Stories about Europe
France complicit in heinous crimes committed by Egyptian state, website reveals
'Strikes often destroyed several vehicles, and the number of victims could be as many as several hundred. According to UNGA resolution 56/83, France's complicity in these illegal executions could be...
Invisible scars result from patriarchal tolerance of gender-based violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Due to the deep-rooted patriarchal structure of society in Bosnia and Herzegovina, domestic violence is often perceived as a corrective measure of the strong over the weak family members.
An impossible task: Serbia on the European path, hand in hand with Russia and China
Serbia keeps touting the country’s progress in aligning itself with EU foreign policy, but real gains won’t happen with Kosovo on the agenda.
A literary landscape in flux: Fiston Mwanza Mujila's take on Congolese and diasporic literature
According to Congolese-Austrian author Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Francophone African authors face a number of challenges, the first being the nature of the French literary scene.
Poland reinforces border with Belarus as migrant crisis escalates
The EU had previously accused Belarus' Lukashenka of flying in migrants from the MENA region and South Asia and bringing them to the EU's borders to retaliate against sanctions.
Political and social crises to blame for the ‘COVID-19 disaster’ in Bulgaria
"Instead of creating a unified campaign to explain the situation and why it is important for people to be vaccinated, politicians ... are competing in their silence and dubious statements"
Belarus authorities block access to more independent media added to extremist list
The websites of Deutsche Welle, Current Time and the employees and readers of BelsatTV and NEXTA are the latest targets in Belarus' ongoing crackdown on independent media and free expression.
North Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev resigns after defeat in local elections
Pro-ЕU Social Democrat Zaev had previously promised that he would resign if his party failed to retain the mayoralty of the capital Skopje.
What can we expect from Russia at COP26?
As COP26 continues, Open Democracy asks experts whether the Kremlin’s latest moves on climate, including its 2060 net-zero target, heralds genuine change or more greenwash.
After attack on LGBTI community center in Sofia, Bulgarian activists and mainstream politicians condemn right-wing extremist violence
A neo-Nazi affiliated paramilitary group ransacked the Rainbow Hub LGBTI support center in Sofia, assaulting female activist Gloria Filipova days after the Constitutional Court annulled the Istanbul Convention ratification.
Publishing house removes section on transgender individuals from Russian translation of teen health book
According to the publisher, Belaya Vorona, making the book available to Russian teenagers was more important that "preserving the deleted information".
Billboard satire blasts Australian government's tepid climate change stance for Glasgow COP26
"They are laughing at us in Times Square, as they should be: our response to climate change is the biggest joke on earth."
Pandora Papers revelations across Lusophone countries
Numerous politicians were implicated in Angola, Mozambique, and Portugal. Before that, their names had never been attached to offshore scandals.
Cats, crows and planet Earth: drawings by Belarusian political prisoners
Drawings sent to friends and family by Belarusian political prisoners, detained in a crackdown after the 2020 elections, provide an insight into their lives.
We need ‘painless’ glucose monitors, says Mia Chichkarikj, a 16-year-old diabetes patient from North Macedonia
“This should be a plea to the authorities at the Ministry of Health, to take our needs for 'painless' glucose monitors seriously and to provide them as soon as possible.”
‘I wrote the book you all wish you had when you were 15,’ says Afroczech Obonete Ubam
Czech Nigerian activist and writer Obonete Ubam interviewed ten prominent Afroczechs in his latest book, to talk about discrimination, integration and role models for an emerging community in the Czech...
I was invited to celebrate ‘Columbus Day.’ This is what I answered
"The 'National Day of Spain' is a mockery and offense to our Indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples."
Basque separatist group ETA lowered its weapons 10 years ago. Has reconciliation truly happened?
A lot has changed for the better in the past 10 years … but Basque society is still working out a public memory about the previous four decades of violence.
Between two borders: you can’t get through
By offering its territory as a transit zone, Belarus created a problem for the EU and a financial opportunity for itself, charging refugees for Belarusian visas.
In Belarus, subscribing to Telegram channels branded as ‘extremist’ may now get users in trouble
While it's not clear whether the Belarusian police will actually be able to dispense prison terms, "nobody can be sure" they won't be criminally charged for subscribing to Telegram channels.
