Photo Source: Stylo24.it By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe UpFront For decades, Italy’s principal criminal clans have hardened into vast, multinational syndicates, driven not merely by territorial ambition but by a belief in what scholars often describe as an extreme, self-serving strain of neoliberalism. The pursuit of monopoly, deregulation and unrestricted capital flows has shaped their behaviour so profoundly that they now exert influence over political, social and economic spheres. Yet, in recent years, a quieter but consequential shift has emerged within these organisations: a widening generational conflict. The older generation of clan leaders was known for carefully cultivated relationships with politicians, union heads and business intermediaries. According to long-time Italian correspondents writing for La Repubblica and Corriere della Sera, these older bosses viewed diplomacy, silence and patience as vital tools of survival. By contrast, younger clan members, raised in a ...

Photo Source: Middle East Eye By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe UpFront The protests in Sudan, which started in December 2018 haven't faded away even after three months.  However, this mass revolution, in the country, hasn’t been broadcasted well, on the global media, besides the regional African media, at large. This new Sudan uprising has been largely supported by trade unions, professional association and opposition groups. There is profound street anger on the streets. In 2013, Sudan dodged the Arab Spring, but the people can no longer hold themselves now. The protests initially started as a demonstration against rising bread and fuel prices. Currently, there are also low limits of ATM withdrawals. Since last year, Sudan’s inflation was the third highest in the world. Now, thoroughly upset over his rule, protestors are demanding that he should stop ruling them. They are vying him for a Hosni Mubarak style resignation. Football ultras, associated with Hilal Team, h...

Photo Source: Irish Times By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe UpFront IT WAS A DASTARDLY KILLING SPREE of worshippers shot on a video. In Christchurch, southern New Zealand, an Australian white supremacist, Brenton Tarrant had driven to the Al Noor Mosque in Deans Avenue on 15th March 2019, with a stash of weapons and ammunition, along with petrol canisters. A homicide of Muslim worshippers, including small children, had been on his mind. After arming himself, with a camera mounted on his helmet, he walked into the mosque, and began shooting indiscriminately. In three minutes of rampage, manslaughter, butchery, whatever one might call it, he exited through the front door, and fired random shots, as cars on the highway travelled past him. After some time, he then re-entered the mosque to check for survivors. Around fifty people were declared dead in this horrifying episode. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called it “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.” Brenton Tarrant was arrested minute...

Photo Source: Guardian By Naveed Qazi | Editor, Globe UpFront The 2019 Nigerian Election was unique in many ways. It was the costliest election till date in Africa, with costs going up to 242 billion naira . Around ninety-one political parties contested polls and 84 million visited the polling booths. These figures itself reflect the hope that democratic values give to the common Nigerians, as the country reemerged from the military rule since 1999, after General Sani Abacha, died in 1998. Since then, Nigerians longed for a civilian leading them. Due to a young and educated workforce, oil reserves, they have high ambitions to transform the country, all along, despite greed, tribalism and corruption harming public's collective interests. The country still faces rising conflicts in land use, and in generating oil revenues in the Delta. Despite these growing problems, the 2019 Nigerian election, in a way, embodied the thought of change. It was also the country’s bigges...

Photo Source: The Economist By Naveed Qazi | Editor Globe UpFront Algeria has begun to explode in anarchy, to the extent that it’s on the verge of an Arab Spring movement. The North African country is witnessing a flurry of massive protests across Algiers.  The people are demanding an end to current President’s rule, Abdel Aziz Boutefilka, after his campaign manager filed his nomination papers, to rerun for the president. The country witnessed its largest rally, on March 1 st , 2019 when tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets. The angry protestors were been huddling the boulevards in the country’s capital. One of the placards, during the protests, sarcastically remarked: “Respect the dead. Bury him, don’t elect him.” The police had even fired tear gas near the presidential office. They have even rejected Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui’s technocratic offer, to include young Algerians in the parliamentary process, who constitute more than 70% of the tota...