Wereld

Opinion

The Brave New World of Telework, Computer Clouds, and Isolated Workers

5 April 2020 -

Underneath the fear for the new corona virus, there is the celebration of new apps and technologies that allow some of us to continue working, meeting and being somehow productive, while in isolation in our rooms and houses. But the shift we celebrate now, could be the pandemic of tomorrow, writes Eric Stryson. If we don’t flatten this curve now, i ...

Opinion

Open up the borders (for journalism)!

17 March 2020 -

‘While the world is forcing us to cooperate internationally and begging for global remedies for everything from the coronavirus to the climate crisis, there is still far too little attention to global journalism’. Gie Goris and Jago Kosolosky, current and future editor-in-chief of MO* respectively, regret that.

Interview

The House is on fire, but we need more than the fire brigade

21 September 2019 -

After a day of global climate action, and just before a crucial Climate Summit at the UN on Monday, MO* sent three pressing questions about the prospects of fast and frundamental transition to a number of global experts. These experts have the ear of top policy makers, so what they say, matters. Even for activists or skeptics who beg to disagree wi ...

Report

The great spill of the plastics industry: mountains of nurdles on the beach

16 July 2019 -

The plastics industry loses 1,000 billion pellets in rivers and oceans every year worldwide. Pellets are the building blocks of almost every plastic product. They are white, blue, green and yellow, granular and especially feathery. They are wasted throughout the entire chain. Once in nature, you can barely get them out.

Extra

Shipbreaking, A Glossary

18 March 2019 -

Every industry has its own jargon, and reading stories about shipbreaking without a good glossary can be challenging. Here are the most relevant terms to follow our reporting:

Extra

A brief overview of ship recycling legislation

18 March 2019 -

Ship recycling is not a Wild West territory - at least, in principle, the economic activity is regulated by a number of international treaties and rules. A brief overview.

Interview

New dilemmas and new directions in South Africa after apartheid

8 November 2018 -

On October 3th 2016, Sachs, who collects honorary doctorates and other titles as if they were panini stickers, visited Ghent University for the third Mandela lecture organised by the Africa Platform of the Ghent University Association, and moderated by Prof. Eva Brems. This interview was conducted on that occasion.

Column

The Ambiguities of Anti-Semitism

2 November 2018 -

It's essential we do not see antisemitism or the Shoah as something unique, says Anya Topolski in her column. It blinds us for a systematic pattern of racism and genocide, and, because it means we do not try to get to the root cause of the problem.

Report

Who’s paying the “green” bill for the electric car?

17 July 2018 -

What do a poisoned lake in Mongolia, a deadly lung disease in the Congolese cobalt mines and water conflicts in the Andean countries have in common? They are the heavy price paid for our electric cars, which tun out to be anything but green for people living in places where crucial resources are mined.

Report

Terrorism and tech - Silicon Valley’s violent propaganda headache

4 April 2018 -

Terrorist content has been a problem for internet giants like Facebook, Google and Twitter for years. Silicon Valley has been throwing a lot of resources at the fight against violent jihadist content on-line. Some progress has been made, but fighting terrorists on the internet remains a game of whack-a-mole.

Interview

Queen Mathilde: '2030 is tomorrow. Change needs to happen today'

4 April 2018 -

Belgium’s queen Mathilde is one of 17 global sdg-advocates. What motivates her to engage with these sustainable development goals? Where did it all start? And what does she hope to achieve? These are only a few questions that got answered during a long afternoon, in an exclusive interview MO* had with the queen.

Interview

Jhumpa Lahiri: ‘In a monolingual universe, you see the world through one eye only. You lack perspective.'

28 February 2018 -

As a child, Jhumpa Lahiri often felt like an alien, both in Rhode Island and in Calcutta, the two pivotal places in her young life. Although the Indian-American writer has moved on since then, she says that ‘almost no day passes without me thinking: wouldn’t it have been nice to have one place of origin?’ A conversation about iden ...