OPINION

Photo: ECOSOC's 2020 Operational Activities Segment (OAS) on development issues took place through a series of virtual meetings from 19 to 22 May and on 27 May 2020, under the chairmanship of the Deputy Permanent Representative of Mexico, as ECOSOC Vice-President. Credit: UN

COVID-19 Puts to Test the UN Development System

By Elena Marmo, Global Policy Watch (GPW)

This article first appeared in the GPW's blog.

NEW YORK (IDN) – Across the UN System, all hands are on deck to address the impact of COVID-19 from immediate humanitarian and health needs, to medium and longer-term socio-economic policy. Various initiatives are circling one another, raising issues of governance, reporting and accountability. Member States in the ECOSOC Operational Activities Segment explored some of these questions as they related to the UN Development System (UNDS). At the same time, in the 28 May and 2 June meetings on Financing for Development, they also explored policy ideas, with an emphasis on accounting for vulnerability in macroeconomic analysis.

: Opinion Editor; UN INSIDER; 11 June 2020

Photo: Western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) and eastern gorilla (Gorilla beringei). Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0

COVID-19 A Threat to Great Apes, Closely Related to Humans

Ramesh Jaura Talks to Ian Redmond

A tropical field British biologist and conservationist Ian Redmond has served as Ambassador for the UN Year of the Gorilla in 2009 and for the UNEP Convention on Migratory Species since 2010.

BERLIN | LONDON (IDN) – The fact that ecosystems and human health intersect has been repeatedly emphasized by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. "As we encroach on nature and deplete vital habitats, increasing numbers of species are at risk. That includes humanity and the future we want," he reiterated in a message on the International Day for Biological Diversity, observed on May 22, 2020.

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Forests, desertification, land degradation & biodiversity; 10 June 2020

The Republicans' Treasonous Betrayal of The American People

Viewpoint by Dr Alon Ben-Meir

Dr Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

NEW YORK (IDN) – There is nothing that Trump says or does that will surprise me any more, no matter how shocking or outrageous. After three and a half years in office, he has ushered America to the brink of anarchy, a political condition that I now believe he has sought all along.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 June 2020

Walk Miles and Miles to Halt Global Warming

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

Long before the Coronavirus and global warming, the great philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote: "Unhappy men would increase their happiness more by walking 6 miles every day than by any conceivable change in philosophy."

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Shouldn't we be Panglossian when it comes to the progress now being made to defeat the Coronavirus? Pangloss in his youth was unreasonably optimistic. He was in Voltaire's novel "Candide" Candide's mentor, and coined the phrase, "All this is for the best in this best of all possible worlds."

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 09 June 2020

Image: Extinction Rebellion. Credit: openDemocracy

Out of the Belly of Hell: COVID-19 and the Humanisation of Globalisation – Part 4: Next

Viewpoint by Anthony Barnett*

This article was originally published on openDemocracy. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News

LONDON (IDN) – In 1957-58, a flu pandemic killed around million people world-wide. In the UK estimates of the deaths it caused vary from 14,000 to 30,000. Before it arrived from Asia, a British Medical Journal report noted, “The public seems under the impression that nothing can be done to prevent the calamity”, and indeed nothing was done.

In 1968, the Hong Kong or H3N2 flu virus killed over 700,000 people worldwide, around 100,000 in the US. But there were no mass shutdowns of national economies.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 09 June 2020

Image: Egyptian forces cross the Suez Canal at the start of the Yom Kippur War | CIA Image: Egyptian forces cross the Suez Canal at the start of the Yom Kippur War | CIA

Out of the Belly of Hell: COVID-19 and the Humanisation of Globalisation – Part 3: The Stepping Stones

Viewpoint by Anthony Barnett*

This article was originally published on openDemocracy. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News

LONDON (IDN) – Nine moments forged the processes described above to shape the globalisation that has now gone into shock. In identifying them I’m not denying that there were many other events of global consequence, such as the end of apartheid, the wars of post-Yugoslavia, the triumph of Narendra Modi and his assault on India’s secular constitution, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands or the battles over Ukraine, to mention just five. Nor am I writing a history, I say nothing about Japan, for example, despite its importance and I am conscious of a North Atlantic bias, when the most grievous impacts have been imposed on the poorer, more populous countries.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 09 June 2020

Out of the Belly of Hell: COVID-19 and the Humanisation of Globalisation – Part 2: So What Is Globalisation Then?

Viewpoint by Anthony Barnett*

This article was originally published on openDemocracy. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News

LONDON (IDN) – The word ‘globalisation’ has different meanings. In the broadest sense of ‘the interconnectedness of humanity’ it began when early homo-sapiens in Asia reconnected with the first human communities in Africa to become a world-wide species, perhaps two million years ago.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 07 June 2020

Image: Earthrise | By NASA/Bill Anders - Public Domain.

Out of the Belly of Hell: COVID-19 and the Humanisation of Globalisation – Part 1: We Were All Wrong

Viewpoint by Anthony Barnett*

This article was originally published on openDemocracy. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of IDN-InDepth News

LONDON (IDN) – Medically we can foresee that cures or vaccines could be developed that might prevent the future rampage of COVID-19. Politically, a short-run scramble to reassemble normality is already underway. To achieve it, labs must deliver at speed, social distancing be sustained, testing implemented and those who test positive be quarantined – as demonstrated in South Korea – to try and achieve national eradication.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 07 June 2020

Photo: Lorie Shaull/Flickr – Xena Goldman, Cadex Herrera, Greta McLain, Niko Alexander and Pablo Hernandez (artists)

Racism and Exceptionalism Are Backbones of Trump Doctrine

Viewpoint by John Scales Avery*

COPENHAGEN (IDN) – Elimination of excessive economic inequality makes societies happier and better, underlines the incontrovertible evidence that a new freely downloadable book presents.

Going back to history, the Age of Reason or the Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas during the 17th to 19th centuries. Sir Isaac Newton's rational explanations for cosmic phenomena demonstrated that reason is better than superstition.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 06 June 2020

Photo: OCHA's Gema Cortés (right) interviews and photographs a woman in Bolivar, Venezuela prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. Credit: UN OCHA/Marrero

How a UN Official Got Out the Right COVID-19 Information from Venezuela

Viewpoint by Gema Cortés

The writer is Public Information Officer, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Caracas. He contributed the following to UN OCHA on June 1.

CARACAS (IDN) – When I arrived in Venezuela ten months ago, access to basic services and products such as food and medicines was already challenging. Patience and good humour were the formula for overcoming the long queues to pay at the supermarket. In a country where local cash is not operational, credit cards, mobile payments and cryptocurrencies are the only ways to pay.