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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."
“The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over, and then expecting different results”……attributed to Albert Einstein, but first said by Rita Mae Brown (Sudden Death)
Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf *
VIENNA (IDN) — For more than a year, a vain search has been continuing to find an appropriate date to convene the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), as the deadly COVID-19 pandemic rages taking millions of lives with it.
A special feature by Kalinga Seneviratne* to mark UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day.
SYDNEY (IDN) — In recent months, there has been alarming one-sided reporting in the so-called mainstream media—both internationally and nationally—that sounds more like public relations handouts from the big pharmaceutical companies from the West. This 'vaccine consent' journalism and the labelling of anyone questioning the safety or ethics of the vaccine roll out as "conspiracy theorists" is slowly but surely killing the "watchdog" role of journalism.
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN) — A senior UN official in charge of the region has urged the Palestinian authorities to set a new date for heading to the polls, originally scheduled for May 22.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had announced the postponement of the planned parliamentary elections, amidst a dispute over voting rights in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, according to news reports.
By Thalif Deen*
NEW YORK (IDN) — The recent military coup in Myanmar and an attempted palace coup in Jordan harks back to the days when insurrections by armed forces came along a veritable assembly line—particularly in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
And at least one political leader—a former Prime Minister of Thailand—was ousted from power when he was at the United Nations to address the General Assembly. After he finished his address, he was homeless and had no country to go to, and sought political asylum in a Middle Eastern country.
By Radwan Jakeem
NEW YORK (IDN) — Eminent thought leaders in economic and social fields have called for fundamental change in the multilateral system in the spirit of international solidarity to combat the severe impacts of COVID-19. They comprise the United Nations High-level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs, convened by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).
By Ramu Damodaran
The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. This OpEd was first published in #WhyWeCare on April 22.
NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) — “End our war on nature” was Antonio Guterres’s call at the Leaders Summit on Climate convened by President Biden this, April 22 Earth Day morning. Last week we had quoted from the remarks by Viet Nam’s Deputy Prime Minister, Nguyen Duy Trinh, at the time of his country’s admission to the United Nations in 1977; rereading that speech, I was struck by his observation that how “in our time mankind is making enormous progress in its endeavour to transform nature and society.”
By Razeena Raheem
NEW YORK (IDN) — The United Nations, which has remained locked down since March last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is planning to make a “phased return to the premises in New York.”
Until now, nearly 3,000 UN staffers have been forced to work from home while virtually all meetings, including Security Council sessions, have been on video teleconferencing (VTC), turning the Secretariat building into a ghost town.
An Expert Voice
NEW YORK (IDN | UNDESA) — With hundreds of millions suffering hunger, a growing population and devastating impacts of agriculture on the environment, many experts are asking themselves: will we have enough food for everyone? Ahead of the 54th session of the UN Commission on Population Development, we ask that question to Cheryl Sawyer, Senior Population Affairs Officer at UN DESA.
By Ramu Damodaran
The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. This OpEd was first published in #WhyWeCare on April 15.
NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) — If, as Suzanne Nossel writes, “the United Nations remains the closest thing to a system of global governance that the world has ever known and may ever achieve,” much is owed to its unique convening capacity in bringing together erstwhile adversaries, even combatants, to a shared sense of participatory purpose which, at its finest, is reflected in the unanimity of resolutions consciously conceived in common cause.
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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.