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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

Why Russia Is Slow to Unlock Media Potential with Africa

Viewpoint by Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – Researchers and experts have identified a lack of interest and a well-coordinated mechanism as being behind the absence of effective Russian media cooperation with Africa. European and Western media brands, such as British Broadcasting Corporation, Cable News Network, Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France Press, Quartz and Bloomberg, are active with their African partners, while the Russian media are largely invisible.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 01 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

World Conference Calls for Abolition of Nuclear Weapons and Reversing Climate Change

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) -– In a dramatic warning from 13 Nobel Prize winners about the existential dangers of nuclear weapons and climate crisis, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists on January 23 set the hands of its iconic 'Doomsday Clock' to 100 seconds to midnight,

On April 25, during the Covid-19 crisis, over one thousand activists across the peace, climate, and social movements gathered online to take part in the first-ever virtual World Conference: Abolish Nuclear Weapons | Resist and Reverse Climate Change | For Social and Economic Justice.

: Santo D. Banerjee; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 April 2020

Photo credit: Minorities Rights Group International.

COVID-19 Strikes South Asia's Minorities Whose Rights Are Already Threatened

By Jaya Ramachandran

LONDON (IDN) – A new report warns that the minorities and other marginalised communities are even more exposed to the worst impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is hitting South Asia. It has come at a time when governments are inflicting sustained assaults on their rights. Minorities face severe obstacles in accessing their right to nationality amidst rising majoritarian nationalism across many parts of the South Asia, says the South Asia Collective (SAC) in its annual flagship report, South Asia State of Minorities Report.

: Jaya Ramachandran; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 30 April 2020

COVID-19 Shows How Ecosystems and Human Health Intersect

Viewpoint by Dominick A. DellaSala, William J. Ripple, and Franz Baumann*

This article is being re-published by courtesy of The New Republic, which carried it first on April 20.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The butterfly effect is a thought experiment about how a small change in a system— a butterfly flapping its wings — can ripple through complex, interconnected systems, eventually cascading into larger events, like a tornado in Oklahoma. Despite having been popularized by the 1993 Jurassic Park movie, it’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 30 April 2020

Photo credit: German Environment Ministry | Christoph Wehrer

UN Chief and German Chancellor Call for Rebuilding 'Our World for the Better'

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN (IDN) – German chancellor Angela Merkel and UN Secretary-General António Guterres have accentuated that any coronavirus recovery programme should have a clear focus on climate targets and rebuilding "our world for the better". They were addressing a two-day video conference in Berlin co-organised by Germany and Britain, the latter as the presidency of UN Climate Conference (COP 26).

Scheduled for November, COP26 will take place in 2021 because of COVID-19. In response to the coronavirus crisis, Germany and Britain put the focus of the conference – officially known as the 'Petersberg Climate Dialogue' – on "sustainable recovery".

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 29 April 2020

Photo: The unsung heroes of Majengo slums | YouTube screenshot.

Two 'Unsung Heroes' Helping Kenya's Slum Dwellers Facing Coronavirus

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Journalists who step out of their high-floor offices or manage to escape from their coronavirus confinement sometimes find a great story right on the street below. Such was the story discovered by Kevin Phillips Momanyi, a reporter with Kenya’s Tuko news channel.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa South of Sahara; 29 April 2020

'Flowers of Hope' from Kenya As Major Markets Dry Up

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – It was inevitable during a lockdown that sales of Kenya’s flower exports would dry up as buyers make fewer impulse purchases of carnations, roses and other blossoms.

According to data from the Kenya Flower Council, sales of cut flowers in overseas markets have fallen below 35 per cent of what is expected this time of the year.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa South of Sahara; 29 April 2020

Photo: Camden, New Jersey is one of the poorest cities in the United States. Source: Wikimedia Commons. (Created 25 November 2009)

America Should Not Be Number One Because It's A Spent Star

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

The US needs first and foremost to look after itself-– its often counterproductive foreign policy, its poverty, its third rate health services, its misdistribution of income, to save the economy and to save those most hurt by the Coronavirus crisis.

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – It might seem that the world is going to pot in a hand-basket. Not quite true. There are ways out. Asia has shown how to deal with the Coronavirus and how to stay politically stable. Europe, except for wise Sweden, has muddled along, following belatedly the conventional wisdom of its scientific community. As for the United States, President Donald Trump has made a fool of himself and his country, ending up with the highest death rate in the world.