Editor's note

This week on The Conversation Global, we brought you first-person stories written by the people who are living the news: two Czech scholars exposed the sorry state of existence among academics in the Czech Republic, and an Arab feminist took on Lebanon’s controversial Wonder Woman ban. We also covered India’s water shortages, sorted through the hype about exoplanets and examined why millions of migrants are stuck in a risky legal limbo.

Finally, to commemorate the Pride celebrations taking place this weekend in cities around the world, we’re resurfacing stories from the TC Global archives on the state of LGBTQ rights in Mexico, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Catesby Holmes

Global Commissioning Editor

“Hanging Man” by David Cerny - Uncertainty about intellectualism in the 20th century. James Cridland/flickr

'This life isn't worth a damn': the precarious existence of Czech intellectuals

Jaroslav Fiala, Charles University

In some places, the dismal labour conditions of young academics have spurred them to unionise. Not so in the Czech Republic, where students and intellectuals lead lives of “state-ordered poverty”.

The Lebanese government banned Wonder Woman just hours before its scheduled domestic release. Mohamed Azaki/Reuters

Wonder Woman: feminist icon or symbol of oppression?

Lina Abirafeh, Lebanese American University

Why haven't feminists noted that the film is too Western and too white?

Ratanpura Lake, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, has almost completely dried up. Amit Dave/Reuters

India's wells are running dry, fast

Asit K. Biswas, National University of Singapore; Cecilia Tortajada, National University of Singapore; Udisha Saklani

Hit by weak monsoons, India faces unprecedented water shortages.

Earth and Super-Earth in an artist concept contrasts our Earth with the planet known as 55 Cancri e. NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (SSC)/flickr

Kepler Mission has released its catalogue of exoplanets, but what have we learnt about these worlds?

Elizabeth Tasker, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

NASA's Kepler Mission has identified thousands of exoplanets but leaves a lot of questions about alien worlds.

Refugees or migrants? When it comes to children who cross international borders without papers, there’s no easy answer. Stoyan Nenov/Reuters

Refugee or migrant? Sometimes the line is blurred

Parvati Nair, United Nations University

There are refugees, there are migrants and then there are the millions of people who live in legal limbo because they defy easy categorisation. But everyone is just looking for a place to call home.

Mexico is in the midst of a public debate on gay marriage that has focused on ‘traditional family values’. Carlos Jasso/Reuters

Is Mexico ready for gay marriage?

Adán Echeverría-García, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California

A proposal last month to legalise gay marriage in Mexico caused widespread protests, defending "Catholic values" and the "traditional family." Deeper analysis reveals flaws in those arguments.

Walt Disney Studios

Beauty and the Beast censorship attempt shows the good, the bad and the ugly of LGBT rights in Malaysia

Joseph N. Goh, Monash University Malaysia

Objections from certain sectors of Malaysian society to the film neatly illustrates both the fear and lack of understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the country.

Truong Tan’s catalogue for his first solo exhibition in 1994 documents his tentative exploration of performance art and frequent use of ropes. Photo by Truong Tan used with permission.

The pioneering queer artists who opened Vietnam to gay culture

Cristina Nualart, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

LGBT rights are a work in progress in Vietnam. But artists are in the vanguard of the movement, pushing for public acceptance.