By Chandra Muzaffar President Donald Trump’s ban on nationals from 7 Muslim majority countries in West Asia and North Africa (WANA) entering the United States of America for a period of 90 days has brought to the fore the role…
Category: Columns
We must rethink globalization, or Trumpism will prevail
By Thomas Piketty Let it be said at once: Trump’s victory is primarily due to the explosion in economic and geographic inequality in the United States over several decades and the inability of successive governments to deal with this. Both…
Nonviolent action: Why and how it works
Robert J. Burrowes Nonviolent action is extremely powerful. Unfortunately, however, activists do not always understand why nonviolence is so powerful and they design ‘direct actions’ that are virtually powerless. I would like to start by posing two questions. Why is…
NCTB textbooks full of errors, what should we do?
Masun Billah Can we deny these facts? We have lots of government hospitals but the poorest form of treatment facility is available there. We have government primary and secondary schools but guardians hardly send their wards there. They rather send…
It’s time we get serious about organic farming
Danielle Nierenberg Conventional farming and food production practices in this country are creating serious environmental and public health problems. Every day, an industrial farming system spinning out of control confronts all Americans with serious challenges. Among these are the explosion…
Lines from Barack Obama’s farewell address
(CNN)President Barack Obama bid farewell on Tuesday night in a formal address to the nation from his adopted hometown of Chicago, calling on the country to be “anxious, jealous guardians of our democracy.” The speech centered on the values of…
Why pronunciation matters
Masum Billah When the second language learners can pronounce the English words almost perfectly like native speakers, they can draw the attention of others more easily. They are likely to be understood even if they make errors in other areas.…
The next migrant wave
Stephen Groff Manila – Imagine that you are a farmer. Your crops are withering as weather patterns become more volatile, your well water is too salty to drink, and rice is too expensive to buy at the market. So, you…
Food Tank’s reading list: 17 books for Winter
Danielle Nierenberg Feed more than your belly this new year: Food Tank has gathered the latest reads for Winter 2016/2017, from the memoirs of an Asian-American peach farmer to the best manual for permaculture design. When Winter’s chill has you…
Indian subcontinent remains dangerous place for scribes
By Nava Thakuria Indian subcontinent continues to remain as a dangerous place for scribes to pursue the critical journalism. As the year 2016 ends with the cumulative statistics of 16 journo-murder incidents in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, the…
Farming the cities
Danielle Nierenberg The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) defines urban agriculture as “the growing of plants and the raising of animals within and around cities” to provide fresh food, generate employment, recycle waste, and strengthen cities’…
Disinformation, not fake news, got Trump elected
Robert Mackey I made a mistake on Twitter on Sunday night. When I learned that a man with an assault rifle had stormed into a Washington pizzeria to “self-investigate” an online conspiracy theory for which there is no evidence —…
Life on Earth is dying
Robert J. Burrowes On the day that you read this article, 200 species of life on Earth (plants, birds, animals, fish, amphibians, insects, reptiles) will cease to exist. Tomorrow, another 200 species will vanish forever. The human onslaught to destroy…
Is cash a monetary curse?
Sudhirendar Sharma A tax regime is incompatible with peoples’ perception of living in a truly democratic society, posing a challenge to balance an individual’s right to privacy with society’s need to enforce regulations! Cash has undoubtedly proven a curse, irrespective…
Seeking the true path
Robert J. Burrowes One of the more subtle manifestations of the intimate link between (unconscious) human emotions and behaviour is illustrated by the simple concept of choice and how this is so often reduced to a dichotomy between two bad…
7 tips to a food waste-free thanksgiving
Danielle Nierenberg Thanksgiving is the holiday that reminds all of as eaters to be grateful, especially for the season’s bounty provided by farmers, farm laborers, chefs, and food service workers. But, unfortunately, we also waste an astonishing amount of food.…
‘Today is one of the heaviest days of my life’
By Cathy Breen I’ve written often about our Iraqi refugee friend and his oldest son from Baghdad. I will call them Mohammed and Ahmed. They made the torturous flight last year from Baghdad to Kurdistan and then across Turkey. They…
Board sets questions directly from guide books?
Masum Billah The worst thing has happened in the JSC examination this year (2016). Bengali first paper question has been copied directly from a guide book. Out of nine essay type questions eight have been directly taken along with their…
A nonviolent strategy to liberate Syria
Robert J. Burrowes In early 2011, as the Arab Spring was moving across North Africa and the Middle East, small groups of nonviolent activists in Syria, which has been under martial law since 1963, started protesting against the brutal dictatorship…
American liberals unleashed the Trump monster
By Jonathan Cook The earth has been shifting under our feet for a while, but all liberals want to do is desperately cling to the status quo like a life-raft. Middle-class Britons are still hyperventiliating about Brexit, and now middle-class…
Behind the curves
Sudhurendar Sharma With gender stereotyping deeply embedded in our society, women’s self-esteem is traditionally assumed to be determined by how they perceive themselves in the eyes of others.
Trump Won … Now What? World food movement’s concern
It’s no surprise that we’re shocked — a Trump Presidency seemed unthinkable a month ago. The question for all of us in the global food movement is what do we do now? No matter where you live in the world,…
We’re not Democrats first, not Republicans first, we are Americans first – Obama
The President just addressed the nation on the 2016 election results and the next steps we can take to come together as a country and ensure a peaceful transition of power. “We have to remember that we’re actually all on…
Bangladesh’s once thriving tourism sector fighting for survival
-By Raquib Siddiqi Dhaka – The tourism in Bangladesh, which, hitherto failed to get appropriate government support, yet moved ahead and stayed alive, is fighting for its survival, being engulfed in crisis, due to negative image. Action to manage the…
The ways of healing in India
Sudhirendar Sharma For a country that spends less than 4% of its GDP on healthcare, even war-torn Afghanistan spends 8%, its financially-constrained healthcare system has left millions of people to fend for their own healthy survival.
Radical realism about climate change
Lili Fuhr Berlin – Mainstream politics, by definition, is ill equipped to imagine fundamental change. But last December in Paris, 196 governments agreed on the need to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels – an objective that holds…
Election 2016: A political system in crisis
By Nile Bowie The outcome of strangest and most consequential election cycle in recent American history will soon be upon us. Regardless of who becomes the next president, this election will forever be synonymous with the rogue candidacy of Donald…
Lifting houses to escape India’s Chennai floods
S. Gopikrishna Warrier Memories of the ruinous floods in Chennai last year, partially blamed on climate change, have prompted many residents to raise the height of their houses to avoid getting inundated If you cannot beat the flood, rise above…
Medical note by a non-medic: CRP Conundrum
M Zahidul Haque CRP or C-reactive protein is a protein produced by the liver in response to inflammation. The level of CRP rises when some inflammations are there in the body. Inflammation generates when the body is attacked by bacteria,…
Vote for a brighter food future
Danielle Nierenberg On November 8, Americans have important choices to make at the polls. And it’s not only a question of who will be the next President of the United States. For many of us who value improving the food…