Peace & Justice

Breaking Media Stereotypes with Indigenous Storytelling

By UN Academic Impact

NEW YORK (IDN) – There are an estimated 476 million indigenous peoples in the world, living across 90 countries. They speak an overwhelming majority of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures.

COVID-19 has posed a grave threat to Indigenous peoples around the world, who already lack access to healthcare and other essential services. Yet, Indigenous peoples are seeking their own solutions in their own languages, using divergent knowledge, practices and preventative measures to fight the pandemic.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 23 October 2020

Photo: Bloodied Nigerian flag from after the massacre. CC BY-SA 4.0

The 'Lekki Toll Gate' Massacre and What It Means for Nigeria

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

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

ABUJA (IDN) – It was hard to keep up with the torrent of posts as the power of social media was deployed in all its ferocity for good and evil. Through it all though, one thing was constant on my mind on October 20 night: the images of vulnerable, distressed youths fighting for their lives. You couldn’t make up the chaos if you tried.

[Nigerian Armed Forces shot at #End SARS protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos, Amnesty International states that at least 12 protesters were killed.]

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 22 October 2020

Photo: A photo combo of president Museveni (L) and Kyaddondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine). Credit: Daily Monitor, Uganda.

Ugandan Opposition Leader Bobi Wine's Headquarters Raided and Robbed

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Security forces raided the offices of reggae star and prominent opposition leader Bobi Wine, reportedly seizing cash, posters, banners and boxes of red berets – Wine’s signature headgear and a “symbol of resistance” which the government says is illegal.

The raid took place in a suburb of Kampala, the capital, on October 14. It comes as tensions are rising ahead of upcoming presidential elections.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 19 October 2020

Photo: 82-year-old Alpha Condé, President of Guinea, with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2017.

A ‘Wind Of Change’ Could Block African Leaders Seeking ‘Presidency For Life’

By Lisa vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) As British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan once said it, there’s a “wind of change" blowing through the African continent. “Whether we like it or not,” he said, “this growth of national consciousness is a political fact.”

That was the ‘60s, as countries across the continent were lowering the British flag and raising their national one.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 19 October 2020

Photo: The Dalai Lama, spiritual head of the Tibetan people, interacts with the media during his visit to the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya, December 2019. Credit: PTI.

Xi Ready to Turn Free Tibetans Into Hapless Uighurs

By Nadir Ali Wani*

SRINAGAR, India (IDN) – Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet. Which of them would be the first to completely lose its separate and independent identity under the watch of the expansionist Chinese president, Xi Jinping? Critics say while the world pays more attention to Taiwan and Hong Kong and the Ladakh stand-off against India, Tibet is his chosen prey.

President Xi has used the COVID-prompted isolation since January to create the atmosphere – in terms of an ideological justification coupled with amendments to laws and governance of autonomous regions – for the felling of Tibet.

: Europe Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 18 October 2020

Photo: We will never know whether or not Reinoehl was guilty of murdering Danielson, as he was not given a chance to stand trial. Source: Insider.

Death Before Due Process in Trump's America

Viewpoint by Sonali Kolhatkar

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Sonali Kolhatkar is the founder, host and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations.

LOS ANGELES (IDN) – The federal government’s killing of Michael Reinoehl exactly two months before the November 3 presidential race ought to have been one of the most high-profile election issues being discussed in America. Instead, it has been almost forgotten save for some media outlets starting to question the official narrative of his death.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 17 October 2020

Photo: Demonstration of 25 November 1989 in Prague. The Velvet Revolution with half a million participants in peaceful protests in Czechoslovakia from 17 November to 29 December 1989 helped undermine the authority and confidence of the 41-yearlong communist government. CC BY-SA 3.0 | Wikimedia Commons.

Peaceful Resistance Has Proved to Be More Effective Than Violent Protests

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Non-violent protests seem to be erupting all over the place. Martin Luther King would be happy. So would Mahatma Gandhi. In Russia in the eastern city of Khabarovsk marchers, each Sunday for the last three months have been protesting the arrest of their governor. In Belarus, even larger numbers protesting the recent manipulated presidential election are still marching every weekend. In the United Kingdom, the anti-Brexit marches last year were mammoth.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 13 October 2020

A Multidisciplinary Perspective of an Association of Five Major Emerging Economies

Interview by Kester Kenn Klomegah *

MOSCOW (IDN) – The BRICS, an association of five major emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has a significant influence on regional affairs and is very active on the global stage. All of them are members of the G20. While the group has received both praise and criticism from different corners of the world, BRICS is steadily working towards realizing its set goals, bilateral relations among them are also conducted on the basis of equality and mutual benefits.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; OPINION; 12 October 2020

Photo: Mr Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO of Boston Global Forum

On Way to A Transatlantic Alliance on Digital Governance

A New Social Contract in the Age of Artificial Intelligence'

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – People around the world are realizing that capitalism driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) requires crafting a new sort of Social Contract, based on "stakeholder capitalism", that is, capitalism that benefits everyone.

"Such capitalism cannot measure itself by money alone, but instead must encompass all aspects of human life, using metrics such as those developed to quantify the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," says Alex Pentland, director of MIT Connection Science, an MIT-wide initiative. He previously helped create and direct the MIT Media Lab and the Media Lab Asia in India.

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 11 October 2020

Photo: A creek in southern New Caledonia. Red colours reveal the richness of the ground in iron oxides and nickel.) CC BY 2.5

New Caledonia Votes to Remain a French Colony, But Indigenous Kanakas Smell Independence of the South Pacific Islands

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) – Voters in the South Pacific Islands French colony of New Caledonia have narrowly voted to remain with French rule, but indigenous Kanaks have been celebrating the outcome of October 5 vote as taking a step closer to independence. A third referendum needs to be held in two years' time under the Noumea Accord, and they feel that majority of voters would then vote for independence.

Kanaks are an indigenous Melanesian race that has settled in the islands 3,000 years ago. Ethnographic research has shown that Polynesian seafarers have intermarried with the Kanaks over the centuries.