The Interruption by Chandran Nair

Why Working from Home is a Form of Apartheid

"Those of us who are privileged to take up the option of working from home so easily forget that the streets are kept clean, markets are run, healthcare is provided by people who don't have that option...so why don't people don't talk about it? Why don't they say it's a kind of apartheid?"

 

GIFT Founder Chandran Nair answers the 'Is WFH the future?' question on everyone's lips - and discusses how the WFH narrative deliberately forgets and devalues the majority of workers who do not have the option to work from home. Listen in to find out more!

Racism and World Order: The Geopolitical Tensions of the Pandemic

Historical racism via imperialism casts a long shadow. Racist mindsets and behaviours that characterised the colonial period are alive and well now, from micro-expressions of racism in the day-to-day lived experience of non-White people, to macro-manifestations in geopolitical relations and foreign policy. Being so ubiquitous, this begs the question: what is the impact of racism on the future of international world order?

Gluttony is Feeding Climate Change

Americans waste up to 60% of their food when it's on their plates. In Sub-Saharan Africa, it's 5%. So we don't have a food shortage issue, we have a wastage and distribution problem.

The Vanishing Public Intellectual

One of the scarcest commodities of our time is intellectual honesty.

COVID-19 and the Future of Asian Conservation

This was a huge decision - in the space of the last 2 months, 20,000 wildlife farms have been closed down across China.

Asia Reshaped: COVID-19 and the Future

A country that can't feed its own people in this new era is essentially exposed to the greatest possible risk

The Commonality of COVID-19 Containment

The social contract with the state needs to be observed during crises if the collective welfare of the nation is to be protected

Keeping The Moral Compass

The fault comes when people believe the law is a tradeable commodity, that it can be bought and sold for personal or commercial gains. 

Not Investing in Denial

Investment conference on climate change has a silent contract between the audience and speaker: that neither party will suggest anyone in the room is to blame. They're prisoners to an existing mantra that sugar-coats climate change with "win-win" scenarios. Frankly, this is an abdication of responsibility and denial. 

How natural disasters should be approached

Cyclone Fani affected 10 million people in India, but only 89 were killed. The 1999 Odisha cyclone killed over 10 thousand.