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Photo: Demonstrators at an International Women's Day rally in Abidjan on May 8, 2022. Ivorian women's rights groups have denounced a bill legalising polygamy for men. Source: France24

Ivorian Parliament to Review Polygamy in a Blow for Women’s Equality

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A bill before parliament in the Ivory Coast would upend monogamy and restore polygamy—a marriage that includes one husband and at least two wives. Outraged women’s groups call it a return to inequality.

The move mirrors setbacks worldwide, including the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Roe vs Wade. The bill, proposed by Yacouba Sangare of the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace, would acknowledge a widespread practice across the country and, therefore, he says, one that should be legally permitted.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 25 July 2022

Photo: Female lawmakers make up 34.57% of Zimbabwe’s Ninth Parliament. Credit: ZimFact

Why Do Zimbabwean Women Shun Politics?

By Farai Shawn Matiashe

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — Cyberbullying and online sexual harassment are some dilemmas that young women trying to rise in Zimbabwe’s patriarchal and male-dominated political space face.

What started as a debate on the opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), led by young and charismatic politician Nelson Chamisa not having structures, ended up with CCC spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere fighting cyberbullying from the ruling party, Zanu PF sympathisers in courts.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 July 2022

Image: F-16 Fighting Falcon takes off from Incirlik Air Base, Turkey

White House Confirms Plans to Send US-NATO Jets to Fight Russia

Viewpoint by Andre Damon

This article first appeared on the World Socialist Website

MICHIGAN, USA (IDN) — In what may be the most provocative escalation of the US-NATO war against Russia to date, the White House has confirmed that the US is planning to send NATO-made fighter jets to Ukraine.

John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, confirmed that the Pentagon is discussing “providing fighter aircraft to the Ukrainians”.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 23 July 2022

Photo: Farmer House—Indo-Fijian cane farmer's house (on top) and abandoned house and property (in foreground) after the expiry of the land lease.

Land Lease System Threatens Sustainability of Cane Farming in Fiji

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SUVA, Fiji (IDN) — Though sugar cane is thought to be indigenous to the islands of the South Pacific, it was the British who started to grow it as a cash crop in Fiji in the later part of the 19th century. In 37 years, beginning in 1879, they shipped some 60,000 Indians over 7000 miles from home to work as indentured labourers in the newly established plantation for very little or no salary on 5-year contracts.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 23 July 2022

Photo: The Group of Summit leaders. Credit: Sera Tikotikovatu-Sefeti.

Pacific Leaders Endorse '2050 Strategy of the Blue Pacific'

Pledge to Promote "Accountable" Development

By Sera Tikotikovatu-Sefeti

SUVA, Fiji (IDN) — The leaders of the Pacific gathering for the first time in three years endorsed the 2050 Strategy for a Blue Pacific at the 51st Pacific Island Forum (PIF) from July 11 to July 14.

"The success of this strategy is down to two things, and that is first, the leaders take accountability, and secondly, the people also be accountable for it, " said Fiji’s Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, who chaired the PIF meeting.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 22 July 2022

Photo: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (left) and Fethullah Gülen. Photo: Hayatin Kendisi Burada/Picasa.

For Erdogan the Failed Coup was A “Gift from God”

Viewpoint by Alon Ben-Meir

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies for over 20 years.

NEW YORK (IDN) — Perhaps nothing has changed Turkey’s domestic and international trajectory since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923 than the failed military coup of July 2016, which gave Erdogan an unprecedented opportunity to satisfy his insatiable lust for power.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 21 July 2022

Photo: Sri Lanka police withdrew the stay-home order issued on July 8. Source: ndtv

The Elephant in the Room: Geopolitics and the 'Great Reset' in Sri Lanka

Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake*

“But to watch cricket, there has to be a country left for us to watch it in, no?” A fan at the Galle Test Match that ended with an innings victory for Sri Lanka. July 11, 2022.

COLOMBO (IDN) — Spirits were high on July 11 when the Sri Lankan cricket team beat the visiting Aussies by an innings even though the country was in its worst economic crisis ever due to a lack of Dollars to buy fuel caused by an International Sovereign Bond (ISB), debt trap and Staged Default.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 21 July 2022

Photo: Antan0, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sri Lanka Faces Uncertain Future Amid Unmitigated 'People Power'

Viewpoint by Alan Keenan

Alan Keenan is Senior Consultant, Sri Lanka, at the International Crisis Group.

LONDON (IDN) — In a stunning display of “people power”, massive crowds overcame large deployments of police and soldiers and other obstacles to storm the official residence and offices of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo on July 9, leading the former to flee the country and both to agree to resign.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 20 July 2022

Photo: King's College, Cambridge. Keynes's grandmother wrote to him saying that, since he was born in Cambridge, people will expect him to be clever. C BY-SA 2.0

Keynesianism Might Help Tackle the Gathering Economic Crisis

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

The writer is the author of “Development Economics” (Pearson Longmans). For 17 years he was a foreign affairs columnist for the International Herald Tribune. See his website for more information: jonathanpowerjournalist.com

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The most peculiar aspect of the gathering economic crisis so far is that no one has mentioned the three words, John Maynard Keynes.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 19 July 2022

Image Credit: GIZ, Photo by Schmoo Theune.

Can Businesses Fill in The Gaps Left by WHO?

Viewpoint by Christian Jahn

The writer is Executive Director of the Inclusive Business Action Network (iBAN).

BONN (IDN) — In September 1978, the member states of the World Health Organization adopted the Alma-Ata Declaration, officially establishing the goal of ‘health for all’ by the year 2000. The declaration was the first to recognise the need for urgent action to ensure access to primary health care for all people and call for governments to establish strategies for a better, healthier world.