Stories about History from November, 2019
Pope Francis visit highlights Nagasaki's long Catholic history
The first papal visit to Japan in nearly four decades highlighted the country's historical Christian heritage, identified major challenges faced by the rest of the world.
Croatian president criticized for saying Yugoslavia was behind the Iron Curtain (it wasn't)
While most people from countries behind the Iron Courtain couldn't travel to the West, the Croatian president went to high school in the United States in the mid-80s.
The Gambia confronts the nightmare of witch hunts under former regime
In The Gambia, alleged witches were held for up to five days in secret locations and made to drink ‘Kubehjaro’, a hallucinogenic substance, and then forced to confess to witchcraft.
An interview with ‘Siamese Intellectual’ Sulak Sivaraksa on the future of Thailand's democracy and monarchy
"The monarchy must introduce some transparency into its workings if it wants to remain. It must be open to criticism."
Will the upcoming Taiwanese presidential election bring an end to the death penalty?
Taiwan has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that calls for the abolition of capital punishment, yet it has applied death penalty in 34 cases since.
Why is Central Europe leaning towards illiberal democracy? Interview with Czech author Radka Denemarková
"My biggest hope was that we would adopt the Western democratic values. Yet what we took from the West after 1989 was a model of consumerism and not a democratic lifestyle."
In Ethiopia’s disinformation epidemic, the crumbling ruling coalition is the elephant in the room
As acts of communal violence that took place in Oromia in October subsided, a new battle began online over interpretations of the violence — and who was to blame.
Tashkent theatre offers window into Japanese internment after World War II
Of all the Japanese interned for forced labour by the Soviet Union after the end of the war, about 25,000 were taken to Uzbekistan.
Antigua & Barbuda wants Harvard Law School to ‘make amends’ for the gains it enjoyed from slavery
"Admitting that Harvard benefited greatly from the backs of slaves in Antigua and making a few token changes to [...] a shield does nothing to correct the grave injustice."
University of the Philippines unveils new subject on the Marcos dictatorship to counter historical revisionism
The new subject can be a platform for the “conscientization” of young Filipinos on the importance of human rights, social justice and the continuing struggle for genuine freedom and democracy.
‘Brazil might not be a dictatorship, but it's not a democracy either,’ says Brazilian journalist
Mário Magalhães wrote a book about 2018, the year that changed Brazil forever.
What the door knockers in Colombia's Cartagena de Indias tell us about the city's history
Add beautiful door knockers to your list of reasons to visit Cartagena de Indias in Colombia.
Quichua, a language that sets us free
"Quichua was for me a language with which I cohabited, but I didn’t really know."
Will collective farming by artists save one of Manila's remaining urban fields?
"As peasant advocates aiming at promoting agroecology, we want to participate in agricultural production."
For the first time ever, a doctoral dissertation was defended in the Quechua language in Peru
"In 468 years, no one had defended a doctoral dissertation in any indigenous language in our country. Roxana Quispe did it this year. She wants promote Quechua in academia."
