Politics and Society

Global attention is focused on the Winter 2010 Olympics well underway in Vancouver, Canada, a city some 4,600 km distant from the capital, and that's just fine by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. With Parliament dismissed by the PM and legislative activity at a standstill, the action may be in Vancouver, but the real heat remains in Ottawa. The Mantle's blogger Erika Klein and contributor Patrick Guyer discuss this under-reported hijacking of democracy in O' Canada.

A majority of the global population lives in urban settings. Long-established cities like Beijing, Lagos, Mexico City, and Tokyo are brimming with new residents. Where populations simply outgrow their environs, new cities are created from thin air—or rather, from farmland and pristine landscape. To control its own infrastructure and population issues, Mumbai, India simply created a sister city right next door: Navi Mumbai. Amrut Abhyankar explores this emerging landscape and finds that within the cacophony of the new setting, the "city life" is simply forgotten.

Over two hundred fifty million people cross the U.S.-Mexican border annually, making it the most frequenty crossed international border in the world. Each year, billions of dollars in remittances are sent from the U.S. back to loved ones in Mexico. Alas, screenwriter, director, and author Guillermo Arriaga reminds us that there is much more to the border issue than what statistics can capture.  Lisa Guáqueta took notes at Guillermo's recent lecture in Houston, Texas.

In 2005, Malalai Joya became the youngest person ever elected to the Afghan parliament. Two years later, she was suspended for her denunciation of warlords and their cronies in government. Under constant threats of violence and death, Joya continues to expose anti-democratic forces in Afghanistan. Recently, she launched her new book, A Woman Among Warlords, in New York City. Here is the text of her urgent, emotional speech of that night.

Recent flooding in India has killed hundreds and displaced over a million people. Jolted by this logistical nightmare, a fresh look is being taken at the Indian government's national climate change program. Nicola Macnaughton reports that while the plan looks good on paper, not including local communities most affected by climate change in the process threatens to derail all progress when the next disaster strikes.

Best treated soon after birth, clubfoot is a defect that occurs in 1 out of every 1,000 births. In this touching essay, Sandeep Pattnaik recounts his experience of growing up and working in India affected by this malady. Only at age thirty did he pursue corrective surgery. The results are as astounding as they are uplifting.

British freelance journalist Navjot Singh laments the precipitous decline of a once ubiquitous sight in the world's most populous country.

How is Uruguay fairing in the midst of the global financial crisis? Natalia Cardona reports on reforms making a difference.

In this reflective essay, Amrut Abhyankar muses on the shopping mall, a new performative space in India crowding out—physically and psychologically—the traditional marketplaces of his home country.