by Matthias Thiemann and Peter Volberding on 29th April 2020 @MatthiasThiema3 The European Investment Bank and national development banks provide a framework through which a European Recovery Fund could work quickly and effectively.
Category: Columns
It’s a virus, and this isn’t a war
by Karin Pettersson on 28th April 2020 @AB_Karin The coronavirus crisis is a social challenge, Karin Pettersson writes, which the formerly secure are now being reminded is hitting the poor hardest.
In-work poverty in times of pandemic
by Luca Ratti on 27th April 2020 @LucaRatti15 The coronavirus crisis is exacerbating in-work poverty in the EU—and a powerful raft of labour-market and welfare measures is needed for an adequate response.
Will Global Governance Prove Itself?
By Carl Manlan and Henri-Michel Yéré LOMÉ/BASEL – COVID-19 poses the greatest threat yet to the systems of international integration instituted during the twentieth century. As with the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, the lethality and contagiousness of the coronavirus has…
Don’t Waste the Pandemic Response
By Bertrand Badré PARIS – The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the greatest global challenges in generations. Governments and monetary authorities are correctly using every policy lever at their disposal to prevent a grave public-health emergency from becoming an even…
AI: Into a new era of work
by Daniela Kolbe on 24th April 2020 @danielakolbe Artificial intelligence will drastically transform the economy and the workplace. Which skills will be required and is training the all-encompassing solution?
Novel Corona: Shadow on the Moon
M Zahidul Haque IT appears that the Novel Corona Virus has caused to break up the universal ties between Men and Nature. A sombre shadow of gloom has plunged over the entire natural habitat.
Coronavirus: Three cheers for our hero medics
If it’s true that every compassionate deed performed in this life plants a seed in the soul that blossoms in the next, theirs will be a Garden of Eden Sir Frank Peters Let’s give loud prolonged rhythmic drum rolls, repeated…
Europe’s social safety nets were not ready for the corona shock
by Sarah Marchal and Ive Marx on 21st April 2020 @IveMarx The coronavirus crisis has punched a hole in Europe’s safety nets. But they were already frayed and urgent repairs are needed.
China’s political system and the coronavirus
by Branko Milanovic on 20th April 2020 @BrankoMilan Branko Milanovic explores how the pandemic has highlighted China’s international responsibility and how such global ‘externalities’ are to be rendered accountable.
Addressing the effects of COVID-19 on Bangladesh agriculture
Prof. Dr. Md. Sekender Ali The Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a crisis of a completely different magnitude and it requires a response of unprecedented scale. Public and private Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services (AEAS) of Bangladesh should come…
People not in safety net count need to be seen and supported
Mostafa Kamal Majumder As the duration of the coronavirus lockdown is in the fourth week in Bangladesh beginning on March 26, new categories of people vulnerable to hunger are emerging. They are normally not the people to ask for support…
A rights-based, holistic approach against Covid-19
by Selin Sayek Böke on 14th April 2020 @selinsayekboke Human rights, including social and economic rights, may seem to some a luxury during a crisis. But that is when they are needed most. We are going through dire times. A…
Monetary policy’s role in Covid-19 crisis, climate action
by Basil Oberholzer on 17th April 2020 @basiloberholzer What the US central bank has been doing to address the coronavirus crisis is precisely what is needed to tackle climate change. The financial crisis of 2008 and the subsequent recession revealed…
Connecting the celluloid dots
Sudhirendar Sharma In times of the pandemic threat which seems not too distant in future but uncertain nonetheless, reliving nostalgic moments provide much-desired comfort. These are the times when indulging in nostalgia helps revive feelings, a kind of matter or…
EU-wide inequality is back to pre-crisis levels
by Michael Dauderstädt on 15th April 2020 After almost a decade, EU-wide inequality finally regained its previous low of 2009 due to relatively strong growth in the poorer member states between the Baltic and the Balkans.
The coronavirus, health inequality and social democracy
Carol Johnson The coronavirus may be indiscriminate but health inequality means that while all humans are vulnerable, some are more vulnerable than others.
Let’s support, celebrate our doctors, nurses
Mostafa Kamal Majumder A number of doctors have been reported coronavirus positive in the last few days. Needless to say, they contracted the virus after unsuspectingly seeking Covid-19 patients in Dhaka and several other districts. Like doctors paramedic nurses come…
Coronavirus: A timely lesson for mankind
Sir Frank Peters On September 1, 1939, World War II began. It was the deadliest conflict in human history, involving more than 50 countries and killing more than 65-million people – man, woman and child. Many countries including Switzerland, Ireland…
Can India’s print newspapers survive the Covid-19 pandemic
by Nava Thakuria As an unprecedented lockdown continues in India, the newspaper groups face an uphill task to maintain their readership. The complete shutdown, to continue till 14 April, instantly stopped the vendors from delivering morning newspapers to reader’s doorsteps…
Will China’s Wildlife-Consumption Ban Work?
by Federico Varese, Rebecca W.Y. Wong OXFORD – Since the outbreak of COVID-19, which is widely suspected to have emerged from Wuhan’s Huanan Market in December 2019, public-health and animal-rights advocates have been calling for more scrutiny of “wet markets,”…
A Green Reboot After the Pandemic
by Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Hunter Lovins, Kate Raworth NEW YORK – The COVID-19 coronavirus has forced entire countries into lockdown mode, terrified citizens around the world, and triggered a financial-market meltdown. The pandemic demands a forceful, immediate response.…
A lesson coronavirus is about to teach the world
By Jonathan Cook If a disease can teach wisdom beyond our understanding of how precarious and precious life is, the coronavirus has offered two lessons.
Novel coronairus: A battle to win
M ZAHIDUL HAQUE Ever since the intrusion of novel Corona virus, our smiling planet has been turned into a mortuary; everyday people are dying in every nook and corner of the globe. The world has become as if a dystopia…
With lockdown strengthened it’s time to expedite virus tests
Mostafa Kamal Majumder With the Muazzin (a man who calls devotees to prayers) asking devotees over loudspeakers on Monday to say prayers at homes, instead of going to mosques, five times a day, the public awareness about the war against…
Coronavirus proves need for free healthcare for all– now
By Winnie Byanyima GENEVA, Apr 2 2020 (IPS) – The multi-layered crisis of the Coronavirus epidemic has been a dramatic shock to everyone. But, to communities affected by HIV and AIDS, the crisis has not only brought a further shock…
The future of Europe is being decided now
by Sergio Fabbrini on 3rd April 2020 Given the ravages of the coronavirus crisis, the future of Europe cannot be one of permanent division between its northern and southern states. We are going through the gravest European crisis since the…
Why food system gives me hope in this difficult time for all
Danielle Nierenberg Every day, I feel I wake up to a world that is just a little bit more surreal than the day before, as COVID-19 changes day-to-day life. I’m spending time at home with my husband, and I hope…
Story of triumphs, tribulations: Services for Autism in BD
By Saima W. Hossain DHAKA, Bangladesh, Mar 30 2020 (IPS) – A few days ago, a friend said to me that my focus on autism, although rather successful, had “sucked out all energy from other critical areas of social need…
Social-Green Deal, a European answer to coronavirus crisis
by Maja Göpel on 31st March 2020 @beyond_ideology Concluding the Social Europe series on ‘just transition’, Maja Göpel zooms out to elaborate the shift in narrative entailed. The biggest difference the coronavirus crisis has brought to political discourse is the…