- This year, the annual Conference of Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place in Katowice, Poland, bringing together a registered 14,000 party delegates for two weeks of intensive climate talks. This 24th COP was considered the most important UNFCCC...
Simply put, being a “real man,” in the Caribbean, requires having the propensity to reinforce the traditional hierarchy of male domination and keeping your multiple female partners as sexual playthings. Gender socialisation creates pressures for young males to assert dominance and to engage in risk-taking. Reference...
“When you point a finger at someone, there are three more pointing back at you.” - Unknown In early January 2018, whilst discussing under what conditions the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti, and Honduras might be renewed, the US president...
Similar to a heroin addict looking for the next fix, many countries continue to feed their greed for fossil fuels, investing and expanding the search for oil and gas. The addiction to fossil fuels is leaving big, gaping abscesses far away from the sites of injection....
Today, the United States of America recognises Columbus Day. A day which commemorates Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas. On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain with intentions to find a new route to Asia. On October 12, over two months later, he...
Some say we live in a borderless world, but based on the stringent anti-immigration policies doled out by the Dominican Republic against its neighbour, Haiti, borders are to be respected at all costs. Haiti, a Francophone nation, and the Dominican Republic (DR), a Hispanophone nation, are...
One week ago, several countries in the Caribbean celebrated Emancipation Day. On August 1st, we decked out in our African-inspired outfits and enjoyed traditional African music all over the region. But how was independence and emancipation from colonial rule achieved in the Caribbean? A host of...
Globalisation means different things to different people. A central feature however, is the growing interdependence and interconnectedness of the modern world. Economic globalisation intensified in the post-Cold War period, as evidenced by increased ease of movement of goods, services, capital, and information across borders, creating a...
“The energy crisis of the 1970s will take a back seat to the water crisis of the 1980s and 1990.” - United States Department of Agriculture, The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1981 Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are those coastal countries grouped based on certain characteristics they...
As of July 2016, there were 1,052 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites scattered across the globe. They are considered to have cultural or natural value and so should be safeguarded for future generations. There are currently 22 UNESCO sites spread...
Cuba’s relationship with the United States of America (U.S.) has been afflicted with scepticism and antagonism since 1959. This was the year Fidel Castro and a group of revolutionaries eliminated Fulgencio Batista’s U.S. - backed regime in Havana and began reshaping the country’s social and economic...
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and sexual harassment are issues of increasing importance in Caribbean society, where women are hyper-sexualised and masculinity is often demonstrated in the ability to exert power over women. However, Caribbean women have been rising up against GBV by using social media as a...
It is impossible not to notice when Carnival season comes around in the Caribbean. Months in advance, Soca and Calypso music (and all their variations) take over the airwaves, and as February draws near, fêtes (parties) are in greater abundance and a multitude of tourists flock...
The Caribbean is often associated with tantalising images of captivating, blue waters lapping on white, sandy shores; lush, green forests encapsulating villages; and birds freely soaring through azure skies. Consisting of over seven thousand islands, islets, reefs, and cays framed by the Gulf of Mexico, North,...
On 26 July 1953, approximately 160 young men stormed the Moncada barracks in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba in a revolt against then dictator Fulgencio Batista. The revolt, spearheaded by a 26-year-old lawyer, Fidel Castro, did not succeed at first. However, it marked the beginning of almost...
