Bolivia's President Evo Morales, left, and Bolivia's Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera sing their country's national anthem during celebrations of the 187th anniversary of Bolivia's independence. Aug. 6, 2012. AP Photo/Juan Karita. All rights reserved Extracts of vive-president Garcia Linera's address at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires (May, 27, 2016). "We are facing a historical turning point in Latin America. Some are talking about a throwback, about restorers moving forward. The truth is that in the last twelve months, after ten years of intense progress, of territorial diffusion of the progressive and revolutionary governments in the continent, this progress has stalled, in some cases…

Bahraini anti-government protesters calling out "peaceful, peaceful," approach riot police, Jan. 7, 2012. Hasan Jamali/AP/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.Since the beginning of June, the Government of Bahrain has forcibly exiled activist Zainab al-Khawaja; denaturalized the country’s most prominent Shia cleric, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim; dissolved the largest opposition group, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society; rearrested celebrated human rights defender Nabeel Rajab; brought criminal charges against internationally-renowned interfaith leader Sheikh Maytham al-Salman; and judicially harassed more than 60 Shia religious figures on allegations linked solely to sermons and peaceful demonstrations. Can you spot the “democratic triumph?” Khalifa Alfadhel, a law professor at the University of Bahrain and a royally-appointed member of…

Hillary Clinton has decided she doesn’t have to run for president again to defeat Donald Trump. Barely six months after the 2016 election came to a stunning conclusion, Clinton will reportedly launch Onward Together, a political advocacy group squarely focused on putting a stop to President Trump’s agenda. And, according to Politico, the group could be officially launching very soon. And if that name sounds familiar, that’s because it’s very close to Clinton’s former campaign slogan, “Stronger Together.” The group will reportedly pull from a team of longtime Clinton donors and advisors to help fund other groups and initiatives around the country. Rather than build a massive organization, the report says…

STR/AP/Press Association Images. All rights reserved.Hussein Taha and Mohamed Makwa: names of the first members of the Ultras to become revolutionary martyrs, and the first to die for a political purpose. They passed away on 28 January 2011, on the 'Friday of Rage', a turning point of the Egyptian uprising. Their death was not simply a tragedy, it was also a spark that kindled unity in their fragmented brotherhood – a single unwavering reason for Ultras to join the revolution in full force.  They had lost two of their own. Before 2011 Prior to January 25, 2011, the Ultras represented hardcore Egyptian football fan groups that confronted authority, opposed police…

On May 22, a suicide bomber entered the Manchester Arena shortly after an Ariana Grande concert came to a close and detonated a bomb that killed 22 people and injured dozens more.  In the wake of the utterly senseless tragedy, stories of heroism emerged of strangers helping strangers—the people of Manchester offering shelter, rides, phones, or simply a lending hand to anyone who needed it. And now, the city is coming together once again, this time to permanently mark the memory of those lives lost with a little new ink on their skin. This week U.K. tattoo artist Sam Barber announced that she started a fundraiser called the Manchester Tattoo Appeal in the hopes of raising…

A civilian looks at a destroyed home in Aleppo, Syria. Andoni Lubaki/AP/Press Association Images. All rights reserved. Counter-revolution in the Arab world has been in the ascendance. From Egypt, where the military regime has all but vanquished its opponents; to Syria, where the regime, at the horrific cost of literally destroying Syria, has managed to shift the tide of war in its favor. Even though counter-revolution was always superior in the material sense, it has shown a marked weakness ideologically; a feature that it has in common with its revolutionary opponents – a marked failure, that is, in producing an encompassing vision of the society that they are promoting. There…

On Monday, June 26, 2017, the story of Harry James Potter — the world’s most famous wizard — will celebrate its 20th anniversary. His many fans will likely mark the occasion by rereading a favorite “Harry Potter” novel or rewatching one of the blockbuster films. Some may even raise a butterbeer toast in Harry’s honor at one of three “Harry Potter”-themed amusement parks. Book burnings may be relatively rare, but efforts to protect young readers from ‘dangerous’ texts are not. But not everyone will be celebrating Harry’s big day. In fact, a vocal group of Christians — usually identified as “Bible-believing” or fundamentalist Christians — has been resistant to Harry’s charms from the start. Members…

Refugees breakout from the Woomera Detention Center, encouraged by protestors, in Woomera, Australia in 2002. Rick Rycroft / Press Association. All rights reserved.A 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker who set himself on fire at an Australian offshore detention centre on the remote Pacific island of Nauru has died from his injuries. The man, known as Omid, who set himself on fire earlier this week was airlifted to Brisbane Hospital in Australia. He died almost 24 hours due to severe burns to his torso after arriving at the Royal Brisbane Hospital.  He was initially taken to Nauru Hospital after the act of self-immolation while officials from the United Nations refugee agency were…

President Trump has asked Congress to do what former President Obama and his Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program could not: provide permanent protection from deportation for more than 1 million undocumented immigrants brought to this country as young children by their parents. DACA, which Trump has ordered dismantled, is widely viewed as the Obama administration’s most successful immigration policy initiative. A year of field research among DACA recipients convinced me that helping them stay on the right side of the law is not just a moral imperative – it’s smart policy and economically beneficial to the United States. Here’s how Congress might build on DACA’s successes. What DACA…

The openMovements series invites leading social scientists to share their research results and perspectives on contemporary social struggles. Bernie Sanders podium. Flickr/Gage Skidmore. Some rights reserved. The US presidential primaries have shown that there are important similarities and convergences in methods and tactics between Donald Trump’s followers and sections of Bernie Sanders' mass support. Even though the two movements have radically different goals, the politics of feeling and the use of social media and mass rallies to campaign for utopian change are closer than one might imagine. But while social media activism and mass rallies can act as a catalyst to spread a vision, they cannot on their own deliver…