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IBW21

IBW21 (The Institute of the Black World 21st Century) is committed to enhancing the capacity of Black communities in the U.S. and globally to achieve cultural, social, economic and political equality and an enhanced quality of life for all marginalized people.

Residents of St. Croix make their way around and under obstacles blocking a main road nearly a week after Hurricane Maria raked the US Virgin Islands.

The 2017 Hurricanes Didn’t Just Hit Puerto Rico — They Hit the Caribbean

By Commentaries/Opinions

Puerto Rico is getting the coverage it deserves, but an entire region has been upended by natural disasters this hurricane season. By Gabriela Thorne — When Hurricane Irma swept through the Caribbean in early September, the focus was not the damage wrought on the islands but on the fact that it would soon hit Florida. Then came Jose. Then came Maria. In the span a few of weeks, the Caribbean was devastated by three hurricanes…

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African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) soldier greets a group of children during a patrol in the Kaa’ran district of Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Driven to Extremes – How Poverty Fuels Extremism, and How to Help Africa’s Youth

By News & Current Affairs

By Siddharth Chatterjee — Poverty is a blight, and one that disproportionately affects sub-Saharan Africa. It is a vast and complex issue whose tentacles reach into many areas, including climate change, sustainable development and–crucially–global security. The link between poverty and violent extremism is compelling, and means that if we want to address extremism, we must…

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Dominica, 2 October Devastation after Hurricane Maria.

Ending Poverty in Next 13 years Means Boosting Resilience Now

By News & Current Affairs

By Jessica Faieta — This month the world marks two key International Days: for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October and for Disaster Reduction, four days earlier. It is no coincidence that they are profoundly connected. Reducing risks related to disasters has never been so urgent—and the Latin America and the Caribbean region bears witness to this. Seven hurricanes have hit the Caribbean…

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Idris Elba as the Asgardian warrior Heimdall in Thor: the Dark World. (photo: Marvel/Yahoo)

Yes, White Supremacists, Some Vikings Were Muslims and Thor Was Brown

By Editors' Choice

By Juan Cole — The archeological identification of stylized Arabic text for God (Allah) and Ali (the prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law) in burial garments of the Vikings in Sweden has thrown white supremacists into a tizzy. While the garments could just be the result of trade with the Middle East, it can’t be ruled out that there were some converts to Islam. This possibility drove the Neo-Nazis, Klansmen, the…

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Then-Governor Ronald Regan speaks on December 5, 1968. He later went on to become president of the United States, ushering in a severe era of neoliberal economic policy that has continued to this day. (Photo: Bettmann / Contributor / Getty Images)

Out of Control: A Brief History of Neoliberal Deregulation in the USA

By Commentaries/Opinions

By T.J. Coles, Clairview Books — In the early 1970s, the Nixon administration pushed to eliminate what neoliberal advocates call “needless barriers to competition.” This was particularly true of the financial sector, where restrictions on local bank branches, prices for deposits (so-called regulation Q) and compartmentalization (i.e., allowing the interconnection of commercial, savings and insurance) were lifted.

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