by Katrin Kuntz, Der Spiegel, Germany - Not far from the glistening beaches of Bali, mentally ill people are kept in chains or locked up in small shacks. Locals simply don't know what else to do with them. But psychiatrist Luh Ketut Suryani has made it her job to set them free.
by Naomi Klein, The Nation, USA - The movement demanding that public interest institutions divest their holdings from fossil fuels is on a serious roll. At last count, there were active divestment campaigns on 305 campuses and in more than 100 US cities and states. The demand has spread to Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Britain. And though officially launched just six months ago, the movement can already claim some provisional victories: four US colleges have announced their intention to divest their endowments from fossil fuel stocks and bonds, and in late April ten US cities made similar commitments, including San Francisco (Seattle came on board months ago). But I now realize that an important target is missing from the list: the environmental organizations themselves.
by Susanne Beyer, Der Spiegel, Germany - Some 200,000 people who were mentally ill or disabled were killed in Germany during the Nazi era. The cynical name for the extermination program was "euthanasia," which means "beautiful death" in ancient Greek. This horrific past has shaped the way Germany treats the terminally ill and the disabled. Germany's laws on assisted suicide are restrictive, and the country has stricter rules on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, a form of embryo profiling, than most other European countries.
by Krista Mahr, TIME, USA - At a major hospital in New Delhi, the 5-year-old victim of another grotesque rape has been making the first steps in what is sure to be a long recovery after being kidnapped, sexually assaulted and left for dead last week in an apartment one floor beneath her family home. Before last week, the initial outrage over the brutality of the Dec. 16 gang rape of a 23-year-old student, which resulted in her death, had been slowly fading in New Delhi, in spite of the unnervingly steady stream of violent rapes that have continued to be reported by Indian media across the country. In March, the government passed a new, tougher rape law that, among other things, allows for rapes resulting in fatalities to be punishable by death. But many say that the more systemic problems at the root of India’s rising violent crime have not been addressed.
by Melissa Gira Grant, The Nation, USA - On the steps of the Supreme Court Sunday morning, shortly before arguments began on the constitutionality of compelling aid recipients to oppose prostitution, a dozen or so students in marigold hooded sweatshirts won the color-coordinated insignia game. Outside a photo op or two, the small group of activists with red umbrellas—which signal support for sex workers’ rights—left them folded at their feet. Sex workers, it appeared, would be as nearly invisible outside the Court as they would be in the arguments made within.
by Susan Faludi, The New Yorker, US- Firestone was best known for her writing. Notes from the First Year, a periodical she founded in 1968 (followed, in 1970 and 1971, by the Second Year and the Third Year), generated the fundamental discourse of radical feminism, introducing such concepts as “the personal is political” and “the myth of the vaginal orgasm.” Most of all, Firestone is remembered for “The Dialectic of Sex,” a book that she wrote in a fervor, in a matter of months.
by Dawn Paley, Toward Freedom, USA - Saul Reyes Salazar is a man who understands loss. In January 2010, his sister Josefina was shot in the head, following a botched kidnapping in their hometown of Guadalupe los Bravos, across the border bridge from Tornillo, Texas. She was, at the time, one of the best-known activists in the Juarez Valley, the agricultural region that follows the Rio Grande river east of Ciudad Juarez.
by Chloe Angyal, The Nation, USA - Like most people who were fortunate enough to not have loved ones in harm’s way yesterday, I sat in shock at the news out of Boston. I scrolled through my Twitter feed with the kind of disgust and disbelief, that mingled fear and sadness that has become sickeningly familiar to Americans of late. I didn’t rage and I didn’t cry; I just sat there, reading and watching. And then I heard the news of marathon runners sustaining serious injuries to their lower extremities, the report from Mass General that several amputations had been performed. People losing calves, and feet. Men and women who had just run a marathon, who run every single day, who have honed their bodies into world-class athletic machines, suddenly without feet, or living without a leg. For reasons I can't explain, it was that thought that broke my heart.
by Anna Klassen, The Daily Beast, USA - As Hillary Clinton campaigned for the Democratic nomination in 2008, a group of men could be heard in the audience shouting, “Iron my shirt!” Rush Limbaugh asked his listeners of Clinton’s possible presidency, “Will Americans want to watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?” Everyday Sexism is a free-for-all platform where women and girls can detail instances of sexism in their lives in a public but anonymous space. Laura Bates, the 26-year-old London-based founder, created the site nearly a year ago, after attempting to speak up about the sexism she faced and getting a maddening response.
by Olga Khazan, Atlantic, USA - Margaret Thatcher died of a stroke this morning at the age of 87, but not everyone is mourning. Though she was revered by many, some Britons are marking the death of a woman who ushered in an era of austerity, privatization, and union-busting with a hint of "good riddance."
by Inés Benítez, Tierramérica, Brazil - Based on the number of trials conducted and the area of land planted, Spain accounts for 42 percent of all field trials of genetically modified crops in the EU, according to figures from the European Commission Joint Research Centre.
by Nicola Abé in North Sinai, Der Spiegel, Germany - The Sinai Peninsula has become a prison and grave for thousands of African refugees. They are kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured to death even after their families have paid hefty ransoms. But Egypt refuses to act. Since the revolution that upended power structures in Egypt, the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula has slipped further out of the country's political control. It has become a lawless region and a hotbed of criminals and terrorists. Groups of young men armed with AK-47s loiter in the streets. The business of human trafficking is booming, and the murder rate has skyrocketed.
by Kim Wall, Tea Leaf Nation, China/US - Earlier this week, China’s leadership announced the merging of the Family Planning Commission, which oversees the implementation of the policy, with the Health Ministry, drawing speculation as to whether the Chinese family planning policy will be relaxed further or dropped completely in the near future. Yet what would an end to the long-standing policy, also called the “one-child policy,” mean for China’s citizens?
by Rachel Wang, Tea Leaf Nation, China/USA - On March 3, an article entitled “Focusing and Building up a ‘Strong Military’ Dream” appeared on the front page of the PLA Daily. At first glance, the article appeared to be a typical propaganda piece, appropriate to publish during China’s Two Sessions, the meeting of China’s congress. The article was replete with slogans like, “Obeying the Party is the soul of a stronger military,” and “Working hard and efficiently is an important sign of solid work.”
by Sarah Zhang, Mother Jones, USA - "Killing a bunch of people in Sudan and Yemen and Pakistan, it's like, "Who cares—we don't know them." But the current discussion is framed as "When can the President kill an American citizen?" Now in my mind, killing a non-American citizen without due process is just as criminal as killing an American citizen without due process—but whatever gets us to the table to discuss this thing, we're going to take it."
by Veena Sikri, Tehelka, India - Something remarkable is happening in Bangladesh. For over two weeks now thousands of youngsters have been protesting at the Shahbagh Square around the university area in Dhaka, demanding that war criminals of 1971 be given capital punishment. Interestingly, it is the post-1971 generation that is at the heart of the protests.
by Ruth Rosen, Yes!, USA - I always knew this was the longest revolution, one that would take a century or more to unfold. It’s upended most of our lives, and significantly improved so many of them. Nothing will ever be the same. Yet there’s still such a long way to go. I doubt I’ll see full gender equality in my lifetime.
by Inna Hudaya, Inside Indonesia, Australia - Many Indonesian women face great difficulties in accessing safe terminations of unwanted pregnancies.
by Elizabeth Drescher, Religion Dispatches, USA - Catholics on the margins reflect on the past eight years.
by Kerstin Kullmann, Der Spiegel, Germany - A controversial procedure that lets would-be parents test embryos for certain genetic defects will soon be allowed in special cases in Germany. What does this mean for society?
by Susan Griffin, Yes!, USA - How the sky, rain, geography, and cultures of our place shape us.
by Katja Irle, Der Spiegel, Germany - Germany is experiencing a well-documented boom in immigrants from countries hard-hit by the euro crisis. Less visible, however, are their children. They rarely have any knowledge of German, and schools are struggling to meet their needs.
by Lucy Ellmann, Aeon, UK - Electricity is a tyranny of buzzing and chirping demands. Here's to wrinkled clothes, typewriters and life off-grid.
by Dialika Neufeld, Der Spiegel, Germany - There are also children for whom constantly being labeled a "nigger" is more painful than it was for me in my own childhood. That alone is enough reason why publishers should revise their children's books and parents should stop claiming the whole thing "isn't so bad."
by Renuka Rayasam, Der Spiegel, Germany - With energy costs escalating, more Germans are turning to wood burning stoves for heat. That, though, has also led to a rise in tree theft in the country's forests. Woodsmen have become more watchful.
by Elke Schmitter, Der Spiegel, Germany - Her theory of the "banality of evil" made Hannah Arendt both famous and controversial. Now German filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta has given the philosopher an outstanding cinematic portrait.
by Helene Zuber, Der Spiegel, Germany - After a record number in 2012, evictions in Spain have become the symbol of a crisis that shows no signs of improving. Next year isn't likely to be any better, but with more attention now being paid to those losing their homes, relief in the form of legal reform may soon be on the way.
by Sarah van Gelder, Yes!, USA - While the Earth didn’t end on December 21, 2012, the year’s end was marked by a new awareness of the urgency of the climate crisis. Americans are becoming increasingly aware of the preciousness and fragility of life on Earth. That and other cultural shifts are setting the stage for significant change in the year ahead ... An archetypically feminine approach (to respond to a crisis with “tend and befriend” responses that look out for the best interests of all) could come to balance out the “fight or flight” responses that frequently dominate political discourse. Having record numbers of women elected to Congress in 2012 can’t hurt.
by Shoma Chaudhury, Tehelka, India - Rape is almost culturally sanctioned in India, made possible by crude, unthinking conversations in every strata of society. Conversations that look at crime against women through the prism of women’s responsibility: were they adequately dressed, were they accompanied by a male protector, were they of sterling ‘character’, were they cautious enough.
by Martyna Bunda, Polityka, Poland - Poles are staying in education longer and putting off having children – sometimes for too long. The country already has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world and if current trends continue, it may well top the global childlessness ranking in the not too distant future
by Nicola Abé, Der Spiegel, Germany - A soldier sets out to graduate at the top of his class. He succeeds, and he becomes a drone pilot working with a special unit of the United States Air Force in New Mexico. He kills dozens of people. But then, one day, he realizes that he can't do it anymore.
by Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery, Mother Jones, USA - What, after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, the Sikh temple shooting, and so many others, what would it take for the nation to grapple with the fact that our gun policy is the equivalent of leaving your gun cabinet unlocked with a "Murderers Help Yourself" sign on it?
by Julia Amalia Heyer, Der Spiegel, Germany - As in other struggling European economies, the youth of France face dire prospects. Some 26 percent are unemployed, and almost as many live in poverty. Though the problem has been there for decades, ambitious political programs have improved little.
by Hanin Ghaddar, Now, Lebanon - Do we really think that we have achieved democracy by toppling some dictators here and there? I realized that moment that we still have a long way to go before we understand the real meaning of democracy.
by Anna Willow, Yes!, USA - On December 3, 2002, members of the Grassy Narrows First Nation blockaded the road used to haul logs out of the area. Ten years later, their persistence has paid off in the form of cleaner water and a healthier forest in which to live.
by Nicola Kuhrt, Der Spiegel, Germany - Prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany sold patients as unwitting guinea pigs in drug trials conducted on behalf of Western pharmaceutical companies, according to a TV documentary.
by Jasmine Budak, The Walrus, Canada - With rising infertility rates and the availability of foreign infants declining, some 30,000 children in government care have a better shot at finding a family.
by Kathryn Hawkins, The Atlantic, USA - A Chicago startup is partnering with community groups and companies to make college goals more accessible to Latino youths in the United States.
by Jessica Valenti, The Nation, USA - Women adjust their behavior to be likable and as a result have less power in the world. And this desire to be liked and accepted goes beyond the boardroom—it’s an issue that comes up for women in their personal lives as well, especially as they become more opinionated and outspoken.
by Sarah van Gelder, Yes!, USA - It takes humility to recognize that what we’ve called progress isn’t always for the better. Sometimes nature’s original idea was a better one.
by Frieda Sinanu and Antje Missbach, Inside Indonesia, Australia - Asylum seekers from the Middle East and troubled parts of Asia can languish for years in difficult circumstances in Indonesia.
by Dahlia Lithwick, Slate, USA - What it’s like to be in Israel as the conflict escalates.
by Kavitha Rao, The Atlantic, USA - India has started arresting men who abuse women on the social network. Is this a triumph against misogyny or a threat to free speech?
by Julia Amalia Heyer, Der Spiegel, Germany - The Greek economy has been tanking for years now as the country struggles to balance its budget by imposing deep austerity measures. But the country's richest residents haven't noticed. Many aren't taxed at all, and some of those that are prefer to dodge their obligation to the state instead.
by Amal Ghandour, Aeon, UK - Despite so many threats to their freedom, Arab women continue to stage a thousand small revolutions in their everyday lives.
by Beatrice Marovich, Religion Dispatches, USA - To the extent that Pussy Riot continues to infect, inflect, or influence feminist politics, I think it’s worth pointing out how novel and unprecedented this strange hybrid blend of feminism and religion really is.
by Bryce Covert, The Nation, USA - The bottom 20 percent of Americans will see their taxes go up by an average of $209, reducing their after-tax income by nearly 2 percent. The top 40 percent, however, will only see their after-tax income dinged by .1 percent. That’s a lot of money to come from those already struggling to make ends meet.
by Ann Friedman, New York Magazine, USA - I’m not thrilled to label this “our year” when women are nowhere near achieving parity. The “Year of the Woman” narrative just goes to show that we’re still labeling women’s marginal electoral successes as outliers — more wishful thinking than watershed moment.
by Bryce Covert, Forbes, USA - The percentage of women in office may still be small, but it’s edging up, in large part thanks to their fellow women at the polls.
by Mariana Baabar, Outlook, India - Obama or Romney, it is apparent that Washington won’t certainly change its polices towards Islamabad—whether on conditional aid, the use of drones or action against militants.
