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Human rights and justice

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future

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Photo of a vibrant snack bar with colourful signs advertising beer, pizza, sausages and ice cream.

essayProgress and modernity

The explosion of choice

It’s only in recent history that freedom has come to mean having a huge array of choices in life. Did we take a wrong turn?

Sophia Rosenfeld

Illustration of a person in a wheelchair drawing at a desk, surrounded by swirling dark and light patterns.

essayBiography and memoir

Kabul in my heart

When the Taliban captured my city, thousands fled and the rest were severely repressed. But I’ve stayed – and survived

Maryam Mahjoba & Asad Nariman

Black and white photo of a group of men in matching shirts at a “Male Couples Circle of Hope” event with balloons and snacks.

essayHuman rights and justice

Sometimes democracy works

Same-sex marriage is an astonishing case of progress propelled by democracy, in the face of public spite and misinformation

Michael Fuerstein

Photo of a person sitting in a boat on a river surrounded by lush green jungle under a cloudy sky.

videoKnowledge

A Kichwa activist on ayahuasca’s rise – and what it really means to her people

15 minutes

Blurry night photo through car window showing police lights and a figure, creating a dramatic scene with blue lighting.

videoDemography and migration

The volunteers who offer a last line of care for migrants at a contentious border

30 minutes

A lively classroom with smiling people, one person standing while holding a paper, posters in the background.

essayKnowledge

Socrates would be pleased

With a class of college students and inmates, teaching philosophy in prison is a rowdy, honest and hopeful provocation

Jay Miller

A person in a hospital gown sitting on a bed in a bright patient room, large window and privacy curtain visible.

essayHuman rights and justice

Knowledge and justice

Any legal system that fails to compensate people for epistemic harm is unjust. Their damage must be named and remedied

Mitch Woolery

An elderly person lying in a hospital bed in a bright room with a walker and a window nearby.

essayDeath

Freedom over death

Death is a certainty. But choosing how and when we depart is a modest opportunity for freedom – and dignity

Michael Cholbi

Cropped illustration of a person in a pink robe with orange patterns walking beside a horse, surrounded by grass and flowers.

essayGender

Taliban bride

Women in Afghanistan are prisoners in their own homes. This is the story of Marjan, married at 12 to a Taliban fighter

Zala & Asad Nariman

A person in a hi-vis vest sitting outdoors at a table with a drink, looking into the distance.

essayTechnology and the self

The unseen

Our crisis of work and technology is one in which too many people feel that nobody sees them as a fellow human being

Allison J Pugh

A young person with curly hair and glasses, wearing a backpack, indoors in what appears to be a school setting, with a green door and soft lighting, other children in background.

essayNeurodiversity

Our diverse togetherness

While initiatives for inclusive education mean well, schools fail to provide neurodivergent students what they need to flourish

Chelsea Wallis

Mosaic of a man in a red coat and wide brimmed hat holding a scythe with three workers in the background on a patterned brick wall.

essayHuman rights and justice

Levelling the world

Gerrard Winstanley led a small band of radicals whose vision of justice encompassed the globe and continues to inspire

Rowan Wilson

People collecting water from a makeshift station in a camp, surrounded by orange netting and tents in the background.

essayEthics

Moral refuge

You can believe in border control yet protect those fleeing to safety. So what is our ethical obligation to refugees?

Bradley Hillier-Smith

Abstract image of a woman’s face with vivid swirls of blue, green, red and yellow on a black background.

videoHuman rights and justice

Surreal, dazzling visuals form an Iranian expat’s tribute to defiance back home

10 minutes

Photo of a woman in a white dress and purple headscarf leaning against a wall, covering her face near green foliage.

essayHuman rights and justice

Struggling to wake

After a murderous kidnapping in Nigeria, I launched a campaign to put a stop to the abductions. Why did no one listen?

Ayisha Osori

Photo of a large crowd celebrating outdoors with a person waving a South African flag energetically in the foreground.

essayPolitical philosophy

A right to exist?

Since states are founded on violence and expulsion, their existence is always bound up in thorny questions about justice

Andrew F March

A woman walking on a dimly lit street pavement at night with a parked scooter and two men walking in the background, one appearing to follow her; the woman looks downcast, the man appears to be smiling.

essayHuman rights and justice

Did you think you were safe?

When I moved to India for work, I found that rape was a feature of the country, as deeply embedded as caste

Evelyn Fok

Six children with troubled faces sitting and lying on colourful blankets inside a dimly lit room with an earthen wall.

essayPoverty and development

Poverty is not permanent

By understanding the pernicious myths surrounding poverty, we can make progress towards a lofty goal: dignity for all

Anirudh Krishna & Dirk Philipsen

Colourful painting depicting a range of people eating, drinking and engaging in other activities, with floral patterns.

essayArt

Threads of resistance

Knitting and embroidery are laden with stereotypes of domestic femininity – and the subversive potential for protest

Gemma McKenzie

Vintage black-and-white photo of a colonial-era courtroom with seated officials and standing West African defendants in traditional attire.

essayHuman rights and justice

What’s in the rule of law?

The British Empire used a great democratic ideal to manufacture racial difference and rationalise colonial domination

Kanika Sharma

Black and white photo of a large group of boys and a few adults standing on bare ground, all dressed in 1960s attire.

essayEducation

A valiant experiment

The progressive and remarkably innovative Woodmead School briefly flourished amid the viciousness of apartheid South Africa

David Dyzenhaus

Black-and-white photo of a man in a suit holding a mug, sitting next to a chimpanzee in an enclosure.

essayHuman evolution

The eugenicist of UNESCO

Why did Julian S Huxley, first director of the UN agency, think eugenics held the key to a more evolved, harmonious world?

Stefan Bernhardt-Radu

Illustration of a child holding a shell to their ear with a bird singing on a branch amidst abstract greenery and flowers.

essayBioethics

The cochlear question

As the hearing parent of a deaf baby, I’m confronted with an agonising decision: should I give her an implant to help her hear?

Abi Stephenson

Black-and-white photo of a man speaking into microphones held by the press outside a building, with a woman smiling at him in the background.

videoPolitical philosophy

The radical activist couple who fought for social change in the courtroom

21 minutes