ARTS & CULTURE

Photo: Voting by secret ballot. Credit: United Nations

When UN Elections were Tainted by Bribery, Cheque Book Diplomacy & Luxury Cruises

By Thalif Deen

The following are excerpts from a just-published book “No Comment – and Don’t Quote me on That”, a collection of political anecdotes reflecting over 40 years of reporting from the United Nations*.

NEW YORK (IDN) – When UN member states compete for the presidency of the General Assembly or membership in the Security Council or in various UN bodies, the voting was largely tainted by bribery, cheque-book diplomacy and offers of luxury cruises in Europe – while promises of increased aid to the world’s poorer nations came mostly with heavy strings attached.

: Thalif Deen; UN INSIDER; 12 February 2021

Photo: UN North Delegates' Lounge. Credit: dezeen.com and @NLatUN

No Comment!... And Don't Quote Me on That

Book Review by Roderic Grigson*

NEW YORK | MELBOURNE (IDN) – It takes years to write a good book and in this insightful memoir, Thalif Deen, a former UN Bureau Chief and Regional Director at Inter Press Service news agency, recounts colourful and amusing stories from his 40-year career ‘reporting from the United Nations’.

No Comment is told through a series of news stories, interviews, anecdotes, and personal recollections. This compelling page-turner is held together by flashes of surprising humour and an overarching third world focus and point of view.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 08 February 2021

Photo: A scene from The Red Detachment of Women opera, adopted from the earlier 1961 film of the same title. Soldiers of the Women's Detachment performing rifle drill in Act II, from the 1972 National Ballet of China production. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The 1961 Feature Film Continues to Stimulate Chinese Women

On the eve of the Communist Party of China’s centenary in July 2021, the story of the country’s first women’s military brigade in the 1930s continues to find life in popular culture and the imagination of the Chinese people.

Viewpoint by Tings Chak *

HAVANA (IDN) – “Are you a proletarian?” asks the brigade commander. Receiving no response, she clarifies her question: “Do you own land?”

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 04 February 2021

Photo: Dr Sibongile Khumalo. Credit: @PresidencyZA/Twitter

Tributes Pour in for South Africa's Musical Genius Dr Khumalo

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – President Cyril Ramaphosa has paid tribute to Jazz and Opera Musician, Dr Sibongile Khumalo, for advocating the rights of performing arts, women, as well as human rights. Khumalo passed away on January 28, at the age of 63.

She was an esteemed member of the Order of Ikhamanga, a South African honour that is granted by the President of South Africa for achievements in arts, culture, literature, music, journalism and sport. She was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga in 2008,

: Jeffrey Moyo; ARTS & CULTURE; 29 January 2021

Photo: The Sun is Laughing by five-year-old Konstantin G., Russia| UNODA Art for Peace 2012 contest.

Faith-Based Communities Greet the Global Ban on Nuclear Weapons

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – Rejecting the existential threat to humanity that nuclear weapons pose, a wide coalition of faith-based communities from around the world has hailed the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), the first international treaty to comprehensively ban nuclear weapons. Over 160 organizations endorsed a joint interfaith statement coordinated by the Faith Communities Concerned About Nuclear Weapons, which include Soka Gakkai International (SGI).

: Caroline Mwanga; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 23 January 2021

Photo: Gorman reading her poem "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration of Joe Biden in 2021. Source: Chris Coons | Wikimedia Commons.

"The Hill We Climb": A Poem by Amanda Gorman

NEW YORK (IDN) – Amanda S. C. Gorman is an American poet and activist from Los Angeles. Her work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora. She was the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate. She published the poetry book "The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough" in 2015. In 2021, she delivered her poem "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration of Joe Biden.

: UN Bureau; ARTS & CULTURE; 22 January 2021

Photo: Musicians perform at a concert in India, in December 2019, prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: UNICEF/Srikanth Kolari.

Culture Struggling to Survive COVID-19 Impact

By Jaya Ramachadran

PARIS (IDN) – The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has urged adequate policies and actions to help the culture sector weather the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout. The sector employs more than 30 million people globally. It has been hit much harder than expected.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 01 January 2021

Photo: “Manhattan cocktail” (Creative Commons image) served at the UN North Delegates' Lounge (designed by Hella Jongerius and Rem Koolhaas) "where Diplomats and Renegades Rendezvous!” (Image source: dezeen.com)

Great Expectations! The Non-Proliferation Treaty and The Coming of The Messiah!

Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf* from Vienna for IDN

Great Expectations is a novel published in July 1861 by the renowned British writer, Charles Dickens. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip who has a stroke of good luck and great expectations but then loses both his luck and his expectations. Against that backdrop, the writer – an eminent nuclear disarmament expert – cautions that the taking of office by Joe Biden as US President next January would not mark the coming of the Messiah for nuclear arms control as wished for by his supporters. Besides, he argues, the already postponed tenth review conference of the parties to the NPT should be held in April-May 2022 in the Austrian capital city Vienna and not in August 2021 at the UN headquarters in New York. And this for two reasons: the wide-ranging impact of COVID-19 pandemic and Vienna offering an ideal venue for nuclear disarmament conferences.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 December 2020

Photo: Maradona visited Argentina's new president Alberto Fernández (right) on 26 December 2019. CC BY 4.0

How Nigerians Remember Maradona

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) – When the news of the death of Diego Maradona broke, I was in a friend’s office. Our initial spontaneous reaction was sorrow and regret. And then we drifted, almost as if we had rehearsed it, to the next thing: who is football’s all-time greatest? Maradona or Pele?

My friend wasted no time in declaring that for him, it is and always will be Maradona. He spoke about the Argentine’s prodigious talent, talked about his imagination and gushed, above all, about his artistry and genius.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 December 2020

Photo: The Indian Ocean could play a major role in future climate change. Credit: Earth.com

The Rich Historical Archive That Is the Indian Ocean

By Isabel Hofmeyr and Charne Lavery*

In the run-up to the COP26 climate change conference scheduled for November 2021 in Glasgow, Scotland, The Conversation has prepared a five-part series entitled Oceans 21 examining the history and future of the world’s oceans. This is the first article in the series which looks into ancient Indian Ocean trade networks.

JOHANNESBURG | PRETORIA (IDN) – On many beaches around the Indian Ocean, keen observers may spot bits of broken pottery. Washed smooth by the ocean, these shards are in all likelihood hundreds of years old, from centres of ceramic production like the Middle Eastern Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Ming dynasty.