Maatschappij

Opinion

‘Making peace with nature is possible, if we start now’

18 February 2021 -

Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, believes our 'environmental, social and economic challenges are interlinked'. 'This year, we must make peace with nature.'

Flickr / Vetustense Photorogue (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Analysis

‘Lowlifes, Scum, Shut up, Stay Home, Bitches’. Swearing in Political Discourse

27 October 2020 -

‘He is back, bitches,’ ‘Lowlifes, scum, thug,’ or, ‘just shut up,’ ‘stay home.’ Even in the Low Countries, the use of profanity by politicians is no longer an exception. Is this profane language spontaneous and innocent, or is there a calculated strategy behind it? And what are the consequences?

Report

Activist Mwazulu Diyabanza visits Antwerp: ‘Chef Ne Kuko must come home!’

19 October 2020 -

In recent months, activist Mwazulu Diyabanza has made several attempts to remove African looted art from European museums. At the request of MO* he visited the Antwerp exhibition 100 x Congo in the Museum aan de Stroom (MAS).

Video

MO*conference @ Forward Fest: Development in a New Geopolitical Context

19 October 2020 -

These are times in which international relations are being transformed at breakneck speed and in which the existing world order is being questioned fundamentally. Will these turbulent times enable us to bring about sustainable development and a just redustribution of wealth? Is this finally the right time to decolonize, are we heading into the ...

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.

Report

Navalny: the man to topple Putin

12 March 2018 -

The presidential election campaign in Russia saw no real political competition. Putin’s only effective challenger Alexei Navalny was excluded from participation. But Navalny's “non-campaign” speaks volumes about the Russia Putin will lead over the next six years. MO* investigated Russia’s only real political campaign and wha ...

Analysis

Congo’s violent peace

26 January 2018 -

Kris Berwouts presented “Congo’s violent peace”, a lecture at IOB Conference “Pathways to peace and drivers of democracy in the DRC” on January 23, 2018.

Column

Why Zwarte Piet Ruined My Sex Life

29 November 2017 -

The discussion on “Zwarte Piet” (Black Pete) the aid of Saint Nicholas, started again in all its intensity. Although the debate is more politicized in the Netherlanfds, Belgium is not far behind when it comes to white supremacy. MO* Columnist Anya Topolski wonders why white people stick to this racist tradition.

Interview

Gail Walker: ‘Cuba is not given the proper respect it deserves.’

26 September 2017 -

On the 17th of September during the solidarity festival Manifiesta in Belgium, Gail Walker discussed the influence of the Trump administration on the development of American-Cuban relations. Under Walker’s direction, IFCO a grassroots organisation works hard to lift the embargo that the United States enforces on Cuba. ...

News

A Remedy Against a Divided Mexico; The First Indigenous Woman for President?

19 September 2017 -

On the 28th of May 2017 María de Jesús Patricio Martínez , an indigenous women from the Nahua community in the Western state of Jalisco, was designated by the National Indigenous Congress as their representative for the Mexican federal elections in 2018. With this nomination she became the first indigenous Mexican woman in the country’s histo ...

Interview

Yasmin Nair: ‘Critique on identity politics should be about power’

17 June 2017 -

We need to criticize identity politics when it’s a tool to strengthen capitalism, but without ignoring how issues like racism, migration or gender play a role in how people are exploited. That’s what Yasmin Nair advocates for. Nair is a writer, academic and queer-activist living in Chicago. According to her the left needs to pay more attention to h ...

Report

Tanzania allows Maasai land to be stolen under the guise of development

8 December 2016 -

Tanzania is receiving development assistance to further develop the agricultural sector through public-private cooperation. The projects are being promoted under the premise that fertile land is abundant but, in practice, this land is almost always occupied. This means that large-scale agricultural projects are driving people off their land. An exa ...