Stories about Ideas
Could the sargassum plaguing Tobago's beaches be an opportunity?
As sargassum continues to be a seasonal crisis for many tourism-dependent Caribbean islands, people have been wondering about the possibilities of putting the seaweed to good use.
Artists ‘raise three fingers’ in support of Myanmar protesters
"When we see somebody, and we raise three fingers, we know the movement is still alive. There is still hope."
Biru Terong Initiative: Using the power of video for social change in Indonesia
"We use video to capture the social-economic reality of marginalised groups of society and use that footage to stimulate dialogue and learning."
The Caribbean's foremost literary festival has released its 2021 longlist; Trinidad & Tobago writers dominate
“Where else would you find Trinidadian street food in the same volume as an appraisal of Thom Gunn's poetry, or Dylan Thomas rubbing shoulders with soca?”
Downtown Kingston’s new murals brighten Jamaica’s COVID-19 gloom
Jamaica's creative sector, which had begun to show many 'green shoots' prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, has been particularly hard hit — but it is forging ahead in novel ways.
Exemplary governance: Which countries should high-COVID nations follow?
"What seems clear is that global exemplars do not have to look the same in terms of political structures, incomes, or economic ideology."
Can secularism be compatible with Islam?
"Islam has become an insecure identity that is always undermined by criticism from the Christian or godless, but always colonial, West."
Rubber ducks in Thai protests inspire solidarity and memes
"The image of Thai authorities, armed to the teeth with riot gear and shields, facing off against…rubber ducks…highlights the sheer asymmetry of the battle between protester and state."
In the Middle East, words escape prison walls to inspire freedom and hope
"Why is our homeland so small and tight, and why am I considered a criminal or an enemy that threatens it!”
The importance of ‘unlearning’ the past: Interview with Balkans expert Keith Brown
"Critical thinking [...] liberates us from the illusion that figures in the past imagined their own identity in terms of the nationalisms of their future."
The struggle to end Nigeria's brutal SARS police unit continues
The question of control over SARS has not been adequately answered. The constitution vested control of the police to the presidency under the police chief. But that chain-of-command has broken.
‘Lazy’ Nigerian youth mobilize #EndSARS protest from social media to the streets
Described as ‘lazy’ by Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, with a significant number unemployed, stereotyped as ‘unserious’, these digitally savvy youth have proved critics wrong.
Toward a cyberfeminist future: A new study centers African women as protagonists online
Over 3,000 women from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, and South Africa, were interviewed about their "perceptions of digital safety" and online gender-based violence in a new, large-scale study by Pollicy.
Masculinity in my genes/jeans
Manoeuvring the complexities of being a boy or man in Caribbean societies assumes "there was a DNA of maleness already living in us, sometimes waiting to be activated."
Artists from Gabon to Mozambique interrogate the meaning of ‘Global South’ in new online exhibition
The "Global South" is a loaded, highly political term. "Where is South?" a new, online exhibition featuring work from 90 artists who challenge notions of "south" through artist books, launches...
In Peru, indigenous youth rap against sexual violence
With the hashtag #WarmallanAmaraqMamaqa ["Girls, not mothers"], high school students launch a rap video to demand protection for indigenous and peasant girls.
African Union turns to biosurveillance tech to curb COVID-19
PanaBIOS, an African Union-backed biosurveillance technology, can track the spread of COVID-19 and connect testing centers across the continent.
French media ignores minority role models during COVID-19 coverage
Public health specialists who appear on French TV to discuss the coronavirus pandemic do not reflect the diversity of the French public.
A conversation with Trinidadian Nneka Jones, the artist who created compelling American flag image for TIME magazine: Part I
"We had decided that using the American flag would be the perfect symbolism as it is a reflection of everything happening in the nation currently."
From death in Syria to quarantine in Madrid
In Madrid, freedom is forbidden for your protection, and in Syria, the deprivation of freedom is designed to make you die a thousand deaths.
