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After 50 years of bloody armed conflict, the FARC guerrillas of Colombia have laid down their weapons and launched the next phase of their “revolutionary” struggle: politics. In early September, the group publicly rebranded as Colombia’s newest political party, the Commoners’ Alternative Revolutionary Force. The new FARC is complying with the country’s 2016 peace accords, which guaranteed the leftist organisation ten seats in congress.
But, as Fabio Andres Diaz writes, it will take more than a nice new name for this no-longer-armed insurgency to win over Colombian voters. The FARC also needs a leader who can sell the party as the agents of national reconciliation rather than as relics of the Western Hemisphere’s longest civil war. Who has what it takes?
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Supporters listen as Colombia’s disarmed Marxist insurgency, the FARC, publicly launches its new political party, also called the FARC.
Jaime Saldarriaga/Reuters
Fabio Andres Diaz, International Institute of Social Studies
Meet the Commoners' Alternative Revolutionary Force, Colombia's newest political party. To move beyond its violent past, the new FARC will need a charismatic leader who can win over voters.
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Arts + Culture
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Gwen Ansell, University of Pretoria
When they arrived in Europe in the early 1960s, South African jazz outfit the Blue Notes revolutionised the London scene. Half a century later, their music is coming home in several new projects.
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Business + Economy
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Alex Mandilaras, University of Surrey
The 2007-08 financial crisis affected the world's advanced economies in profound ways and the ripple effects continue to today.
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Environment + Energy
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Colleen Burge, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Oysters grow in seawater and filter their food from it, so how do you shield them from waterborne diseases? Scientists are working to develop strains that are resistant to a fast-spreading herpes virus.
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Health + Medicine
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Lorenzo Fabrizi, UCL; Tomoki Arichi, King's College London
Baby's brains have special activity to help them develop – now researchers have found where some of this happens.
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Politics + Society
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Giuseppe Forino, University of Newcastle; Jason von Meding, University of Newcastle; Thomas Johnson, University of Newcastle
Alongside the present horrors being inflicted against the Rohingya in Myanmar, we must consider the broader political and economic context that continues to marginalise minority groups.
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Science + Technology
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Jennifer Ruef, University of Oregon
Dreading math class as you head back into school? Never fear: Try these tips from famed mathematician George Pólya.
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