Home

© MTI/Rosta Tibor

In a single sentence, he acknowledged that the outgoing government had allowed industrial lobbyists to dictate legislation.

• Author: Tibor Csaba Tóth
• Medium: Mérce
• Original title: Takács Péter a kardjába dőlt, és elismerte, miért darálta be a Fidesz a munkaegészségügyet
• Safety and Security

© Denis Vėjas / NARA

When ISIS was raging in northern Syria in 2014, the Western world caught sight of armed Kurdish women fighting against the jihadists – their hair loose in the wind – and fell in love with their image. But behind it lay a far more radical project: Rojava, the Kurdish-led autonomous region built over a decade, where gender equality is enshrined and defended by both law and arms. Now, after years of struggle for survival, Syria’s transitional government wants to reverse this process.

• Author: Denis Vėjas
• Medium: NARA
• Original title: Kovotojos, ne karės
• Safety and Security

© Vasutasok Szakszervezete

Hungary’s ageing rail fleet needs to be replaced: passengers, the government and railway workers alike agree on that much. But according to the Railway Workers’ Union, modernisation should not come at the expense of the jobs, skills and maintenance capacity that have been built up over decades.

• Author: Soma Ábrahám Kiss
• Medium: Mérce
• Original title: Pótolhatatlan tudást és tapasztalatot dobunk ki, ha a tervek szerint valósul meg az új vonatok beszerzése
• Climate Crisis and Sustainability

© Denis Vėjas / NARA

Parliamentary elections took place in Armenia, often presented as a choice between East and West. While Russia and the European Union compete for influence in the South Caucasus country, Armenians are also facing an even more complex question – whether the peace agenda proposed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan can help heal the wound of the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh.

• Author: Sigita Vegytė
• Medium: NARA
• Original title: Kalnai mainais į taiką. Armėnija renkasi tolesnę kryptį
• Pillars of Democracy

© Wikimedia Commons / The Land of Kings (1971), public domain (Iran)

News is gradually reaching Iranians in exile about which of their loved ones have fallen victim to the regime’s violence. The bloody suppression of anti-government protests by the local Islamist regime at the turn of 2025 and 2026 ranks among the most tragic events in Iran’s modern history. According to independent estimates, members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps killed up to thirty thousand people and injured tens of thousands more. How do Iranians who have found a new home in the Czech Republic perceive the origins of the current Iranian Islamist terror, civil resistance, and the struggle for freedom?

• Author: Afra, Ali, Sanam, Yasmin
• Medium: Revue Prostor
• Original title: Íránský lev na cestě za svobodou
• Global Social Transformations

© Chatto & Windus

The debut novel by Swedish-Kurdish author Agri Ismaïl, titled *Hyper*, follows in the tradition of family sagas and literature written by second- or third-generation immigrants. The main character—the proud founder of the Communist Party of Iraqi Kurdistan—flees the country only to watch his ideals crumble as his children strive to succeed in London, New York, and Dubai. The novel captures the hyper-fragmented life under capitalism in the wake of the financial crisis from the perspective of uprooted Kurds.

• Author: Laura Vassileva
• Medium: Revue Prostor
• Original title: HYPERkapitalismus v kurdském zrcadle
• Global Social Transformations

© Viktória Citráková

Citráková reflects on the 61st Venice Biennale as a stage where contemporary art and geopolitical crisis collide. Amid protests, strikes, and institutional scandals, the exhibition reveals how deeply today’s art world is entangled with war, nationalism, censorship, and the collapse of cultural neutrality.

• Author: Viktória Citráková
• Medium: Kapitál
• Original title: Príďte kvôli umeniu, zostaňte kvôli geopolitickému kolapsu. Politický rozmer 61. Benátskeho bienále
• Culture and Identity

Ilustracja: Kamil Czudej, Źródło: Wikimedia Commons

This interview with political scientist Jan Zielonka examines the political significance of Viktor Orbán’s electoral defeat in Hungary. The article argues that while Orbán symbolized right-wing populism in Europe, his influence stemmed largely from structural weaknesses within the European Union itself. It explores how EU mechanisms—such as unanimity rules and political tolerance toward rule-of-law violations—allowed Orbán to block decisions and shape European politics.

• Author: Katarzyna Skrzydłowska-Kalukin
• Medium: Kultura Liberalna
• Original title: Orbán przegrał, ale jego głos wciąż słychać w Europie
• Pillars of Democracy