Paris climate summit

A note from the editor

Jess Worth and Danny Chivers

Heroes, villains and why there is still hope.

When we agreed to guest-edit a magazine on the upcoming Paris climate talks, we felt some trepidation. We’d been at the Copenhagen summit in 2009 – one of us inside the conference centre, the other outside with the protesters – and the bad memories still felt fresh. Grassroots, frontline and Indigenous campaigners thrown out of the talks. Thousands of activists locked in cages by the Danish police. A final stitch-up non-deal from a handful of polluting governments, and the overinflated hopes of millions of people brought crashing down. Was it all about to happen again?

But in the course of putting together this magazine, we have spoken to climate-justice activists from all over the world. Much to our surprise, we’re now feeling unexpectedly hopeful. There’s plenty to play for in Paris, and while there are no easy victories to be grabbed, the global climate movement could be about to take a big leap forward.

The story of Paris has only just begun. We’d love to see it through to the end, and bring you voices and perspectives from the talks that the mainstream media will ignore. That’s why we’re launching a crowdfunding appeal to allow us to report from the frontlines in Paris. We’re excited at the prospect of taking New Internationalist into the thick of the action – but we need support from you, our readers, to make it happen. See here for how to donate, and we hope you’ll join us – virtually at least – on the Paris climate rollercoaster...

Jess Worth and Danny Chivers for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

You Shell not pass: First Nations activist and singer Audrey Siegl confronts the oil giant’s drilling rig on its way to the Arctic. Photo: Emily Hunter / Greenpeace

You Shell not pass: First Nations activist and singer Audrey Siegl confronts the oil giant’s drilling rig on its way to the Arctic.

Photo: Emily Hunter / Greenpeace

Forget Paris?

While politicians drag their feet at climate summits, Jess Worth and Danny Chivers find hope in unexpected places.

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Features

Fossil fuel reserves - the facts

What we have, and what we can afford to burn.

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Hitting home: Philippines negotiator Yeb Saño challenges governments after a typhoon wrecked his hometown.Photo: Kacper Pempel / Reuters

Views from inside the climate talks

Activist experiences of previous UN climate talks.

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China in their hands: hundreds in Yunnan province protest against a refinery.Photo: AP / Press Association Images

China's climate transition

Is the world's most populous country a climate villain or an environmental leader? Sam Geall investigates.

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Illustration: Hemant Anant Jain

A rebel's guide to Paris

Want to cause trouble for the polluters and procrastinators? John Jordan's top tips for the discerning summit-crasher.

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What's on the table at Paris?

Which proposals should we praise, and which should we protest?

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Drowned out by big oil: 13-year-old Laurel from Children Against Global Warming performs inside the BP-sponsored British Museum in September 2015, as part of the growing movement against oil sponsorship.Photo: Natasha Quarmby / Art Not Oil

Still biting

Big Oil's history of denial, delay and distortion is laid bare by Greg Muttitt.

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'The real power is below'

Southern campaigners, trade unionists and grasroots organizers discuss Paris, and beyond.

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Carrying a gun to symbolise the independence war of 1975-91, a Saharawi boy takes part in an annual parade at a refugee camp in Algeria. He is part of a generation that has never seen its homeland.Photos: Dominik Sipiński

A story of waiting

As Western Sahara marks 40 years of occupation, Dominik Sipiński listens to refugees tired of broken promises and dreams.

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Photo: WENN Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo

Patricio Guzmán's search for the truth

Roxana Olivera meets the documentary filmmaker renowned for delving into Chile’s dark past.

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The case against the future

Hal Niedzviecki considers the case against the future.

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Blogs

Stop the Trojan treaty – Brussels 04/02/15.Photo: Friends of the Earth Europe/Lode Sandane under a Creative Commons Licence

Sounding the TTIP alarm across the European Union

Canada is the most sued country in the ‘developed’ world, and that should be cause for grave concern, argues Maude Barlow.

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Opinion

YES: Security researcher Meredith L Patterson co-founded the field of language-theoretic security in 2005. Her research examines how errors scale into systemic cascade failures. She is based in Brussels, Belgium.

Is social media doing social harm?

Meredith L Patterson and Deanna Zandt go head to head.

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Listen up! Amazon employees in Germany have been demanding recognition of a collective wage agreement.Photo: Roland Weihrauch/DPA/Press Association Images

Act against Amazon!

We need to push back against unacceptable corporate behaviour, writes Mark Engler.

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How to make room for refugees

Chris Coltrane has had enough of excuses about Britain being full.

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Agenda

A Bosnian woman weeps over the remains of family members recovered from a mass grave, victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. Photo: Nikola Solic/ Reuters

Moment of truth for Balkan war crimes tribunal

Radovan Karadzic will receive his sentence in December - but the International Criminal Tribunal is also under scrutiny, writes Nathalie Olah.

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Turning the screw in Cambodia

Turning the screw in Cambodia

A new law will silence protesters and critics, says Clothilde Le Coz.

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Gaza: unliveable by 2020

Gaza: unliveable by 2020

Claire Fauset on theshocking situation for Palestinians.

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Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.RevolutionBahrainMC/Wikipedia Commons

Introducing... Jeremy Corbyn

The low-down on Labour's new leader. By Richard Swift.

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Lay off the pills

Lay off the pills

Emma Rose explains why animals should not be given so many antibiotics.

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Vlas Guadamuz swapped cane-cutting for coffin-making when he was diagnosed with kidney disease. He is now kept busy by near daily deaths in his community in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua.Photo: Ed Kashi/VII

What is killing sugarcane cutters?

Workers in in Central America face an epidemic of a chronic kidney disease, new research reveals.

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Free Khadija

Free Khadija

Onnik Krikorian on a case of unjust imprisonment in Azerbaijan.

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Granny training in Lesotho

Granny training in Lesotho

Rebecca Cooke explains how grandmothers are stepping up.

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Carry-on up the Limpopo

Carry-on up the Limpopo

Cristiana Moisescu reports on 'cinema in a backpack'.

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Regulars

Letters

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

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Illustration: Sarah John

Letter from Bangui: Penthouse and pavement

The city is getting a facelift - but not everyone will benefit, writes Ruby Diamonde.

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Clockwise from top left: Gang leader Carlos Tiberio Valladares mirrored in his prison cell in Ciudad Barrios. At the time photographed, while the truce (see opposite) was still in operation, this prison was not only reserved for members of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang but was even run by them without guards. As the photo top right shows, 70 inmates live in cells designed for 20, with beds hanging from the ceiling due to the lack of floor space.  The photo bottom left shows police in the capital, San Salvador, searching members of the rival Barrio 18 gang. Bottom right: Valeria Michel Hercules is supported by friends on the way to the funeral of her stillborn child in the Las Victorias district of San Salvador.Photos by Adam Hinton/Panos Pictures

Country profile: El Salvador

Louisa Reynolds on a country of great inequality still struggling with a legacy of civil war.

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Open Window - Migration

Open Window - Migration

Arcadio Esquivel from Costa Rica with ‘Two Kinds of Migration’.

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And finally... Susan Abulhawa

Graeme Green talks to the Palestinian American author and human rights activist.

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Film, Book & Music Reviews

Mixed media: film reviews

Mixed media: film reviews

Brooklyn, directed by John Crowley; The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, directed by Stanley Nelson.

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Mixed media: music reviews

Mixed media: music reviews

Captain Hume’s Journey to India by Philippe Pierlot and Dhruba Ghosh; Rwanda Is My Home by The Good Ones.

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Mixed media: book reviews

Mixed media: book reviews

Stealing the Future by Max Hertzberg; Stars between the Sun and Moon by Lucia Jang and Susan McClelland. Trans by Juliet Jacques; and Vanished by Ahmed Masoud.

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