COMMENT BLOG
A remark, a critique, an opinion…
Shutting down the Internet subverts democracy
The Internet is the world’s digital lifeline. For the approximately 5.6 billion people connected to the Internet (some 70% of the global population), access is essential. The entire Internet cannot be switched off, but governments and other actors can temporarily...
The flatline: Gender equality in media still just a dream
A Beijing+30 reflection Exactly 30 years ago today, hope for a new dawn for women and girls was palpable. Governments and civil society that had gathered in Beijing for the Fourth UN World Conference on Women were united on a roadmap to end gender-based discrimination...
Reinventing multilateralism through communication rights
Have you ever read through the agenda of a United Nations General Assembly? The 80th regular session of the General Assembly opens tomorrow, 9 September. Under the theme, “Better Together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights,” the provisional...
The importance of the right to memory
Visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is harrowing. It records, in photos, artifacts, quotes, and stories, the days and months following the dropping of the first atomic bomb on 6 August 1945. Intellectually, we all know the death and destruction was horrific....
In the face of genocide, no place for silence
The current Israeli regime is responsible for carrying out genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This is the opinion of a United Nations Special Committee, Amnesty International, Médecins Sans Frontières, B’Tselem, and Physicians for Human Rights Israel...
US exit from UNESCO underscores need for civil society to step up
The US government just announced it will withdraw from UNESCO (again) effective December 31, 2026, stating that “[c]ontinued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States.” UNESCO'S statement in response was a diplomatic shrug, underlining...
Beyond Connectivity – Advocating Community at the World Summit on the Information Society
Today, 30 June, is “World Social Media Day” – a commemoration created by the website Mashable in 2010 that celebrates the transformative power of social media. That transformation – with all its positive and negative real world impacts – is part of the information...
All the lies, distortions, and fake news fit to print
“All the news that’s fit to print” was a motto adopted by American newspaper publisher Adolph S. Ochs – an immigrant from Germany – when he took over The New York Times in 1895. It signified the newspaper’s commitment to accurate, impartial, and ethical news...
The wild west of AI regulation
The U.S. House of Representatives just passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act intended to deliver the President’s domestic agenda. Among the provisions is a 10-year moratorium on states from regulating artificial intelliegence. It reads: “…no State or political...
Big Tech’s water grab
Water and digital technologies – we can’t live without them. But while people in many parts of the world are running short of water, digital technologies are consuming more and more. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google operate data centres that take vast amounts of water...
From therapy to coffee: Should we worry that AI is rewriting human roles?
A socially isolated young person in the United States turns to ChatGPT for advice on how to deal with depression. A coffee entrepreneur in Finland asks AI for the exact mix of beans to blend the perfect cup. Robots take food orders from diners in a Nairobi restaurant....
An assault on the words we use
Conservative attacks on “DEI” and “woke”* policies and practices in the United States intensified in the run up to the presidential election. So, it should not come as a complete surprise that from the moment of Donald Trump’s inauguration, an assault on “diversity,...
PHOTO CREDIT: Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance