Alan Stoga“In all of the West, we run into a divided society. Those who are smart enough to play on the stock market are fine; they can live. Those who are educated to play in the digital economy are also…
Tag: Opinion
The politics of identity and inclusion
by Karin Pettersson on 27th July 2020 @AB_KarinKarin Pettersson argues that struggles around race and gender are fundamentally about inclusion on an equal footing in the political community.Anonymous, camouflage-clad men taking protesters away in unmarked cars—federal agents, sent by the…
Memorable days: Learning to give space to opposition voices
Mostafa Kamal Majumder When I joined journalism the political arena was extremely polarized. The language of politics of especially the opposition was so strong that verbatim reporting of their viewpoints would lead to rejection of the news copy because the…
Remote working—an inflection point?
by Christy Hoffman and Sharan Burrow on 23rd July 2020 @CHoffmanUNI The pandemic has seen a surge in remote working. Collective agreements are needed to ensure individual autonomy, rather than monitored isolation, is the outcome.
The Great Migration Clash
By Joseph Chamie NEW YORK, Jul 23 2020 (IPS) – The world is in the midst of the Great Migration Clash, a bitter struggle between those who “want out” of their countries and those who want others to “keep out”…
Inadequate Water, Sanitation Threatens Women Dev in Senegal
By Stella Paul HYDERABAD, India, Jul 22 2020 (IPS) – With Tabaski (Eid al-Adha) around the corner, 11-year-old Fatoumata Binta from Terrou Mballing district in M’Bour, western Senegal, wakes up early and joins her brothers Iphrahima Tall and Ismaila to…
Columbus statues toppled in the U.S.
By Countercurrents Collective Protesters pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus in Baltimore, the U.S. They threw the statue into the city’s Inner Harbor. Statues of Columbus have also been toppled in cities including Miami; Columbus, Ohio; Richmond, Virginia; St…
Opinion: China is looking to challenge the US?
The US is calling out China over Hong Kong and the South China Sea. But Beijing has its answer ready. Both sides are spoiling for a fight, and soon, says political scientist Deng Yuwen.
Can America halt its decline—and does it want to?
Alan Stoga “We’re shocked, for example, that trains don’t work. We are shocked that the digital infrastructure is not good … America doesn’t not just invest in itself; Americans don’t invest in each other.” — Christine Loh What’s wrong, America?…
Delhi’s Subterranean Truths
Sudhirendar Sharma It is not the distance but the approach that creates a connection of convenience between shades of insecurities and vulnerabilities. Hold it tight. The rickshaw ride could turn unruly as it meanders through the underbelly of an unalike…
The woman Roosevelt relied on to put America back to work
by Denis MacShane on 14th July 2020 @denismacshane Roosevelt is invoked more than ever amid talk of a ‘new deal’ for today’s crisis. Rather fewer, however, recall the woman at the heart of his programme. There is more mythical nonsense…
A ‘Hamiltonian moment’ for Europe
by John Weeks on 14th July 2020 @johnweeks41 Invoking Alexander Hamilton in the context of the sensitisation achieved by Black Lives Matter could not be more inappropriate. Drawing analogies across countries rarely provides insight and often proves wrong-headed. For instance,…
Memorable days: Improving a paper’s look to attract readers
Mostafa Kamal Majumder While improving the content of The New Nation, I simultaneously initiated measures to improve the getup and makeup of the paper. I noticed that the computer section was deciding how the getup should be like on a…
UN Chief Warns of Deadly Germs as Potential Bioterrorist Weapons
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Jul 8 2020 (IPS) – The coronavirus—which has claimed the lives of over 538,000 people and infected more than 11.6 million worldwide—has destabilized virtually every facet of human life ever since its outbreak in late…
The Quiet Survivors of a Global Pandemic
By Saima W. Hossain DHAKA, Bangladesh, Jul 8 2020 (IPS) – The issue of women’s rights, feminism and gender is complex and ongoing in most countries including Bangladesh. When I was asked to write about the impact of COVID-19 on…
Stopping Food Waste During COVID-19, One Grant At a Time
Danielle Nierenberg When the COVID-19 pandemic caused restaurants and creameries to shut down, goat farmers Blake and Andrew Place found themselves dumping 95 percent of their daily milk production because they couldn’t sell it. But with a grant from the…
How memory became the Palestinians’ greatest weapon
By Ramzy Baroud 72 years after the destruction of historic Palestine at the hands of Zionist militias lies an opportunity to reassert the centrality of the right of return for 5 million Palestinian refugees. Just 48 hours before thousands of…
Courtesy of Corona
M ZAHIDUL HAQUE BY the courtesy of Corona, drastic changes have taken place in occupational, societal and human relations disciplines. COVID-19 pandemic has changed human behaviour and the pattern of human interaction. Social and organizational communications are getting more and…
Memorable days: Narrow escape from bomb at Mushtaq’s meet
Mostafa Kamal Majumder Political violence in Bangladesh is an old phenomenon. I came face to face with a very destructive such violence on 23 May 1980 when a public meeting of Khondaker Mushtaq Ahmad came under a bomb attack in…
Unearthing past without discrimination
Sudhirendar Sharma National chauvinism does not go very far – even where it goes it only acts as a delusive will-o’-the wisp.
Memorable days: 5th Parliament opens orientation for new MPs
Mostafa Kamal Majumder The fifth Parliament elected under the interim government of Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed on 27 February 1991 had a host of new members to the Parliament. The election was like a festival with all parties taking part in…
Why Disaster Preparedness Cannot Wait
By Jagan Chapagain and Andrew Steer GENEVA/WASHINGTON, DC – The world has been planning for the future in the mistaken belief that it will resemble the past. But as COVID-19 coincides with cyclones in South Asia and the Pacific and…
For now, it is a question of answers
Sudhirendar Sharma For once, this pandemic has forced all of us to be different, to seek answers and only answers on how to confront, control, and get over the dreadful virus. No one seems to be asking questions anymore, but…
Glorious days: Offer to be Press Secretary to the President
Mostafa Kamal Majumder As The New Nation became more or less self-reliant and I could respond to demands of working journalists to improve their working conditions in the paper with a mission to make it sustainable I got a phone…
Glorious days: How AL made BNP alienate JP in Parliament
Mostafa Kamal Majumder The Old Sangsad Bhaban at Nakhalpara was where I started my Parliament reporting. My seniors most of the time used to engage me to cover the question hour held at the start of sittings every day. The…
Envisioning a Blue Recovery
By Erna Solberg and Tommy Remengesau, Jr. OSLO/NGERULMUD – From Jamaica to Palau and Norway to Indonesia, the impact of the COVID-19 crisis is global, and national recovery efforts must be globally focused to seize shared opportunities. Nowhere is this…
Sustaining Conservation in a Pandemic
By Matthew Brown BOULDER, COLORADO – Safari tourism has long been an economic boon to people living in Africa. But the suspension of flights and safari visits because of the COVID-19 pandemic has decimated this critical source of income –…
Sustainable Development Starts with Children
By Helen Clark NEW YORK – “Our house is on fire,” warned the teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg at last year’s World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. Her pointed words – accusing adults of sitting idly by as the planet…
The Moment When America Fell Behind
By Jules Kortenhorst DENVER – As governments around the world adopt policies to address the immediate economic fallout of COVID-19, they are making decisions that will also determine their countries’ competitiveness for decades to come. If designed correctly, stimulus and…
The cups that cheer
Sudhirendar Sharma No other drink inspires as much feeling of relaxation, and trust! For me every day is a tea day but the International Tea Day (May 21) reminded me this year that it is a hot cup of tea…