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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — For her “ability to capture and communicate vital truths even amidst times of upheaval”, Zimbabwean writer Tsitsi Dangarembga will receive the PEN Pinter prize in memory of the Nobel laureate Harold Pinter.
Dangarembga is the author of Nervous Conditions, which she wrote when she was 25, and which was described by Doris Lessing as one of the most important novels of the 20th century.
By Asia Pacific Report News desk
TAHITI (IDN) — A collective of community groups in Tahiti, trying to preserve a historical-cultural icon at Tautira, have condemned the Tahitian government for “deliberately trying to destroy our heritage”.
The iconic Tahua-Reva is the community’s sacred mountain on the southeastern tip of Tahiti-Iti, the smaller section adjoining the main island of Tahiti.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Popular exhibits at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg and other legacy museums are barely surviving and may close over funding shortfalls due to COVID-19.
A pair of boxing gloves worn by Nelson Mandela at the height of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, one of the most popular exhibits, is now covered with dust in a darkened room, according to Mfuneko Toyana, writing for Reuters.
By Ramu Damodaran
The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. Following are excerpts of the OpEd, first published in #WhyWeCare on May 7.
NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) — Last weekend was bookended by two celebratory observances, the International Day of Jazz on April 30, and World Press Freedom Day on May 3.
By Robert Johnson
PARIS (IDN | UNESCO) — As the great Nina Simone said, "Jazz is not just music, it is a way of life, it is a way of being, a way of thinking", says UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. It adds: "The story of Jazz is written into the quest for human dignity, democracy and civil rights. It has given strength to the struggle against discrimination and racism."
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — The Church of England is joining a handful of museums, universities, and private owners exploring the repatriation to Nigeria of thousands of brass plaques, wooden and ivory sculptures known as the Benin Bronzes looted by British soldiers in the waning days of the colonial era.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Some two decades ago, Ngugi wa Thiong’o challenged African writers to break their colonial chains and write in African languages.
He then shocked the literary world and took on the challenge himself. Although he continued to write nonfiction in English, Ngugi wrote his novels and plays in Gikuyu and translated some of his works into other African languages.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Thione Ballago Seck, born in a family of praise or "griot" singers and one of Senegal's beloved music stars over the last four decades, has died at the age of 66 in Dakar on March 14.
Tributes poured in after his death was announced with the former mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall, paying tribute to a "true monument of Senegalese music". El Hadji Hamidou Kasse, a former journalist and current advisor to President Macky Sall, tweeted that Seck was "one of the artist heroes of an era".
By Thalif Deen
The following are excerpts from a just-published book “No Comment – and Don’t Quote me on That”, a collection of political anecdotes reflecting over 40 years of reporting from the United Nations*.
NEW YORK (IDN) – When UN member states compete for the presidency of the General Assembly or membership in the Security Council or in various UN bodies, the voting was largely tainted by bribery, cheque-book diplomacy and offers of luxury cruises in Europe – while promises of increased aid to the world’s poorer nations came mostly with heavy strings attached.
Book Review by Roderic Grigson*
NEW YORK | MELBOURNE (IDN) – It takes years to write a good book and in this insightful memoir, Thalif Deen, a former UN Bureau Chief and Regional Director at Inter Press Service news agency, recounts colourful and amusing stories from his 40-year career ‘reporting from the United Nations’.
No Comment is told through a series of news stories, interviews, anecdotes, and personal recollections. This compelling page-turner is held together by flashes of surprising humour and an overarching third world focus and point of view.
IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses, features, reports and viewpoints that impact the world and its peoples. It has been online since 2009. Its network spans countries around the world.