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Why are identity politics and criticism of discrimination often equated with one another and what consequences does this have for dealing with the ongoing reality of social violence in a serious way?

 Lou Herbst talks to Ed Greve about the opportunities and limitations of an anti-discriminatory identity politics, intersectionality and what ultimately leads to a divided society.

Physical or sexual violence is part of women's everyday experience in many places - also in the workplace. Often it is about abuse of power. There have also been cases of gender-based violence in some non-governmental organisations in recent years. Protective measures have been taken as a result. But is that enough? An interview with Christine Ash Büchner.

In the 1990s, excesses of ethnonationalism led to the devastating Balkan Wars. Today, left-wing liberal agents are trying to free themselves from these destructive forces.

Porntip wanted out of her abusive marriage and filed for divorce. But her husband wouldn't leave. Then the Thai government's COVID-19 response locked them both behind the same front door in the northeastern Khon Kaen countryside. His drug abuse continued, and the tensions between them increased. As did the beatings. He often told their two daughters he wanted to kill their mother.

Gender-based violence is usually defined as violence against a person because of their actual or perceived gender. Discriminatory social norms, attitudes and practices promote notions of male privilege, dominance and violence, leading to widespread acceptance of GBV, but also to its invisibility.

Ms. Silvia Sartori, Senior Project Manager of ENERGIA, the International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy, speaks about why gender matters in the energy debate, how a ‘victimization narrative’ inaccurately represents women, and what can be expected from the Gender and Energy Compact launched in September 2021.

Media pluralism is experiencing a rapid downslide in Greece. A look at the events and political developments that have accumulated in the last months.

That was Silke Helfrich’s life, and that is what it will remain. Now we are grieving her, our staff member of many years, our colleague, our friend. We are all shaken that Silke was fatally injured on 10 November. She was torn from this world. Her wonderful work will remain with us and inspire us. We will treasure and promote it. We extend our deep sympathy to her family.

Despite the Thai government’s ban of four more types of single-use plastics in 2022, up to 250,000 tonnes of imported plastic waste from other nations continues to flow into the country annually through the international plastic waste trade. Thailand is trying to stay the course with further efforts to mitigate plastic pollution, but there are still challenges in waste sorting and collection on the ground.

Recent carbon-neutrality pledges may seem ambitious, but merely serve to promote a new set of false climate solutions under a different guise. Such pledges may persuade many people, but the climate isn’t buying it.

Violence against women and environmental pollution: current social issues are embodied in contemporary and symbolic pieces by the dance company New Cambodian Artists.

This dossier provides a diverse selection of strong civil society voices from Cambodia. We hope that the analyses and contributions included will lead to a better understanding of the results, impacts and successes of the actions of Cambodian civil society.

Poetry is an important form of expression for everyday and social issues in Cambodia, providing an important voice in increasingly shrinking spaces. The award-winning poem by Chhoy Phanith gives insights into the aspirations and hopes of young Cambodians.

This article is an effort to ground feminist leadership in what the author(s) deem to be its essence: transformative collective power for the common good of all nature.

Elections in the Philippines is a time of alliances, pundits, politicking within and across party lines. A range of candidates have put themselves forward for the upcoming 2022 elections, though their agendas and positions may still be too cloudy for voters to make a clear bet. Persistent problems around politics are present, although reform via the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is slowly taking place. There’s still plenty of time ahead for unpredictability, by prospective candidates and the voting population.

COP26 takes place against the backdrop of nationalist health policies with daunting consequences, failed promises to adequately scale up climate action and financial support, and an unprecedented push for false solutions that divert global attention from the urgent need to phase out fossil fuels.

At the climate summit in Glasgow (COP 26), the issue of climate finance is inextricably linked to success or failure. In Glasgow, past failures and shortcomings in climate finance mobilization and delivery must be ruthlessly addressed by presenting an implementation plan for future improvements.

In the run-up to the annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) on October 26–28, the Heinrich Böll Foundation presents an analysis of what transparency requirements the AIIB has met following the review of its Environmental and Social Framework for financing. China controls the Bank, but European countries such as Germany and France are shareholders. They have always justified their participation in the AIIB by wanting to enforce high environmental and social standards and more transparency.

CAN – the Climate Action Network - is the largest international civil society network, that has monitored the UN climate negotiations for many years. Whether at national or international level, how can civil society participation be ensured at all in times of pandemic? What does this mean for the capacity for action and strategy of a global network like CAN? A conversation between Tasneem Essop, Executive Director of CAN International and Barbara Unmüßig, President of the Heinrich Böll Foundation

The prospect of a green hydrogen economy comes with significant opportunities and risks. There is a need to both promote and carefully shape the much needed expansion of production, while limiting the end use of green hydrogen.

Gender-based violence, participation in political and social processes and shrinking spaces: How do women's rights activists work under increasingly constrained circumstances in Cambodia?

Women's bodies are always the central target of conservative and fundamentalist ideology and practice. The individual rights are also shaped by social and cultural norms, legal conditions and, more than ever, also determined by reproductive technologies and medical offers. The essay by sociologist Christa Wichterich offers background information and analytical approaches from an international perspective.

Interview with Alicia Baier and Sophie G., who are both activists, on the occasion of International Safe Abortion Day.

Section 218 has been a topic of intense political debate ever since it was first incorporated in the Criminal Code of the German Empire on 15 May 1871. It has always been one of the most controversial paragraphs in German law, both legally and socially. In 1995, a compromise solution was found, but since then nothing more has changed. To find out why that is so, and work out what can be done about it, it’s worth taking a look back at the history of Section 218.

The “marea verde” – the “green tide” – has spread across the whole of Latin America. Can it make waves in Germany too?

Feminist movements that focus exclusively on abortion rights primarily represent the perspective of white, privileged women. Reproductive justice goes further, combining reproductive rights with social justice.

Looking back, now with Information Age lenses, 9/11’s aftermath lessons are full of virtues, yet to be capitalized.

While political and social avenues for free speech are limited and prohibited, Cambodian visual artists find limitless forms of creative expression to critically examine many complex urban, social and environmental concerns.

The twentieth anniversary of 9/11 and the United States’ disastrous pullout from Afghanistan has prompted a reckoning. But it’s not a new one.