Hard-Won Progress on Gender Equality Destroyed: The Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Women and LGBTIQ 2020 was expected to be the feminist super year - the anniversaries of the UN Resolution on "Women, Peace, and Security" and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action were supposed to be celebrated, and discussions about the lack of their implementation to be held. Instead, this became the year that, according to UN Women, would destroy 25 years of feminist achievements. By Birte Rodenberg, Merima Šišić and Jana Prosinger
“A new era is going to start soon” Interview Interview with Rahmatullah Amiri on the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan and the increasing challenges for the peace process and civil society. By Marion Regina Müller and Sarah Weiss
10th European History Forum: Memorials in East and Southeast Europe Forgotten – alienated – reinvented Conference report Memorials are more than memories cast in basalt and concrete; as reference points, they are sources of veneration and contempt, at the mercy of political interests and deliberate acts of manipulation. By Marion Kraske
A green and equitable renewal? Analysis Crises are moments when the hairline cracks and chips in the structures of our societies start to show. Whether the crisis is of an economic, public health, rule of law or climate nature: for bold responses to the crises of our times, strong and progressive alliances are needed now more than ever. By Nina Locher and Dr. Ellen Ueberschär
Tackling Asia’s Plastic Pollution Community-based organizations and grassroots-led initiatives across Asia are addressing the growing threat of plastics pollution. Governments must now enact and properly implement policies and regulations to scale up these bottom-up efforts and hold plastics producers accountable. By Jed Alegado, Clemens Kunze and Kevin Li
Bidoon: A Cause and Its Literature Are Born In a brilliant and personal essay on the history of Bidoon literature, Mona Kareem shows why literature cannot be thought along national lines. By Mona Kareem
150 years of Germany’s abortion ban ‒ when will the “green tide” wash over to the other side of the Atlantic? Commentary The “marea verde” – the “green tide” – has spread across the whole of Latin America. Can it make waves in Germany too?
The European Green Deal – a common task. Synergies required at every level Analysis The European Green Deal will only become a true success story if the EU functions as a multi-level governing system in the truest sense of the word and the various levels operate at a well-connected interplay. By Christine Pütz and Claudia Rothe
Chances and limits of place-based environmental politics Background At least since the globalization debate in the early 1980s, it has always been about the contradiction between the local and the global. Ares Kalandides explains why it is time to rethink this approach and what opportunities and possibilities local initiatives offer today. By Ares Kalandides