On September 12th, the Dutch Parliament will consider the proposed broadcasting agreement put forward by Medy van der Laan. This development has prompted the makers of *Tegenlicht* to examine whether the intended broadcasting policy adequat…

Four years after the collapse of the Twin Towers, Western Europe appears to be next. Last summer, it was England under Tony Blair that was confronted with the violent convictions of radical, reborn Islamism. Once again, a pattern emerges in…

If the G8 has failed to deliver sufficient results, we should not place the blame on politics, but rather on ourselves. We have yet to mobilize a strong enough collective effort. These are the words of U2 singer Bono, speaking on the Dutch …

What seemed impossible twenty years ago is now, according to American development economist Jeffrey Sachs, demonstrably achievable: the eradication of extreme global poverty.

This week, UN investigator Detlev Mehlis released his long-awaited report on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The report concludes that the Syrian security services and other senior Syrian officials were imp…

Women are equal to men. As the prophet said, good men honor women, and only bad men slight them.

A first for Tegenlicht: a Dutch woman has been granted permission to film in Saudi Arabia. Program maker Bregtje van der Haak, herself veiled, embarks on a journey, exploring the limits of possibility for working women in the Kingdom throug…

A first for Tegenlicht: a Dutch woman has, for the first time, been granted permission to film in Saudi Arabia. Program maker Bregtje van der Haak, herself veiled, embarks on a journey, undertaking a personal road movie to explore how worki…

Are we living on a soap bubble? Could the heavily indebted American economy collapse and drag Europe down with it? Are the days of the dollar as the world's reserve currency numbered? And is a repetition of the crises of the thirties truly …

Facing dwindling advertising revenue, the public broadcaster is compelled to make further cuts. The government in The Hague has no intention of offsetting these losses, and serious plans are now underway to transform the broadcaster into a …

Can attention heal? Frank Vijg, director of Meavita Thuiszorg in The Hague (employing 3500 people), believes it can. With a technique he calls 'addressing the root,' Vijg halved absenteeism at his home care organization in a single year. Th…

For years, the Colombian civil war has seen a relentless struggle between leftist guerrilla movements, government troops, and right-wing paramilitary groups. In recent years, the conflict has increasingly centered in urban neighborhoods, wh…

South Africa is home to approximately 46 million people, and it is estimated that 6.3 million currently live with HIV, a figure that stood at 5.3 million in 2003. Each year, around 350,000 South Africans die from AIDS-related illnesses. Con…

What am I truly capable of? Where do my strengths lie, distinguishing me from others? Am I worth the investment? These are questions echoing through the lives of working people in the 21st century. Tegenlicht examines the far-reaching conse…

The Dutch economy faces a somewhat bleak outlook for the future. In comparison to India, China, Brazil, and Eastern Europe, it appears less dynamic, less ambitious, and less inventive. A skilled workforce is departing the country at an acc…

It's hard to fathom the suddenness of war. The image of tanks rolling through streets, bombs falling without warning, is almost impossible to conceive. This was certainly true for Ramzan, Roeslan, and Islam, three friends from Chechnya. But…

The municipal elections take place on March 7th. The far-right, now united in the Dutch People's Union, is participating. Who are the members of this organization? What is their network? What international connections do they have? What are…

Breda Noord emerged in the late 1960s as a planned community of affordable housing, designed to welcome the many young families seeking homes. Built on the promise of light, air, and open space, it initially embodied a sense of hope and ant…

Ugandan national Steven is granted political asylum in Denmark. He claims to have been recruited as a child soldier by the Ugandan army, subsequently deserted, and is now fleeing reprisal. Danish director Mette Zeruneith takes him under her…

What does climate change mean for the people of a nation largely below sea level? Will the consequences of evolving climate patterns affect the current generation, or the next? Should the inhabitants of the Netherlands embrace unconventiona…

According to landscape architect Adriaan Geuze, no sector finds itself in such a profound stalemate as spatial planning. He watches with dismay as the Green Heart is abandoned; this singular landscape of a thousand-year-old peat polders, wi…

The exploitation of women is met with revulsion by policymakers, journalists, politicians, and citizens alike. Yet, in reality, little of that outrage translates into tangible action. Human trafficking has taken root in the Netherlands, nur…

Within the "Opinion and Conversation" series, VPRO producer Chris Kijne engages in dialogue with leading thinkers from across the globe. This monthly program, a collaboration between VPRO and NRC Handelsblad, is broadcast on the Holland Doc…

In the documentary program *Tegenlicht*, a candid interview features Paul Bremer, the American diplomat who served as President Bush's special envoy in Iraq from May 2003 to June 2004. In a revealing conversation, Bremer reflects on his tim…

The directors of Ahold are currently on trial for fraud and deception. Did a culture of male dominance contribute to this? Was it the result of dangerous groupthink? And might financial irregularities have been avoided with a woman on the b…

Imagine a world where all information is organized and readily accessible. A world where global news, books, written texts, photographs, and videos are compiled into a single, universally available repository. This is the ambition of Google…

Would you rather live with a lifelong fear of unattended bags on trains, or cautiously explore any possibility of dialogue with radical Arab groups – and perhaps, ultimately, with Al Qaeda? In this piece, Tegenlicht looks ahead, gathering t…

*Hoe begin je een revolutie* tells the story of two young political activists, Murad and Emin, striving to orchestrate a peaceful revolution in Azerbaijan. Inspired by recent events in Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine, where opposition parties …