Africa

The Gambia coach Tom Saintfiet says this month's Afcon qualifiers should be postponed as he cannot access seven key players owing to the coronavirus.

Muhammadu Sanusi II says the new emir should be embraced after he is ousted for "insubordination".

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Mar 10 2020 (IPS)

The US is currently still in a stock market bubble which, if history is any guide, is likely to end, perhaps soon due to Covid19. President Trump would, of course, like to sustain it to strengthen his November re-election prospects.

Meanwhile, US business investment has declined for many years. As shares of GDP, corporate profits or even market capitalization, such investment has been in decline for at least four decades. Clearly, ‘neo-liberal’ economic policies have failed to decades-long trend.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Financialization ‘unreal’
Although focused on the US, William Lazonick’s seminal 2014 Harvard Business Review article, Profits without Prosperity, and Lazonick and Shin’s new book, Predatory Value Extraction: How the Looting of the Business Corporation Became the US Norm and How Sustainable Prosperity Can Be Restored offer invaluable insights into investment trends with implications for much of the world.

Julius Krein has helpfully reviewed recent US trends confirming the Lazonick concerns. Global stocks are now worth almost US$90 trillion, more than world output. Including equities, bank deposits, (government plus private) debt securities, etc., the total value of financial assets rose from US$118 trillion in 2004 to over US$200 trillion in 2010, more than double world output then.

Half of Americans own no stocks, while just ten per cent own over 80 per cent of equities, and the top one per cent has almost 40 per cent. With no increase in real investments, more funds in financial markets have served to worsen wealth inequality.

‘Capital returns’ in 1980, in the form of share buybacks and dividends, were about two per cent of US GDP, when real investment was close to 15 per cent. By 2016, real investment had fallen to around 12 per cent of output, while capital returns had risen to about 6 per cent.

Ironically, in an age of ostensible globalization, rising capital returns has become increasingly national in some economies, rather than involving cross-border capital flows, which fell from US$12.4 trillion in 2007 to US$4.3 trillion, i.e., by 65%.

The rise of finance, at the expense of the real economy, over the last four decades has slowed productive investments and economic growth, ending the post-war Keynesian Golden Age quarter century. Meanwhile, as profit rates declined, debt has increased.

Ponzi-like stock market dynamics
Since the 1980s, ‘engineered’ US stock market bubbles have obscured lessons from preceding busts, explaining them away as Schumpeterian creative destruction. While each new bubble may retrieve some of the preceding loss, it never fully restores earlier economic gains.

Investors buy stock, expecting to sell at higher prices. Such purchases push up share prices, drawing new investors into the price appreciation spiral. The share price bubble continues to inflate until faith in ever rising prices ends, with the bubble imploding when enough buyers start selling.

Each new stock market bubble seduces share market punters to invest ever more, to gain even more, while obscuring public understanding of the economic malaise. And when prices fall, many shareowners hold on to their stocks, hoping for prices to recover, to make more, or at least, to cut losses.

Thus, stock market dynamics resemble Ponzi frauds, with earlier investors profiting from new investments. Handsome gains draw in more investments until even these are insufficient to meet rising expectations. Changes in market sentiments can slow the bubble’s growth, or cause reversals, even collapse.

Along the way, all investors feel richer, triggering wealth effects and market exuberance, typically irrational. When downturns occur, many are too embarrassed to admit to losses, especially if they have induced others, relatives and friends, to invest.

Thus, the dynamics of stock market speculative bubbles are akin to a collectively self-inflicted fraud as most retail investors lack the ‘inside’ information needed to make sound portfolio investment judgements.

Promoting stock market addiction
The US Federal Reserve’s apparent commitment to the stock market since Alan Greenspan was in the chair, and its growing, albeit varying influences on financial asset prices has been seen as giving the green light to speculation, enabling serial asset price bubbles over at least three decades.

Despite its balanced official mandate, unsurprisingly, US Fed leadership is widely believed to favour Wall Street, while mainstream economists view asset price inflation as the unavoidable price of overcoming recession, sustaining economic growth and the bubble’s wealth effect.

Unlike the Roosevelt era, when economic policy and war achieved full employment and improved labour conditions, decision-making in recent decades has been seen as better serving capital, with the bias justified by insisting that the interests of capital and labour are ‘joined at the hip’.

With 401K (a US employer sponsored retirement savings plan allowing employees to invest a portion of their salaries before taxes) and other investments in the stock market, widespread ‘middle class’ addiction to stock price inflation has also been economically and politically self-deluding.

But despite the sustained US stock market bubble after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, the US ‘middle class’ continues to be economically squeezed, with relatively few having benefited significantly.

This stock market addiction is rooted in an illusion promoted by Wall Street, their enablers in the public authorities, and their cheerleaders among mainstream economists and the business media who identify the notion of shared prosperity with stock market indices.

But the history and dynamics of stock market bubbles imply that they simply cannot be the basis for shared prosperity. Sadly, wishful thinking to the contrary perpetuates the mass delusion promoted and perpetuated by those who stand to gain most.

Stock market bubbles serve to obscure the dangers of neoliberal financialization for the economy. Demystification of obfuscating narratives can not only improve public understanding of the problems, dangers and challenges involved, but also inform the reforms needed to address them.

The post Stock Market Bubble No Basis for Shared Prosperity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Use of Biomass for household cooking

By Hemraj Bhattarai
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Mar 10 2020 (IPS)

A young adult man requires 15 m3 or 15 kg of air, 1.5 liters or 1.5 kg of water and 0.75 kg of solid food every day. This indicates around 87% of our everyday basic requirement is air.

The simple question is, what happens to our health and environment if the same air gets polluted? The short and simple answer is, “pollution kills”.

Biomass burning (BB) in rural kitchens is still the primary source of energy particularly in developing countries. Around 3 billion people rely on open fires or simple stoves for cooking.
The World Energy Outlook report of International Energy Agency 2011 claimed 39% of the global population use biomass fuel either for cooking or heating and are largely consumed in developing nations.

For instance, the earlier findings during 2000s reported more than 80% of domestic energy in India is from biomass of which ~ 90% of the households use animal dung or wood for cooking. Huge amounts of gaseous and small sized particles that can enter into our lungs are released from the household BB or from rural kitchen.

This adversely degrades the indoor air quality and seriously affects human health and on a larger scale contributes to climate change and global air pollution.

Traditional cooking stoves which have incomplete combustion of biomass fuel and emit substantial amounts of pollutants is very common in the South Asian region. The common types of biomass fuel used are wood, dried animal dung, sugarcane bagasse, crop residue etc.

Ishora Devi – 50, is one of the regular users of biomass fuel in a traditional cooking stove. Every day she wakes up around 4:30-5:00 am, and burns the traditional stove to cook food for humans and animals (buffalo). She had a family of 8 members including her and two buffaloes.

Usually she burns on the stove 3-4 times a day and each time it lasts up to 1-2 hours, which means in a day she spends around 4-8 hours near the cooking stove in a smoky zone. She explained, “I use around 10 kg of firewood each day.”

The ceiling of her kitchen has already changed its color and turned in to black due to continuous burning of firewood and emission of soot particles. Similarly, the color of the door shows a significant difference in color i.e. the lower half is normal whereas upper half is brown or almost black.

This indicates, the smoke once released is hotter and lighter therefore tries to accumulate near the ceiling. Thus, a person who works in the kitchen by standing is more likely to be affected compared to the one who works by sitting.

Ishora Devi is just a representative of billions of people using biomass fuel who spends most of their life in the smoky environment. Most of the kitchens are not well ventilated therefore the air inside the kitchen cannot flow smoothly thus could cause suffocation.

Besides household biomass burning inside the kitchen, crop residue burning also has a strong influence on local to regional air pollution. Recent findings in 2019 highlighted the significant influence of countryside crop residue/wood burning on Delhi air quality particularly during post-harvest season i.e. winter and autumn.

The researchers used the state-of-the-art technology of dual carbon isotope fingerprint (δ13C/Δ14C) to come-up with this solid decision. The small-scale crop residue burning is frequently observed in rural sites over South Asia. Such open burnings release tremendous amounts of gases and aerosols which once released into the atmosphere, degrades its quality.

Dr. Lekhendra Tripathee from Nepal, an assistant Professor at Chinese Academy of Sciences, who is working in the field of air pollution in Himalayas and Indo-Gangetic Plain over the last eight years, claims, “the air pollution has no political boundary and could easily transport from one site to the other.”

He further added, “Humans are the polluter and victims of their action. The more we control the emission, the safer environment we will have to live in.”

Professor Cong Zhiyuan at Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Beijing, China, identified the transport of biomass burning emissions from South Asia to Tibetan Plateau and their impact on fragile and sensitive ecosystems in his paper published in Scientific Reports in 2015.

Biomass burning releases huge amounts of gases and aerosols related to carbon, nitrogen, sulphur and many more which are more likely to threaten the human life, climate and ecosystem therein.

Emission of huge amount of air pollutants as a result of crop residue burning in South Asian region

Biomass burning is the major cause of air pollution which leads to several chronic illnesses such as lung cancer, acute respiratory infection, asthma, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease etc.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2012 estimated worldwide annual premature death of 4.3 million people as a result of indoor air pollution caused by biomass combustion during cooking.

In general, of the all deaths from lung cancer, ambient air pollution accounts for 29% and almost half (~ 43%) of the deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is caused by air pollution.

Women, children and aged people are mostly the victim of indoor air pollution. WHO reported, death of children under 5 years of age due to pneumonia is the result of particulate matter (soot) inhaled from household air pollution.

In short, air pollution is a global problem and more serious in the case of South Asia where biomass burning is extremely high. The increase in dependency over renewable energy such as hydroelectricity could help to maintain the atmospheric environment.

*Hemraj Bhattarai is a graduate student from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Currently, he works at the Kathmandu Center for Research and Education on issues relating to air pollution in the Himalayas and South Asia.

The post Air Pollution in South Asia: Biomass Burning Emissions & its Impact appeared first on Inter Press Service.

East Africa could be on the verge of a food crisis, if swarms of locusts are not controlled.

For a year BBC Africa Eye has been investigating the million-dollar trade in trafficked rosewood.

They said David Rudisha outshone Usain Bolt at London 2012. He won his second 800m Olympic title in 2016. The years since have not been easy.

By Frank Rijsberman and Ingvild Solvang
Mar 9 2020 (IPS)

This year, the Paris Agreement’s effectiveness as a global response to the climate crisis is being tested as governments are preparing to submit more ambitious national targets for mitigation and adaptation.

The combined ambitions of these targets should match the urgency to strengthening resilience and limiting the disastrous climate change impacts around the world.

The Paris Agreement aims to keep global warming well below 2°C and closer to 1.5°C compared with pre-industrial levels. This means reaching a peak in global emissions shortly and achieving climate neutrality by 2050, in other words target Net Zero Emissions by 2050.

Achieving this requires stepping up immediate actions that follow new models of economic growth and development that shift policies and investments towards low-carbon, green growth solutions.

Promotion of poverty alleviation, gender equality and social inclusion is embedded in GGGI’s support to our member countries in this transition. This is in recognition that achievement of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for the Paris Agreement must align with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) priorities.

Mounting evidence shows that gender equality is an accelerator of development and of climate action, and GGGI suggests two key priorities for International Women’s Day 2020.

First, increased investments in climate change adaptation are essential for livelihoods, food security and disaster risk reduction, particularly to benefit women and girls, who are disproportionally impacted by climate change.

Second, “A Just Transition” is needed, particularly in renewable energy, to ensure enhanced opportunities world over for women to participate in decision-making and the economy.

 

Women and girls are more vulnerable to the Climate Crisis

The climate crisis impacts men and women differently and given their different roles in society. In the most climate vulnerable communities, women’s work and activities tend to be dependent on natural resources, and climate change results in more effort and time required to collect water, firewood, and secure food for the household.

Lack of access to sustainable energy services and productive assets and financial resources are key barriers to the ability of communities to adapt to a changing climate. With limited roles in community and household decision-making, and with lesser access to services and resources globally, women are further disadvantaged.

A study by McKinsey estimates that although women constitute 50% of the global population, they contribute only 37% to the global (formal) economy. Only 24.5% of the world’s parliamentarians are women.

And, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), only 15% of the world’s landowners are female. Therefore, GGGI is working to make climate action work to accelerate gender equality by promoting gender-responsive plans, policies, technologies and investments.

 

 

In Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady Delta, mangrove forests are essential to people’s lives and livelihoods. The Cyclone Nargis that hit the Delta in 2008 claimed more than 130,000 lives.

Consistent with a tragic global disaster pattern, 61% of those dead were female with the number much higher in some villages according to a 2014 post-disaster assessment undertaken by the Government of Myanmar and partners. This illustrates the gendered nature of climate disasters.

A UNWOMEN and UNDP review of evidence highlights how integrated approaches to political and economic empowerment are needed to support women participation and leadership in climate action, which in turns enhances their resilience. In the context of the Myanmar Delta, mangrove conservation is an essential response to the climate crisis.

GGGI is incorporating these gender perspectives into its work with the government on developing the case for community-led forest management, to safeguard men and women’s equal leadership and sustainable access to forest resources. In parallel, investments in fishery value chains could have significant positive impacts on rural women’s livelihoods through access to finance, technology and markets.

 

 

Women Have Untapped Potential in the Transition to Renewable Energy

A transition to renewable energy is essential to fight the climate crisis. About three-quarters of the first generation of NDCs made reference to renewable energy, and this focus is likely to increase as governments submit more ambitious targets and as the price of renewable energy has come down significantly in the last 5 years since the first generation of NDCs was prepared.

This shift requires a “just transition”, i.e. support for those who lose their jobs in the brown economy in the shift towards a green economy, to ensure a broad-based political will and public support for driving decarbonization of the economy.

GGGI has assessed the potential for green job creation in Mexico, Indonesia and Rwanda as a result of the switch to renewable energy in the NDCs of these countries, and found that considerable employment and economic opportunities can be created.

For example, achieving Mexico’s renewable energy targets under the NDCs would create 370,000 additional jobs compared to the business-as-usual scenario. While the number of green jobs gained will likely outpace the numbers of brown jobs lost, those losing their brown jobs are not the same people as those gaining new green jobs, and therefore a just transition is key.

Furthermore, by acknowledging the gender dimension of the renewable energy sub-sector, policymakers have an opportunity to ensure that women can participate in this expanding green labor force on equal terms as their male counterparts.

An IRENA report from 2019 estimates that only 32% of the current global renewable energy workforce are women and that the gender gap is even wider in technical and senior roles. In a 2020 report on the emerging wind energy sector, IRENA concludes women constitute only 21% of the workforce in this sub-sector, which is even lower that the global average for women in oil and gas (22%).

The reasons for these gender gaps are complex, and the NDC can be an important instrument to pair climate targets with socio-economic co-benefits and women’s empowerment.

A first step towards closing this gender gap is to have better quality gender data to drive responsive polices, for example in public procurement criteria that stimulate women’s participation in the RE workforce, conducive workplace policies, and measures to increase the number of women in energy-related education.

In the Mexican State of Sonora, where 21% of the energy workforce are women, GGGI has engaged with a broad range of public and private sector stakeholders to explore opportunities for gender equality in renewable energy sector. This should ensure a broader talent-base for a growing sector.

At the same time, Mexico has one of the world’s largest gender gaps in employment generally, and increased women’s participation could therefore significantly contribute to economic growth and increased welfare.

In conclusion, while gender equality and women’s empowerment are goals, they are also essential enablers of climate action and development more broadly. While upping climate ambitions in 2020, we must also step up our efforts to unlock the potential of women and girls around the world.

The post An Ambitious Year for Climate Action Is a Big Year for Women’s Empowerment appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Frank Rijsberman, Director General, and Ingvild Solvang, Head of Climate Action and Inclusive Development, GGGI

The post An Ambitious Year for Climate Action Is a Big Year for Women’s Empowerment appeared first on Inter Press Service.

The rising number of children failing to attend classes is blamed on the poor state of the economy.

Muhammadu Sanusi II was removed to safeguard the culture of the Kano emirate, the government says.

Igor Matovic, Slovakia’s prime minister-elect, wants to fund investigative journalists to act as corruption watchdogs on government and state bodies. Credit: Ed Holt/IPS

By Ed Holt
BRATISLAVA, Mar 9 2020 (IPS)

Plans announced by Slovakia’s prime minister-elect to fund investigative journalists to act as corruption watchdogs on government and state bodies have been dismissed as “a road to hell” by local journalists.

Igor Matovic, whose OLaNO party won Slovakia’s elections at the end of last month on the back of a strongly anti-corruption campaign, last week said investigative journalists were the best people to keep a check on the use of public funds by ministers and state officials.

But the idea, which comes just two years after Slovak investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova were shot dead, has been met with almost universal antipathy by the country’s journalistic community.

They say it could compromise journalists’ independence and fear it could be a way for political leaders to absolve themselves of responsibility for rooting out corruption.

Instead, they say, the incoming prime minister would be better off concentrating on introducing legislation to ensure they can do their work more efficiently and safely.

“It’s nice that Mr Matovic is thinking of us, and this idea may be well-meant, but it’s is a road to hell,” Arpad Soltesz, head of the Jan Kuciak Centre for Investigative Journalism, told IPS.

Matovic said just hours after he won the elections that he wanted a special unit set up to root out public sector corruption.

He suggested the unit be made up of investigative journalists working across the country who could investigate corruption in central government and ministries as well as regional authorities and state bodies.

The fund would receive 10 million EUR per year from the state – Matovic has suggested legislation could be brought in to guarantee the funding – and that a yet to be established journalists’ organisation would decide on allocating the financing from the fund.

Slovakia has seen a slew of corruption scandals, some involving people at the highest levels of government, in recent years. The story Kuciak was working on when he and his fiancée were shot in his home east of the capital Bratislava, exposed links between the Smer party and the Italian mafia.

Matovic told Slovak media the work of the fund “would [act as] the best independent arbitrator on the transparency of the use of public funds.”

However, journalists said it could raise serious questions over media independence.

Marek Vagovic, head of investigative reporting at the Aktuality.sk online news outlet which Kuciak was working for when he was killed, said in a Facebook post: “As one of the key pillars of respectable media is its independence, it is not appropriate to take any financial support from the government/state. Not now, not in the past, nor in the future…. It could lower public trust in us.”

The work investigative reporters do is widely recognised as a vital part of any free democracy in many states. But it is often expensive and not all newspapers can afford to do such reporting.

Because of this, funds are available in many countries, some with state financing, for investigative journalists.

However, many are clearly independent from governments which finance them, such as the Dutch Journalism Fund and the Dutch Fund for Journalism which receive millions of euro per year in funding from the Dutch Education Ministry, but which are also funded from other sources and which decide on grant applications using independent experts.

Matovic’s plans so far suggest money for the Slovak fund would come solely from the state – something which worries local journalists who point to neighbouring Hungary as an example of what can go wrong when government funds the media.

Populist Hungarian PM Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party are estimated to be in control of up to 90 percent of the country’s media, having used policy and public funding to essentially wipe out critical and independent news outlets.

In 2018, 467 media outlets alone, some of which had been created using public funds, were ‘given’ to the Central European Press and Media Foundation (KESMA) – run by people close to Orban – by their pro-government owners. This effectively brought them under the control of the regime.

Beata Balogova, editor in chief of the Slovak daily Sme, was quoted in Slovak media as saying: “Forgive me if, in a region where Viktor Orban created KESMA, I’m a bit concerned about similar initiatives.”

Balogova and others have also questioned journalists’ powers to deal with corruption.

Matus Kostolny, editor in chief of the Dennik N daily, wrote in his paper: “Investigative journalists can uncover dozens of scandals, but they have no chance of uncovering everything and, unlike the state, they do not have the options to investigate, follow, and use documents that the police, prosecutors and secret service do.”

He added: “It is tempting to leave it to journalists to do, but, in reality it is the prime minister and his coalition partners who must be responsible for the government’s performance.”

Senior figures at Slovak newspapers have urged the incoming Prime Minister to instead focus efforts on making it easier and safer for journalists to investigate corruption.

Before his death Kuciak had told police he had been threatened by prominent local businessman Marian Kocner, whom Kuciak had written about. Kocner was later arrested and is currently on trial for ordering Kuciak’s murder.

“The government should not be paying investigative journalists. It should let them do their work freely and protect them if someone attacks them, or, wants to kill them. And then the government should act on what they uncover,” said Balogova.

In recent years journalists have also faced public denigration and personal attacks by politicians, especially from the Smer party and its leader Robert Fico.

Local journalists have said these repeated attacks by Fico – he called reporters ‘anti-Slovak prostitutes’ and ‘idiots’, among other things – and others helped create a hostile atmosphere towards society which emboldened Kuciak’s killers to carry out his murder.

They say Matovic must ensure politicians in his government do not do the same.

Peter Bardy, editor in chief at Aktuality.sk, said in a Facebook post: “We thank Igor Matovic for his well-meant [idea], but rather than a fund we would welcome the creation of an environment in which we are able to do our work without attacks from politicians turning us into targets for hate attacks.”

But they also want concrete legislative action on key issues which they say makes their work sometimes impossible.

Current libel laws allow for massive fines to be meted out to media for stories about individuals and organisations. Critics say that for some publications these fines would essentially put them out of business, which can deter them from running stories containing corruption allegations.

Meanwhile, journalists often complain they are unable to investigate misuse of public funds properly.

“Ministries hide information about their business activities, using legislative exemptions or claiming business confidentiality. This needs to be changed,” Zuzana Petkova of the Zastavme Korupciu (Stop Corruption) NGO, wrote in a blog in the Dennik N daily about the fund proposals.

Soltesz said he also wanted to see legislation ensuring the effective protection of sources.

“I would like to see legislation introduced whereby any journalist revealing their source against their will would face a legal sanction, in the same way that a doctor or a lawyer is required to adhere to rules of patient/client confidentiality,” he told IPS.

Matovic has defended his plans, saying he sees no reason why the fund would necessarily affect journalists’ independence, pointing out public broadcaster RTVS is financed by the state.

However, in the run up to the elections Matovic’s party attacked the very same broadcaster for a lack of independence, claiming it was censoring negative reports connected to the outgoing ruling coalition.

It is unclear whether Matovic will be able to implement his plans. While there appears to be tentative support among politicians in the four-party coalition government he is set to lead, it is hard to see how it could function given the clear lack of support among the wider Slovak journalism community.

“No one in any serious media is positive about this plan. We say thanks but no thanks. Journalism should remain independent,” said Soltesz.

Related Articles

• Slovak Journalist’s Trial a Fundamental Moment to Prove if Country can Punish Crimes Designed to Silence Journalists
• Q&A: A New Model for Independent Journalism in Slovakia

The post Journalists Tell Slovakia’s PM-elect: ‘Thanks, but No Thanks’ appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: UN News/Li Zhang

By Ifeanyi Nsofor
ABUJA, Mar 9 2020 (IPS)

Recently, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said, “We have an epidemic caused by Coronavirus, but we have a pandemic caused by fear “.

This fear is worsened by how news agencies report the outbreak. These are some examples.

“Bodies ‘pile up’ in morgue as Iran feels strain of coronavirus” – CNN

“First UK death from coronavirus confirmed as cases surge to 115” – The Guardian UK

“Coronavirus: Global death toll exceeds 3,000” – Premium Times Nigeria

“Death toll from coronavirus in Italy rises to 148: Live updates” – Aljazeera

“Coronavirus update, map as death toll reaches 3,200. Infections soar in Italy, Iran and South Korea” – Newsweek

News outlets are often quick to report the number of infected and deaths due to Coronavirus. However, they do not highlight as prominently the number of Coronavirus survivors. Yet, there are many survivors.

Reporting the complete picture of the outbreak gives hope and builds confidence in people that being infected is not a death sentence. In contrast, continuing the negative reporting of COVID-19 increases hysteria, fear and panic associated with the outbreak

There are currently 110,624 reported cases; 62,397 have recovered, 44,396 are currently infected, with 3,831 deaths. herefore, there are 16 times as many people who have survived Coronavirus as those who have died from it. A breakdown of Coronavirus survivors in some countries are as follows, China: 58,721, Iran: 2,134, Italy: 622 and South Korea: 166. The much-reported Diamond Princess Ship has 245 survivors, and this is hardly reported.

The Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie describes this act of only focusing on one side of a story as the danger of the single story. In her TEDGlobal Talk, Chimamanda affirms that we are vulnerable and impressionable in the face of a story. She went further to say that, show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.

These Coronavirus headlines by major news agencies spell death, gloom and despair. Unconsciously, people are only associating deaths with the Coronavirus outbreak. They are taking extreme measures, closing businesses and schools. Currently, nearly 300 million children are out of school because of fear.

On the extreme end, the National Association of Funeral Directors in the United Kingdom  have indicated that if Coronavirus is declared a Pandemic, they would consider streaming funeral services online. According to the Association, this is to prevent the spread of the infection and give the bereaved a chance to mourn their loss. However, this could be counterproductive because internet trolls may use such videos to propagate fear and panic.

This must change.  Indeed, reporting the complete picture of the outbreak gives hope and builds confidence in people that being infected is not a death sentence. In contrast, continuing the negative reporting of COVID-19 increases hysteria, fear and panic associated with the outbreak. It perpetuates the narrative that people do not survive the infection. Fortunately, the data show the contrary.

Henceforth, these are four ways to ensure balanced reporting by news organisation:

First, news agencies must begin to write the complete story and always mention numbers of survivors in their headlines. Their articles on the Coronavirus outbreak should be aspirational as well as factual. Leaving out the thousands of people who survive the infection is a great disservice to survivors and paints an incomplete picture.

Second, we need to hear Coronavirus survivors speak about their experiences. Journalists should interview these survivors and document their journeys. There is a great lesson in this regard from the CNN Global Town Hall on Coronavirus. During the townhall meeting, Carl Goldman, a survivor at the Nebraska University Teaching Hospital was interviewed. He got infected while aboard the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship. Watching him share the symptoms he experienced, how he was treated by health workers and his recovery was liberating. More of such interviews should be done with survivors to encourage us all.

Third, news agencies must keep reiterating preventative measures in their reporting. People should know that doing these would reduce their risks of getting infected. Avoid touching their eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands; wash their hands with soap under running water; cough/sneeze into a tissue paper or the curve of the elbows, maintain a distance of at least 5 feet from anyone coughing or sneezing, and contact their healthcare providers when in doubt.

Fourth, news agencies should be cautious about the types of information they share with the public. The World Health Organisation acknowledges that there is currently an infodemic – an overwhelming amount of true and false information on social media and websites. When the public is overloaded with only news of death, it could lead to internet trolls using such to create misinformation.

To keep fear from spreading faster than the actual virus, organizations must self-regulate and report the Coronavirus outbreak in a complete manner. It is the ethical thing to do. It is for public good and public health.

 

The post News Agencies Must Paint a Complete Picture of Coronavirus appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Dr. Ifeanyi Nsofor is a medical doctor, the CEO of EpiAFRIC, Director of Policy and Advocacy for Nigeria Health Watch

The post News Agencies Must Paint a Complete Picture of Coronavirus appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Fairuz Ahmed
NEW YORK, Mar 9 2020 (IPS)

“What do you get from the TikTok videos? Do you prefer the platform for entertainment, passing time or for connecting with your friends? I have seen comical videos, venting sessions and some that do not make any sense what so ever and some are just rude, making fun of others.” I asked the 14-year-old k-popper teenager flipping through the pages of a manga book while he chose to respond in English coming from a Spanish speaking family and studying Mandarin as a third language.

The reply was not quite as I expected and it compelled me to look into the reason ‘why’ rather than ‘what’. To better understand the reasoning I personally communicated with 23 teenagers who actively use this platform coming from 15 countries and each seemed to add something unique to their responses.

TikTok is a video-sharing social networking service owned by ByteDance, a Beijing-based company founded in 2012 by Zhang Yiming. It is used to create short lip-sync, comedy, and talent videos. The application allows users to create short music and lip-sync videos of 3 to 15 seconds and short looping videos of 3 to 60 seconds. The app is popular in Asia, the United States, and other parts of the world. TikTok is not available in China, and its servers are based in countries where the app is available. (1) TikTok is by far one of the world’s most downloaded apps in recent years, having surpassed both the one billion and 1.5 billion downloads mark on the App Store and Google Play in a single year in 2019. The app reached its first billion only as recently as February 2019 and took just under eight months to gain half a billion more. (2)

As a 90’s child growing up with MySpace then Hi5 and now keeping social ties with my friends and families over Facebook and Instagram, TikTok seemed like unknown territory, and putting it into a well-defined genre seemed impossible. Surprisingly 41 percent of TikTok users are aged between 16 and 24. Another 24.5 percent of the visitors’ ages 18 and older fell into the 25 to 34 age group. (3) And the number count of users is increasing at a rapid speed.

Coming back to the responses I received from the young Generation Z, it seems like the appeal is a mix of various trigger factors. Similar to any form of social interaction this completes the void of connectivity, expressing emotions and need for getting the point across. Here they can experience the raw emotion with added drama.

For any human being, especially for teenagers, it is an inborn and sometimes desperate need to get their point across without being judged. To socialize, express and then to entertain themselves is a necessity and this can be daunting for some facing peer pressure, following social and community expectations and largely adhering to the geographical location, the mindset of others around him or her while abiding the family traits.

Tiktok videos are short and give a burst of entertainment from mostly non-celebrities and from people who are easy to relate to. The content is generated at home, rarely revised and formally formularized. There are most times no scripts, formality or preparation. People put themselves out there and be silly, open, serious and at times vulnerable. So for a teenager, it becomes relatable. And they can see the real person in the video, experiencing life and doing something as compared to a picture or status it becomes more valid.

And all this happens with the buffer of having a screen. There is no pressure of being uncomfortable with breaking the ice or make small talks to start the conversation or even need to look into someone’s eyes while conversing. And as most of the content is shared in public or showcased to a group of mutuals or friends, the target audience can be selected and a comfort zone can be established.

The fun, yet conflicting aspect of TikTok is that the person uploading the video content makes fun of themselves and expects mixed reactions. Here an expression can be shared without being direct or oppressive.

Rather than talking over the phone, many prefers to communicate through a media. Even when teenagers hangout, they will have their phones open and at times communicate through an online message or group chat, while being present in the same room. And this communication gets an edge when it is paired with a very short video where a person can see the facial expression, surroundings and read the body language. They put themselves out there to engage, socialize and sometimes be even evaluated by the peers.

Yes, there are issues and misuse or even scope for cyberbullying, pedophilia, body shaming, information leaking, and exploitation through social media platforms but these are not keeping users from taking part and exposing themselves. (4) Many users are well aware of the negative factors before posting the content but end up posting the content either way.

With new technology comes new challenges. An article published by UNICEF on February 2020 where one of TikTok’s biggest stars mentioned that she gets hundreds of thousands of hate comments every week, often focusing on her body and weight. (5) Similar to her story many other social media users have voiced concern of hate comments and cyberbullying.

But on follow up they have also found a way to cope with and channel their frustrations in productive ways seeking help and being vocal. Many teenagers learn actively and passively from experiences shared by these stars and learn how to deal and how to ask for help if they face such issues.

The United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is spearheading the virtual dance petition as a means to empower an estimated 1.2 billion people aged between 15 and 24, over 80% of whom hail from developing countries. More than 5000 people have already taken part in this venture. The UN is stepping up the fight against world hunger by inviting young people to #danceforchange on TikTok to persuade global leaders to do more to invest in rural youth and agriculture. (6)

Another example of using the social media platform to get the voice across is the interactive approach, where the younger generation can relate to and engage. (7) TikTok has teamed up with the United Nation Women to raise awareness about violence against women in India

The #KaunsiBadiBaatHai campaign has attracted more than 887.5 million views as of Monday. It is part of a larger initiative by UN Women of activism against gender-based violence. (8) The World Health Organization and the United Nations have also engaged through TikTok to spread service announcements about coronavirus in an attempt to reach teens with reliable information. (9)

In any of the social platforms time and space also has no barrier what so ever. A person can be in India while the first viewer can be from China and the first commenter can be from Uruguay. So when someone posts, they have a massive audience. Trends, voices, global issues, anything, and everything can be a topic. And it is interesting that apart from entertainment, many pressing topics like politics, climate change, social issues gain momentum with these short videos. From my discussion, it was pleasing to know that most teenagers are aware of climate change and are voicing concerns. They are equally alert of immigration and refugee situations around the globe, racially targeted factors, political tensions, social injustices, abortion issues and so on.

It was important also to learn that many have reached out seeking support and information from various organizations dealing with depression, suicide prevention, domestic violence, rape, bullying, pregnancy, LGBTQ issues and were voicing out using TikTok platforms. (10)

1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok

2.https://www.oberlo.com/blog/tiktok-statistics

3.https://www.marketingcharts.com/digital/social-media-108342

4.https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/social-media-fame-seeker/

5.https://www.insider.com/charli-dixie-damelio-tik-tok-biggest-stars-cyberbullying-video-2020-2

6.https://www.thedrum.com/news/2019/05/29/un-calls-time-hunger-with-tiktok-dance-challenge

7.https://www.scmp.com/tech/apps-social/article/3040170/tiktok-teams-un-women-raise-awareness-about-violence-against-women

8. https://in.one.un.org/un-press-release/un-women-india-and-tiktok-unite-to-break-the-silence-end-violence/

9. https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccabellan/2020/03/03/the-who-is-on-tiktok-is-the-world-ending/#48884e4c1f16

10. https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/suicide-prevention

11. https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/how-tiktok-caught-us-regulatory-crossfire-rose-global-video-stardom-1823353

The post TikTok: Expressive Mechanism for many dealing with today’s world appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Pakistani migrant workers build a skyscraper in Dubai. Credit: S. Irfan Ahmed/IPS

By Joseph Chamie
NEW YORK, Mar 9 2020 (IPS)

The answer to the critical question of how many immigrants will there be in the future is:  far below the number of people wanting to immigrate and far above the number of immigrants wanted. The discrepancy between the two opposing migration “wants” underlies the current divisive migration crisis sweeping the globe.

Surveys report that 15 percent of the world’s population, more than one billion people, would migrate to another country if they could. Moreover, the proportions wanting to move to another country are considerably higher in some developing regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa (33 percent), Latin America (27 percent) and Middle East and North Africa (24 percent).

Some countries in developed regions also have relatively high proportions wanting to immigrate, such as Russia (20 percent).

However, the current annual number of immigrants, about 5 million, is a just small fraction of the billion plus people wanting to immigrate. The total number of immigrants worldwide is also comparatively small, about 275 million or less than a quarter of those wanting to immigrate (Figure 1).

 

Source: Based on United Nations Population Division and Gallup.

 

In addition, right-wing and populist parties and nationalist groups in virtually every region of the world are putting increasing pressure on governments to oppose and resist accepting immigrants, especially those coming from very different cultures. Those parties and groups are also urging authorities to deport those migrants residing unlawfully in the country.

More than one billion people would migrate to another country if they could. The proportions wanting to move to another country are considerably higher in some developing regions, such as sub-Saharan Africa (33 percent), Latin America (27 percent) and Middle East and North Africa (24 percent)

Opinion polls in various migrant-receiving countries show that immigration is a top concern of voters with most having little appetite for more migration, especially illegal immigration. In the European Union, majorities in Greece (82%), Hungary (72%), Italy (71%) and Germany (58%) believe that fewer immigrants or no immigrants should be allowed to move into their countries. Majorities with similar views are also found in Israel (73%), Russia (67%), South Africa (65%) and Argentina (61%).

The anti-immigrant sentiment has also spread to include refugees and asylum seekers. Government policies to stem the tide of illegal immigrants are undermining the established rights and protections granted to refugees and asylum seekers. While in theory refugees have the right to cross borders in search of asylum, in reality countries are trying to prevent them from entering their territories.

Most recently, Greece, Bulgaria and other members of the European Union are alarmed that Turkey, which hosts the largest number of refugees, close to 4.1 million, is not restraining hundreds of thousands asylum seekers in its territory from reaching Europe.

In addition to many EU member countries, many other countries have policies to restrict refugee and asylum access, including Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, India, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, United Kingdom and the United States.

The number of refugees worldwide in 2019 has more than doubled in the past decade, reaching approximately 26 million. In addition, UNHCR estimates that there are more than 3 million asylum seekers, 4 million stateless people and 41 million internally displaced persons.

While allowing countries to retain control over their borders, international laws, treaties and conventions also aim to protect and assist refugees and asylum seekers. However, the definitions of a refugee and legitimate asylum seeker are open to political interpretation, resulting in ongoing struggles in country capitals over who is covered and who is not.

In addition to those fleeing persecution, growing numbers of people are becoming refugees due to human rights violations and armed conflict. Humanitarian emergencies, widespread poverty and climate change are producing desperate people who have slim chances of migrating to another country other than arriving at its borders seeking asylum.

Also recently, a landmark ruling by the United Nations human rights committee found that it is unlawful for governments to return people to countries where their lives might be threatened by a climate crisis. Under such a judgment, tens of millions of people could be displaced and become refugees in the near future due to life-threatening climate and environmental changes.

However, the definition of climate refugee remains an open issue for governments and international organizations.

Anticipating the future flows of international migration is a challenging undertaking that is affected by economic, political, social and environmental factors in sending, transiting and receiving countries.

Nevertheless, population projections with explicit assumptions on the expected net number of migrants in the future are useful as they provide insight about the effects of future migration on a population’s size, age structure and composition.

The United Nations population projections, for example, provide two scenarios, the medium and zero migration variants, for the future net number of immigrants for all countries and regions. In brief, the future net numbers of immigrants in the medium variant are assumed to remain unchanged at approximately current levels throughout the remainder of the 21st century (Figure 2).

 

Source: United Nations Population Division.

 

For analysts perhaps the safest answer politically is to assume immigration levels in the future will remain about the same as today, which seems to be the practice in most population projections. In the United States, for example, the main case scenario in the Census Bureau’s population projections to 2060 assumes net immigration levels will continue at slightly more than one million per year.

The politically safest answer, however, does not seem the most likely. Given a world approaching 8 billion inhabitants with unbalanced wealth and resources and unbalanced demographic trends compounded by climate change, it appears most likely that migration levels will be substantially higher in the coming decades.

Today more people are immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons than ever before. Those numbers have also been increasing, not declining, as more developing countries struggle with armed conflict, corruption, crime, hunger, poverty, unemployment, climate change and fragile governments.

It is therefore understandable that huge numbers of people in developing regions want to move to another country, typically a wealthy more developed country.

If the future is indeed more immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, what will be the responses of migrant-receiving countries? Their current policies are basically to build walls and fences, tighten borders, institute travel bans, limit refugees, restrict asylum seekers and deport migrants unlawfully resident. Given today’s record-breaking numbers of immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers and others on the move, those policies do not seem to be achieving their intended goals.

Some advocate taking stronger anti-immigrant measures, such as refusing boat migrants ports to land, creating hostile environments for immigrants, using tear gas and water cannons, placing minefields along the border and shooting “infiltrators”.

They contend that if they do not stop the immigrant invasion and gain control over their borders, they will be overwhelmed and loose their culture and way of life as has happened in the past and is happening today in a number of countries.

Others have concluded that it is inevitable that there will be more immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in the future. Rather than deny this likely trend, they recommend that countries make appropriate plans to deal with the expected migration increases.

While the number of immigrants in the future is a matter of heated debate, nearly all agree:  people on the move – be they immigrants, refugees or asylum seekers – will remain a controversial and divisive political issue for the foreseeable future.

 

*Joseph Chamie, a former director of the United Nations Population Division, is currently an independent consulting demographer.

The post How Many Immigrants in the Future? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

After 45 years in service, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa is looking forward to her retirement.

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By Prof. Dr. Azza Karam and Rev. Kyoichi Sugino
NEW YORK, Mar 9 2020 (IPS)

As a growing public health crisis becomes increasingly urgent, prominent global actors and institutions, including the United Nations, are confronted by the realisation that all hands on deck are required to address the cross-cutting challenges faced by our world today.

Another public health epidemic is but one of the major global challenges demanding coordinated and effective responses from diverse institutions, and civil society networks.

Income inequality continues to grow, with the world’s richest 1% in 2020 having twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people.

The political and economic will critical to combatting climate change is more needed than ever, with virtually all States behind in their commitments to the Paris Agreement.

With communities ravaged by ongoing conflict, a record 70 million people have fled their homes. As calls for change echo across the globe, the percentage of people living in countries where civic space is considered “repressed” more than doubled in 2019.

Fundamental elements essential to securing human dignity – the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to society, the power to demand change, freedom from any and all forms of discrimination, and the ability to live within and nurture a sustainable environment – are rapidly eroding.

These challenges are striking at a time when multilateralism is threatened, space for civil society is shrinking, and the call for walls of separation are on the rise.

The opportunity to forge ahead as humanity through this turmoil may well exist within the deepest and widest infrastructures ever created and sustained by humankind: the world’s religious communities, to which over 80% of humanity claims some affiliation.

In recent years, international attention has undeniably been focused on the rise in religiously-motivated violence, furthering the focus on religion as (part of) the problem.

However, a relatively lesser known reality in parallel with these trends, may offer insights to solutions: a growing global network of believers working to address these challenges through a unique process of multi-religious peacebuilding.

These religious leaders and constituents hail from an array of religious and spiritual communities as diverse and complex as the world we live in. They are collaborating on, and implementing, development, humanitarian, and peace processes – guiding their societies towards cohesion, respect for differences and cultures of peace.

By convening in interreligious councils, representative of their religious institutions, leadership and communities, at national and regional levels, Religions for Peace – a multi-religious peacebuilding coalition with experienced interreligious platforms in 90 countries across six regions – has a unique and powerful mechanism for multi-religious collaboration and peacebuilding.

The 2020-2025 global Strategic Plan is the culmination of sustained multistakeholder debates and consensus-building, within the vast movement of Religions for Peace.

At the Religions for Peace 10th World Assembly in August 2019, over 1,000 representatives from 125 countries discerned a framework by which to organise their future collaborative action on these global challenges.

Another global consultation in December 2019 convened over 250 religious leaders to do a deep dive, with focused and honest deliberations, ultimately emerging with the consensus to prioritise six strategic goals: peaceful, just and inclusive societies; gender equality; environment; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; interreligious education; and global partnerships.

Uniting religious and indigenous leaders for the protection of tropical forests is a hallmark of the joint prioritisation of nurturing a sustainable environment, believed to be a matter of moral urgency and action.

The religious leaders also agreed to champion safeguarding the universal right to thought, conscience and religion within and beyond their own constituencies, including in this spectrum of commitments coordinating their responses to the rise in attacks on holy sites and places of worship.

They embraced a deeper focus on interreligious education – not to reinvent the wheel, but to collate the existing work and curricula in all corners of the world in an effort to facilitate knowledge and access to dispel ignorance and counter misconceptions at the root of intolerance, hatred and violence.

The Religions for Peace movement leaders also committed to scaling up multi-stakeholder partnerships with businesses, governments and civil society, to develop innovative approaches and seek resolutions together.

These goals and actions correspond to the Sustainable Development Goals Agenda, and the multi-religious efforts will be measured and assessed using the SDG indicators agreed to by all member states of the United Nations.

The strategic priorities identified are built on legacies of powerful and effective interventions. Throughout Religions for Peace’s 50 years, these interreligious platforms have amassed a solid record of multi-religious engagement including mediating conflict and negotiating the release of child hostages in Sierra Leone, providing care and support for orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS, mobilising 21 million multi-religious youth for global disarmament, and forging partnerships between religious and indigenous communities for rainforest protection – to name but a few.

But these priorities also herald a new era of resolve, and courage, among the world’s senior-most religious leaders and institutions, through their interreligious platforms.

To have gender equality as a strategic priority of such a movement, built on and by traditional religious institutions, is historic. After electing the coalition’s first woman Secretary General in 2019, Religions for Peace leadership are sending a clear message of commitment to action which includes increasing women’s leadership and impact within the movement, and beyond.

It is this blend of renewed and courageous resolve, together with skills steeped in decades of experience with multi-religious and multi-cultural engagement in development and human rights, which offers much needed alternative cultures of healing and peace. These interreligious councils not only drive the solution — they are a necessary part of the solution.

On this 75th year of the United Nations system, Religions for Peace – through its global, regional, national and grassroots interreligious council platforms – has been heeding the call for holistic responses to cross-cutting global challenges for 50 of these years.

With its 5-year strategy and actions now co-designed and approved by representatives of all the world’s religious institutions, the movement of Religions for Peace hereby calls on governments, civil societies and multi-lateral institutions to partner with it to create more peaceful, just and inclusive societies – leaving no one behind.

The post The Arc of Justice: The World’s Religions Launch Strategic Priorities for Peace appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Prof. Dr. Azza Karam is Secretary General-elect of Religions for Peace and Rev. Kyoichi Sugino is Secretary General, a.i. of Religions for Peace

The post The Arc of Justice: The World’s Religions Launch Strategic Priorities for Peace appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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