Made in Bangladesh

By: César Rodríguez Garavito

If you believe the recent death of more than one thousand seamstresses in Bangladesh is a foreign issue, look at the label of your pants.

The right to charge water

By: Sebastián Felipe Villamizar Santamaría

Some days ago a video re-emerged in which the President of Nestlé says that water is not a right, but must be privatized.

Dignified and decent work in Colombia

By: , Sergio Chaparro, Rodrigo Uprimny Yepes, Juan Fernando Jaramillo, q.e.p.d, Carolina Bernal, Procuraduría General de la Nación

Labor issues occupy a priority place in social concerns. In countries like Colombia, there is a close connection between social security and labor relations. For this reason it has been argued that policies aimed at creating decent work are the best way to make social policy.

Employment

Class racism

By: Mauricio García Villegas

When I hear Senator Carlos Martinez say he is being chased for being black, I think about the complexities racism has in Colombia.

Racism

Rich and unequal

By: Vivian Newman Pont

The 2011 national human development report from PNUD was just emitted. It states once again that we don't distribute things well enough in Colombia. Not a novelty. It confirms that we are one of the most unequal countries in the world with a Gini index of income inequality of 0.58 and 0.85 for rural property, where 1 is absolute inequality.

University and educational apartheid

By: Mauricio García Villegas

This seemed to be a good week for public university. After the return of President Santos from Chile (where students have been protesting for six months), the government announced it was withdrawing the proposal to establish colleges for profit (just under the bill to reform higher education) and earmark additional resources of 1.5 billion pesos to finance the public university. This is good news indeed, but the problem of education in Colombia is so big it takes much more than that.

Wastes: between recyclers and quick-witted

By: César Rodríguez Garavito

The tendering of wastes in Bogota is smelly. Magically, thousands of supposed "recyclers" affiliated to associations created at the last minute to benefit from the contest rules, which sought to promote the true recyclers who have spent years digging through the trash and providing an environmental service that was priceless.

The list of our sorrows

By: Mauricio García Villegas

I DON'T MEAN TO spoil the party of the 20th of july, but I think a celebration like this should not only be a reason to exalt our glories (rather rare, in fact), but also an occasion to reflect on our mistakes as a society or what we have not been able to achieve in these two centuries of republican life.

What money shouldn't buy

By: Sergio Chaparro

The case of the Nule reveals how in Colombia all things can be obtained with a good deal of money and influence. Is it possible to prevent this kind of story from being repeated?

Educational apartheid in Bogotá

By: Mauricio García Villegas, Laura Quiroz López

Education should create cultural capital and encourage social mobility. However, when rich and poor study in separate schools and there is great difference in the quality of their formation, school only serves to perpetuate social hierarchies. Results of a careful study of the case of Bogota.

The "teacher " who does not teach

By: Javier Eduardo Revelo Rebolledo

The English Teacher reaffirms why Colombia is so happy but so unfair.

Environmental justice and floods

By: Rodrigo Uprimny Yepes

THIS RUNAWAY WINTER doesn't affect everyone equally. For some of us it represents a slight discomfort.

Educational apartheid

By: Mauricio García Villegas

Social life depends, to a large extent, on the achievement of people's basic expectations: buy a house, get a retirement, educate their children. All these are reasons that people have to live in society and accept its game rules.

Presidential inauguration and protocol

By: Mauricio García Villegas

DURING THE PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION OF Juan Manuel Santos, Armando Benedetti, the new Senate president, began his speech by lamenting that Colombia was one of the most unequal countries in the world.

Inequality and democracy in Colombia

By: Rodrigo Uprimny Yepes

In the Social Contract, Rousseau wrote a lapidarian sentence concerning the serious effects extreme inequality has on democracy.