Dear readers,
Since 7 October, the Hamas massacres in southern Israel and the Israeli air strikes on Gaza have wrought suffering and despair. Whilst almost everywhere in Gaza it is a matter of sheer survival, in Israel our partner organisations are grappling with the consequences of the Hamas attacks for those directly impacted and the turning point they represent for the country. Two interviews - with our office manager in Palestine and with Guy Shalev from our Israeli partner organisation “Physicians for Human Rights” - from the early days of the war give us insight into this. The zeitgeist is not exactly working in the favour of those fighting to enforce human rights. From Latin America to the Middle East to Asia, our partner organisations are facing authoritarian trends that are a risk to them and the positive changes they have been able to set in motion through their unrelenting work. Authoritarianism is a global phenomenon that is likely to stay for a long time to come. In a new article, medico colleague Mario Neumann describes how Western liberalism, which is currently distancing itself from the regimes of Russia and China especially, lays the foundations for authoritarianism, whilst simultaneously becoming increasingly authoritarian itself. medico’s Executive Director Tsafrir Cohen describes a possible counter-model in his article about human rights in an age of dwindling Western hegemony and why they need to be decolonised. In many societies, the shift towards authoritarianism is also an expression of the quest for supposed security in a world that is unravelling. The war in Ukraine and the endless succession of disasters resulting from the climate crisis should suffice as keywords. The military coups in the Sahel region are also a sign of the times. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Professor of Epistemologies of the Global South at the University of Bayreuth (Germany), puts forward five theses for understanding them. Finally, we also have a piece which contributes to the European debate on migration: Here’s to the smugglers! All the best from the team at
medico international | 
