From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
It's hard for people to defend democracy when it cannot defend them against social injustice.
Young people see philanthropy and change completely differently – they don't support charities in the same way as I do, but they campaign and that's perhaps more valuable. The money is less important now, and the drive is the focus, the talking, the doing.
Increasingly heavy-handed purges of crime will simply move perpetrators into different industries, increase the severity of crime, or create extremist groups. There is very little more dangerous in the world than individuals with nothing to lose.
People were sure that they were risking death when building mutual aid webs or asking for dignity on the streets of our great cities around the world. People are choosing humanity, dignity, freedom and equality as ideals even when they perceive a risk of dying.
Rape is one of the oldest weapons of war and it remains so to this day. For too long, it has been viewed as an 'unfortunate' side effect of war. But really, it is a tactic. The truth is that stable societies are built on the backs of women.
The guards hung me by my wrists from the ceiling for eight days…. After a few days of hanging, being denied sleep, it felt like my brain stopped working. I was imagining things. My feet got swollen on the third day. I felt pain that I have never felt in my entire life.
There is still considerable hesitancy within the international community for robust intervention. Ultimately, blue helmets, or UN peacekeepers, come from specific countries, and the decision to withdraw them rests with the capitals of these contributing countries.
LGBT+ identity came into existence as a defence mechanism against those who were attacking us. We were being targeted because of our sexual behavior and our love. We had to defend ourselves – that is why we claimed, and asserted our LGBT+ identity.
As a prosecutor, I recognize that our involvement typically begins when it's already too late: when prevention, humanity, and common sense have failed. Violence, whether in families, communities, or at an international level, signifies a failure of humanity.
more Americans died in gun homicides and suicides in six months than have died in the last 25 years in every terrorist attack and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq combined…
What makes Guantánamo so horrible is the fact that the majority of these men are innocent and have no hope of release in the future. Our government has made no concrete steps to releasing these men.
Freedom of expression isn't just about protecting popular speech - it's about creating the conditions where unpopular ideas can challenge power and where dissent can flourish without fear.