Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) – In Munich at the Security Conference from February 14-16 the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, nailed her anti-Chinese colours to the mast. Despite being a liberal on many issues and the leader of the fight to impeach President Donald Trump, she has joined […]
Protecting Indigenous Cultures for Saving Global Biodiversity
Viewpoint by Krystyna Swiderska* COVENTRY (IDN) – Species are being lost at about a thousand times the natural rate of extinction. This is faster than at any other period in human history. Ecosystems – the vital systems on which all life depends – are being degraded across the globe. This crisis of biodiversity loss is finally […]
Making Democratic Socialism Relatable
Viewpoint by Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir The writer is an American sociologist who resides in Marrakech, Morocco. MARRAKECH (IDN) – The phrase “Democratic Socialism” continues to find its way into current national and political discourse of the United States. Vermont Senator and Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders embraces the term, while his opponents, both from within his […]
Why the Peace Movement Must Be Intersectional
Viewpoint by Tim Gee* LONDON (IDN) – In 2011, after a racial slur was used on a women’s rights march, writer Flavia Dzodan wrote a blog called, ‘My feminism will be intersectional or it will be bullshit’. The framing was picked up by others, adapting the title to environmentalism and to activism more broadly but […]
How Agri-Business Corporations Influence UN Institutions
Viewpoint by Anuradha Mittal The writer is the founder and executive director of the Oakland Institute. SAN FRANCISCO (IDN) – As Dr. Agnes Kalibata arrived in Rome on February 10, 2020 to meet with Dr. QU Dongyu, Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), her appointment as the UN Secretary-General Guterres’ Special Envoy […]
Sri Lanka at a Juncture of Transition From Separatist Terrorism to Era of Reconciliation
Viewpoint by Ambassador Kshenuka Senewiratne, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations NEW YORK (IDN) — Sri Lanka is presently at a juncture of transition after near three decades of brutal separatist terrorism, to an era of reconciliation and sustaining the hard won peace. Sri Lanka’s engagement today is in keeping with the […]
Slavery Not a Crime in Almost Half of the World’s Countries
Viewpoint by Katarina Schwarz and Jean Allain, with Andrea Nicholson* NOTTINGHAM (IDN) – “Slavery is illegal everywhere.” So said the New York Times, repeated at the World Economic Forum, and used as a mantra of advocacy for over 40 years. The truth of this statement has been taken for granted for decades. Yet our new […]
Kazakh Roadmap for LLDCs as 2020-2021 Chair
By Ambassador Kairat Umarov Kazakhstan assumed the chairmanship of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) on 8 January for the period 2020-2021. The following are extensive excerpts from the statement of LLDC Chair Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the United Nations in New York, at the First 2020 Meeting of the […]
Economic Growth Is Not The B-All and End-All In The Third World
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Do we know how to end poverty in the Third World? Do we know why some economies expand and others don’t? Not really. There is no clear formula for growth. The two Nobel economics prize winners of last year, the husband and wife team of Abhijit Banerjee […]
COP26 Will Be the Litmus Test of The Paris Agreement
COP25 Ignored Demands for Climate Justice Viewpoint by Mary Church* EDINBURGH (IDN) – The outcomes of the longest ever meeting in the history of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – the COP25 negotiations in Madrid – have failed to reflect the urgency of the crisis or any grasp of the real solutions […]