News Media

India Driving Toward 'Authoritarianism' — Media Being Gagged

The following is a revised version of the previous report titled "India Falls from ‘Free’ to ‘Partly Free’ in Freedom Index"

By Ditsa Bhattacharya, NewsClick and ICF Team

NEW DELHI (IDN) — India's status fell from "free" to "partly free" in the Freedom in the World 2021 report released on March 3. India's score in the index decreased by four points, from 71 in 2020, to 67 in 2021. The report, published by Freedom House, a US-based non-governmental organisation, measures the strength of democratic processes in countries. The report attributed the decline in India's score to the policies of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; South Asia; 04 March 2021

Photo: A community kitchen at one of the protest sites. Credit: WNV/Manu Moudgil.

Farm Crisis Fuelling India’s Farmers’ Protests

By Manu Moudgil*

NEW DELHI (IDN) – On February 6, protesters blocked roads at an estimated 10,000 spots across India as part of the ongoing movement against the new farm laws enacted by the national government last year. For over two months, the most populous democracy in the world has witnessed what is being called one of the biggest protests in human history.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; South Asia; 19 February 2021

Photo: Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Credit: RWDSU.

Behind Amazon's 'Most Aggressive Anti-Union Effort’

Viewpoint by Sonali Kolhatkar

Workers at one of Amazon’s warehouses are deciding whether or not to join a union. Amazon’s union-busting efforts indicate just how important the vote is, writes Sonali Kolhatkar. She is the founder, host and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations. This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 11 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 credit: Alternative Information & Development Centre (AIDC), Cape Town

Time to Dispense with the Rhetoric of Decolonisation

Viewpoint by Themrise Khan*

KARACHI (IDN) – While preparing to speak at an online discussion on decolonising the aid sector, I searched Google Translate for a corresponding word for 'decolonisation’ in my native language of Urdu. I couldn’t find one. In many other languages, from Arabic to Spanish, only a loanword exists. It’s just one example of how the discussion on decolonisation rarely centres the colonised.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 18 January 2021

Photo: Crowd of Trump supporters marching on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, ultimately leading the building being breached and several deaths. C BY-SA 4.0

Behind January 6 Insurrection: America Is an Oligarchy, Not A Functioning Democracy

Viewpoint by Albena Azmanova and Marshall Auerback *

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

NEW YORK | BRUSSELS (IDN) – While the majority of Americans deplored the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, it was troubling to see a YouGov poll indicating that 1 in 5 voters approved of the assault. Their attitudes were buttressed by a significant number of House and Senate Republicans who have egged on the matter by continuing to call into question the legitimacy of last November’s election result. This is a sign that the rot in the American political system goes deep.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 17 January 2021

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres swears in Martha Helena Lopez as assistant secretary-general for human resources management, Aug. 23, 2017. New tensions have flared between the pension fund board, which she chairs, and UN staff representatives on the board. MANUEL ELIAS/UN PHOTO

Concern About the UN Pension Fund's Administration

By Loraine Rickard-Martin*, Passblue

NEW YORK (IDN) – At the $79.4 billion United Nations pension fund, continuing tensions came to a head this month when the UN participant representatives to the pension board — elected representatives of 85,000 active UN staff members — wrote on December 2 to the General Assembly body that oversees the fund about their concerns on a range of issues regarding the fund’s administration and governance.

: UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 25 December 2020

Photo: Effigy of Dominic Cummings as Boris Johnson's puppet-master at the People’s Vote march, in October 2019. [Scale proportionality adjusted] Credit: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Time to Ditch the Technocratic, Mechanical Vision of Government

Viewpoint by Matthew Flinders and David Blunkett*

SHEFFIELD (IDN) – If crises bring with them new opportunities to think afresh, then the combined impact of Brexit and COVID has been to focus attention on the capacity and structure of the British state. This rethinking is increasingly framed in terms of smart government. Dominic Cummings, the British prime minister’s now departing chief adviser, has been at the centre of a drive to “harness the power of data and technology” at every turn. Technology has a role to play in modern government, but what Cummings seems intent on fashioning appears something closer to a populist technocracy based on a belief in algorithmic governance.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 19 December 2020

Photo: Paska Akwero was one of the thousands of Ugandan girls abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army and forced into marriage. At age 12, she was given to LRA leader Joseph Kony and bore him a son. Like many former captives of the LRA, she and her son are shunned every day by Ugandans. Credit: Edward Echwalu/PRI

Children Born of War Remain Invisible Victims of Sexual Violence

Viewpoint by Tonny Raymond Kirabira and Leila Choukroune*

PORTSMOUTH, United Kingdom (IDN) – Thirty-four years ago, northern Uganda was plunged into a two-decade-long civil war between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony and the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).

Numerous children were victims of abduction, sexual violence, forced labour and soldiering. More specifically, children born of war continue to be the invisible victim of sexual violence. Non-governmental organisations estimate that over 66,000 children and youths were abducted by the LRA to serve as soldiers or sex slaves.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 02 December 2020

Photo: Kem Sokha, who most recently served as the President of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was arrested and imprisoned at a detention centre in Tbong Khmum Province on 3 September 2017 under allegations of treason. He was released from house arrest on 11 November 2019. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

“All Time Low” for Democracy in Cambodia

Viewpoint by Rhona Smith*

NEWCASTLE (IDN) – If you are simply going on the number of political trials in Cambodia at the moment, the country would seem to be politically unstable – a hotbed of unrest.

Hundreds of people are on trial for incitement, conspiracy, and violence endangering the nation. But the prime minister, Hun Sen, who has been in power since 1985, regularly insists that his tenure has been characterised by peace, stability and development – despite internal and external threats. He is the world’s longest-serving head of government.