by Francine Mestrum on 18th June 2020 @FMestrum Universal basic income would offer a deadweight subsidy to low-paying employers. The route to security for all lies in the concept of ‘social commons’.
Category: Columns
Matters of Chasing Onward
Dr. Sinha MA Sayeed Money is the root of all inconveniences caused off and often, noted Bengali literary Dr. Lutfar Rahman log time ago. Karl Marx calls it the most dominating factor in life. Religions of various natures, sizes, dimensions…
Why recovery needs to have children at its centre
by Reka Tunyogi on 16th June 2020 @Reka_Tunyogi The pandemic and the lockdown have had serious effects on children’s wellbeing. The EU recovery plan must ensure their specific needs are addressed.
American traumas
by Karin Pettersson on 8th June 2020 @AB_Karin Karin Pettersson explores the deep faultlines of unexpurgated racism tearing the United States apart. In 50 years, will the United States still exist? Or will the union have been pulled apart—in a…
Rethink free movement of capital against hostile takeovers
by Susanne Wixforth and John Weeks on 11th June 2020 Should free movement of capital any longer be sacrosanct when it leads to predatory takeovers and regional inequalities in a globalised economy?
Facebook: A solace during coronavirus lockdown
M Zahidul Haque During the on-going corona lockdown, Facebook is serving as a solace to the locked-down people passing their time in some creative activities and in keeping communication with friends, relatives and others.
Economic Ghosts Block Post-Lockdown Recovery
By Jomo Kwame Sundaram KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jun 9 2020 (IPS) – As governments the world over struggle to revive their economies after the debilitating lockdowns they imposed following their failure to undertake adequate precautionary containment measures to curb Covid-19…
Science and politics: A new alliance?
by Valerio Alfonso Bruno on 9th June 2020 @ValerioA_Bruno The pandemic has brought science and expertise to the fore in the public sphere, as an anchor of trust—and put the populists on the back foot.
Certainties and responses: Bangladesh Budget 2020-21
Ruling 14-party alliance led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is full of activity with the formulation of Budget 2020-21 under such landscapes when the world is befuddled and challenged with COVID-19, which shall be placed in Parliament very soon so…
America’s unhappy middle
by Branko Milanovic on 1st June 2020 @BrankoMilan Branko Milanovic unpacks the malaise of the US middle class and its implications for Democratic strategy towards the presidential election. The voting behaviour of the American middle and lower-middle-class was, according to…
A global economy in unchartered waters
by John Evans on 3rd June 2020 Governments must learn from the financial crisis if they are not to repeat the errors of the recovery from it. Economic commentators have cautioned against drawing parallels between the economic impact of the…
Benefits of equality
by John Scales Avery A new freely downloadable book I would like to announce the publication of a book which presents evidence supporting the thesis that elimination of excessive economic inequality makes societies happier and better. The book may be…
Therapeutic Politik over Coronavirus!
M Zahidul Haque A few days back, the World Health Organization (WHO) had suspended the clinical trial of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine following publication of a research paper in the peer reviewed medical journal-‘Lancet’ stating that people taking hydroxychloroquine were…
We Arabs ask no favours…..
By El Hassan bin Talal GENEVA, Jun 4 2020 (IPS) – In these difficult times for the Palestinian people and for justice, the Government of Israel is proposing to add further to the turmoil by unilaterally absorbing large swathes of…
A citizens’ conference on the future of Europe
by Marta Cillero Manzano on 4th June 2020 @martacille With agreement lacking on the future of Europe—even at the conference on that theme—it’s time to look to a European Citizens’ Assembly.
Conceptual Understanding of Leadership
Conceptual Understanding of Leadership Genesis of leadership When the number is one, question of leadership does not arise, when the numbers are two, the germ of leadership is sowed, when the numbers are more than two, question of leadership appears…
Creating a more just nation
Barack Obama In the last several weeks—and the last several months before that—we have seen the kinds of epic changes that are as profound as anything that I’ve seen in my lifetime.
You only live once
Sudhirendar Sharma Is there anything other than people, places and proceedings, in isolation or in combination, that plays on our memory? Perhaps, not.
A global economy in unchartered waters
by John Evans on 3rd June 2020 Governments must learn from the financial crisis if they are not to repeat the errors of the recovery from it. Economic commentators have cautioned against drawing parallels between the economic impact of the…
It’s time for all of us to Stop. Hate. Now.
Danielle Nierenberg Like so many of us, I feel sad and enraged by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, David McAtee, and many others at the hands of police. These murders are a travesty and not something…
Superpower in chaos
By Chandra Muzaffar Minneapolis could not have happened at a worse time for the US elites. While violence perpetrated against African Americans by White police officers has happened a number of times before, its occurrence right in the midst of…
The Planet After the Pandemic
by André Hoffmann BASEL – Scientists have little doubt: the destruction of nature makes humanity increasingly vulnerable to disease outbreaks like the COVID-19 pandemic, which has sickened millions, killed hundreds of thousands and devastated countless livelihoods worldwide. It also will…
Bureaucratic-Politico Archetypal: Bangladesh perspective
Dr. Sinha MA Sayeed This day and age here in Bangladesh have grown and developed a sort of State-of-the-art rule christened with the state-of-the-art defence from the very womb of the ongoing parliamentary model for running the country and this…
Police may be encouraged to enforce social distancing norms
Dr. Md. Jafar Ullah In Bangladesh, the first COVID-19 cases were reported on 8 March, and the first death on the 18th of the month. Surfacing in China last December, this virus travelled to different countries of Asia, Europe, Africa…
Climate Targets and Industry Participation in the Recovery
by Henrik Poulsen, Mads Nipper, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen COPENHAGEN – The COVID-19 pandemic must not lead governments to lower their climate ambitions. Accelerating the transition to a low-carbon sustainable economy can both drive the recovery and build resilience for the…
Multi-millionaire says: Covid-19 is business case to tax the rich
By Djaffar Shalchi COPENHAGEN, May 28 2020 (IPS) – For the past few decades, many big corporations and very wealthy individuals have operated according to the myth that they are “self-made”, that their success owed nothing to anyone else.
Wearing Mask Must Be Brought Under Compulsion In Bangladesh
Dr. Md. Jafar Ullah At the present time, Covid-19 is a horror throughout the world. Till today, it took over 3.5 lakh human lives along with 522 in Bangladesh as on 27th May 2020. This pandemic disease is still on…
Innovation is an imperative for sustainable food systems
By Zoltán Kálmán ROME, May 26 2020 (IPS) – Hunger and food insecurity continue to rise. The official 2019 statistics refer to 821 million people suffering from hunger all over the world. According to the recently launched Global Report on…
Eid-ul-Fitr in the midst of coronavirus pandemic
Mostafa Kamal Majumder After a month of fasting and self-restraint Muslims in Bangladesh, like those in the rest of the world, are celebrating the holy Eid-ul-Fitr on Monday according to the sighting of the moon. Traditionally the biggest religious festival…
Corona Vaccine from Tobacco?
M Zahidul Haque IN April 2020, an international media reported that the British-American Tobacco’s biotech subsidiary, Kentucky Bio Processing has started working on a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus from tobacco plant. Corona vaccine from Tobacco? One would definitely…