Author: Mr. Lakhaney

TOK Teacher

Watch: Should Borders Matter?

August 12, 2021

Is there any moral distinction between a political refugee and an economic migrant? If people have the right to exit a country, why not a right to enter? Do nations have the right to protect the affluence of their citizens? And is there such a thing as a ‘national identity’?

These are just some of the questions addressed by Prof Sandel in this first edition of The Global Philosopher.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03njc35

Online Game: 3rd World Farmer

August 12, 2021

3rd World Farmer lets you experience some of the hardships of farming in a poor country. Will you prosper despite corruption and lack of basic neccessities? Or will endless wars, diseases, droughts, and unreliable markets perpetuate your economic disadvantage and spell your ultimate doom?

3rd World farmer is a serious game, developed on a very slim budget. It is not precise in all details, but covers a wide range of topics. It is meant to be both educational and slightly provocative, with the sole intent of making people think about these topics and, hopefully, realize that each of us can make a difference in helping to end poverty.

https://3rdworldfarmer.org/?fbclid=IwAR3OYJk_phGXKawwG5KxxfA1QVptOjNJgWI6hRXo6Io96r96MNR24_Fp7Q8

Beyond Neoliberal Trade

August 12, 2021

The growth of trade and the deepening of financial links over the past several decades has gone hand in hand with the re-entrenchment of a rigid ideological vision of how the international economy functions, and of the external policies that national governments should be encouraged, or permitted, to follow—the so-called Washington Consensus. This consensus has never been absolutely hegemonic, however, and its star has dimmed considerably since its heyday in the 1990s.

https://bostonreview.net/class-inequality/arjun-jayadev-j-w-mason-beyond-neoliberal-trade

French police make woman remove clothing on Nice beach following burkini ban

August 12, 2021

Last week, Nice became the latest French resort to ban the burkini. Using language similar to the bans imposed earlier at other locations, the city barred clothing that “overtly manifests adherence to a religion at a time when France and places of worship are the target of terrorist attacks”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/24/french-police-make-woman-remove-burkini-on-nice-beach

How Globalization Came to the Brink of Collapse

August 12, 2021

Many of the advantages of economic globalization, such as increased connectivity and interdependence, also give rise to risks, such as the transmission of viruses and lack of self-sufficiency in producing essential items. Once economic globalization is seen as a complex system that involves great benefits as well as systemic risks, it is possible to think more clearly about options for managing those risks to protect against collapse. These options can include reforms that, for instance, reduce concentrated reliance on particular nodes within the system or increase redundancy of essential supplies in order to foster greater resilience. 

https://www.barrons.com/articles/how-globalization-came-to-the-brink-of-collapse-51585865909

The United Nations goes missing

August 12, 2021

The coronavirus pandemic should have been a moment for global action. Instead, the U.N. is riven with dissension and self-doubt, and countries are going their own way.

Unlike nearly six years ago, when the Security Council declared Ebola a threat to world peace and security, a disease that doesn’t respect borders is no longer enough to push feuding world powers — the United States, China and Russia — to use the U.N. stage to coordinate a political response. China, which held the Security Council presidency in March, when the illness was declared a pandemic and began to overwhelm some European and American health systems, did not call a meeting on it. The U.S., increasingly guided by President Donald Trump’s America First views, has not stepped up at the U.N., feeding the sense that the world body is hobbled, if not utterly paralyzed by the very kind of crisis it was meant to address.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/08/united-nations-coronavirus-176187