andaloussi. •

Just like any Moroccan, I took a deep interest in Yasmina’s proclaimed crusade for reforming the health sector. Born to a family that could pay the doctor’s bill in a city that has the lion’s share of clinics and hospitals, I was under the delusion that high maternal and infant mortality rates were ancient history. Yet, pursuing a Master’s in international development showed me the bitter reality. An ever-ailing health sector, all the mor