Perspective

Amid high hopes over a vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech against the coronavirus, we speak to Dr. Anh Wartel from the International Vaccine Institute in Seoul, South Korea. She says that despite the "highly promising" results which give real hope, we need to remain "very cautious and very prudent". Wartel says it's incredible to be at this stage with so many vaccine alternatives being developed and she's optimistic for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, but challenges remain in terms of supply, distribution and equity.

"Death is when you are afraid to speak the truth." That's the strong message from Nigerian campaigner Aisha Yesufu. She was one of the founders of the Bring Back Our Girls Movement, after nearly 300 schoolgirls were abducted from the Nigerian town of Chibok by Boko Haram six years ago. Yesufu is currently one of those leading protests in Nigeria, accusing the police of kidnapping, murder, rape and torture. "We're simply asking for police brutality to stop," she told us on Perspective.

Amid his baseless allegations of mass electoral fraud, US President Donald Trump says he plans to challenge the result of the election in the courts. But what exactly would be the basis of his claim? And is he right to assume the right-leaning Supreme Court would be sympathetic to his cause? We speak to Anne Deysine, a specialist in US law and politics.

The winner of the race to the White House is still too close to call with President Donald Trump performing significantly better than the polls predicted. So how did Trump manage to hold onto his base in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic? And why are some Latino communities embracing Trump despite his apparent disdain for minority rights? We discuss all these issues with Paul Schor, historian and associate professor at the University of Paris.

After record early voting and a list of legal challenges to the legitimacy of the presidential election, it's finally polling day in the US. Incumbent Donald Trump continues to claim mail-in ballots could lead to cheating. Joe Biden, for his part, has called on people to vote to put an end to division in the country, but tensions are clear with shops and businesses boarding up their premises in case of violence. From the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Jared Mondschein gives us his perspective.

The West Coast of the United States is traditionally "blue", seen as reliably Democratic. But with the wildfires that have scorched the West from California to Oregon, plus long-running demonstrations and a standoff between police and protesters in many cities, the West Coast is now home to many key concerns for voters in this presidential poll. Steven Beda, Professor of History, Environmental History and Rural Politics at the University of Oregon, gives us his perspective on the East-West and urban-rural divides ahead of Election Day.

The French city of Nice is reeling from yet another terrorist attack, after three people were murdered at a church by a 21-year-old Tunisian migrant. According to the city's mayor, the bloodshed is the result of "Islamofascism". But is this a helpful term? And why should we avoid referring to these sorts of attacks as the actions of "lone wolves"? We sit down with Peter R. Neumann, Director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College London.

For today's Perspective segment, we discuss the power of dance. Nadia Massih speaks to Aurélia Sellier, the founder of What Dance Can Do, about why she believes the simple act of moving your body to music can change your life. But with the world still gripped by the pandemic, have social distancing measures made the communal dancing experience a thing of the past?

Calls for the boycott of French products are growing across the Muslim world, in response to French President Emmanuel Macron's robust defence of the right to mock religion, Islam included. This follows the brutal murder of a schoolteacher who showed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. It's the latest twist in a years-long debate about the nature of French secularism. So what exactly does the idea mean and whom is it meant to protect? We speak to Rim-Sarah Alouane, a French legal scholar and PhD candidate researching religious freedom, human rights and civil liberties in France.

How to give a face to a community that has no real photographic record of its existence? We sit down with Belgian photographer Tomas van Houtryve, whose latest work seeks to reinsert Mexican culture and identity into the visual history of the American West.