(White) Girl Missing: Media’s Construction of the “Missing White Women Syndrome”
[Illustration by Matilde Morri] “If there’s a missing white woman, you’re going to cover that, every day” – words of journalist Gwen Ifill which point to a fundamental issue in editorial work and journalistic news coverage. An illustrating example of what Ifill is describing could be observed just a little...
Influencers’ Politics: Between Attention, Democracy and Power
[Illustration by Silvia Baccanti] In recent months, the Italian political scene has been dominated by the debates involving the approval of a law aiming at aggravating the legal penalties for discriminating and instigating crimes on the basis of sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability, the so-called...
Ankara’s bid to join PeSCo: The right thing at the wrong time?
[Illustration by Beatrice Bandiera] According to reports by German media, Turkey has recently submitted a request to join the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PeSCo) project ‘Military Mobility’ (MM). This request was reportedly met with a certain perplexity, as recently relations between several EU countries and Turkey have been far...
Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border conflict: another water dispute in Central Asia
[Illustration by Matilde Morri] On 28 April clashes broke out on the border between Tajikistan’s Sughd province and Kyrgyzstan’s southern Batken province. The reason for the four-day conflict is an old water dispute between the two countries over the Golovnoi water intake facility, which splits a river –...
Fatherhood behind bars: sperm smuggling in Israeli prisons | Antonio Faccilongo’s Reportage
The long-neglected Palestinian rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) remain a present-day reality. Recently, a report of the Human Right Watch condemned the Israeli government’s decision making, warning that the policies implemented by the authorities, especially in the OPTs, are enabling an apartheid regime. The impact of...
Green turn for the Green Island
[Illustration by Alessia Angelini] The elections held on April 6 in Greenland may be crucial for Greenland’s future. The opposition Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) has beaten the Siumut Social Democrats who have dominated Greenlandic politics since 1979. At the heart of the election campaign consisted of the opposition to a...
Smoke and Mirrors in Turkmenistan: Democratization or Power Transition?
[Illustration by Niccolò Cedeno] On March 28, the citizens of Turkmenistan went to the polls to elect, for the first time, the members of the new upper house of Parliament. It is a novelty of these elections: until now, in fact, the Turkmen Parliament was composed of...
To be or not to be? Japan’s Olympics Dilemma
[Illustration by Salvatore Giommarresi] As the summer looms closer, the Japanese government must make the final decision over whether or not it will hold the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. The occurrence of the Games, originally due to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, was put...
A reflection on the Monarchy, Monarchs and Freedom
[Illustration by Francesco Moretti] In contemporary democracies, royal families no longer play a decisive role in the affairs of the State. In Europe, for instance, monarchs have effectively become accessories of the State, exercising duties which a merely symbolic. Generally unburdened by any real legal responsibility for...
Belarus has woken up
Article by Angelachiara Allegretti | Illustration by Niccolò Cedeno The official results of the Belarusian presidential election of 9 August 2020 overwhelmingly sanctioned the victory of outgoing President Aleksandr Lukashenko, who has led the country for the past 26 years. In the weeks before and after the election, numerous...