海角大神

Alongside nationwide protests, corporations are issuing their own calls for racial justice. With the rise of social media and heightened public consciousness on the issue, they face risks if those words aren't matched by deeds.

George Floyd鈥檚 death is prompting a rethinking of policing in schools, where students of color are more likely than white counterparts to encounter officers. As partnerships dissolve, authorities ponder how to keep students safe while also treating them fairly.

A highly charged debate over advocating for racial justice and what that means for the long-standing journalistic goal of neutrality is likely to shape the future of 21st-century media.

Trusted news sources can shape behavior. In the midst of a health crisis, Russian speakers in the Baltics switched loyalties to watch local news, helping Latvia and Estonia fare better against the coronavirus.

With pressure growing on the U.S. military to strip the names of Confederate officers from its bases, the question arises: Just who were these men, and what were they really known for?

When movies based on books succeed, it is often because they complement what鈥檚 on the page, rather than trying to replicate it.聽鈥滸reat fiction is an intimate expression of a writer鈥檚 way of seeing, and this vision is extremely difficult for a filmmaker to duplicate,鈥� says film critic Peter Rainer. Here, he shares some of his favorite adaptations.

The worldwide total of people forcibly displaced by violence, persecution, or gross human rights abuses reached a record 79.5 million at the end of 2019, according to a United Nations report released today. Forty percent were children. One of the more urgent hot spots is Libya. A 2011 revolution in the North African country ended a 42-year dictatorship but also unleashed ethnic and regional tensions that have since kept it in constant turmoil 鈥� and ripe for foreign intervention.

The U.N. estimates that 1.3 million Libyans need emergency humanitarian relief. More than 200,000 are internally displaced. Libya is also the gateway for African migrants trying to reach Europe. Smuggling routes crisscross its desert expanses. Islamic State cells have sought to exploit rival factions to their own gain.

Both the economy and Libyan society are in tatters. Yet it is also clear that this is not what ordinary Libyans want. At the local level, towns that once fought each other are setting aside ethnic animosities to coordinate responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Urban youth-led civil society initiatives, connected via social media, are giving voice to aspirations for democracy, women鈥檚 rights, and national reconciliation. In a country divided by tribes and other influences, there is still a shared culture of disdain for powerful central government and a desire to build national unity from the grassroots.

The biggest obstacle to the peace that these local movements seek is outside meddling. Attracted by Libya鈥檚 oil reserves 鈥� the largest in Africa and ninth largest globally 鈥� and driven by regional power ambitions or security concerns, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates have stoked proxy wars between local Libyan groups.

At the latest peace conference, held in Berlin last January, the rival Libyan leaders refused even to meet. The resulting communiqu茅 called for a joint military commission and a renewed commitment to an existing embargo on exports of arms to Libya. But just months later, in early June, Turkey deployed troops and military hardware to expel a Russian-backed faction trying to take Tripoli, where Ankara鈥檚 preferred proxy sits.

鈥淎s the foreign intervention increases, the Libyans themselves are getting lost in the mix, their voices crowded out,鈥� says Stephanie Williams, acting U.N. special representative for Libya. 鈥淲e must enable responsible Libyans to write their own future.鈥�

That observation provides a clarifying motive for international policy toward all troubled states producing displaced persons and providing fertile terrain for terrorists and other violent actors. If the democratic aspirations of ordinary Libyans can be honored and supported, it might set an example for how to end violence and persecution elsewhere. The best route home for the displaced and the shortest distance to achieving economic stability and security is to provide space for local peace initiatives to take root.聽