· March, 2014

Stories about Politics from March, 2014

Massive Online Campaign to Free Political Prisoner Oscar López Rivera

  31 March 2014

The international campaign to free Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera is asking people from all over the world to contribute in making the hashtag #freeOscarLopez a trending topic tomorrow, April 1st. Tweets should also include U.S. president Barack Obama's handle @BarackObama. This year, López Rivera will have been...

Roots of Conflict in Southern Thailand

  31 March 2014

Patrick Jory traces the history of the conflict in southern Thailand and probes the causes and impact of naming it as an Islamic insurgency: The answer can be found in the suppression of official references to the distinct ethnic Malay identity of the population of the border provinces, in favour...

South Sudan Military Intelligence Chief Denies Attempted Coup

  29 March 2014

The chief of military intelligence for South Sudan denies that there was an attempted coup there on December 15, 2013. PaanLuel Wel reports: Reports from Juba have it that the head of military intelligence, Gen. Mac Paul Kuol Awar, has rubbished the alleged coup attempt of December 15, 2013. Mac...

Should Africa Learn From the Crimea Referendum?

  28 March 2014

“Is Crimea referendum a good model for Africa?” asks Richard Dowden: Africa’s arbitrary borders, mostly drawn by people who had never set foot in the continent, have always been an obvious target for renegotiation. But Africa’s first rulers, who foresaw chaos and disintegration if the nation states were reconfigured, ruled...

The “Happy Voting” Project Encourages Young Europeans to Vote

  28 March 2014

Drawing on the Pharrell Williams worldwide hit “Happy” and the associated equally renown music video (over 143 million views on YouTube), the Brussels-based film company Full Tunes Production has recently launched on facebook an enthusiastic project  called “Happy Voting” that strives to encourage voting for the next European elections. The project...