World

In Greece, grassroots refusal to put up with austerity is quickly gaining momentum, as people give up on mainstream politics. By Hara Kouki and Antonis Vradis.

With the announcement in the last hour that Greek prime minister George Papandreou is to stand down to make way for a coalition government in Greece, it appears that his referendum gambit has not paid off. Below, Yanis Varoufakis on why the plan was never about democracy, but simply a ploy to extract a vote of confidence from his party’s battered MPs.

One of the most interesting parts of the work I do in the European Parliament is not the committee and plenary meetings, but the opportunity to host meetings in the Parliament that can bring together campaigners from around the world. In the last week, I had the opportunity to co-host a film in the Parliament together with a number of other MEPs from different political groups.

Despite its 'official' abolition in 2003, slavery still exists in Niger. Girls are sold as 'Fifth Wives', a form of physical and sexual slavery. They are denied basic rights and essentially owned by their master; some are fitted with heavy bronze ankle bracelets to prevent escape. Other Nigeriens with slave ancestry suffer discrimination throughout their lives. Tom Rowe meets them.

What started with fewer than a dozen college students in protesting in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan has ballooned into a movement that has made headlines across the world. Now in its third week, the Occupy Wall Street movement has sparking sister 'Occupy' movements across the United States. By 

 As Occupy Wall Street enters its third week, the movement is gathering support across the United States. By Richard Chambers.

 As Occupy Wall Street enters its third week, the movement is gathering support across the United States. By Richard Chambers.

Palestine's bid for statehood at the UN is likely to fall at the first hurdle of the Security Council, and never reach the General Assembly, but the effort has drawn attention to the reality of Palestine – Israeli military occupation, neverending settlement building, the sham of negotiations, etc – in a way that nothing else has done in recent years. By David Morrison.

The ‘Arab Spring’ has raised the cost to US elites of conspicuous support for Israel, and if the Palestinian bid for statehood is successful, Israel will suffer “a painful and dramatic process of Southafricanization” and become an international pariah. By Jamie Stern-Weiner.