In an explosive interview to New Internationalist, the Kurdish female leader Bese Hozat opens up about peace, the party’s view on the region and the independence referendum in South Kurdistan, and accuses Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the West to have incubated Isis. By Karlos Zurutuza.

Emboldened by a recent study, The Guardian repeats the myth that becoming vegan is the ‘single biggest way’ to reduce your impact on Earth. Chris Saltmarsh and Harpreet Kaur Paul disagree.

The backlash against social media titans is in full swing. But are moves to bring them to heel, including new privacy laws, appropriate? Mike Morel investigates.

The dirt on waste. Dinyar Godrej argues that the problems with our throwaway society add up to much more than the sum of individual actions.

It’s 10 years since the global financial system almost sent the world into a great depression. Yohann Koshy takes stock of what went wrong and where we are now.

Black Lives Matter and a new generation of activism has the potential to reawaken the global fight for black liberation, argues Amy Hall.

Vanessa Baird sets out to see how dictatorship is being rebranded in Latin America’s most populous nation.

Chris Brazier interviews Elleke Boehmer, Professor of World Literature in English at Oxford University.

Jo Lateu considers the state of the unions, and argues that a revival has already begun.

Saudi Arabia has lifted its ban on women drivers, but there not everyone agrees it’s a good thing. By Lydia Noon.

Shell companies are aggravating some of the world’s worst conflicts, writes Steven Shaw.

Update from India by Tom Lawson.

A Fantastic Woman, written and directed by Sebastián Lelio; Custody (Jusqu’à la garde), written and directed by Xavier Legrand.

A Massacre in Mexico by Anabel Hernández; Talking to North Korea by Glyn Ford; Russia Without Putin by Tony Wood; Crimson by Niviaq Korneliussen, translated by Anna Halagar.

Visit Malphino by Malphino; Universalists by Yonatan Gat.

Spending some time away from Marabá, Dan Baron Cohen discovers unexpected solidarity with the Amazon in a country mired in violence and despair.

The Philippines’ maverick environmentalist fighting the powerful mining industry, speaks with Veronique Mistiaen.

Ego? Tick. Money? Tick. Power-hungry? Tick. A disaster for the world? Tick.

The arms trade is a powerful and enduring obstacle to peace.

Gustavo Fuchs takes a look at this country, nicknamed the ‘Central American Switzerland’.

Cartoon by Marc Roberts.