“The people must know before they can act, and there is no educator to compare with the press.” —Ida B. Wells, 1892.

Ida B. Wells, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly right, 1891. Image via Library of Congress.

Earlier this week, Alexis Tsipras emerged from the summit with the leaders of the European Union nations, humiliated. The EU hardliners rejected even minimal concessions to the program of Tsipras’s party, Syriza. This coalition was elected in January on a campaign for the alleviation of austerity measures taken in response to crippling debt, with this desire resoundingly confirmed by a dramatic referendum last month.

Since late December, when preliminary work on a transoceanic canal traversing Nicaragua began, there’s been little cause for optimism concerning the project’s future. The Chinese telecom executive spearheading the endeavor has no experience in large-scale construction, or any construction for that matter.