In 2000, Portugal completely overhauled its policy on narcotics, decriminalizing the use of all illicit drugs. Portugal maintains that narcotics are illegal; however the offense was changed from a criminal one to an administrative one. If someone is caught with less than a ten days’ supply of any drug, they are given a relatively lenient … Read more
Many media outlets and Western anti-Ebola campaigns have perpetuated the devaluing of black lives everywhere by misrepresenting almost 10,000 black lives taken by the Ebola virus in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Mali. Much of the public discourse has taken the liberty of sensationalizing Ebola deaths, and others have erroneously used dehumanizing video footage of Ebola victims … Read more
Last Thursday’s peace deal, hammered out by French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, was designed to restore a fragile ceasefire to war-torn eastern Ukraine. Yet as soon as it was inked, pundits and commentators began to doubt its longevity, as rebels repudiated portions of … Read more
“We are going directly to hell.” That was the trajectory newly elected Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras predicted for Greece in 2012 if it were to continue under austerity measures imposed by the eurozone. Tsipras’ leftist Syriza party launched itself into power during last month’s parliamentary elections on a promise to “end the vicious cycle of … Read more
Nigel Farage forecast “an earthquake in British politics” ahead of the 2014 European Union elections, but who could predict that across the Channel, the Spanish Podemos (We Can) party would cause similar tremors? Within three months of its founding, Podemos burst onto the political center stage in the 2014 European elections with 8 percent of … Read more
In 2011 Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato was beaten to death after a national newspaper’s cover featured his face above the words “Hang Them.” In the summer of 2013, two gay Russian men were stabbed for their sexuality. That July, Jamaican teenager Dwayne Jones was chopped to death for cross-dressing. In August 2014, Bryan … Read more
What comes to mind when you hear the word “gypsy?” Do you picture the beautiful, kind-hearted Esmeralda from Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame or women begging on the streets of Europe whom travelers are told to avoid? “Gypsy” is a racial slur used to describe the Romani people, an ethnic group dispersed throughout Central … Read more
On October 23, the New York Times published a minor story with a concerning focus: the potential use of chlorine gas by ISIS. More than two months later, no confirmation or denial has emerged from the investigation about ISIS’ purported use of chemical weapons. Alarm bells have not been raised, although ISIS likely has obtained … Read more
Wafa Idris was the first of her kind in modern Palestine. She was featured on the cover of Time magazine at the young age of 28. Saddam Hussein ordered a memorial erected in her honor in one of Baghdad’s central squares. Newspapers in Egypt, Jordan, and London praised her courage. Women named their daughters after … Read more
“Completely illegal and unjustifiable,” Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao decried Japanese actions in late 2012, after Japanese officials arrested Chinese trawler captain while fishing near one of the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea. A year later, China responded by extending an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the islands – which the Chinese and … Read more