Viewpoint by Allison Lau and Lauren Gonitzke * This article was produced by Local Peace Economy, a project of the Independent Media Institute. NEW YORK (IDN) — In mid-December 2021, South African comedian Trevor Noah used “The Daily Show” to target China when he aired a segment titled “Why China Is in Africa”. While this […]
Pressing the Reset Button on the Africa-Europe Relationship
Viewpoint by Inge Kaul * This blog is part of a series by Center for Global Development (CGD) ahead of the EU-Africa Summit on February 17-18, 2022. This series presents proposals for priorities, and commentary on whether a meaningful reconstruction of the relationship between the two continents is likely. BERLIN (IDN) — When the European […]
Amnesty International, In A Landmark Report, Accuses Israel of Apartheid
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The term “apartheid”, describing institutionalized racial discrimination, was widely prevalent both in white-ruled South Africa and in Southwest Africa (now Namibia), beginning in 1948 until it ended with the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994 in Pretoria. But elsewhere it was treated as a four-letter word—and largely shunned […]
America Is Reaping What It Sowed in Ukraine
Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies * NEW YORK (IDN) — So what are Americans to believe about the rising tensions over Ukraine? The United States and Russia both claim their escalations are defensive, responding to threats and escalations by the other side, but the resulting spiral of escalation can only make […]
Was It Ever Ethnic War in Yugoslavia and Rwanda?
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The divisions and tensions in some parts of ex-Yugoslavia appear to be boiling up again. The leadership of the Serbian ministate, Srpska, which comprises 49% of Bosnia’s territory, appears to be challenging the governing entity of Bosnia, founded at the end of the civil wars that raged […]
Burkina Faso Coup Leader Promises Return to Constitutional Order
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — In his first speech to the nation since the overthrow of President Roch Kabore, the new military leader of Burkina Faso promised a return to the normal constitutional order “when the conditions are right”. Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba, who led the ouster of President Kaboré, […]
Exploited Kenyan Tealeaf Pickers to Get Their Day in Court
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — After years of seeing their complaints stalled, postponed, and thrown out of court, some 700 Kenyan plantation workers have finally won their bid to sue a British-based tea company for imposing work conditions that they say caused crippling physical harm while getting paid poverty wages […]
A Superhighway Paves Over a Nairobi Slum
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — An ambitious road construction project in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, has demolished some 13,000 homes in the informal housing of Mukuru Kwa Njenga, technically a slum, ignoring human rights and leaving some 40,000 people homeless, says Diana Gichengo of Amnesty International Kenya. Schools, businesses and homes […]
North Korea, Perpetual Victim of the US Military-Industrial Complex
Viewpoint by Alice Slater The writer is a Member of the Board of Directors of World BEYOND War. She is also the UN NGO Representative of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. www.warbeyondwar.org NEW YORK (IDN) — It seems hard to believe that in these possible end times in the midst of a global pandemic with […]
A Politically Isolated North Korea Garners Support from two Nuclear Powers at the UN
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — North Korea, long described as a “hermit kingdom”, apparently isn’t living in total political isolation or is cut off from the rest of the world. Or so it seems, judging by the failure of the US and some of its UN allies to impose sanctions on five North […]