BY NICOLE SCHILIT Maya Paley’s cell phone rings frequently but when she answers the call the person on the other line will immediately hang up. Instead of getting annoyed Maya calls the person right back. “It’s usually only the refugees…
Once a Marine
BY LAUREN SCHULZ NEW YORK – I met Allen Striffler for the first time on the steps of the New York Athletic Club in the fall of 2009. We had both just left a gala where Allen was being honored. …
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…
An IED on MSR Tampa
BY ASHOKA MUKPO In the summer of 2006, Army Sergeant Devin F. Muir departed from his base near Al-Hillah for a patrol in the sweltering heat of central Iraq. A year earlier, being involved in the war had not been…
Imperfect Marriage: Amnesty and Cageprisoners
SARIKA BANSAL Finding the perfect organizational partner can be tricky. Human rights groups are no exception to this. To be effective, they often must work with other groups, including NGOs, for-profit companies, and even autocratic governments. Some partnerships work beautifully,…
Indian Independence Was Academic to Him
By Sarika Bansal Cramped in a sweltering college dormitory in South India, Dr. Vemuri Venkat Ramanadham—then known as “Lecturer Ramanadham”—and fervently debated the Indian independence movement with more than 50 students. Was non-violence the best way to get the British…
Mexico’s Latest Poet-Diplomat
By Mónica Adame I met Gaspar Orozco during my first event as public relations coordinator for the Mexican Consul General in New York almost three years ago. Our boss, the head of the Consulate, invited Mexican artists living in the…
Ending Violence against Women in Zimbabwe
By Mónica Adame “I had been at the base for about two days when a group of three men instructed me to enter a room. They forced me to lie on the ground and stripped off all of my clothes.…
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…
Flight from Stalingrad
By ANNA KORDUNSKY Galya and her family had been living in the bomb shelter under the ruins of her apartment building for two weeks when unexpected visitors came down the stairs: five Soviet soldiers, three of them wounded in street…
Journey Into Israel
By Nicole Schilit About 12 meters from the end of the bridge stood the fence separating Egypt and Israel. Zebib, 27 years old, born and raised in Eritrea, was alone. Alone except for the 36 other African refugees who had…
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…
Just Beside History
By Stephen Schaber My parents hate being bothered by the telephone- the ringing, the holding, the talking. When someone calls they rarely answer it. In fact, the answering machine picks up after two rings. I find it incredibly annoying. They…
Can Afghanistan Police Itself?
BY REBECCA WEXLER NEW YORK—Seeking new ways to speed the withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, General Petraeus recently announced a massive expansion of the Afghan Local Police, a community policing initiative touted as the “new way forward” in winning…
Roma On Her Own Terms
BY REBECCA WEXLER NEW YORK—With the exception of the delicate gold rings on nearly all of her fingers, Petra Gelbart does not look stereotypically Roma. Her fair skin and small hazel eyes suggest her father’s Czech and Eastern European roots…
ROTC at Columbia?
BY LAUREN SCHULZ New York – Short black hair, petite build, arms at her side, wearing a pressed white shirt and long skirt, Edith Parks, from the School of Continuing Education, stepped up to the microphone after waiting her turn…
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…
Iranian Students Mobilize in the US to Change Single-Entry Visa Law
BY MICHELE MOGHTADER Nasim Sabounchi, a 21year-old Iranian was ecstatic when she received her acceptance letter to Virginia Tech’s PhD program in 2002. Nasim’s excitement soon turned to worry as she thought of how she had to be away from…
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…
Foreign Aid Sustains Fragile Afghan Media
BY ANNA KORDUNSKY Bashir Ahmad Gwakh, 28, a journalist from Afghanistan, credits the training he received in 2003 at a US-funded skill-building program with starting his career. Born in the village of Khwaizi in the Goshta district, Gwakh fled Afghanistan…
UAE Pressures War Allies for Economic Favors
BY KARA SUNDBY Canadians travelling to the United Arab Emirates will face substantially higher travel costs in 2011 following the Gulf nation’s decision to impose a costly visa on all Canadian citizens. The visa requirement is the latest strike…
Tibet Economy Leaves Exiles Behind
BY KARA SUNDBY Sonam Choezom has never set foot in Lhasa’s bustling Barkhor Street market or turned the prayer wheels at its Jokhang Temple. She has never made the pilgrimage to Mount Kailash to join Hindus, Jains and other Buddhists…
The Music Man of Grozny
BY MATT LUCAS Somewhere in the lost alleyways of Grozny, if you know the right place to go, you can hear Ruslan play his old records from before the wars. Zeppelin, Hendrix, Marley, the great jazzmen, the blues. According to…
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…