SYNDICATION

Photo: Patrón cortando caña (Patrón cuts the cane), Colombia, 2015. Credit: Pablo Fierro.

Colombian Sports Hero Patrón's Assassination Targets Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Communities

Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad and Zoe PC

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

NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (IDN) – Not much, apart from football, unites the Colombian people. If a 2014 Interior Ministry survey called “The Power of Football” is to be believed, then 94 percent of the Colombian population say that football is either important or very important. Patrocinio Bonilla—called Patrón—was on the side of those who believed that football was very important, indeed essential. Patrón was murdered on August 11, 2020.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Latin America & the Caribbean; 20 August 2020

Photo: A march held by pro-Morales protestors in La Paz on 14 November 2019. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Uncertainty Hangs Over the Fate of Elections in Bolivia

Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad and Manuel Bertoldi *

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

NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (IDN) – On November 10, 2019, President Evo Morales Ayma of Bolivia announced his resignation from the presidency. Morales had been elected in 2014 to a third presidential term, which should have lasted until January 2020. In November 2019, protests around his fourth electoral victory in October led to the police and the military asking Morales to step down; by every description of the term, this was a coup d’état. Two days later, Morales went into exile in Mexico.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 19 August 2020

Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong prepare for a group photo with ASEAN leaders at the ASEAN-Russia Summit in Singapore, 14 November 2018. Source: ASEAN

Russian Influence in Southeast Asia Will Struggle to Be More Than Marginal

Viewpoint by Joshua Bernard B Espeña, UP Diliman *

DILIMAN, Quezon City, Philippines (IDN) – The Russian people have voted in favour of constitutional reforms that give President Vladimir Putin the potential to stay in power until 2036 through a landslide victory in a national referendum on 2 July 2020. While critics complain about voting irregularities, the changes mean that Putin could become Russia’s longest-serving ruler since Peter the Great.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 17 August 2020

Media and Artists Join UN in Fighting COVID-19 Fake News

By Franck Kuwonu *

NEW YORK (IDN) – Aissata Diop, a Senegalese mother of four, living in Pikine on the outskirts of the capital city Dakar, had long heard that consuming garlic and lemon could have health benefits.

So, when her friend, Ramatou, displayed a message on her phone saying that drinking a daily bowl of boiled garlic and lemon could keep people from contracting COVID-19, Aissata wasted no time stocking up on her daily market run.

: Africa Renewal; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 17 August 2020

Image: The wheel in the centre of the white in the Indian national flag represents the dynamism of a peaceful change. But certainly not dynamic departure from democracy and diversity that appears to be in the offing. © Yann Forget / Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0

Bells Toll for India's Diversity and Democracy

Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandaran *

NEW DELHI (IDN) – August is a month of memories for India with memorable dates redolent of history, freedom and politics. August 15, with that unforgettably evocative ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, is, doubtless, the most important of the dates observed. Inextricably linked to that is August 8, on which date was launched the Quit India Movement, the turning point in India’s long struggle for freedom from the British Raj.

: Shastri Ramachandran; OPINION; 16 August 2020

Photo: Bronislaw Malinowski with Trobriand islanders, 1917 – 1918. | Wikicommons/LSE Library Collection. Some rights reserved.

Chronicles of Culturological Quackery

Viewpoint by Martin Paleček*

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

Hradec Králové, Czech Republic (IDN) – The concept of culture as a ‘driver of societies’ that has become the lucky charm of nationalists has its origins in the oeuvres of some prominent academics.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 15 August 2020

Photo; Kamala Harris and Biden signing paperwork to officially get on the ballot in all 50 states. Source: @KamalaHarris

Jo Biden's Kamala Harris Choice Is Consequential Beyond 2020

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) – Joe Biden’s pick of Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his running mate for the 2020 Democratic presidential ticket has generated strong responses. While many Democrats are elated at the idea of seeing a brown-skinned woman of Indian and Jamaican heritage in such a position, progressives are debating one another about Harris’ mixed record on bread-and-butter issues such as criminal justice reform, foreign policy, and health care.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 August 2020

5G Is Only One of Many Battle Arenas in U.S. Tech War in Which China Holds the Cards

Viewpoint by Prabir Purkayastha

The writer is the founding editor of Newsclick.in, a digital media platform. He is an activist for science and the free software movement. This article was produced in partnership by Newsclick and Globetrotter, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

NEW DELHI (IDN) – The U.S. tech war on China continues, banning Chinese equipment from its network, and asking its Five Eyes partners and NATO allies to follow suit. It is a market and a technology denial regime that seeks to win back manufacturing that the U.S. and European countries have lost to China.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 August 2020

Photo: Lockdown hasn't stopped Luz Marina Bernal's activism. Credit: UN Women

Pandemic Yet Another Test for Colombian Human Rights Defenders

Viewpoint by Luz Marina Bernal*

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

BOGOTA (IDN) – I am Luz Marina Bernal. I live in Soacha, a municipality neighbouring Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, which is the main destination for displaced people from the rest of the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown have made things very difficult for me as I work on the ground with people and communities, but I live alone.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 14 August 2020

Three More Countries Ratify the UN Treaty to Ban the Bomb

By Tony Robinson

The writer is Humanist Movement activist, coordinating committee member of Abolition 2000 - Global Network to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons, author of the book "Coffee with Silo and the quest for meaning in life" and producer of the film "The Beginning of the End of Nuclear Weapons". The article originally appeared on Pressenza, one of our partners.

LONDON (IDN) – In a ceremony hosted by ICAN and chaired by Elayne Whyte Gomez, the Costa Rican diplomat who steered the negotiations of the ground-breaking Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, three more countries announced their ratification: Ireland, Nigeria and the pacific island state of Niue.