The World Health Organization (WHO) is once again pointing to global inequalities in vaccine redistribution. Specifically, the WHO criticized widespread third-dose booster programs, introduced at a time when the poorer …
Our weekly English-language bulletin featuring our pick from European print and one of our top articles from our weekly Přítomnost.
A permanent scar: COVID-19’s impact on young people’s futures
Almost two years after the onset of the pandemic, young people in Europe are reflecting on the impact it has had on their lives and questioning what it will mean …
The disgrace of French Catholicism
The findings of the recent inquiry into paedophilia in the French Catholic Church exceeded the worst expectations. But despite the shock and anger among Catholics and the wider public, the …
What use is fact-checking against fact-free politics?
Asking historians to dig deep into bluntly ahistorical political claims is like sending a scuba-diving team into a bathtub. But beyond fact-checking obviously false claims, of what use can professional …
After Europe: Black identity in Germany
For many, place of birth is an identity keystone. That first point of arrival seems assured, an irrefutable fact. But there are those made to feel foreign in their home …
Mutations of science in the pandemic
The structure of pseudoscientific revolutions Scientific pundits fear that the spread of anti-science will destroy western civilization, while covid-sceptics panic about a lurking dictatorship in which freedoms are sacrificed to …
Will Putin’s Russia Choose War? It would be a Folly
Just before Christmas 2021, Russia presented NATO and Washington with a list of harsh and provocative demands. Their acceptance would be tantamount to loss of sovereignty and agency of Eastern …
“MeToo,” the Chinese way
US President Biden’s announcement that the United States will diplomatically boycott the Winter Olympics in China based on China’s human rights record is no real surprise. French President Macron has …
The selfishness around Covid
On a recent weekend, about 2,500 vaccine opponents gathered on the Letná plain in Prague to protest the current Covid restrictions. There were also the usual stands of several parties …
Memorial and the liberating power of history
For three decades, Memorial has delivered the facts that have enabled Russians to seek the truth about the Soviet past. Without its research, international accounts of the GULAG would …
A key country
Osteuropa focuses on the ‘key country’ of the Czech Republic: with articles on the state of democracy and the transformation of the party system as mirror of wider processes. …
The power of empty terms
Unlike a historical dispute or ideological debate, the ‘politics of morality’ is primarily about power, a concept with American origins, now playing out in Europe. But what lies even further …
Rome and Beijing: Divorce Italian style?
Italy’s enthusiasm for Chinese investment has recently cooled, as transatlanticism, security risks and domestic resentment become decisive factors. The Italian change of heart is shared by the EU, which is …
Arbitrary lines
The idea of Europe – and its consequences The myth of European exceptionalism no longer holds: the continent’s boundaries are arbitrary, its heritage mixed and controversial, and unfit for a …
Sisterhood behind bars
Female solidarity in Belarusian prisons A former Belarusian political detainee reveals the remarkable depth of cohesion and trust between women activists confined for weeks in overcrowded prison cells. …
Curtailing academic freedom
Research and education in Hungary and the UK Attacks on academic freedom in Hungary are rife: the Central European University and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences being recent victims. But …
Writing in opposition
A conversation on the politics of literature When political points can be scored by tearing up children’s books that are deemed too tolerant, what is a writer to do? …
Keeping sane
Journalism is steadily becoming less and less liveable, due to structural problems and political interference. From heroic poses to varying degrees of denial, each professional develops their own individual strategies …
Journalism under duress
From the 31st European Meeting of Cultural Journals Three opposition journalists from Turkey, Russia and Hungary talk to Eurozine’s editor-in-chief about repressive regimes, personal risk, migration, the role of the …