HUMAN RIGHTS

Photo: A mural of George Floyd by Jonathan Perry adorns the Art Wall in Manette on Monday June 1, 2020. Credit: MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN

The Unravelling of America: You've Gotta Watch to Cry

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) – I first watched the movie in the lockdown. At the beginning, it was funny when the pair was fiddling with their entrée in the restaurant and wondering why they had both avoided each other until now.

A few minutes after they left the restaurant, trouble started. The movie, entitled “Queen & Slim,” is the love story of two black Americans drawn to each other by tragedy even before their love story began.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 04 June 2020

Photo: Woman on the streets of Minneapolis holds #BlackLivesMatter sign. Credit: Breakthrough News

The Murder of George Floyd is Normal in an Abnormal Society

Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad*

This article was originally produced by Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (IDN) – There is no need to wonder why George Floyd (age 46) was murdered in broad daylight in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25, 2020. The script of his death is written deep in the ugly drama of US history.

I Can’t Breathe 2020

Officer Derek Chauvin’s knee sat on George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. After that time, George Floyd was dead. From the moment Chauvin put his body on an unarmed man, George Floyd said – eleven times – I can’t breathe.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 03 June 2020

Photo: Collage of images of George Floyd and the video showing four police officers while one is kneeling on the back of Floyd's head and neck. Credit: heavy.com

Leaders and Media Respond to Police Killing of Shackled Black Man

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The murder of George Floyd, a Black man in Minneapolis yanked from his car, shackled and suffocated to death by a police officer aided by at least three other officers, was front-page news in most of the major newspapers in the U.S. It was also covered internationally with many Africans expressing disgust and dismay over the cold-blooded police action. [Watch the video of the Minneapolis chocking an unarmed George Floyd.]

: THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 01 June 2020

Photo: The Potala Palace in Lhasa, chief residence and political centre of the Dalai Lamas. CC BY-SA 3.0

Timely New Book Warns India and China About Dangerous Manipulations in the Buddhist Himalayas

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 41st in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous reports.

SYDNEY (IDN) – At a time when the United States is ramping up its rhetoric against China triggering a new Cold War between the world's leading superpowers, India is increasingly being wooed by the U.S. to join them to pressure China. In recent weeks there have been some minor skirmished between Chinese and Indian forces on the border in the Himalayas.

In this scenario, former Indian diplomat Phunchok Stobdan's book on the Buddhist Himalayas is very timely.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 28 May 2020

Photo: Children fill their cups at a water point built by UNICEF at Kanyosha III primary school in Bujumbura, Burundi. Credit: UNICEF/UNI180029/Colfs

Traditional Polls Will Test Africa's Resistance to COVID-19

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Africa's infection rates are still relatively low to the wonderment of some in the western world who predicted infection rates in the billions. In fact, African governments in many cases took preventative steps – from closing borders, social distancing, shutting educational institutions and banning mass gatherings.

By April 19, the Africa CDC reported that 34 countries had gone further and brought in night-time curfews or partial lockdowns. Eleven brought in rules requiring people to wear face masks in public.

: SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 18 May 2020

Photo: Religious leaders in an online meeting. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

UN Chief Appeals to 'Common Humanity' Across All Faiths to Tackle COVID-19

By UN News

NEW YORK (IDN) – Our shared vulnerability to the coronavirus pandemic reveals “our common humanity”, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told religious leaders in an online meeting to discuss the role they can play in limiting the damage caused by COVID-19.

Speaking during the meeting on May 12, Guterres said “it lays bare our responsibility to promote solidarity as the foundation of our response – a solidarity based on the human rights and human dignity of all … and it highlights the crucial role of religious leaders in your communities and beyond.”

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 13 May 2020

Photo: The white Mayadevi temple where Gautama Buddha was born in Lumbini on Vesak full moon day.

COVID-19: We Need A Vaccine for The Mind

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 40th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous reports.

SYDNEY (IDN) – Today the global media reports daily about the race to develop a vaccine against COVID-19, but what they fail to understand is that this vaccine may not help us to overcome the severe human security crisis we face today. Rather than a vaccine for the body, we need a vaccine for the mind.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; COVID-19; 03 May 2020

Photo: A new mosques in Eastern Sri Lanka. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne, INPS | IDN

One Year on, Easter Bombing in Sri Lanka Continues to Puzzle

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 39th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. Click here for previous reports.

SYDNEY (IDN) – A 22-year-old Sri Lankan law graduate became the first Islamic suicide terrorist a year ago in the predominantly Buddhist Sri Lanka. He detonated an explosive-filled rucksack amid a crowd of Easter Sunday worshipers at a Catholic Church in the seaside town of Negombo, close to the country's international airport.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 26 April 2020

Photo: Julian Assange. Source: acidpolly/Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

The British and American Press Don't Tell All on Human Rights Violations

That's Why We Need Wickileaks and Julian Assange Should Be Exonerated.

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Julian Assange of Wickileaks languishes in a British jail during a too-long wait for a court to decide if he can be extradited to the US where the government has made clear that it wants to put him on trial on charges that could land him in prison for the rest of his life, even though President Donald Trump was happy to quote from Wickileaks research on his opponent, Hillary Clinton, during his campaign for president. "I love Wickileaks", he said.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 31 March 2020

Photo: Collage of images of Joe Biden (left) and Bernier Sanders (right) from Wikimedia Commons.

Bernie Sanders Pushes Democratic Party to the Left

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Is Bernie Sanders still in with a chance? It is a slim one, but in these primary elections one never knows. There have been a number of surprising upsets.

Even if Joe Biden comes out on top and has to face Donald Trump for the presidency the Democratic Party has been pushed to the left by Senator Sanders. That is all to the good.