Politics

Seven women vs the patriarchy in Brazil

To defy the threat of violence that many female politicians in Brazil face, seven female politicians from Rio de Janeiro decided to run for city council as a collective: If one of them drops out, the others will step in.

0R.Brabbins

Despite the doom and gloom, humanity is still progressing

Given the ongoing pandemic, many people feel that we are living in a world where everything is going from bad to worse. But is that really true?

0S. Pinker, M. Nevradakis

“Information Is a Human Right”

North Korean refugees have found creative ways to smuggle information into one of the most censored countries in the world. New legislation will make their activism more difficult – but they are determined to continue their work.

0P. Krantz

Candlelight vigils are not enough

The artists’ group “Center for Political Beauty” weaponizes art for radical change. Sometimes, the collective ends up exposing even more problems than they expected.

0R. Meissner

“They killed the journalist. Not the message”

Journalists Daphne Caruana Galizia and Miroslava Breach were killed to prevent their controversial investigations from seeing the light of day. Now, the "Forbidden Stories" project is continuing their research and publishing their stories.

0Y. Martín Fradejas

Saving the Planet – One Lawsuit at a Time

A look at recent climate statistics is all it takes to see that nature needs a good lawyer. These people and organizations have successfully sued corporations and governments for neglecting or ignoring environmental issues.

0J.C. Zeller

Fear my rubber duck!

How humorous protests are successfully backfooting the authorities and leading to actual change.

0S. McClennen, S. Popovic

Investing in change

Shareholder activism forces companies to listen to criticism of their social and environmental policies and sometimes even to change their course.

0The Tea Team

Right against the right

How German neo-Nazis involuntarily took part in a walkathon to support an anti-racism initiative.

0The Tea Team

In your face: hacking facial recognition systems

So big brother is watching, so what? This picture editing program that is fooling facial recognition software.

0The Tea Team

If you can’t take it to the streets, take it to the supermarket

Moroccans have proven that big business is not untouchable: Three companies in the Arabic country experienced just how closely their fate really depends on the goodwill of their consumers.

0R. El Afia

European Elections: Romanian Granny Goes Viral

This is a Romanian grandmother’s video message in the run-up to the European elections. Within 24 hours of going live, it already had more than 3 million views on Facebook.

0R. Adam

Paint Thicker than Blood

Graffiti has become a medium for change in Colombia’s capitol. Street artist Mos Ku takes us on a walk through his city.

0J. Zeller / Mos Ku

Coffee to go with a green conscience

Freiburg is the first German city to introduce a deposit on reusable coffee cups. The Freiburg Cup not only reduces waste; it also saves coffee lovers the trouble of rinsing out returnable cups.

0Tea Team

How a computer game is inspiring girls to code

A revolutionary computer game is teaching kids to code in a playful way. Originally designed to encourage girls to take up programming, with its cool graphics and entertaining story, Erase all Kittens is unisex and timeless.

0L. Van Der Linde / Tea Team

An artsy dialog between places affected by Climate Change

What do the inhabitants of the Amazonian basin have in common with the Inuit of Greenland? In addition to being directly affected by climate change, both are also participating in a spectacular art project.

0B. Dombrowski/Tea Team

Drop dead deadly

These beautiful popsicles are made of polluted water to raise awareness of water contamination.

0Tea Team

438 days

Freed after 438 days: How reporting saved Egyptian journalist Baher Ghorab from nine more years in jail.

0Tea Team

Risking one’s life for a laugh

Can you joke about ISIS? An Iraqi news satire show, the Albasheer Show, is doing just that. And it is winning over viewers, even in ISIS occupied areas where the show has been banned.

0Tea Team

Former drug addicts growing healthy, local food

When Steve Glover, a former addict and recovery counsellor decided to support fellow addicts and ex-offenders after treatment, he ended up creating one of the UK’s leading sustainable urban food businesses.

0D. Pyndiah

Young ideas saving the world's oldest street

In Alexandria, students are designing solutions to save architectural heritage. Their university professors have brought young minds and sponsoring companies together in a competition to bring forth the best ideas.

0Goethe-Institut

Memory in Cardboard

In Bogotá, a group of people displaced by violence describe their experiences through drawings and prints. In this way, they attempt to heal their wounds and prevent the past from repeating itself.

0Goethe-Institut

Where the rich pay for the poor

Rarely has the Robin Hood principle been so charmingly enacted as in a restaurant of the same name in Spain. The wealthy dine here during the day, and pay for a free, warm, meal for the needy at night.

0enorm

Recycle Beirut - Effecting change from a warehouse

Though the city is known for its elegance, Beirut has one unfortunate blemish: piles of waste on the streets that aren’t picked up. “Recycle Beirut” is now taking the waste problem literally into its own hands and at the same time helping to tackle Lebanon’s refugee problem.

0S. Kazak/A. Kohn

How Baghdad’s youth movement is re-uniting a divided society.

A carnival defies the bombs: Tens of thousands of people party for peace in downtown Baghdad.

0Q. Alwardii/Tea Team

The Bike Project:
improving quality of life for refugees

Why the restoration of abandoned bikes can mean a taste of freedom for refugees in London.

0J. Stein/Tea Team

Protecting LGBTI refugees from homophobic attacks in Europe

Europe is supposed to be one of the safest places for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual and intersexed (LGBTI) people to live. Nevertheless, LGBTI refugees still often suffer abuse. Could different housing options change their fates?

0S.Jaekel / S.Rocca

“It is not about money – it is about people”

Whether in Guatemala, Senegal, Italy or Germany: Around the globe, migrant and low-income communities are supporting each other through self-managed savings and loans groups.

0SavingBuddies

Are we sleepwalking straight into another financial crisis?

How fintech could save us from the next financial breakdown.

0B.Dyson

Taking the power away from the banks

How to put an end to financial crises: taking the power to generate money away from the banks.

0F.Sigurjónsson

Frustrated with free trade and price dumping? Create your own currency!

Residents in the Chiemgau District in Germany are printing their own money – and as such backing the local economy.

1C.Gelleri

“It’s not a refugee crisis - it's a damn political failure”

Now is the time to take action on the refugee crisis and move past the usual, useless blather, says Joséphine Goube, Expert on Immigration for the European Commission.

0J. Goube

How art is saving the lives of refugees in the Mediterranean

Since October, a floating island has offered a safety zone to refugees in distress at sea: complete with food, life buoys and solar-powered emergency telephones.

0Tea Team

Why Argentinians are raising money to fight poverty in Germany

When the Argentinian government declared it had lowered its poverty rate below that of Germany social media users responded with sarcasm and mockery.

0P.C. Saucedo Añez

Design in Space

Interview with the first space architect, Galina Balaschova, who designed the interiors of the famous Mir & Sojus space stations.

0G.Balaschova

Beneath the Sky

The Ukranian “Prosot Neva” magazine is sold by the homeless on the streets of Lviv. With contributions from well-known Ukrainian authors, it is a respected cultural magazine with a following of loyal readers.

0S. Oslawska

Hosting refugees at home

A Dutch volunteer organisation is placing refugees in private homes where they enjoy the warmth of family life instead of the impersonal anonymity of life in a huge centre.

1M.Grcic

Palestine: Experimenting with tradition

Recycling construction waste and reviving traditional building techniques: Shams Ard studio showcases what local and sustainable architecture can mean in Palestine.

0A. Mansour

The first nomadic design slum museum opens its doors

In February, the first nomadic design museum in the Dharavi slum in Mumbai has open its doors to honour local craftsmanship.

0A. Pinatih / J. Mañes Rubio

The story of the Guatemalan astronaut who never was

How a dentist from Guatemala convinced his government to send him into space – with faked certificates and doctored photos.

0E.Cabria/G.Olmstead

Big Data:
Improving the public transport system

Many praise big data as the panacea for more efficiency, security, transparency and improving communities in large cities. To date this universal remedy has been rather abstract. The applications developed by Berlin start-up Ally demonstrate the concrete advantages of big data for citizens.

0M.Nohroudi / A.Kohn

A taller, greener future

An abandoned brewery site near the very heart of Australia’s largest city has been reborn, and it’s becoming the toast of the town.

0L. McMillan

Talking about climate

Ahead of the UN climate summit, artists have installed over 600 artworks criticizing the corporate takeover of the talks.

0Tea Team

The Magdas Hotel: Where your hosts are refugees

Next time you travel to Vienna, consider booking your room at the Magdas Hotel, Europe’s first hotel run by refugees.

0S. de Vos / Tea Team

Zaytoun, the little refugee

The world’s refugees’ struggle for survival comes alive in a new videogame.

0M.Tayeb

Why the future is up to Generation Y

90s, born around 1980 and now enjoying the best years of your working life. And just the right age to realize your dreams. We talked to Scilla Elworthy about how and why Generation Y will influence world events.

0S. Elworthy

How citizens revived an abandoned square

Active citizens in West São Paulo have revitalized a square to create a small oasis in the middle of the city.

0C. Ramos

Test your knowledge of the Laws of Armed Conflict

Can a hospital be targeted if the enemy is inside and targeting you? Get the answer in this brand new quiz app and test your knowledge of the Laws of Armed Conflict.

0Tea Team

Do you believe everything you read?

The infotainment app Newspeak invites players to critically assess media language by asking them to identify which story is real.

0div.

The Slum Challenge –
More Than Just a Game

In the computer game Slum Challenge, Europeans can immerse themselves in life in a Philippine slum from a first-person shooter and wander through real film sequences.

0M. Cantzler Christensen

Gaming for political change

How mobile phone games, comic strips, crowdsourcing, and virtual candidates shook up Indonesia’s presidential election.

0M.Kusumawardhani

Geeks for the Cartels

Encrypted communications, drug deals on the web, propaganda per Facebook: The younger generation is driving the digitalisation of the Mexican drug cartels.

0S. Perteranderl

Thought Crimes:
Remembering Censorship

Crowdsourcing for freedom of speech: Digital platforms honour journalists and activists who have been silenced by the authorities.

0T.Rahme

Kidnapping:
How a father found and freed his daughter using mobile phone tracking

In Mexico, family members of kidnapping victims are using new techniques to locate their loved ones.

0S. Peteranderl

Turkey's "Standing Man"

Sometimes it’s better to do nothing: How Erdem Gündüz kindled a protest movement with his hands in his pockets.

0E.Gündüz

Egypt: Walls of Freedom

During the Egyptian revolution, Cairo’s walls became newspapers of resistance. Mural artist Ammar Abo Bakr tells their story - a story of power, politics and revolutionary fight.

3A. Abo Bakr

Mapping harassment in Egypt

Can social media keep women from being harassed? This was the aim of the Egyptian start-up HarassMap when founded 4 years ago. We talked to women in Egypt: Did it actually help them?

0M.Selim

Protest Graffiti Art in Athens

Do you think that a crisis can make people more creative? It does! Here's the proof: the mood in Athens, Greece might be bad but the creativity in street art explodes.

1J.Tulke

Colombia: When refugees build their own cities

A photo story on the invisible heroes of the “Comuna 8” district in Medellín.

0L. Jiménez García

Cuba's urban farming revolution

Havanas’s unique agricultural infrastructure today provides an exemplary precedent that could be applied worldwide.

0C.Clouse

Water gets local

Plumbing and sewage treatment aren’t the sexiest of pursuits, but innovative approaches are changing cities from their innards out.

0E.Gies

Visualizing Palestine: Putting daily life in the picture

The reality of daily life for Palestinians is complex. But the initiative Visualizing Palestine took on the challenge of spreading the word, making “creative visuals to describe a factual rights-based narrative of Palestine/Israel”.

0T. Rahme

Favela tourism is booming in Brazil

These days tourists want to see the other side of Rio: the poverty in the favelas.

1div.

Welcome to Lagos - one of the greatest cities on earth

It has often been said that if you can make it in Lagos, you can survive anywhere. Explore Nigeria's buzzing capital and find out: would you make it in Lagos?

0C.Agwuegbo

Ukraine: How everyone can make a change

You think you can’t change the world all by yourself? Then the “Wonderful” initiative in Ukraine is proving you wrong! The actions taken by these young people are changing the urban landscape of Kiev.

0M.Nasiedkina

"I wish we had less money to spend"

When asked to name three wishes, Patrick Condon says he'd like people to think in a more complex way, for global warming deniers to burn in hell, and that we had less money to spend. He has spent his lifetime investing in sustainable city design and found some simple but effective answers for how to reduce greenhouse gases.

0P. Condon