News Media

After the Pandemic, Will We Return to Business as Usual?

Viewpoint by Francesc Badia I Dalmases*

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

BARCELONA (IDN) – Meteorologists have warned that this year is on track to become the hottest since records began. The climate crisis continues, whose medium-term consequences will be devastating, without being controlled. And meanwhile, all of us are looking with uncertainty at the future that awaits us, and the daily Covid-19 lockdown news leave us dreaming of returning to a lost normality.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 08 May 2020

Photo: Container line shipping has been hard hit by COVID-19. Source: The European Shippers' Council (ESC).

COVID-19: Europe Must Regain Sovereignty Over Key Industries

Viewpoint by Camille Rustici

The writer is chief editor of the e-magazine DirectIndustry. This article was first published on the online journal of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung's Brussels office, International Politics and Society on April 28.

MARSEILLE (IDN) – Since the outbreak in China, which led to the closing of a large number of factories in the country in late January, not a single industrial sector in the rest of the world has been spared. The automotive, electronics and textile industries, among others, have suffered and continue to suffer colossal losses unheard of in peacetime.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 02 May 2020

Photo credit: Pxfuel / (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

COVID-19: Can Technology Become a Tool of Oppression and Surveillance?

Viewpoint by Petra Molnar*

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

TORONTO (IDN) – Refugees, immigrants, and people on the move have long been tied to tropes of bringing disease and illness. From pandemics to genocides, people crossing borders whether by force or by choice are talked about in apocalyptic terms like ‘flood’ or ‘wave,’ underscored by rampant xenophobia, racism, and elemental fear of ‘The Other’. Not only are these formulations blatantly incorrect, they also legitimise far-reaching state incursion and increasingly hard-line policies of surveillance and techno-solutionism to manage migration.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 01 May 2020

Photo: WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (left) and Australian PM Scott Morrison (right) who is spearheading an international enquiry into China's lack of transparency and the WHO's mistakes in regard to COVID-19. A collage of pictures from Wikimedia Commons and Spotlght Nepal.

COVID-19: This Is No Time to Start A Coronavirus Blame Game

Viewpoint by John McCarthy *

MELBOURNE (IDN) – Australia's decision to spearhead an international enquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic — read China's lack of transparency and the WHO's mistakes — is a nice hoary bellow from the domestic political ramparts, but it is a policy mistake.

The Australian opposition's support for the decision does not bathe the policy in divine light. It merely doubles the weight of the mistake.

Whichever country had decided to initiate such a policy, it would have been a bad idea.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 26 April 2020

Photo: The 9th (Extraordinary) OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting was held via webinar, on Thursday, 09 April 2020, under the Chairmanship of Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Energy. Credit: Saudi Arabia Press Agency.

Why the OPEC+ Deal Is a Many-Splendoured Thing

Viewpoint by M.K. Bhadrakumar

The writer is a former Indian diplomat. This article was produced in partnership by Indian Punchline and Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute where it first appeared.

NEW DELHI (IDN) – A perfect deal is where all protagonists get something out of it. All oil-producing countries stand to gain if the oil price rebounds. In bare-bones, the OPEC+ group led by Saudi Arabia and Russia finalized, in a nail-biting photo finish on April 12, an agreement to steeply cut oil production by a combined 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) for May and June to rebalance the supply and demand in the world market and nudge the prices to go up amid the coronavirus pandemic.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 April 2020

Photo: During a press conference about the coronavirus pandemic on March 20, Dr. Anthony Fauci was caught on camera putting his hand over his face as Donald Trump ranted about the “deep state.” Source: PoliticalDig

Who Should Be in Charge: Doctors or Politicians?

Viewpoint by Jan Zielonka*

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

VENICE (IDN) – Our lives currently seem to be in the hands of doctors, and this concerns not only those who have caught the corona virus. New regulations on quarantine, social distancing and borders have been dictated to governments by their medical advisors.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 25 April 2020

Image: The examples of new partnerships springing up between the authorities and tech companies abound: the UK National Health Service is now using the services of Palantir, Microsoft and Amazon to track medical staff and resources to coordinate the UK's coronavirus response. Credit: Screenshot of ZDNET video.

How Data-Mining Companies Are Set to Gain from COVID-19

Viewpoint by Ivan Manokha*

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 current outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic may be seen as a litmus test for different institutions of contemporary society – the viability of production structures based on global value chains, the solidity of health systems built (or, rather, dismantled) in the period of neoliberalism, and, more generally, the ability of the ‘night-watchman’ neoliberal state to ensure the security and survival of the population.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 05 April 2020

Photo: President Duterte and US President Donald Trump discuss matters during a bilateral meeting at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City on November 13, 2017. ROBINSON NIÑAL JR./PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

The Philippines Moving to Active Middle Power Diplomacy

Viewpoint by Aileen S P Baviera*

Professor Aileen Baveira died of COVID-19 in Manila on 21 March 2020.

MANILA (IDN) — The Philippines was first a colony and then a formal treaty ally of the United States for so long that many Filipinos tend to take the existence of reciprocal defence obligations for granted. For the most part, the Philippines has always supported US security objectives when asked — whether during the Pacific War, the Korean War, the Cold War, the conflicts in Indochina or the 'Global War on Terror'.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 04 April 2020

The Bigger Picture Is Hiding Behind a Virus

Viewpoint by Jonathan Cook*, Countercurrents.Org

NAZARETH, Israel (IDN) – Things often look the way they do because someone claiming authority tells us they look that way. If that sounds too cynical, pause for a moment and reflect on what seemed most important to you just a year ago, or even a few weeks ago.

Then, you may have been thinking that Russian interference in western politics was a vitally important issue, and something that we needed to invest much of our emotional and political energy in countering. Or maybe a few weeks ago you felt that everything would be fine if we could just get Donald Trump out of the White House. Or maybe you imagined that Brexit was the panacea to Britain's problems – or, conversely, that it would bring about the UK's downfall.

: Suresh Jaura; OPINION; 04 April 2020

Photo: President Trump participates in a signing ceremony for a two trillion dollar coronavirus relief bill in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC on March 27, 2020. Credit: Pool/ABACA/ABACA/PA Images

Our Economic System is on Life Support – But Who are We Really Saving?

Viewpoint by Laurie Macfarlane*

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 recent weeks governments around the world have injected extraordinary sums of money into the economy to support businesses and households in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

In the UK, the government has committed to paying up to 80 percent of the wages of workers impacted by the outbreak (subject to a cap of 2,500 pounds per month) and has provided 330 billion pounds of financial support for businesses. Similar measures have been announced across Europe.