BY MONICA ADAME Denise, a powerful television anchorwoman, heard her smart phone beeped. It was April 10. “HELP, the town of Uruachi in Chihuahua is under siege by 150 hit men,” read the tweet. She quickly retweeted the information and…
Category: Low-intensity conflict
Srinagar Spring
BY ASHOKA MUKPO In the exquisite Kashmiri city of Srinagar, Himalayan snow peaks tower over glacial lakes, and at night the Islamic call to prayer drifts lazily through luxurious gardens cultivated by Mughal emperors. It is not hyperbole to suggest…
Outpacing Violence one Tweet at a Time
By Mónica Adame The first time armed gang members threatened Daniela Azpilcueta, 27, a resident of Monterrey, in the Northern state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, she immediately tuned to Twitter. “I saw the gun on the right window and just…
Ethiopia Chokes Refugees
By NICOLE SCHILIT Genet’s soft voice makes it difficult to make out the words she is saying. The young Eritrean refugee avoids eye contact, and when she speaks she turns toward the empty space in her small one-room home rather…
Lunchtime Hazards of Drug War
BY MONICA ADAME Cristina wore her usual workplace two-piece suit, her hair in a ponytail. She had no glamorous event planned for the day. As an official at the Ministry of Governance, in Mexico City, her work consisted on touring…
To Live and Die in Cairo
BY DOTUN AKINTOYE With any revolution comes reaction, or to be more precise, the language of reaction. The counterrevolution in Egypt is couched in words like stability. A word which, if there remains any meaning in it, can only mean…
Israel Struggles to Absorb Africa Refugees
BY NICOLE SCHILIT Johannes (name has been changed) is a twenty five year old refugee from Eritrea who came to Israel four months ago through Sudan and then Egypt. He lives not far from South Tel Aviv Bus Terminal, an…
Silencing the Sindicalistas
BY WHITNEY EULICH On an April night ten years ago, Luz Ortiz took the bus home from the local university after wrapping up a union meeting. It was 10:30 p.m., and the streets of Cali, Colombia were quiet, dark. When…
Taxi Power
BY ALEX VILLARINO Last time I visited Mexico City I noticed something different in the streets. Instead of the traditional green, beaten-up VW beetles, taxicabs were brand new Nissan Tsuru models painted gold and red. In 2008 those green taxicabs…
Caught in the Crossfire
BY NATHANIEL PARISH FLANNERY In the thick yellow light of early evening, standing on the bluff next to the high school in the small Texas town of Roma, you can look out over the Rio Grande River and see into…