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Climate Action Protest

Why climate action is critical to the future of unemployed youth in South Africa

09.29.22

Cover photo source: @JamesGranelli_ on Twitter Twenty-five years ago, a group of South African high schoolers from an under-resourced township school rallied and made their way around the globe to participate in a youth environmental summit hosted in the US. What was unusual was the rhetoric around it. “Why is a group of colored youth […]

A Primer on Singapore’s Forthcoming Constitutional Amendment to “Protect” Marriage

09.15.22

While the government has announced that it will repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code, it has also sought to protect the definition of marriage from constitutional challenge. Lawyer and activist Daryl Yang explains what the resulting constitutional amendment may look like, as well as what it means to the LGBTQ+ community in Singapore.

Gender, Race and Identity
Cover Photo Women Empowerment

Accelerating the case for women’s empowerment – Marina Diboma

09.9.22

We know that the most effective policy for sustainable development is investing in empowering women and girls. We have the evidence about their impact on families, communities, industries and nations. Any efforts to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic needs to ensure and enhance their empowerment, including especially their sexual and reproductive health and rights, social protection […]

Net Zero Racism

Net Zero Racism: A call for a global framework and urgent action to end racism worldwide

08.25.22

“I can’t breathe,” said a dying 46-year-old George Floyd as a white Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, pressed his knee on his neck for nine and a half minutes until he died. It was a murder that shook the entire world, sparking global outrage and spotlighting the insidious spectre of racism in modern America.  Over […]

Woke on Coke: Young Cocaine Consumers Fuel Social and Environmental Devastation in Colombia

08.2.22

I could feel the bass of the music thumping in my thoracic cavity. The soles of my shoes were sticky with the beer that had spilled on the floor when I saw Eva inhaling a line of white powder off the kitchen countertop.

Democracy and Governance

The War on Drugs and Violence in Latin America: Time to Hit Reset

07.28.22

Note: This article is featured in the Kennedy School Review’s 2022 print journal. The War on Drugs and Violence in Latin America: Time to Hit Reset Latin America is the most violent region in the world, with only 8 percent of the global population accounting for 38 percent of the global share of murder. That […]

Democracy and Governance

Menstrual Equity in US Prisons and Jails: A Gender-Based Analysis and Policy Responses

07.18.22

Summary Across the United States, many incarcerated people have inadequate access to menstrual products. Because policies that surround requiring access to menstrual products vary from state to state, incarcerated menstruators are denied “menstrual equity,” or sufficient access to menstrual products regardless of their circumstances.[1] One reason for the lack of inclusive policies regarding menstruation is […]

Expanding Postpartum Medicaid Coverage: A Racial and Gender Justice Imperative

07.11.22

American society was not built for birthing people to thrive—or at times even to survive. The United States lacks paid parental leave and universal childcare policies and has the highest rate of maternal mortality among all industrialized countries. There are stark racial disparities in the maternal mortality rate in the United States: Black mothers die […]

COVID-19 Policy-making Failed U.S. Workers: Labor organizing can deliver where legislators have stalled

07.5.22

The pandemic prompted many to think about how work shapes our own lives. It also highlighted how reliant we all are on the labor of others. While higher paid workers transitioned to remote work, others had little choice but to continue going to their jobs in person. These workers exposed themselves and their families to […]

Intent to Destroy: Reproductive Violence against Uyghurs as a Weapon of Genocide in China

07.5.22

Background China is a multi-ethnic country comprising 56 ethnic groups, with the predominant religion being Buddhism. The Han ethnic majority group represents 91.5 percent of the population, while 55 ethnic minority groups account for 8.5 percent.[i] Uyghur Muslims represent 0.31 percent of China’s population. The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, located in China’s northwest, is the […]

Reasons to Doubt the “End of Streaming” in Singapore

07.1.22

Will the introduction of Full Subject-Based Banding (FSBB) eliminate streaming in Singaporean schools? Cameron Kheng argues that the policy does not succeed in doing so, risking many of the same inequalities that a system of streaming had been criticized for perpetuating. He identifies ways to improve FSBB, reflecting on how to push the policy beyond its underlying logic of economic pragmatism.

Education, Training and Labor

Can we share what we learned (and didn’t) on Paltrek and iTrek?

06.27.22

The author of The Citizen’s recent op-ed “What they didn’t tell you on Israel trek” didn’t attend iTrek and assumed how participants processed the published itinerary. Neither he nor I can project 282 attendees’ individual experiences. However, I’m compelled to share my perspective as an actual attendee. The status quo has serious justice implications; however, […]

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