 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – “Feminism: Our Bodies, Our Truths” will take centre stage at the upcoming South African Book Fair taking place virtually from September 11-13 at the culmination of South Africa’s National Book Week.
Featured speakers include Mishumo Maduma, Terry-Ann Adams, Jen Thorpe and Anelile Gibixego in discussion with Dr Alma-Nalisha Cele on how women’s bodies filter their life experiences and can be tools for conformity or resistance.
Viewpoint by Sharanya Kanikkannan
The writer is Legal and Policy Adviser at AIDS-Free World and its Code Blue Campaign.
NEW YORK (IDN) – Like so many Indian girls, I learned at an early age that light skin was feminine, precious, and desirable.
Pink tubes of Fair & Lovely cream—a product that comprises 40 percent of the skin lightening market in India—were a staple of my childhood, tucked away in dressing table drawers in every home and displayed on the shelves of every corner store. Looking back, I wonder why so many adults failed to imagine a world where girls were more than a “pantone” shade on a plastic tube.
Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes*
The writer, Dr Patrick I Gomes, was Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States for five years until February 29, 2020. The 79-nation inter-regional body officially became the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) on April 5, 2020. Dr Gomes was previously Ambassador of the Republic of Guyana, to the EU in Brussels.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – The discussion on “Income Opportunities for Women" in the Togolese Republic in West Africa, reported in IDN on July 6, provides an opportunity to share some aspects of the experiences by Indigenous women and community loggers in the Iwokrama Forest area in Guyana, where sustainable forest management and income-generating activities are being pursued.
The Rich and Poor are Not Sailing in the Same Boat
By Jaya Ramachandran
NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Secretary-General António Guterres has in a surprise dramatic move, castigated a series of "fallacies and falsehoods" perpetrated particularly on the deprived of the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed all lies such as the lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all; the fiction that unpaid care work is not work; the delusion that we live in a post-racist world; the myth that we are all in the same boat".
By Caroline Mwanga
NEW YORK (IDN) – Twenty-five years after its adoption the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, member states and observers, civil society organizations, gender equality leaders, CEOs, and heads of academia will gather virtually on July 21 in a multi-stakeholder hearing. The purpose is to bolster priority actions at the global and national level that will address the challenges that threaten the bold vision of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
Viewpoint by Rhoda Peace Tumusiime
The writer is a member of the Malabo Montpellier Panel and former AU Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture at the African Union Commission (AUC).
ENTEBBE, Uganda (IDN) – Livestock have long been the insurance policy of Africa’s poorest, with even a single goat or a chicken providing a buffer against economic hardship and hunger.
But as Covid-19 forces many to fall back on these safety nets, the need for more long-term support of the continent’s livestock sector is laid bare.
Viewpoint by Anthony Ajayi and Meggie Mwoka*
Kenya’s Senate is considering a reproductive healthcare bill, which seeks to address reproductive health gaps. This is the second time the bill has come before the senate. It has, once again, drawn fire from religious groups, some politicians and civil society lobbies opposed to its proposals. Anthony Ajayi and Meggie Mwoka unpack the bill and the lessons from previous failed attempts.
Income Opportunities for Women
By Ramesh Jaura
BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – Togo in West Africa is the venue of a milestone project between Soka Gakkai, a global community-based Buddhist organization and the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO). The two have signed a memorandum to launch a reforestation project offering income opportunities for women's groups in two rural areas of Togo.
The memorandum involving a donation of 10 million yen (US$93,300) for the initial one-year phase of the project was signed on July 1 at the Soka Gakkai (SG) headquarters in Tokyo. The project will kick off on September 1.
Viewpoint by Dr Ram Puniyani
This article is the 11th in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. The writer is a former professor of biomedical engineering and former senior medical officer affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (now Mumbai).
NEW DELHI (IDN) – In Minneapolis, the African American George Floyd lost his life as the white policeman, Derek Chauvin, caught hold of him and put his knee on his neck. This is a technique developed by the Israeli police. For nine long minutes, the knee of the white policeman was on the neck of George, who kept shouting, "I can't breathe".
Viewpoint by Roseline Orwa *
BONDO, Kenya (IDN) – COVID-19, the deadly pandemic that has upended our world, is also, according to a new report, “a widow-making machine”. The emerging scientific evidence that many more men than women are dying from COVID-19 shows that the coronavirus crisis is creating new widows even as global economic turbulence affects women who have been struggling with poverty, discrimination and injustice for years.
International Widows’ Day on 23 June is a reminder of the challenges faced by the world’s 258 million formidable, courageous widows and the 585 million children in their care – and the pandemic makes those challenges even greater.
IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses, features, reports and viewpoints that impact the world and its peoples. It has been online since 2009. Its network spans countries around the world.