By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Racism is rife in international soccer, with fans taking physical and verbal aim at players of the opposing team. After the routine apologies of the coaches and local officials, what has really been done to end the frequent racist outbursts, often accompanied by flying chairs […]
UN Agency Honours UAE for Protecting Migratory Species
By Devinder Kumar GANDHINAGAR; India (IDN) – The United Nations Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) has recognized the United Arab Emirates’ Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) as a Migratory Species Champion Plus because of its contributions to the conservation of medium-sized marine mammal Dugong and African-Eurasian birds of prey. The Dugong is a large, slow-moving animal […]
Nigeria Rounding Up Journalists for Exposing Corruption
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Nigeria is rounding up journalists who investigate corruption – jailing them for indefinite periods of time and accusing them of treason. Agba Jalingo, publisher of Cross River Watch, was arrested and jailed in August 2019 until this month when a Cross River court granted bail. […]
Protecting Indigenous Cultures for Saving Global Biodiversity
Viewpoint by Krystyna Swiderska* COVENTRY (IDN) – Species are being lost at about a thousand times the natural rate of extinction. This is faster than at any other period in human history. Ecosystems – the vital systems on which all life depends – are being degraded across the globe. This crisis of biodiversity loss is finally […]
Making Democratic Socialism Relatable
Viewpoint by Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir The writer is an American sociologist who resides in Marrakech, Morocco. MARRAKECH (IDN) – The phrase “Democratic Socialism” continues to find its way into current national and political discourse of the United States. Vermont Senator and Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders embraces the term, while his opponents, both from within his […]
Why the Peace Movement Must Be Intersectional
Viewpoint by Tim Gee* LONDON (IDN) – In 2011, after a racial slur was used on a women’s rights march, writer Flavia Dzodan wrote a blog called, ‘My feminism will be intersectional or it will be bullshit’. The framing was picked up by others, adapting the title to environmentalism and to activism more broadly but […]
How Agri-Business Corporations Influence UN Institutions
Viewpoint by Anuradha Mittal The writer is the founder and executive director of the Oakland Institute. SAN FRANCISCO (IDN) – As Dr. Agnes Kalibata arrived in Rome on February 10, 2020 to meet with Dr. QU Dongyu, Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), her appointment as the UN Secretary-General Guterres’ Special Envoy […]
Sri Lanka at a Juncture of Transition From Separatist Terrorism to Era of Reconciliation
Viewpoint by Ambassador Kshenuka Senewiratne, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations NEW YORK (IDN) — Sri Lanka is presently at a juncture of transition after near three decades of brutal separatist terrorism, to an era of reconciliation and sustaining the hard won peace. Sri Lanka’s engagement today is in keeping with the […]
Slavery Not a Crime in Almost Half of the World’s Countries
Viewpoint by Katarina Schwarz and Jean Allain, with Andrea Nicholson* NOTTINGHAM (IDN) – “Slavery is illegal everywhere.” So said the New York Times, repeated at the World Economic Forum, and used as a mantra of advocacy for over 40 years. The truth of this statement has been taken for granted for decades. Yet our new […]
U.S. Abrogation of Iran Deal Leaves a Puzzling Legacy
By Bernhard Schell ISTANBUL (IDN) – Iran has been bashed for its January 5 announcement that it would no longer abide by certain “operational restrictions” on uranium enrichment in the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA. The declaration has also prompted doubts about the regime’s activities and intentions […]