Make Sense of the world
Unique insight from 2,000+ contributors in 80+ Countries
In October 2017, Tarana Burke’s 2006 "me too" movement was revived by a simple tweet from actress Alyssa Milano. A year later, the hashtag had been tweeted over 19 million times by women around the world. There is no question that the #MeToo campaign mobilized and united women across the globe....
May 15 marks an unhappy anniversary for Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul and all those who care about women’s rights everywhere. “I always wished I was a man, always, since I was a child.” In her home country of Saudi Arabia, Loujain al-Hathloul is a controversial figure. Her habit of...
In this edition of the Interview, Fair Observer talks to Gilbert Achcar, professor of international relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. The Middle East and North Africa continues to reverberate from the 2011 Arab Spring protests that rocked the region...
For many Bahrainis, repression is nothing new, and it remains a dark and troubling story. First to the good news, at least from the perspective of the government of Bahrain and its supporters: Despite an opposition call to boycott the November election, turnout, at 67%, was impressively high....
In this edition of The Interview, Fair Observer talks to Sana Afouaiz, an award-winning women’s rights advocate. Invisible Women of the Middle East: True Stories is a 2018 book by Moroccan author Sana Afouaiz, exploring the deepest layers of women’s lives across the Middle East and North...
Following Jamal Khashoggi’s assassination, serious questions are finally being asked about British and American involvement in the Yemen War. There is a link between the disappearance and murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the terrible war in Yemen that, after more than three...
The sudden selective indignation regarding the actions of the Saudi regime raises concerns about how the news media handles atrocities across the world. The disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has sparked a media frenzy in much of the world. The New York...
Ironically, it is the relentless attacks on Muslims that are creating a more visible Muslim presence in the UK. Boris Johnson’s inflammatory remarks about women who wear the burqa have sparked outrage and fierce debate on an issue that was already highly emotive. Since the 2016 referendum...
Saudi Arabia’s new crown prince wants to rewrite the rules of Islam to secure his regime’s future. Can he succeed? Change is usually measured in decades in the conservative Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. That’s what makes the revolution triggered by its young, impatient crown prince so...
Will Saudi Arabia's ambitious vision for a desert megacity help bring about a new future for the kingdom? In October, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) unveiled Riyadh’s plans for NEOM, a futuristic desert city that he hailed as a “civilizational leap for humanity.”...
In Jordan, the state puts women who are at risk of honor crimes into “protective custody,” which often means prison without charge. As per the BBC, an honor killing is “the murder of a person accused of bringing shame upon his or her family.” The act occurs worldwide but is particularly...
