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Focus Armed groups and mafias usually manage to impose their law on areas no longer controlled by the state, like in Colombia. But when the state is non-existent or stripped of power, autonomous grassroots organizations also flourish. In Mogadishu, the Congolese city of Bumba (ex-Zaire), the Afghan countryside and the slums of Guatemala City and Port-au-Prince, self-governing communities are devising innovative ways to provide basic services. Some are giving new vigour to citizenship. Could these grassroots powers be the base ingredient for rebuilding ailing states? Dossier concept and coordination by René Lefort, director of the UNESCO Courier. My mother, my mirror Through a kaleidoscope of memories and feelings, the author probes one of our most intense and primal relationships—that between mothers and daughters—and the dimensions it has taken in Argentina’s recent traumatic history. Photos by Adriana Lestido, text by Luisa Futoransky. Adriana Lestido is a photographer. Luisa Futoransky is a writer and poet. Her translated work includes a poetry selection, The Duration of the Voyage (Junction Press, 1998). Both are from Argentina. Beating global warming with nuclear power? The nuclear power industry claims it holds the keys to reducing the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. Opponents are striking back with their own arsenal of facts and figures. Christine Laurent, french journalist specializing in environmental issues Staying power: a Russian tale In a town of 40,000 souls, a school has managed to keep up standards on a shoe string, while in Moscow, a trailblazing principal ploughs along with his alternative approach to learning, attracting both criticism and curiosity. Nick Holdsworth, regular contributor on Eastern Europe to the Times Higher Education Supplement and several British daily newspapers. Author of Moscow, The Beautiful and the Damned. Life in Russia in Transition (Andre Deutsch, London, 2000) Beneath the Surface of Paper States Professor of Political Science at Davidson College (U.S.) Where drug firms fear to tread Access to medicines in poor countries has become a critical issue with the spread of AIDS and re-emergence of illnesses once thought to have been beaten. Can the profit-driven pharmaceutical industry offer any kind of response? By Ivan Briscoe UNESCO Courier journalist. Shinto and shoguns: a return to Itsukushima At first sight, Itsukushima appears to be one island among many dotting Japan’s Seto Inland Sea. Yet a novelist returns to the cherished site of a venerated shrine where Shinto rituals set the skies and waters ablaze with music and the echo of bygone rulers. Hiroko Takenishi. Fleeing the dot.com era The Internet has been proclaimed as the supreme network, the place where one day all human beings will communicate. So who are these strange people switching off in droves? Sally Wyatt, lecturer in Communications Studies at the University of Amsterdam and member of the British “Virtual Society?” programme and an editor of “Technology and In/equality, Questioning the Information Society” (Routledge, 2000). Choi Yul: the greening of Korea Choi Yul spent his prison years strengthening his grasp of environmental problems. Today, the country’s leading green activist is rallying the South Korean people against polluting industries. Together, they have scored victories against both national and foreign governments. Interview by Ethirajan Anbarasan, UNESCO Courier journalist.