Can This ‘Grandmother’ Save The World Ruled by Gender and Racial Bias? Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria. ABUJA (IDN) — As the World Trade Organization (WTO) formally announced the appointment of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Director-General on February 15, a Swiss newspaper […]
World’s Largest Free Trade Area Opens for Business in Africa
By Kester Kenn Klomegah* MOSCOW (IDN) — The opening of the world’s largest free trade area in Africa on January 1, 2021, is of great interest to Russia. It comes more than one year after the first Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi on the Black Sea. As Russian President Vladimir Putin then said: “The event really […]
Farm Crisis Fuelling India’s Farmers’ Protests
By Manu Moudgil* NEW DELHI (IDN) – On February 6, protesters blocked roads at an estimated 10,000 spots across India as part of the ongoing movement against the new farm laws enacted by the national government last year. For over two months, the most populous democracy in the world has witnessed what is being called one of […]
A Beacon of Hope from A Buddhist Leader in the Face of Crises
Viewpoint by Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) — Like the United Nations, the global community-based Buddhist organisation Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is a beacon of hope to a world shrouded by dark clouds of unprecedented crises. An international association of the Soka Gakkai and an NGO in consultative status with UN ECOSOC, SGI has […]
Global Food Systems Can Only Be Truly Transformed with a People’s Summit
Viewpoint by Agnes Kalibata* NEW YORK (IDN) – Long before the emergence of COVID-19, it was well-accepted that the world was off-course to achieve most of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, including ending hunger. But recovering from the pandemic to deliver any of the 17 SDGs relies now more than ever on first feeding the […]
Rural Voices to Be Heard at Food Systems Summit
By Kwame Buist ROME (IDN) – The United Nations is to involve millions of rural people in the 2021 Food Systems Summit as part of an ambitious public engagement process, in which indigenous communities, family farmers, rural women and youth are among those invited to take a seat at the table during Independent Dialogues to […]
Facebook News Ban Turns Attention to Tech Giants’ Impact on Journalism in Australia
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — The tech juggernaut Facebook’s shock decision to block all news feeds from Australian media outlets from February 18 in response to a proposed new Media Bargaining law, that will force social media giants to pay for news content that is posted on their platforms, has created fury among Australians […]
Mass Murders Threaten Colombia’s Peace Agreement
Viewpoint by Camilo Tamayo Gomez* BIRMINGHAM (IDN) – The murder of five students at a farm in Buga, in south-western Colombia, on January 24 highlights the fragility of the 2016 peace deal which brought to an end more than five decades of civil conflict between successive governments and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). […]
MYANMAR: The Complicated Politics & Geopolitics of the Coup
Viewpoint by Vijay Prashad* NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (IDN) — On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military — known as the Tatmadaw — invoked Article 417 of the 2008 constitution, dismissed State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, and arrested her and other members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Condemnation of the coup was swift, although […]
President Biden Should Resurrect the Iran Nuclear Deal
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN) — General Colin Powell should know. He was chief of staff of the US military, and later secretary of state under President George W. Bush. When the Syrian civil war broke out and there was an effort in Congress and the media to persuade President Barack Obama to […]