If you want to know how free a society is, look at what’s happening in its theatres
Arifa Akbar
Political art helps to debate and confront the challenges in our lives. It is also a record we must return to again and again, says Guardian theatre critic Arifa Akbar
December 2017
The defenders
Surveillance firms spied on campaign groups for big companies, leak shows
Targets included grieving family of Rachel Corrie, environmental activists and local campaigners protesting about phone masts
October 2017
My Name Is Rachel Corrie review – vivid testimony of a hyperactive activist
Erin Doherty emerges as one of the year’s great discoveries with a stunning performance as the young American desperate to rectify the world’s injustices
December 2016
The Observer's obituaries of 2016
Alan Rickman remembered by Ian Rickson
The director recalls the generosity and deep social engagement of an actor as at home in Harry Potter as in Hamlet
January 2016
Alan Rickman gave the greatest gift to my late daughter, Rachel Corrie
Craig Corrie
Alan Rickman obituary
May 2014
Rachel Corrie's family to have case reheard in Israeli supreme court
Family will ask court to overturn judgment that Israeli military was not negligently responsible for activist's death in 2003
Rachel Corrie's mother: 'I know this won't be the end'
Cindy Corrie has battled Israel for justice ever since her activist daughter Rachel was killed in Gaza in 2003. On the eve of a lawsuit verdict, she says her fight will carry on
