NI 520 - July, 2019

The right to the city

A note from the editor

City limits

Once the cold of winter has retreated, weekends in Rotterdam, where I live, are no longer safe for those who value peace and quiet. The city hosts free festivals and sporting events in quick succession, drawing huge crowds of both inhabitants and visitors to rejoice and be one.

The most ethnically diverse city of the Netherlands, with over 170 different nationalities represented, there’s a justifiable pride in how people get along here. Citizen collectives are making active use of what the city has to offer.

And yet, there’s a counteractive force in play. In the centre, chichi boutiques selling goods bearing tiny tags with enormous prices are steadily elbowing out more modest establishments. Many parts of the suburban tundra have undergone gentrification against the wishes of those who live in them, many of whom got priced out. Three years ago, the dominant political party in City Hall declared their intention to replace 20,000 cheaper housing units for more expensive ones in order to better serve career-oriented Rotterdammers rather than those on low incomes.

Money draws its lines on the city map after all, perhaps somewhat more subtly here than in many other places in the world. With over half of the world’s population already living in urban areas our Big Story asks whether the vision of an inclusive city for all is any closer to coming true?

Our Long Read offers another reality check. Stumped by the pundits who keep claiming we’ve never had it better, Jason Hickel goes behind the lies, damned lies, and statistics to reveal what the ups and downs of global poverty rates are actually telling us.

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

The big story

Mean streets: taxi driver Mohammed Khan works a 12 hour day, six days a week in New York City just to make ends meet.

Photo: ESPEN RASMUSSEN/PANOS PICTURES

NI 520 - July, 2019

The right to the city

A note from the editor

City limits

The big story

If the future of humanity lies in cities, says Dinyar Godrej, then it follows that inhabitants of every strata must have a right to it.

The Big Story

Density, location, economics, sustainability and inequality.

The mushrooming trend of cashing in on fast returns from housing is devastating working people’s lives in cities across the world. UN expert Leilani Farha lays it on the line. Interview by Dinyar Godrej.

India’s rapidly expanding cities attract young dreamers like magnets. Snigdha Poonam observes how the horizon of promise keeps receding in Ranchi.

Architecture is never neutral, explains Laith Kharus Whitwham. But can it be made to truly serve the public?

Anne-Marie Broudehoux punctures the bombastic narrative of civic pride and prosperity that accompanies sporting mega-events to reveal how they actually remake the city upon the backs of the poor.

The city can provide cover and anonymity to those who seek it, explains David Nnanna Ikpo.

In the refugee camps of Iraqi Kurdistan, Yazidi women are using boxing to overcome the traumas of war. Report by Monir Ghaedi, photos by Giacomo Sini.

Veronique Mistiaen speaks to environmental lawyer Alfred Brownell about the grave threat palm-oil corporations pose to the people of Sinoe County, Liberia, and the rich rainforests they depend upon.

Opinion

Where the heroes are, by Leonardo Sakamoto.

India’s billion-dollar joke. Who’s laughing?

Check your passport privilege, writes Nanjala Nyabola.

Currents

A comedian who played the President of Ukraine in a popular TV series is now the actual President of Ukraine.

Eco House, a project launched 18 months ago in Dilijan to stop illegal deforestation.

This year a new submarine data-cable touched down in Valparaiso, Chile, owned by Google.

Mozambican campaigners call for debt cancellation.

The peaceful uprising.

HIV hope; Speak your heart; Goodwill gesture.

Regulars

Praise, blame and all points in between? Give us your feedback.

Parsa Sanjana Sajid has been buying her colourful wares for over a decade, but behind the fragile ornaments is a life consumed by work.

UK house ownership.

Criminalizing kindness.

#SplashTheFash

Detained for holding a blank sign.

Lungs of the City by Gatis Sluka from Latvia.

The nature island of the Caribbean.

Witnesses to a massacre. Illustrated by P J Polyp.

Thou shalt not kill. It seems simple enough. But can pacifism work as a strategy against violence and injustice? Tim Gee and Rahila Gupta go head to head. Illustrations by Kate Copeland.

Rise up! By Kate Evans.

Richard Swift give the infamous and long-term Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, a good grilling.

Highlighting the work of artists and photographers from the Majority World.

Self-exiled Saudi street artist Ms Saffaa uses murals to portray her home country’s brave women activists. She speaks to Alessio Perrone about creating a different narrative for Saudi women and the important role art plays in her life and in helping to overcome fear.

Climate insurance by Marc Roberts.

Ecological breakdown is in the spotlight. Danny Chivers outlines five ways to seize the moment.

Wind-ups by P J Polyp.

Ethical and political dilemmas abound these days. Seems like we’re all in need of a New Internationalist perspective. Enter stage: Agony Uncle.

Aidan Harper makes the case for a new politics of time.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

Fully Automated Luxury Communism; A Woman Like Her; America’s Covert War in East Africa; This Brutal House.

Transit; The Chambermaid.

Ben Haana Wa Maana; The Book of Traps and Lessons.

The director of Rising Silence.

Highlights from the 2019 Toronto Festival by Richard Swift.

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