Mostafa Kamal Majumder From the early eighties I started getting offers to contest elections of the Jatiya Press Club Managing Committee. I always sidetracked such offers because I felt I had little time to spare in Press Club activities. I…
Tag: Opinion
Where Gender Equality, Forest Conservation Go Hand in Hand
By Rosamaria Loures and Sarah Sax NEW YORK, Aug 27 2020 (IPS) – On an early December morning last year in the state of Maranhão, Brazil, half a dozen members of the Indigenous Guajajara people packed their bags with food,…
“No deal” BREXIT: An accident waiting to happen
Brendan Donnelly In an interesting article in this weekend’s Sunday Times, its political correspondent Tim Shipman warns that the chances of a “no deal” Brexit are higher than usually assumed. He attributes this risk largely to misunderstandings by the EU…
করোনাকালে দেশপ্রেম
শিপন রবিদাস প্রাণকৃষ্ণ পুরো বিশ্ব আজ ভয়ঙ্করভাবে বিপর্যস্ত। করোনা নামক প্রাণঘাতী ভাইরাসটি বিশ্বব্যাপী ছড়িয়েছে। বাংলাদেশে করোনা ভাইরাস শনাক্ত হয় গত ৮ মার্চ। ২৬ মার্চ থেকে দেশে সাধারণ ছুটি ঘোষণা করে লকডাউন পরিস্থিতি সৃষ্টি করা হয়। ফলে কর্মহীন হয়ে পড়ে লাখ…
Don’t be Hoodwinked by Trump’s UAE-Israel ‘Peace Deal’
Co-Written by Medea Benjamin and Ariel Gold “HUGE breakthrough today,” crowed Donald Trump on Twitter as he announced the new peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The deal makes the UAE the first Gulf Arab state…
The Need for Debt-for-Climate Swaps
by Kevin P. Gallagher,Stephany Griffith-Jones,Jörg Haas,Shamshad Akhtar,Ulrich Volz ISLAMABAD – A global debt crisis is looming. Even before COVID-19 swept the world, the International Monetary Fund had issued a warning about developing countries’ public debt burdens, noting that half of…
Stopping Cambodia’s Reckless Urban Development
by Sam Rainsy PARIS – Years ago, I spoke to the head of a large factory in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. She was worried that more than 100 of her workers lived in riverside slums around the building. Their…
We Must Prioritize Local Solutions to Global Problems
By Ritah Nansereko KAMPALA, Uganda, Aug 18 2020 (IPS) – World Humanitarian Day is the perfect time to refresh our push to localize humanitarian aid for COVID-19 and all the challenges we face. Celebrating #RealLifeHeroes!
‘There is No Solution Without You’
Alan Stoga “What Covid has done is to apply an extraordinary and unusually powerful microscope to worldwide governance. And much of what we see through that lens of the microscope is not pretty.” —Cardinal Michael Czerny
Beating Anger into Empathy: The Need of the Hour in Ethiopia
By Dr Joshua Castellino LONDON, Aug 17 2020 (IPS) – The murder of Haacaaluu Hundeessaa, an icon of the Oromo people in Ethiopia was a tragic loss for all who struggle for rights in systems that fail to accommodate them.
What is Next for Palestinian Popular Resistance in Gaza?
Speaking to Journalist Wafaa Aludaini By Ramzy Baroud Co-Written by Ramzy Baroud & Romana Rubeo Wafaa Aludaini is a witness to many of Gaza’s recent tragedies and also never-ending resistance. She experienced the violent Israeli occupation, the subsequent blockade on…
Keeping Education within the Grasp of Refugee Children
By Mantoe Phakathi MBABANE, Aug 13 2020 (IPS) – “Not being able to go to school is not something I’d wish on any child in this world,” said 21-year-old Nujeen Mustafa, a young advocate for refugees who fled the Syrian…
Debt Hawks Detract from Urgently Needed Fiscal Recovery Efforts
By Anis Chowdhury and Jomo Kwame Sundaram SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 2020 (IPS) – Developing country debt has continued to grow rapidly since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis (GFC). Warnings against debt have been reiterated by familiar prophets…
Why some medicines do not work?
The other day I had an opportunity to discuss with a pharmacist the reasons behind the lack of efficacy of drugs. The pharmacists sitting in his drug store in the Kalsi area of Mirpur in Dhaka City wanted to know…
Greening Sovereign-Debt Restructuring
By Simon Zadek BEIJING – Many developing countries have so far avoided the high COVID-19 infection and mortality rates that are being experienced elsewhere. While that may be good news, at least in the short term, the bad news is…
China’s Great Wall of Water
by Giulio Boccaletti LONDON – The East Asian monsoon is pummeling China this summer. As of late July, flood alerts had been issued for 433 rivers, thousands of homes and businesses had been destroyed, and millions of people were on…
Beirut Blast
By Chandra Muzaffar Four days after the Beirut Blast of 4th August 2020, the Lebanese president, Michel Aoun, has attempted to explain what caused the largest explosion since the end of the Second World War. He attributes it to either…
18 Young People Building a Stronger Future for Global Food
Danielle Nierenberg Today is International Youth Day, observed by the United Nations every August 12. This year, International Youth Day focuses on the theme of youth engagement for global action. Across the world, it’s often our youngest citizens who are…
Africa on the Run
Alan Stoga “Because there’s less external pressure on the continent now than there has ever been, we are beginning to see African countries coming together to figure out how they’re going to solve their problems.” —Carole Wainaina
We can’t ignore adolescent girls in Covid-19 response
Opinion by Michelle Obama and Melinda Gates (CNN)Today should have been a school day for 15-year-old Fortunate Ayomirwoth. But for the past five months, her school has been closed. Fortunate now spends her days at home in a small suburb…
Floods don’t always happen, these are caused too
Sudhirendar Sharma The reality behind the statistics and headlines of man made disasters are too grim for words. Flooding has always threatened human habitation, but it is happening too often in recent times with disastrous consequences in unexpected places. Much…
Beirut On its Knees
By Eliane Eid BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug 6 2020 – Following the massive explosion in Beirut on Aug. 4, IPS correspondent Eliane Eid reports that the residents of the city are still shell shocked. Beirut looks like a battlefield, with destruction…
Leading by example: Cuba in the Covid-19 pandemic
By Helen Yaffe 4 Jun 2020 – The response of socialist Cuba to the global SARS-CoV2 pandemic has been outstanding both domestically and for its international contribution. That a small island nation, subjected to hundreds of years of colonialism and…
A Marshall Plan for Planetary Health
by Tolullah Oni CAMBRIDGE – The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened awareness of the significant flaws in our urban infrastructure, and highlighted our lack of attention to how human health, natural systems, and the built environment interact to determine planetary health.…
The True Price of Pesticides Is Unaffordable
by Layla Liebetrau NAIROBI – A mounting body of evidence suggests that industrial agriculture is failing the planet and its people. In particular, harmful chemical pesticides increasingly threaten the environment and public health.
Emerging Economies Should Build Back Greener
by Luis Alberto Moreno,Henry M. Paulson, Jr. WASHINGTON, DC – While lockdowns have slowed the spread of the coronavirus in many countries, their economic impact has been devastating. At the same time, with fewer commuters, factories at a standstill, and…
Nature by the Numbers
by Robert Watson NORWICH – When Cyclone Amphan came barreling up the Bay of Bengal this past May, South Asia’s first named storm of the year appeared to pose a massive threat to the people who live on the coastal…
Pandemic Policy Must be Climate Policy
by Renzo Guinto CALAMBA – While the world focuses on the COVID-19 crisis, climate change continues to advance. The consequences are devastating and becoming more so – and that includes for the pandemic response itself.
Statue smashing – Heroes, values and racism
By Jan LundiusSTOCKHOLM / ROME, Jul 29 2020 (IPS) – On Friday the 24th of June, President Trump announced he was skipping a weekend at his New Jersey golf resort to ”ensure law and order in Washington”, tweeting:I just had…
Coronavirus Covid-19 could benefit Bangladesh
Corporal punishment is just another name for child abuse, torture, cruelty and brutality that can physically and mentally impair a pupil for his entire life. It’s a knee-jerk reaction to a minor, insignificant situation by adult terrorists full of exaggerated…