'Save our future': Students across the world march to demand climate action

The global climate strike is inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
Reuters | Dawn.comPublished Sep 21, 2019 

Hundreds of thousands of students and workers left their schools, colleges and offices on Friday to take to the streets around the globe and demand that world leaders take urgent action to avert an environmental catastrophe.
The global climate strike, inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, kicked off in the Pacific islands and followed the rising sun across Australia, Japan, Southeast Asia and then Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

It will culminate in New York when Thunberg, who has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, will spearhead a rally at the United Nations headquarters, where heads of government are due to gather for a climate summit next week.

“This is about my future, not only my future, but the future of my entire generation and all the generations to come after ours,” said Tristan Vancleef, 16, among around 15,000 demonstrators who marched through the centre of Brussels.

Banners at the Brussels march included “Cool kids save the hot planet”, “I won't go to school until you make it cool” and “If it's melted it's ruined”.

Protesters are calling on governments to take immediate action to limit the harmful effects of man-made climate change.

Social media posts showed scores of demonstrations, ranging from a few dozen primary school children in Abuja, Nigeria, to tens of thousands of people in cities from Hamburg, in Germany; to Melbourne, Australia; Kabul, Afghanistan; Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi among 26 cities in Pakistan; and major cities in India.

“Our future on your shoulders,” read one banner stretched across a street by students in Berlin.

“Our oceans are rising, so are we,” was a popular slogan on placards, including one carried by a student in school uniform in Melbourne and another by a girl wearing a facemask in Kolkata, in eastern India.

Why the patriarchy is killing men

Gender equality isn’t just good for women. It also saves men’s lives.

A woman holds a sign reading "Feminism = Equality" as she takes part in a nation-wide women's strike for wage parity outside the federal palace, on June 14 in the Swiss capital Bern. (Stefan Wermuth/AFP/Getty images)
The health advantages of feminism for men are not evident only in Iceland. In other countries with stronger gender equality, men also tend to fare better. According to research by Norwegian sociologist and men’s studies expert Oystein Gullvag Holter, there is a direct correlation between the state of gender equality in a country and male well-being, as measured by factors such as welfare, mental health, fertility and suicide. Men (and women) in more gender-equal countries in Europe are less likely to get divorced, be depressed or die as a result of violence.
These findings undercut one of the favorite facts of men’s rights activists — that men die younger than women do. They use this data point to argue that feminism is unwarranted because women already live fuller (or at least longer) lives. But a world without feminism would exacerbate this problem, not solve it. Feminism is the antidote to shorter male life expectancy. Saying feminism causes men to decline is like saying firefighters cause fire.

America doesn’t just have a gender pay gap. It has a gender wealth gap

Women typically live longer than men because of several biological advantages that make them more resilient and give them more stamina (despite the stereotype that women lack it). But that’s only part of the equation. The other component of the life expectancy gap is what scientists literally call man-made diseases. These are cultural: Men are more likely to smoke, abuse alcohol, engage in high-risk behavior and have accidents at work. A report from the World Health Organization points to three reasons men don’t live as long: the way men work (they endure greater “exposure to physical and chemical hazards”), their willingness to take risks (thanks to “male norms of risk-taking and adventure”) and their discomfort with doctors (they’re “less likely to visit a doctor when they are ill and, when they see a doctor, are less likely to report on the symptoms of disease or illness”). When I became a lifeguard, I was shocked to learn that 80 percent of drowning victims are male , even though their aquatic skills are equivalent to those of women, because they’re less likely to wear life jackets, more likely to overestimate their swimming abilities and more likely to take risks. 

If men’s rights activists really want to improve men’s lives, then, they should join feminists in dismantling bygone ideals of masculinity. When researchers controlled for unhealthy behaviors such as smoking or drinking, for instance, they found that men who earned less than their wives for an extended period of time still experienced poorer health outcomes, shorter life expectancy and increased chances of cardiovascular problems like diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension and stroke. Because of the observable increase in men’s anxieties in these familial arrangements (and the lack of measurable change for women), researchers believe that these men lose the only sense of connection to their identity as breadwinners. Violating the code of idealized masculinity can be such a point of stress for men that it strains their overall health.

Men’s reluctance to care for themselves is especially perturbing when it comes to mental health. Unsurprisingly, the more a man associates with traditional and inflexible ideas about masculinity, the less likely he is to seek counseling. For too many men in America who suffer from mental health issues, it’s easier to get a gun than a therapist , especially in rural areas, where 80 percent of counties don’t have a single psychiatrist. No wonder suicide rates are rising in rural states with the highest gun ownership rates and that the vast majority of those deaths are among men. Although women are three times more likely to attempt suicide, the suicide rate for men is four times higher because men tend to use more violent means when choosing to end their lives — the most effective and violent of which is, of course, a firearm. And the connection between gun ownership and traditional masculinity is hard to deny, especially when we see gun manufacturers like Bushmaster instructing men to get their “man card” reissued by buying a gun. 

When feminism is met with violence

The Plight of Pakistan’s Journalists

The free press is being suffocated in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, journalists’ woes have been one constant. Whether under civilian or military rule, the multidimensional challenges faced by journalists have remained the same. Kamran Khan, the well-known Pakistani anchor on Dunya TV, in a recent program equated journalists’ current predicament to the conditions under former dictator General Zia-ul-Haq’s (1977-88) rule. Adding support to his argument, Islamabad, the capital city, has reportedly been dubbed the “most dangerous place to practice journalism in Pakistan.”

Indeed, journalists are living in a constant nightmare in the capital following cases of abductions and beatings; on some occasions reporters have been targeted just because of their journalistic work. As a result, there are also reports of journalists fleeing Islamabad. A case in point is that of outspoken journalist Taha Siddiqui, who is currently living in exile in France.

Democracy was restored in Pakistan in 2008. In 2018, for only the second time in Pakistan’s history, the country will mark a peaceful transfer of power between civilian governments. Yet despite these developments, mainstream political parties have not paid any serious attention to the press. Even pro-democracy political parties have failed to provide succor for a free and vibrant press. Instead, these parties have only further bullied the press and media organizations upon coming.

It is constitutionally guaranteed in Pakistan that journalists can perform their duties independently. A free and independent press protects the fundamental norms of democracy. But unfortunately, in Pakistan, even so-called champions of democracy have ditched the media organizations, unless they are trying to use the media for their own vested interests.

In a telling example, Pakistan’s most famous television network, Geo TV, was shut down in April and told to remain off the air unless or until a deal was reached with the establishment for Geo TV to avoid reporting on certain issues, including the military and judiciary.

After that warning shot, Pakistani columnists shared their articles on Twitter, saying The News had refused to publish them. (The News and Geo TV are both owned by the Jang Group). One of The News’ regular columnists, Mosharraf Zaidi, claimed on Twitter that this was the first time in 10 years that the English-language paper had refused to publish his article.

This pressure on the media comes just a few months ahead of the 2018 general elections in Pakistan. Journalists and politicians, especially those belonging to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), fear that control over the press is meant to manipulate the elections. In the recent Senate elections, the PML-N’s candidate could not win the chair despite the party holding the most seats. All the other parties rallied together against Sharif and his party; the same thing is expected in the upcoming general elections.

Dawn’s crime is simple: it ran and published the interview. Although Dawn is Pakistan’s oldest newspaper — started by Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah on October 26, 1941, in Delhi before the partition – it is currently being put under tremendous pressure over its independent policies, which the paper is trying to maintain against all odds.

International NGO Reporters Without Borders denounced the move to block distribution of Dawn. “It is clear that the military high command does not want to allow a democratic debate in the months preceding a general election. We call on the authorities to stop interfering in the dissemination of independent media and to restore distribution of Dawn throughout Pakistan,” Reporters Without Borders said.

The future of free and independent press in Pakistan is at stake. Electronic media is already controlled, and now print media is being brought to heel — precisely because it provides space to dissent, critical thinking, and independent reporting.

The future of higher education in Pakistan

A recent newspaper article calls for transforming Pakistan’s university system by turning universities into low-level community colleges that primarily focus on undergraduate teaching. It was insinuated that Higher Education Commission (HEC) previous reforms and initiatives to promote and support postgraduate research were not beneficial and failed to advance Pakistan’s economy. Although the HEC reforms and initiatives were highly lauded by international observers such as education experts from UN, USAID and World Bank, there has been a widespread public misconception that the only outcomes of the HEC programs were production of large numbers of PhDs and even higher numbers of ‘research’ papers. It has also been conjectured that the reforms-led high research outputs in Pakistan were useless since no profit-seeking businesses making use of these papers and patents. However, the centrality of research in the Western university system was linked to foundation of a solid undergraduate teaching programme.

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Confining the intellectual life of Pakistan universities system to rote classroom activity would be a fatal flaw for our education system. Instead, our universities should celebrate a culture of research- a system in which research is uniformly expected, discussed, produced, and valued. Without a research component, a relevant and modern undergraduate curriculum does not exist in developed countries. Several studies have revealed that undergraduate research enhances students’ critical thinking skills and equips them with fundamentals and skills needed for success in their careers. It also helps them to discover their passion for research, and prepare them for the challenges and opportunities of the future. Undergraduate research is an inquiry-based learning that allows students to apply their knowledge in an experience-​based learning environment.

No one doubts that a solid undergraduate programme is important towards a common goal of increasing scientific understanding. However, in practice, a cadre of postdoctoral researchers and graduate students runs the advanced research conducted in developed countries instead of undergraduate students. The USA, which is home to only 4.3% of the world’s population but houses 43 of the world’s top 100 universities, had more than 40000 postdocs in 2013. Many of the postdocs and graduate students are non-US citizens, who completed their undergraduate training in developing countries around the world. Certainly, human resource is instrumental in the advancement of R&D. However, availability of adequate infrastructure and research funds are also key ingredients for R&D and innovation. Pakistan’s R&D expenditure is more than 216 times less than USA, 73 times less than Japan, 22 times less than India, and about 7 times less than Turkey.

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Bridging the gap between the academia and industry is important for the translation of research into practical applications. We need to make curriculum more relevant by including 10 to 15% of courses that are industry specific and solicit feedback from the stakeholders about the status of the academic programs. We should enable our faculty to invite an industry expert in his/her domain to co-teach the curriculum, who may bring case studies, technology road maps, and state of-the-art practices and technologies into the classroom. The industrial exposure of our students needs enhancing through industrial internships, industrial projects, and counselling activities with industry. We should also facilitate industry experts to sit in our advisory bodies.

READ MORE: Ahsan Iqbal says 'minus one agenda' coming from PTI

Confining the intellectual life of Pakistan universities system to rote classroom activity would be a fatal flaw for our education system.

These 19 developments shaped Pakistan's economic future in 2018

Take a look at the major ups and downs on the economic front in the outgoing year.
Overall, 2018 saw Pakistan's economy buckle under increasing pressure, with decreasing foreign exchange reserves, increasing trade deficit, circular debt as well as foreign loans taking a toll on macroeconomic health.
As a result, the economy suffered while resources were diverted to handling power crises, import bills, and other issues. The country's foreign exchange reserves also remained under pressure.
During the first half of the year, a tax amnesty scheme was launched for foreign asset holders. During the outgoing year, stricter regulations were imposed by the State Bank of Pakistan and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan on asset inflows and outflows.

The central bank also raised its policy (target) rate by 150 basis points (bps) to 10 per cent near the end of the year.

Here's a look at the few of the major developments on the economic front throughout the year.

1. America suspends entire security aid to Pakistan

In the first week of January, the Trump administration suspended its entire security assistance to Pakistan until Islamabad "proved its commitment to fight all terrorist groups operating in the region".

According to the State Department, the cut-off is not permanent and only affects military assistance.

Under the new approach, funds would be allocated to a particular purpose identified with the allocation and would be released only after that target was achieved. The targets identified with the allocation could be strategic as well as issue specific.

2. EU renews GSP+ scheme for two years                                                                                               

      EU Parliament renews GSP plus scheme for Pakistan for another two years.— AFP/File

The Generalised System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) scheme passed smoothly through the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (CIT) in February, enabling Pakistani exporters to enjoy preferential duties on exports for the next two years

   3. Tax amnesty scheme                                                                                                                                       

  The scheme enabled people with undeclared income earned before June 30, 2017 to bring it in the tax net by paying only a 5pc penalty.— Photo courtesy of imlaak.com
In April, the then prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, announced a tax amnesty scheme through which people with undeclared income earned before June 30, 2017 on assets held within the country were allowed to declare them by simply paying a five per cent penalty.

People holding undocumented assets outside the country were also invited to declare them through the new amnesty scheme. Foreign exchange could also be brought back to the country by paying a 2pc penalty. Foreign liquid assets like cash, securities and bonds held abroad and in local dollar accounts could be declared with a 5pc penalty.

The Business Of Video Games: Market Share For Gaming Platforms in 2019 [Infographic]

Kevin Anderton

Recently, a company called NewZoo released a Global Games Market Report. Within that report were many predictions for the upcoming year and beyond. I had a chance to read over it the other day and I am going to be talking about some of the highlights. Primarily I will be talking about the market shares of different gaming platforms like mobile devices and consoles and what we can expect in the coming years according to Newzoo.
A market research company

First a little about Newzoo so we know where this information is coming from. This company creates market forecasts for the gaming industry which includes games, esports, mobile devices and more. They have 11 years of experience and their forecasts are fueled by data from the market itself. Their data is harvested by tracking billions of devices, millions of app users, epsorting events, and more. Their consumer research is conducted in 30 different countries and by interviewing 70,000 individual consumers each year. All that information gets plugged into marketing models and analysis to create forecasts for the future.

All of that seems pretty credible to me but let's look at the forecasts and then you can decide for yourself if you think Newzoo is on the ball or not.
Market share for gaming platforms in 2019

Last year the gaming market generated somewhere around $138.7 billion in revenue. The prediction from Newzoo is that in 2019 it will increase by about 9.6% to generate 152.1 billion. The video game industry grew about 10% in 2018 so to say that it will grow a similar amount seems to make sense.

If we break that prediction down by platform the information gets fairly interesting. The largest segment, 36%, will be generated by smartphone games. Which is not too surprising. You can’t walk across the street without running into someone playing Candy Crush, Pokemon Go, or something like that. On top of that, the largest segment of the market logically goes to the device that most people have access to and it seems like everyone has a smartphone. The smallest segment of the market, 2%, will go to Browser PC Games. These are games like Runescape and Quake Live that you can play through your PC’s browser instead of downloading them. Honestly, this is a category that I forgot existed. I used to play games like this all the time but I haven’t found a game that held my interest in a long time. The prediction is that browser-based games will continue to lose market share in 2019 and over the next few years.

The total break down of the market in 2019 has console games accounting for 32% of the revenue and will actually grow faster than smartphone games in the coming years. Regardless of this increased growth console games will not overtake smartphone games any time soon.

How Fast Fashion Is Destroying the Planet

By Tatiana Schlossberg

Sept. 3, 2019FASHIONOPOLISThe Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of ClothesBy Dana Thomas

There is that old saying, usually attributed to Yves Saint Laurent: “Fashion fades, style is eternal.”

Literally speaking, that actually may no longer be true, especially when it comes to fast fashion. Fast-fashion brands may not design their clothing to last (and they don’t), but as artifacts of a particularly consumptive era, they might become an important part of the fossil record.

More than 60 percent of fabric fibers are now synthetics, derived from fossil fuels, so if and when our clothing ends up in a landfill (about 85 percent of textile waste in the United States goes to landfills or is incinerated), it will not decay.

Nor will the synthetic microfibers that end up in the sea, freshwater and elsewhere, including the deepest parts of the oceans and the highest glacier peaks. Future archaeologists may look at landfills taken over by nature and discover evidence of Zara.

And it is Zara and other brands like it that have helped plant flags on the farthest reaches of the planet. In “Fashionopolis,” Dana Thomas, a veteran style writer, convincingly connects our fast-fashion wardrobes to global economic and climate patterns and crises, rooting the current state of the fashion biosphere as a whole — production methods, labor practices and environmental impacts — in the history of the garment industry.

Throughout, Thomas reminds us that the textile industry has always been one of the darkest corners of the world economy. The defining product of the Industrial Revolution, textiles were crucial to the development of our globalized capitalist system, and its abuses today are built on a long history. Slave labor in the American South supplied factories in both England, where they were notorious for child labor and other horrors, and the United States, where factory fires took the lives of recent immigrants at the turn of the 20th century. Thomas reports that there are immigrant workers in Los Angeles today who are victims of wage theft and exploitation, not to mention the Bangladeshi, Chinese, Vietnamese and other laborers who face working conditions that are at best grim and at worst inhumane. Fashion is an industry that has depended on the toil of the powerless and the voiceless, and on keeping them that way.

In one of the most powerful part