OPINION

Photo: A deserted street in Cairo after the government ordered the closure of shops, restaurants and cafes. Credit: Ziad Ahmed/NurPhoto via Getty Images

One-Size-Fits All Approach to COVID-19 Could Have Lethal Consequences for Africa

Viewpoint by Alex Broadbent and Benjamin T.H. Smart*

JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – Suppose you had the choice between two health policies, A and B. Policy A would result in the death of a lot of elderly people. Policy B would result in the death of a lot of children, especially infants. Which would you choose?

Right now we are facing a choice between more or less drastic measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, a virus which, at the time of writing, has yet to claim a life under 10, and claims very few lives under 30, with the risk rising exponentially with age.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 25 March 2020

Photo: Wherever there were black votes to be had, Andrew Young was there, sometimes at Carter's side, explaining why they must come out and vote for Carter. It is doubtful that Biden will lose this time round. The picture shows Young at the LBJ Presidential Library in 2013. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The Power of The Black Vote in The US Election

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – According to the New York Times, President Donald Trump's re-election campaign is investing more money and resources in an attempt to attract African-American voters than any previous Republican presidential campaign. The Trump camp believe that with eight months of continuous advertising coupled with the opening of field offices in black communities it can peel off enough black voters to improve his standing by a crucial couple of points.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 24 March 2020

Photo (against the backdrop of Bandaranaike International Airport): U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina B. Teplitz (right front) presenting a branded donation of Dupont Tyvek coveralls, nitrile gloves, heavy duty work gloves, boot covers, and cleaning supplies to Major General (Rtd) GA Chandrasiri (left in front), Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka on behalf of the American people. The equipment will help protect airport personnel and prevent the spread of COVID-19. The donation is part of U.S. efforts to assist Sri Lanka.

COVID-19 in Sri Lanka and South Asia: Need for a Rational Policy Response

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (1882-1945).

Viewpoint by Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake*

The writer is a cultural anthropologist with research expertise in international political economy, peace, and development studies in South and South East Asia.

COLOMBO (IDN) – COVID 19 is more a panic than a pandemic: It obscures from view the fact that far more people die as a result of illness related to poverty, malnutrition, and other forms of structural violence than anything else in South Asia, and indeed the rest of the world.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 23 March 2020

Photo: (left) Collage of images of rural residents discussing a new territorial development plan at a meeting in Ovejas, in the Montes de María region in the north of Colombia, December 2017 and (right) map of the Montes de María region. Credit: Hobeth Martínez Carrillo.

Colombia's Conflict Victims Await 16 ‘Seats for Peace’ in Congress

Viewpoint by Hobeth Martinez Carrillo*

LONDON (IDN) – Four years after the UN-monitored peace agreement that was intended to end more than five decades of civil war in Colombia, the communities that suffered most during the armed conflict may finally be gaining places at the political table.

The members of the UN Security Council welcomed in a press statement on Colombia (SC/14081) continued progress by the three components of the Integral System for Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-repetition, with the participation of victims. They reaffirmed their full support for the critical role of these components in the peace process and stressed the need for them to be able to work independently and autonomously.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 22 March 2020

Photo: A passenger walks through an emptied check-in area at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, Japan, March 19, 2020. Foreign visitors to Japan have plunged by 58% since the coronavirus outbreak. Credit: EPA-EFE/Franck Robichon

The World's Response to COVID-19 Has Slashed CO2 Emissions

Viewpoint by Simone Abram*

DURHAM, UK (IDN) – How do you respond to a crisis? It's obvious that the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been dramatically different to anything provoked by repeated scientific warnings about climate change. The many organisations that declared climate emergencies throughout 2019 and 2020 have so far enacted nothing like the scale and speed of action to limit the spread of coronavirus.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 21 March 2020

COVID-19: Resources Needed for Gender and Social Inclusion

Women Front and Centre

Viewpoint by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

UN Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director.

NEW YORK (IDN) – One thing is clear about the COVID-19 pandemic, as stock markets tumble, schools and universities close, people stockpile supplies and home becomes a different and crowded space: this is not just a health issue. It is a profound shock to our societies and economies, exposing the deficiencies of public and private arrangements that currently function only if women play multiple and underpaid roles.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 20 March 2020

Photo: We are all part of nature. Credit: CreativeAngela

How to Think Positively about Isolation during Coronavirus Lockdown

Viewpoint by Silvia Panizza*

PIEDMONT, Italy (IDN) – "They say when trouble comes, close ranks." So begins Jean Rhys's novel Wide Sargasso Sea. When the new coronavirus started spreading in Europe, my first impulse was to travel home, to Italy, to be with my family. Lesson number one learned from the virus: you remember what matters to you.

Rhys was, of course, talking about racial tensions in colonial times, not families vs other commitments, or humans vs viruses. But she knew that there are good ways and bad ways of closing ranks.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 20 March 2020

Water Security: A Lifeline for People and Planet

Viewpoint by Inge Kaul*

BERLIN (IDN) – In the face of upsurge of the coronavirus, World Water Day 2020 may seem to have no relevance. But the fact is that water is vital for life on earth. It is inextricably linked to climate change, protecting health and saving lives. Water is essential for practicing hand hygiene and combating the spread of COVID-19 and many other infectious diseases.

Therefore, I am deeply concerned about the relatively low-level of attention and priority accorded to water at the practical-political level.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 20 March 2020

Photo: Collage of images of Joe Biden (left) and Bernier Sanders (right) from Wikimedia Commons.

Bernie Sanders Pushes Democratic Party to the Left

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Is Bernie Sanders still in with a chance? It is a slim one, but in these primary elections one never knows. There have been a number of surprising upsets.

Even if Joe Biden comes out on top and has to face Donald Trump for the presidency the Democratic Party has been pushed to the left by Senator Sanders. That is all to the good.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 19 March 2020

The Largest US-Led Military Exercise in Europe Continues Despite COVID-19

Viewpoint by Jan Oberg*, The Transnational Foundation, TFF.

LUND, Sweden (IDN) -– Defender Europe 20 is a huge, basically US military exercise, on European soil between February and May this year. It has already started. In the midst of a closed-down coronavirus Europe. And it is war-preparing, not peace- or confidence-building.

The diagram above from the British Army offers you details of this perverse, surreal idea – take note of Italy being one of the planned participants!