Coleen Jose

Bio

Coleen Jose is a multimedia journalist and documentary photographer based in New York City writing on international news and U.S. foreign policy for Mic. Previously, she reported across the Philippines for GlobalPost and Scientific American. She has also reported on environmental exploitation as a grantee of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and examines the role of climate change in global security.
One Year After His Death, Nelson Mandela Speaks for the World More than Ever
By Coleen Jose
"Am I next." Those were the words emblazoned across a protester's sign as he stood on the streets of the Bronx in New York City on Wednesday. Thousands of Americans across the country filled their city streets and college campuses this week to…
To Understand What Happened in the World in 2014, Follow the Lines on These Maps
By Coleen Jose
This past year was a chaotic one for international affairs. With a civil war raging in Ukraine, a bloody burst of violence in Israel-Palestine and the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq, territorial disputes have made the world less peaceful than it…
President Obama Unveiled a Bold Plan to Help One of America’s Most Marginalized Groups
By Coleen Jose
The news: President Barack Obama unveiled a new initiative Wednesday aimed at expanding social and economic opportunities for Native American youth, many of whom live in poverty. The new initiative does not provide a comprehensive solution, but it's…
Does Mubarak's Release Mean the Arab Spring Was a Total Failure?
By Coleen Jose
When young Tunisian fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire to protest a local official's attempt to displace his fruit stand on the morning of Dec. 17, 2011, he did not know that his powerful act of defiance would set off demonstrations…
Britain Just Banned 9 Sex Acts From Its Porn
By Coleen Jose
What's considered normal sex? It's usually a tough question, but the U.K. quietly censored Tuesday a long list of "no normal" acts in pornography — many of which seem targeted at female pleasure. Through an amendment to the 2003 Communications Act,…
Pope Francis Is Fighting to Reform the Catholic Church, One Greedy Priest at a Time
By Coleen Jose
The news: Pope Francis has never been shy about sharing his thoughts on the world's various problems, but now he has his sights set on something a bit more personal: his own church. During a homily last week, Francis did not hold back in condemning…
Kenyan Protesters Stand Up to Their Government's Inept Violence Control
By Coleen Jose
Months of unrest came to a head Tuesday as hundreds of Kenyans stormed the streets of Nairobi with coffins and red crosses to protest the government's failure to stop violence perpetrated by the militant Somali group al-Shabab. Though past violence…
Intense Photos Show Young People Protesting Government, A World Away From Ferguson
By Coleen Jose
As millions watched Ferguson, Missouri, come close to tearing itself apart after a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager, another struggle against government malfeasance gained strength…
Britain Has Just Done for Its Women What the U.S. Still Can’t
By Coleen Jose
The news: The gap between the average earnings of men and women in the U.K. has dropped to its lowest level since records began, so far that women between the ages of 22 and 29 actually earn 1.1% more than men in the same age range. Last year, the…
The World Is Younger Than Ever Before — Here's Why That's Good for the Planet
By Coleen Jose
The news: Young people, defined as those between 10 and 24, now represent the largest demographic age group in the world at 1.8 billion, the largest proportion of the global population in history. But that doesn't mean the world will be overrun with…
Intense Photos Capture the Growing Protest Crisis in Mexico
By Coleen Jose
Tens of thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of Mexico City on Thursday in one of the largest shows to date of public indignation over government corruption and the disappearance of 43 college students from the southern city of…
The War on Terror Has Totally Backfired
By Coleen Jose
The number of deaths associated with terrorism is on the rise — and America's war on terror may actually be to blame. Not only is the geographic imbalance glaring -- the majority of last year's 18,000 fatalities occurred in Afghanistan, Iraq,…
Tanzania Is Uprooting 40,000 People For the Most Despicable Reason
By Coleen Jose
More than 40,000 indigenous Masai people are going to be evicted from their ancestral homelands in Tanzania's Serengeti national park by the end of the year. But instead of the usual culprits of mass displacement — conflict, drought or environmental…
Intense Photos Show What's Happening in Jerusalem Right Now
By Coleen Jose
Two Palestinian men armed with a gun and meat cleavers stormed a synagogue in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of West Jerusalem early Tuesday, killing four men in the middle of morning prayers. Following the attack, the assailants were killed in a…
11 #MyDressMyChoice Tweets That Everyone Needs to See
By Coleen Jose
The news: More than 200 Kenyans, many dressed in miniskirts, protested Monday on the streets of Nairobi to show support for a woman who was stripped by a mob of men who claimed she was dressed "indecently." A witness posted the attack online after…
The World Is Running Out of Chocolate — But Scientists Have a Plan to Fix That
By Coleen Jose
It's official. We're consuming way more chocolate than we're making, adding to the longest streak of production shortfalls in more than 50 years. The world ate an estimated 70,000 metric tons more cocoa than it produced last year, the Washington…
The Four Countries McDonald's Couldn't Conquer
By Coleen Jose
In case you hadn't noticed, McDonald's is taking over the world. With more than 35,000 restaurants around the globe, the Golden Arches have firmly planted themselves in more than 100 countries. But despite McDonald's efforts to cater to the local…
What It's Like to Escape From North Korea
By Coleen Jose
In 1992, after enduring years of brutal labor in one of the Kim regime's most brutal political prison camps, Kang Chol-hwan successfully defected from his native North Korea to South Korea. Now a journalist, author and human rights activist, Kang…
5 Photos From Obama's Trip to Asia You Probably Didn't See
By Coleen Jose
"Latte salute," meet the gum-chewing freakout taking over some American news outlets and the social media feeds of Chinese bloggers. President Barack Obama's ongoing diplomatic sprint in Asia — where he signed a historic climate treaty with China,…
Meet Two Sisters Who Survived One of the Deadliest Storms in History
By Coleen Jose
"Everything was black. You didn't know when you'd see the sun again," Divine Astorga recalled of surviving Typhoon Haiyan with her sister Divina and other family members in the central Philippines on Nov. 8, 2013. One year after the Category 5 super…