Politiek

Interview

‘Afghans anxiously await formation of new government’

20 August 2021 -

The situation in Afghanistan is uncertain and volatile, but is it as bad as Western media and politicians say? Danish Karohel, director of a news agency and a leading journalistic voice in Afghanistan, answers our questions. He and his journalists vow to fight for the right to do their job.

Opinion

‘The Indian election results do not show that Modi’s days are numbered’

12 May 2021 -

'Hindu nationalism and India cannot sit easy at the same table anymore' writes Arjun Sharma (Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, KU Leuven) after the elections held for the legislative assemblies of the 28 states and 3 out of 8 union territories comprising the Indian union.

Analysis

War on journalism in Belarus: ‘European Union is reacting too slowly’

23 March 2021 -

‘Every journalist has spare clothes in his or her backpack. Because we are never sure we will make it home again.’ For more than a month now, Belarusian President Lukashenko has been waging a war on journalists. ‘But we keep on writing. That is our responsibility.’

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?

Analysis

Money, Power and Politics at the WHO

7 October 2020 -

Fien Van den Steen takes a look at the geopolitics that shaped the WHO’s manoeuvring throughout the global coronavirus pandemic.

Analysis

Zimbabwe deposed a dictator, but could not eliminate corruption. Time for a second chance?

8 September 2020 -

Despite promises to improve the human rights situation in Zimbabwe, president Emmerson Mnangagwa's country continues to excel in repression of peaceful protest and freedom of speech. Three years after the expulsion of dictator Robert Mugabe Zimbabwe seems to be back at square one.

Analysis

Modi’s new education policy: a next step in the saffronisation of India?

26 August 2020 -

End of July, the Modi government approved a lengthy proposal to reform education policy and structures in India. This New Education Policy is presented as the stepping stone to bring india in the right position to be a main player in tomorrow’s knowledge economy. Critics fear it is rather turning India towards an imagined past of Hindu glory, under ...

Opinion

The official End of the Two-State Solution is the Beginning of a new Battle

6 July 2020 -

The annexation of the West Bank heralds the end of the two-state solution, but also marks the beginning of a new struggle, writes Tom Kenis. “One for equal rights for all the people under de facto Israeli rule, from the river to the sea.”

Report

New Capital in Indonesia displaces people

23 June 2020 -

An old idea suddenly became an urgent project: Indonesia is going to build a new capital. It has no name yet, only a working title: Ibu Kota Baru, New Capital City. What do the people who live there think of that? What interests are being served? And who’s going to pay for it? Kris Vanslambrouck did what the government still hasn’t done: listen to ...

Opinion

The corona pandemic blows the lid off the idea of Western superiority

24 April 2020 -

Olivia U. Rutazibwa looks at the spread of the corona virus in Europe from a great distance as she is on a writing retreat at the Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Studies (JIAS) in South Africa, where a national total lockdown was declared on March 26th. While she’s there to write and dig into books and the past, she sees how in these extraordina ...

Report

‘Hope Army’ of Belgium’s Climate Activists Marches On

14 February 2019 -

8 year old Luca of Leuven should have been at school at this hour. Instead, he is walking along a narrow dirt road leading to Monseigneur Ladeuzeplein. With a placard held firmly in his tiny hands that reads ‘There is no Planet B.’

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.