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Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future
Don’t let them fool you | Aeon
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essay

Social psychology

Don’t let them fool you

The fear of being duped is ubiquitous, but excessive scepticism makes it harder to trust one another and cooperate

Tess Wilkinson-Ryan

David Goldblatt in Johannesburg | Aeon
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video

Art

David Goldblatt captured the contradictions of apartheid in stark black and white

15 minutes

Mao’s mango cult | Aeon
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video

Nations and empires

The strange tale of how mangoes became hallowed objects in Maoist China

6 minutes

Honey, I sold the kids | Aeon
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Family life

Honey, I sold the kids

We have laws to protect children from factory work. Why aren’t they protected from parents who monetise their lives online?

Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore

Lydia Maria Child, abolitionist | Aeon
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Human rights and justice

Lydia Maria Child, abolitionist

Taking up arms against slavery, the famous novelist foreshadowed the vexed role of the white woman activist today

Lydia Moland

Accounts of a nuclear whistleblower | Aeon
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video

Human rights and justice

Meet the man who uncovered the scandal of nuclear testing in South Australia

13 minutes

Wielding death | Aeon
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Politics and government

Wielding death

When everyday life is marked by oppression and violence, can a martyr’s death truly be an act of freedom and resistance?

Umar Lateef Misgar

My blackness | Aeon
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Biography and memoir

My blackness

At times I’ve tried to escape it. Other times I’ve embraced it. But at all times, people have attempted to define me by it

Colin Grant

Disarming transphobia | Aeon
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Gender and identity

Disarming transphobia

‘Rapid-onset gender dysphoria’ is a popular weapon in the anti-trans arsenal. It is nothing but unscientific bunk

Quinnehtukqut McLamore

Second shot | Aeon
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video

Human rights and justice

Thirty years after one teenager shot another, is it time to forgive?

28 minutes

Emory Douglas: the art of the Black Panthers | Aeon
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video

Art

The revolutionary artist who propelled the Black Panther movement with imagery

8 minutes

The doxxing of Rose Mainville | Aeon
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History

The doxxing of Rose Mainville

When a young street vendor found her name in a guidebook to the sex workers of Paris, she couldn’t live with the shame

Amanda E Herbert & David N Woodworth

Proportioned verdicts | Aeon
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video

Human rights and justice

Beyond ‘guilty’ or ‘not guilty’ – could a range of verdict options be more just?

9 minutes

Exhuming the truth | Aeon
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Human rights and justice

Exhuming the truth

Thousands of victims of political executions lie in anonymous graves. Forensics offers hope for the ‘forgotten’ ones

Nicole Iturriaga

Happy the person | Aeon
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Animals and humans

Happy the person

She has deep emotions, complex social needs and a large, elephant brain. Her legal personhood should be recognised too

Lori Marino

Collective wrongs | Aeon
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Ethics

Collective wrongs

Even when individual perpetrators and victims are dead, states and institutions have a responsibility to make restitutions

Joshua Stein

Mother and baby | Aeon
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video

Human rights and justice

The staggering cruelty of Ireland’s Church-run ‘mother and baby homes’

18 minutes

Abolish life sentences | Aeon
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Human rights and justice

Abolish life sentences

It is unjust, cruel and profoundly wasteful to consign a person to prison for life. A decent society must not do it

Judith Lichtenberg

A brief guide to Egyptian Surrealism | Aeon
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video

Art

‘Long Live Degenerate Art’ – how a Surrealist group in Cairo defied repression in 1938

4 minutes

Democracy entails conflict | Aeon
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Political philosophy

Democracy entails conflict

Democracy is a system of politics that has disagreement at its heart. But how do we stop conflicts becoming destructive?

Rochelle DuFord

Golden jubilee | Aeon
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video

Human rights and justice

Portugal stole Goa’s lands and narratives. Can they ever truly be returned?

19 minutes

Breakfast with the Panthers | Aeon
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Human rights and justice

Breakfast with the Panthers

It wasn’t all young men and guns: the Black Panther Party’s programs fed more hungry kids than the state of California

Suzanne Cope

Sister | Aeon
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video

Family life

A son of China’s former one-child policy remembers the sibling he never had

8 minutes

The Midas Disease | Aeon
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essay

Ethics

The Midas Disease

Corruption is a truly global crisis and the wealth addiction that feeds it is hiding in plain sight

Sarah Chayes