'Unseen' News and Views – By Baher Kamal & The Like
1 January 2020 (Wall Street International)* — Right from the beginning of time, man has always searched for the key to longevity. Man sought after elixirs of immortality, fountains of youth and even tried to obtain pills or potions of immortality.
No matter the time in history, man has always desired to live longer without the complications that come with being old.
Amid the pandemic, refugees stepped up to provide healthcare, boost wellness, safeguard their communities and keep us inspired during lockdowns.
Venezuelan doctor Samuel Suárez is taking part in the public health response to coronavirus in San Francisco, a remote village in Ecuador.© UNHCR/Jaime Giménez Sánchez de la Blanca
Sylvana Simons’ party will stand in the 2021 Dutch general election. ‘We’re activating people who’ve never felt politicians speaking to them.’ #12DaysofResistance
1 January 2021 (openDemocracy)* — “The Dutch have perfected their facade. They are the definition of ‘facade!’” Sylvana Simons tells me, laughing, on a video call from her home in the Netherlands. “Things look great from the outside. We have told ourselves that we’re tolerant and we’re understanding and we’re progressive, and the rest of the world is so backwards.”
Howard Richards
Now is a time to emphasize what we should always do anyway, namely: align across sectors for the common good.
The unbounded idea includes sharing surplus, moving resources from where they are not needed to where they are needed, following the ancient principle Pope Francis is now repeating in one form or another almost every day: our property belongs not only to us but also to those we can help with our surplus.
It is about peace by peaceful means; education, ethics, and practical applications; more than about playing hardball with people who choose to live by a different philosophy.
In this editorial I refer especially to the United States, where the future of democracy now hangs in the balance. Surely similar considerations apply at least to some extent elsewhere.
Recently the University of Chicago historian Kathleen Belew and others have been meticulously documenting how widespread, well-organized, and well-armed anti-democratic movements are.
1 January 2021 (UNEP)*— “Both climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic are crises that can only be addressed by everyone together – as part of a transition to an inclusive and sustainable future,” says United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in his new year message for 2021.
He goes on to say that that the central ambition of the United Nations for 2021 is to build a global coalition for carbon neutrality – net zero emissions – by 2050.
