To those who think of misinformation only in terms of troll factories operating from the caverns of dark regimes ­– think again. Disinformation is just as much linked to the legitimate business world in Western countries, working in all subtlety and better organised than ever ­– and there are millions to be made from it. 

As political leaders gather for a conference at the European Parliament on how to move “beyond growth”, a group of academics and civil society organisations see the geopolitical crisis as an opportunity to disengage from the socially and ecologically harmful growth competition.

Without apologies, reparations are incomplete, believes professor of African history and human rights expert Bonny Ibhawoh. If Belgium wants to offer credible criticism of human rights violations in Africa, it must also be able to name its own past violations. ‘Human rights are no selection menu.’

Following Milo Rau's theatre performance Antigone in the Amazon, the Landless Workers Movement MST and some experts and activists wrote an open letter denouncing the practice of greenwashing by the Brazilian company Agropalma.

A group of Palestinians from Bethlehem uses bicycles as a means to 'win their freedom'. They ride everywhere, including across the Israeli border, without a permit. MO* journalist Pieter Stockmans crossed the desert with them, cycling from Palestinian Bethlehem to the Dead Sea in Israel.

Salim was born in Saudi Arabia, just like his parents. Beyond their genes, he unfortunately also inherited their statelessness. Belgium recognised Salim as stateless but refuses to grant him a residence permit. Salim cannot return. Nor can he stay. Read his story here.

‘I did not want to remain silent when I can talk, when I can do something with the horror that happens to people in war.’ So, Bosnian-Croatian theatre maker Tea Tupajić invited a number of Yezidi women used by IS as sex slaves to tell their story in detail for one last time.

Christiaan De Beukelaer would spend three weeks doing fieldwork aboard an old sailing ship. The COVID-19 crisis broke loose and weeks became months. Christiaan wrote down his personal odyssey in “Trade Winds”. Gie Goris spoke to him about the role and impact of shipping on the climate.

Should the government want to access your smartphone and social media, would you consent? Europe collects private data from refugees. Who has access to it and what they use it for is often unclear. 'I was afraid of being deported, so I handed over my phone. It was like handing over my whole life'.

The world's most powerful lung is no longer the Amazon, but the Congo forest basin. MO* editor John Vandaele investigated how the international community protects the immense forest. The key question: can Congo boost its prosperity without cutting down its fragile forests? Some final thoughts.

The tropical forests in the Congo basin filter more CO2 from the air than the notably larger Amazon forest. This sounds positive, but these forests are rapidly disappearing. Several countries invest in conservation projects which, if they want to succeed, should also aid the fast-growing population.

A major supermarket chain that wants to plant 12 million trees in Congo is to be climate-neutral: how does that work? And is Colruyt Group effectively on track to realise those ambitious climate plans by 2030? MO* journalist John Vandaele went on site and saw opportunities, but also challenges.