NI 475 - September, 2014

Gold trouble

A note from the editor

Bling is not in

Call me old school but I’ve never liked the new and the shiny.

Not for me glitz and bling, whether it’s jewellery or luminous leather. The whole world of bright surfaces feels superficial and deluding.

So I guess I was a natural to be editor of an issue on the price we pay for our obsession with gold.

Don’t get me wrong: people should be free to like what they like. But in these days of ecological crisis the consequences of extraction and end use of everything we consume needs to become part of the equation. This issue raises questions at both the production and consumption stage of gold.

Since almost the dawn of Homo sapiens’ history we have been drawn to the yellow metal. As a sign I once saw in downtown Manhattan proudly proclaimed, ‘Enough is never enough’. But if it’s in the DNA of some to rush about on lucrative treasure hunts, why not search for something more benign and sustainable like wild mushrooms or berries? Both are tasty and will grow back – and you can make a tidy sum out of selling mushrooms. The search for and the hoarding of gold is just too destructive of the environment and disruptive of convivial human society. Which is why this edition makes the case for ending the gold rush entirely.

The struggle to preserve the sanctity of the environment is highlighted in our story from New Zealand/Aotearoa on the granting of legal status to a river. Meanwhile, the not so charitable side of Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity order in India is questioned in a first-hand account.

Richard Swift for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

Hey, big spender! China’s first gold vending machine – it dispenses coins and bars – landed in busy Wangfujing Street, Beijing, in 2011. Each withdrawal is capped at a million yuan (about US$162,000) worth of gold.

Imagechina/Corbis

NI 475 - September, 2014

Gold trouble

A note from the editor

Bling is not in

The big story

Richard Swift argues that our appetite for the shiny metal is both pointless and dangerous.

Features

Where does it come from? Who buys it? What do they do with it? What do they do with it? And the impacts of it.

Roxana Olivera on a Peruvian community's struggles to defend its rights against a mining corporation's dirty tricks.

Certification schemes notwithstanding, clean gold is a bit of a scam, says Stephanie Boyd.

How sinking cash into gold is rocking the country's economy and deepening the wealth divide, by Jaideep Hardikar.

Jewellery designer Jane Theobald's meditation on the true price of the shiny stuff.

Phillip Pilkington on the delusion of worshipping the gold standard.

S Bedford exposes horrific negligence at a Missionaries of Charity centre in India – and asks when the order will be brought to book.

A New Zealand river has been granted unprecedented legal rights after a century of Maori pressure. Jen Wilton reports.

Opinion

Writer and activist Adam Ramsay and professor and author Jim Gallagher go head to head.

By Mark Engler.

Agenda

Report from Egypt

Report from Sweden

Report from Australia

Report from Burma

Report from Greece

Report from Serbia

Report from the Solomon Islands

Regulars

Traumatized by the ravages of a violent militia, a town is still holding its breath. Ruby Diamonde visits.

Cartoon by Simon Kneebone.

Pavel Constantin from Romania with ‘Virtual World’.

Facts, figures and photos from Mauritania.

Cartoon by P J Polyp

The South African environmental justice crusader has taken on the industrial giants despoiling his community. He tells Veronique Mistiaen of the strength of a people united behind a cause.

Cartoon by Marc Roberts

The comedian and activist has no time for monarchs, politicians or estate agents. But, as she tells Jo Lateu, positive people get her heart racing.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

Mystery Road, directed by Ivan Sen; Two Days, One Night, directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

Bloody Rain by Sarah-Jane Morris; The Island of Dr Electrico by The Bombay Royale.

S Street Rising by Ruben Castaneda; Nowhere People by Paulo Scott; How to be Alone by Sara Maitland; Adventures in the Anthropocene by Gaia Vince.

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