NI 492 - May, 2016

Technology justice

A note from the editor

Shame and seduction

A few months ago, new friends of ours came to visit for dinner. So shocked were they by the squat television in our living room that they insisted we accept a flat-screen version they had going spare.

Now, I’m usually of the ‘use it until it wears out’ school when it comes to my possessions and I was quite fond of the old box we had – its colours were still fine, it did its job. It was far from obsolete.

But perhaps a combination of shame at being perceived as Stone Agers, the inability to say no to a gift and the determination of our friends, meant that a few days later they duly delivered an enormous flat-screen job. The perfectly serviceable old faithful was despatched to the municipal recycling point, where proper recycling is likely to be the last thing that happens to it.

That box has been on my mind quite a bit, especially as this edition is all about technology – appropriate, inappropriate, the excesses of the West, the deprivation of much of the rest.

Also this month, we have coverage of the efforts to declare Ecocide a punishable crime against peace. And a feature on the women fighters of Rojava in northern Syria: democrats and passionate idealists who show a different way is possible even in the direst circumstances.

Dinyar Godrej for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

Charge your phones here: this man displays the board of sockets which helps him earn his livelihood in Nigeria’s Katsina city. Many vendors invest in small solar units to generate the power.

Photo: Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters

NI 492 - May, 2016

Technology justice

A note from the editor

Shame and seduction

The big story

The world's poor are still losing out. They need a better deal, argues Dinyar Godrej.

Features

Peasant farmers resisting the violence of agribusiness. By Nils McCune.

Technology can be a big enabler – yet the difference in terms of what’s available to rich and poor is vast.

Simon Trace on the skewed priorities of medical research.

Technology, whether low or high, needs to be appropriate and within reach to make a difference.

What will it take to get electricity to Africa’s rural poor? Ruth Nyambura explores.

Jim Thomas on the winners and losers of emerging technologies.

Femke Wijdekop makes the case for Ecocide to become a crime under international law.

Rahila Gupta meets women fighters in Rojava who are leading the charge towards a radical democracy.

Web exclusives

Afghan refugee organizer Yonous Muhammadi speaks to Marienna Pope-Weidemann and Samir Dathi in Athens, Greece.

A purpose-built camp offers refugees a sense of relief, but for how long?, asks Sarah Shearman.

Noreen Sadik reports on the aftermath of a very public shooting in the divided city of al-Khalil.

A record number of participants claimed their right to freedom of movement at this year’s marathon. Giedre Steikunaite reports.

Blogs

Five reasons not to buy BP’s story about the end of its sponsorship deals.

Opinion

Kelvin Hopkins and Caroline Lucas go head to head on the question that will be put to British voters in a referendum in June.

Can we end fracking now? asks Mark Engler.

TTIP is a very dangerous game, writes Chris Coltrane.

Agenda

The sanitation crisis is over, but the government faces further challenges, writes Habib Battah.

Emily Korstanje reports on China's treatment of political prisoners.

Afghan women are cycling to empowerment. By Kelsi Farrington.

Richard Swift introduces Jamaica's new prime minister.

Maina Waruru on a community without rights.

Chris Brazier remembers our climate change denial magazine.

Surfer girl Shumi captures her friend on camera.

Britain's ongoing high-level relations with Bahrain is unacceptable, writes Batool Al Musawi.

Louise Sales reports on word games in the GMO industry.

Jess Worth reports on a victory for campaigners wanting BP out of the arts.

Stories to give us cheer this month.

Regulars

Praise, blame and all points in between? Your feedback published in the May 2016 magazine.

The importance of communication should not be underestimated, writes Ruby Diamonde.

Cartoon by Simon Kneebone.

Nayer Talal Nayer from Ethiopia with ‘Xenophobia’

Cartoon by P J Polyp

Poverty and war have hit Filipinos hard, as Jes Aznar shows through his photography.

Cartoon by Marc Roberts

Samuel Malik considers life in the self-styled 'giant of Africa'.

The feminist pioneer talks to Graeme Green about travel, change and the road ahead.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

The Woman at the End of the World by Elza Soares; Highlife-Jazz and Afro-Soul by Fela Ransome Kuti and his Koola Lobitos.

Suburra, directed by Stefano Sollima; Heaven Knows What, directed by Ben and Joshua Safdie; Mustang, directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven.

Memories from Moscow to the Black Sea by Teffi; Saving the Media by Julia Cagé; Crossing the Sea with Syrians on the exodus to Europe by Wolfgang Bauer; Counter Narratives by John Keene.

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