NI 482 - May, 2015

Global banking now

A note from the editor

Day of the zombies - banking laid bare

I’m not sure why I was trying to clear cat fur from under a bed, but as I did so I came across a packet of postcards I sent to my parents as a very young man. Almost all of them referred to money – or, rather, my lack of it. Oh, the humiliations of youth! In this respect, I fear nothing much changed thereafter – the craft of making money, let alone making money out of money, has proved not to be one of my talents. Maybe it’s just as well that some people have such a talent, but experience suggests to me that they are in a very small minority – and I can’t for the life of me see why it qualifies them to rule the world. Given that it does, I’m not entirely surprised to find the cause of the great banking meltdown morphing into its cure, or professional politicians coming to surpass bankers in their unpopularity.

Ask yourself how people fined $300 billion for malpractice can also make $1 trillion in profits, and there you have the current state of banking laid bare. In their utter foolishness, bankers may even have come to relish the blood sport of banker-bashing because it serves merely to underline its own futility, like bleating on about climate change. But, to my mind, the conflict between money and democracy has only just begun in earnest and for real.

Lithuania doesn’t often get coverage in our pages, but this month Daiva Repec˘kaite˙ reports on the growing interest in militarism in a country that is closely monitoring the conflict in Ukraine. And regular cartoonist Polyp offers a witty but sobering one-page Big Bad World which will ring true for all, parents or not.

David Ransom for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

Under the influence: a protester makes his feelings felt during demonstrations in Hong Kong, October 2014.

Photo: Getty/Bloomberg/Brent Lewin

NI 482 - May, 2015

Global banking now

A note from the editor

Day of the zombies - banking laid bare

The big story

Big private banks have been resurrected by the crisis they caused, says David Ransom.

Features

The megabanks and the mega-bonuses... facts and figures you should know.

Jack Rasmus reports on the world's creditor, increasingly engulfed by 'shadow' banks.

A cautionary tale, illustrated by Kate Charlesworth.

Whistleblower Ian Taplin wonders what became of the rule of law.

The financial lobby plugging the latest free-trade deal, discussed with Kenneth Haar.

Susan George tells a story that's beyond belief.

How to get involved... and some inspiration from Spain.

Daiva Repečkaitė reports on the rise of all things military in Lithuanian society.

For the women left behind in Kashmir's border villages, life has its own challenges, as Sofi Lundin discovers.

Opinion

Mark Engler is not inspired by family dynasties ruling over the nation.

Children should be allowed to be children, not taught to 'turn over a profit', argues Steve Parry.

Agenda

Bryan Kay on a possibly calamitous plan.

Opposition to an Israeli gas-export deal is growing, reports Juman Asmail.

Chris Brazier looks back at our May 1995 issue.

Harry Jenkinson reports on an ongoing struggle for independence.

Lydia James talks to a young girls' group with a difference.

Richard Swift on what you need to know about the Delhi State election winner.

Shahidul Alam laments a culture of impunity.

Nathalie Olah considers Europe's fortress mentality in relation to migrants.

Ximena S Warnaars reports on an unprecedented agreement in Peru.

Invaluable mine-clearers - who'd have thought?

Good news on fracking, FARC and femicide.

Regulars

Praise, blame and all points in between? Your feedback published in the May 2015 magazine.

The role and influence of traditional leaders is often underestimated by international agencies, writes Ruby Diamonde.

Tom Sykes considers a west African country full of contradictions.

Gaia laments her children’s shortsightedness in a one-page cartoon special from Polyp.

Jehad Hawrtani from Jordan with ‘Terrorism and Islam’.

'Moderate modernizers'? Not so much.

Cartoon by Marc Roberts.

The human rights activist has seen - and suffered - a lot in his decades of campaigning. But, he tells Cristiana Moisescu, he still believes in forgiveness.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

New releases from Thea Gilmore and Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld, reviewed by Louise Gray.

Books by Alejandro Zambra, Mel Evans, Hamid Dabashi and Johann Hari.

Phoenix and The Falling reviewed by Malcolm Lewis.

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