During the past decade – in the aftermath of the most serious financial and economic crises since the Great Depression – the question of why policy doesn’t always change when it looks like it ought to has been an open…
Category: Op-Ed
Globalisation: New deal on labour mobility
What do you think is the crisis of globalisation and how did it come about? The crisis is the result of a lot of people not being particularly happy about the way that globalisation has gone. I think it’s rooted…
World is changing ten years after the great recession
Dhaka-A decade after the outbreak of the global economic crisis, the deepest since the Great Depression, a question remains open: what has changed in the international economy? For some analysts, there is a shared feeling of a return to business…
New tax paradigm in the digital age
Dhaka-Much of the western world is experiencing a social crisis. Basic public services—in the UK, for instance, the National Health Service—are set at unsustainably low levels of funding. Unemployment, already high amongst the young, is set to rise rapidly as…
Will automation create jobs, or destroy them?
Asia’s economic evolution from agriculture to manufacturing shows how technology helped create prosperity. In an era of sweeping transformations, one of the most important has been the dramatic reduction in poverty in developing Asia. Since 1990, more than one billion…
Authoritarian govts tighten grip on press freedom
By Sopho Kharazi ROME, Apr 22 2018 (IPS) – The 25th celebration of World Press Freedom Day will be led by UNESCO and the government of Ghana in Accra on May 2-3. The theme is “Keeping Power in Check: Media,…
Pope washes feet of prisoners on Holy Thursday
By Cindy Wooden Jesus does not give up on anyone, he told them Before washing the feet of 12 prisoners, Pope Francis told them and hundreds of inmates to remember that Jesus constantly stands before them with love, ready to…
What about men?
Dhaka-Over time, our society has become more aware of discrimination in the workplace.
Without protection of our rights, there is no agroecology
Second international symposium on agroecology – declaration. Read on behalf of everyone by Mariam Sou, pioneer agroecological peasant farmer, from ENDA-Tiers Monde, Senegal We are delegates of different organizations and social movements of small-scale food producers. We are peasants, fisherfolk…
Allama Dr. Muhammad Iqbal: The glorifying poet of the world
M.I.Rahman Allama Dr. Muhammad Iqbal was one of the greatest literary figures of 20th century. His personality had the unique combination of the heart of the poet and head of a thinker. He had combined in himself both poetic imagination…
Why markets can’t cool the planet
by Ivan Ascher Milwaukee – With global temperatures rising at an alarming rate, the race is on to lower the world’s consumption of fossil fuels and accelerate the adoption of greener forms of energy. Among the most discussed remedies are…
Boutros Boutros-Ghali – Democratic Multilateralism
By Federico Mayor Zaragoza Apr 20 (IPS) – “If we don’t do everything possible to democratize globalization, globalization will pervert national democracies”, said the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, as President of the “International Panel on Democracy and Development”…
Dev gains from e-commerce and digital platforms for South
Geneva, 19 Apr (Kanaga Raja) – Digital platforms lead to efficiency gains such as from lower transaction costs, lower consumer prices and increased access to markets, but also raise concerns that the market power of certain platforms may lead to…
What’s Been Stopping The Left?
Why were democratic political systems not responsive early enough to the grievances that autocratic populists have successfully exploited – inequality and economic anxiety, decline of perceived social status, the chasm between elites and ordinary citizens? Had political parties, particularly of…
A child of war dedicates herself to peace
“I was so angry, I felt like I wanted to blow up the whole world, but I didn’t. I decided I wouldn’t be pushed to become evil. I would choose peace.”
The social disinvestment state unleashed
After a very long and rather Kafkaesque election night in Hungary, FIDESZ secured a victory for a third term of governing with a two-thirds majority. After eight years in government, the vote for the radical right in fact increased, with…
Hardship awaits internally displaced Iraqis
With upcoming elections in May, the Iraqi government is urging Internally Displaced People (IDPs) to return home. After the defeat of ISIS in December 2017, an increase in security and number of returnees to their region of origin is expected;…
How food democracy can transform food systems for the better
The failings of the current industrialised food systems run by corporate giants are clear. Yet, these industrial food systems are locked in place, with current and future trajectories already defined by past choices made in the interest of export-led agriculture,…
Another debt crisis for poor countries?
By Masood Ahmed Washington DC, Apr 18 (IPS) – When the world’s finance ministers and central bank governors assemble in Washington later this month for their semi-annual IMF meeting, they will no doubt set aside time for yet another discussion…
Keeping power in check: Media Justice and rule of law
Rarely has the press been as powerful as it is today. Thanks to the advent of social media, the use of which has grown exponentially, the combination of the formal press, newspapers, television and radio is now strengthened, and itself…
Complete failure of the Brexis project
The Brexit project is already a complete failure. That statement may seem odd, as we are less than one year away from leaving the EU. But what happens in March 2019 if all goes to plan? We leave the EU,…
Striking Syria: The real reasons
By Chandra Muzaffar The United States government has once again shamelessly violated international law. There was no legal or moral justification for launching more than a 100 missile strikes against so-called chemical weapons’ sites in Syria on the 14th of…
Corporal punishment makes children aggressive
Sir Frank Peters It’s a proven fact, the more caring that adults are in a child’s life; many times greater are the chances of the child achieving success and happiness. – You reap what you sow.
Whose passion is played : Mamun Rahman
Mamun Rahman is one of the more popular television actors of this generation. With a hectic schedule dedicated to both modeling and acting, Mamun gives more of time to acting compared to anything else, which has helped him towards his…
Plastic pollution is killing the planet – Take it seriously
This is installment 1 of an Earth Day series: “Houston, we have a problem” In a series of emails from Worldwatch this month, learn why plastic waste is so deadly and how you can do your part in your life…
‘Windrush’ Scandal Highlights Heartless UK Immigration Policies
A scandal has emerged over the fate of ‘Windrush’ children, Commonwealth citizens who came to Britain from the Caribbean with their parents decades ago, but are now incorrectly being told they are here illegally. Some have lost their jobs and…
Brexit reopens old wounds in Northern Ireland
In a bus sits a man wearing a chequered shirt and cap. His age is difficult to determine. He could be 45, 55 or 65 years old; life treats us so differently.
No initiative yet to rescue sunken coal vessel in Sundarbans
No initiative has yet been taken to salvage the coal-laden vessel that capsized in the Pashur River in Mongla upazila near the Sundarbans on Saturday night.
Wastewater treatment critical component of circular economy
The 8th World Water Forum was held in Brazil a few days ago. What’s ironic is that the more than nine thousand of us attending this Forum were discussing water-related issues in a city of three million grappling with a…
A musical tribute to Folk Poet Jasimuddin
Dhaka, Apr 16 – On the occasion of Bangla New Year 1425, two young singers, Monirul Islam and Farhadur Islam Bony, have paid tribute to Polli Kobi (rustic poet) Jasimuddin by singing a song of the legendary poet.