Too many people, too few homes

Too many people, too few homes

Obstacles to building housing have created a homeless crisis in California. Can the “Golden State” find a way to house the people living on its streets? Tents house people experiencing homelessness in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles, California on 24...

Obstacles to building housing have created a homeless crisis in California. Can the “Golden State” find a way to house the people living on its streets? Correspondent Tiziana Barghini explores housing shortages, ineffective new legislation and the realities of California’s housing crisis.

Exercise: Explore some of the issues around homelessness. What are the  issues that lead to people becoming homeless. Examine these on a personal, community, national and international level. Now look for videos and articles about homelessness and the experience of being homeless. You can use resources like Invisible People or Learning To Give which have films about many facets of homelessness. Present the information that you found in your article or video to the class or write a short piece about what it’s like to be homeless.

Decoder: The myth of an international community

Decoder: The myth of an international community

When Russia invaded Ukraine, the “international community” stood back. But is there such a thing? What, if anything, can bring the world together? The entrance to the United Nations in Geneva is obscured by the emblems of a dozen international economic and...

Blaming the “international community” for inaction is easy. But does this community actually exist, or is it just tantamount to the United States and company? Correspondent Bernd Debusmann runs it down in this Decoder.

Exercise: Divide students into nine groups. Each group will be assigned one of the regional organizations mentioned in the article: NATO, European Union, Arab League, G-7, G-20, ASEAN, OAS, African Union, BRICS. Groups should research their assigned organization and identify the organization’s main objectives and stance on current international tensions (e.g. war in Ukraine, economic sanctions on North Korea, nuclear proliferation, etc.). Can these regional groups work together to create a true international community, or are their interests too disparate? 

Tag: politics