In The News

Migration Trend: Young Move to Lands of Aging Rich

Joseph Chamie June 30, 2016
The world’s most troublesome borders for illegal migration have one thing in common – more older people on one side than the other. Large gaps in the median age on either side show a difference of 19 years for Northern Africa and Southern Europe, and 11 years for the United States and Central America. “Age differences between sending and receiving nations are a powerful force exerting migratory...

The Great Escape

Robert Winder June 22, 2016
In much of Europe, people are a short ride from another country, and the Schengen Agreement, formed in 1985, allows free travel for citizens of 26 nations with “significant effect not just on daily life but on tourism, trade and commerce,” explains Robert Winder for New Statesman. “Those who designed it to liberate movement in Europe did not imagine international migration on today’s scale....

War of Words: What's in the Name “Rohingya”?

Azeem Ibrahim June 16, 2016
Myanmar's constitution recognizes 135 ethnic groups, but excludes the Rohingya. Some estimates put the minority at 1.4 million, a fraction of the nation’s more than 50 million people. Nationalists have concocted a revisionist history, insisting that Rohingya Muslims are really from Bangladesh, brought in by British colonizers, to deny the group citizenship rights and identification cards...

Fewer Guns, Fewer Deaths: An Idea Everyone But the US Seems to Agree With

Iain Overton June 15, 2016
Most of the world is appalled that the United States resists pursuing what the president calls “common sense” regulations to curb mass shootings, explains Iain Overton of Action on Armed Violence for the Globe and Mail. A mass shooting in an Orlando, Florida, nightclub left 49 dead, and the suspect is reported to have scouted Disney World as a target. Most US voters and even gun owners support...

The Politics of Memory: Tiananmen at 27

Nick Frisch June 14, 2016
China has transformed since the 1989 crackdown on thousands of protesters in Tiananmen Square who demanded economic, political and social reforms. China’s leaders, initially triumphant about quelling the protests, soon retreated into a disciplined silence, banning public accounts or grieving. “As the years accumulate, the anniversary of the tragedy offers an occasion to wonder if the pursuit of...

Muhammad Ali’s Message: Fight for Your Vision and Change the System

Michael Lerner June 13, 2016
Cassius Marcellus Clay, born in the segregated South of the United States, emerged as a boxing legend in the 1960s. Time and time again, he startled fans and the public at large with athletic prowess, charm and expression of personal beliefs with bravado. He joined the Nation of Islam in 1964, later converting to Sunni Islam: “Muhammad Ali had the courage to say no to Farrakhan and leave the anti...

Undocumented, Unafraid: Immigrants Find Power Revealing Themselves Online

Issie Lapowsk June 13, 2016
Children have little choice in a parent’s decision to leave home and work in another country. Once grown, the undocumented immigrants in the United States struggle to attend colleges or find work, yet cannot easily return to their native countries. Caught in the middle, many turn to social media to explain the plight with the help of programs like Define America and Coming Out of the Shadows: “...