Features

The state is in retreat. So guess who’s in charge? Why you, of course. At least that’s what the dominant political rhetoric from Right and Left would have us believe, argues Neil Vallelly.

The country’s political class is letting fascists off the hook and allowing history to be distorted. Jelena Prtorić asks: Whose purposes does this serve?

Agricultural air pollution seems to be a tough nut to crack. Amy Hall explores the air-pollution problem down on the farm.

India’s air pollution crisis affects millions, and not just in Delhi. Aruna Chandrasekhar meets people forced to live, and resist, at Mumbai’s toxic perimeter.

Community journalists from the northeast of England on the impact of air pollution on their lives.

Dirty air is not an impossible problem. Beth Gardiner assesses some places cleaning up their act.

Dirty air in Nigeria takes a huge toll on lives and livelihoods. But civil society is not short of ideas for change, as Michael Simire finds out.

Dana Drugmand explains how the powerful car industry has continually blocked change to keep us hooked.

How many die?, Air inequality, Noxious journeys, and Cleanest vs dirtiest.

Links for campaigning and more reading on air pollution/air quality.

Covid-19 has shown us that swift action on global health is possible, even if it still falls short. What could we achieve, asks Amy Hall, if we took an urgent approach to air pollution, another widespread killer?

Skipping meals to talk to the media, aiming to get arrested – and still making it to your hockey game. These are just some of the tasks found on the to-do lists of campaigners in Canada who are putting everything on the line to fight for a liveable, just future. Lucy EJ Woods went to meet them.

Images from the migrant route through Mexico, where desperate people risk a journey fraught with danger to try to make it to the US. Text and photos: Pablo Allison.

An epic struggle has been playing out between islanders defending their land, rivers and livelihoods and the Malaysian government’s vision of ‘development’. Veronique Mistiaen spoke with Peter Kallang, the campaigner in the thick of it.

For more than half a century, economists and policymakers have focused fanatically on growth as the only feasible way to end global poverty and improve people’s lives. But in an era of planet-wide ecological breakdown, that comfortable conventional wisdom is crashing to an end. Jason Hickel lays it on the line.

Dinyar Godrej ponders what a global minimum wage might look like.

The globalized garment industry is as ruthless as they come, creaming off huge profits while paying workers a pittance. Trade unionist Anannya Bhattacharjee from the Asia Floor Wage Alliance is pressing the case for a living wage. She explains to Dinyar Godrej that the changes needed are surprisingly small – yet vehemently resisted.

Vanessa Martina Silva considers the track record of Brazil’s flagship Bolsa Família, the world’s largest conditional cash transfer scheme.

Tax havens in the Global North enable the systematic looting of the Global South. John Christensen explains how their activities impoverish the world.

Poverty between – and within – nations doesn’t just exist. It is created and needs constant maintenance. Warning: extremely violent content. Words: Dinyar Godrej.