Mensenrechten

Report

Cycling through Israeli nature parks, where forests cover the ruins of Palestinian villages

MO* journalist Pieter Stockmans cycled through the west of Jerusalem with Israeli and Palestinian cycling tourists. Separately, through the same area, but in different worlds. Forests and natural parks cover obliterated Palestinian villages. ‘I want to tell about it. We will never forget.’
© Pieter Stockmans
Report

Cycling in the land of settlements, walls and military checkpoints

Can you develop a cycling club in occupied Palestinian territory? Sohaib Samara does it. MO* journalist Pieter Stockmans navigated with him between Israeli settlements, walls and military checkpoints. The ultimate dream? A real Palestinian cycling academy.
© Justyna Wydrzyńska
Interview

Convicted Polish activist: “Women’s bodies are the property of society”

In Poland, an activist was convicted of 'assisting abortion'. The case has implications that go beyond the impact on women's rights: it challenges the European legal order and shows the far-reaching consequences of political authoritarianism and Catholic fundamentalism with government power.
© Xander Stockmans
News

Back to the Romanian-Ukrainian border: ‘Spontaneous solidarity has greatly diminished’

Fleeing your country is one thing. But what comes after, when you have reached a safe country and the weeks and months pass? MO* journalist Pieter Stockmans returned to the Romanian-Ukrainian border, where he saw a wave of solidarity with refugees last year. What has changed?
Reuters / Francois Lenoir
Editorial

‘The gap between election rhetoric and much-needed policies is widening’

'While economic migrants have long been a scapegoat, the labour shortage — decades after our search for "guest" workers — has brought them back into demand,' notes MO* editor-in-chief Jago Kosolosky. This reality clashes with the anti-immigration discourse that politicians continue to resort to.
Alpha Photo (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Editorial

‘The need for in-depth journalism is increasing, as is its value’

Thanks in part to artificial intelligence, the amount of superficial information disguised as journalism will increase even more briskly, writes editor-in-chief Jago Kosolosky. 'At such a time, the need for in-depth journalism is increasing, as is its value.'
© Moritz Van Dungern
Opinion

Open letter: Against the “sustainable” destruction of the rainforest and the people who live in it

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.
© Pieter Stockmans
Report

Free Palestine on bikes: ‘If Israelis can go anywhere in this country, so can we’

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.
©Luka Matic/Münchner Wunderkammer
Interview

‘We are not just victims, we are mostly survivors – and that should be celebrated’

‘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.
©UGent, Mirco Buyls
Interview

‘There is a lack of empathy for vulnerable people and for the nature that gives life’

She is 27 and one of the global faces of the climate youth movement. Kenyan Elizabeth Wathuti is an outspoken global advocate for local climate solutions. ‘Transition should make people's lives better.’ Defending nature and defending human rights are deeply interwoven, she believes.
© Belgaimage / Benoît Doppagne
Analysis

‘If I want to, I can change my identity tomorrow’

Congo’s official documents exist in a virtual reality. It takes a lot of time and money to obtain them. The failing administration widens the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
Blog Post

What about humanitarian aid for northwest Syria? Five questions and answers

In the northwest of Syria the earthquake is just another humanitarian catastrophe after another. Shaymaa Mosatafa, project coordinator for the Belgian ngo 11.11.11 in the Middle East, stresses the importance and urgency of international solidarity for Syrian civilians. 'The clock is ticking.'

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