NI 533 - September, 2021

Food justice: who gets to eat?

A note from the editor

How not to feed the world

Imagine you live by the Atlantic Ocean, close enough to hear the waves breaking. In those waters swim small fish. They are a superfood: rich in the nutrients needed by your bodies – and those of your children.
But these fish are destined for the diets of others. They will be turned into food for farmed fish – like salmon – and livestock, which will in turn nourish wealthy people inland or abroad, perhaps even their pets.

This stark reality is experienced by coastal communities across the Global South. It was mapped and brought to the world’s attention by environmental social scientist Christina Hicks, who is a contributing editor for this edition.

Her research sparked the Food Justice files, a year-long New Internationalist focus on the stories of people in sub-Saharan Africa who too often go unheard: from the forest gardeners of Ethiopia to herders in drought-stricken Somaliland.

To close the project, this Big Story takes us to the beaches of Senegal where we hear from women fish workers whose jobs are threatened by a deeply inequitable exchange. As social movements build a critical grassroots response to a UN food summit this September, this magazine reflects back on who gets to eat, why – and the urgent actions needed to rebalance food systems in the interests of the hungry.

You can find the whole Food Justice files series online at newint.org/special/food-justice-files

Elsewhere in this edition, Leonardo Sakamoto brings us an exclusive interview with Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Wayne Ellwood explores whether, with the Castros gone, Cuba is turning a new page.

Hazel Healy for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

Far out. Fishers haul in their catch some 60 kilometres off the coast of Saint Louis, Senegal. They report travelling further, for longer, to catch ever-dwindling amounts of sardinella.

Photo: Alfredo Caliz/Panos Pictures

NI 533 - September, 2021

Food justice: who gets to eat?

A note from the editor

How not to feed the world

The big story

Why is a nutritious superfood being routed away from poor communities to feed salmon, pigs and pets? Hazel Healy investigates.

The Big Story

Campaigns, groups, podcasts, reports, and further reading on food justice.

How to create a food system where everyone gets to eat.

How much do we make? Who gets it? What's being over or under consumed? How much do we need?

Foreign seeds and fertilizers will not bring food security. Raj Patel explains why.

The soil is dying, the water’s running out, and climate change is rendering the future even more uncertain. Hazel Healy speaks to farmers in Senegal who are ready for a different system.

A cleaner, greener approach to agriculture.

In London and Cape Town, Dee Woods and Stefanie Swanepoel work to make sure healthy food is not only the preserve of the affluent. They share their vision for how to change our food systems for the better with Amy Hall.

Ocean View’s ‘kos gangsters’ want to overhaul their local food system.

Data-firms and e-commerce giants like Amazon are moving into food. Should we be worried? That depends on who is in the driving seat, says Pat Mooney. Interview by Nick Dowson.

Will Miguel Díaz-Canel, the Castros’ hand-picked successor, wield a new broom of change? Wayne Ellwood weighs up the island’s options.

The image-obsessed Indian government is intent on shutting down dissent. Rishika Pardikar examines the ploys in use.

Jason Hickel makes a compelling case for modern monetary theory as a way for countries in the Global South to throw off the shackles of international capital and finally meet their people’s basic needs.

Opinion

From slavery to mass deforestation, Leonardo Sakamoto highlights the devastating impact of cattle ranching in Brazil.

Nilanjana Bhowmick on oxygen inequity and the price paid by her country’s citizens.

Suspending pandemic reality, by Nanjala Nyabola.

Currents

Report on Russia by Tina Burrett.

The unlikely winner of Peru’s presidential race.

Activist sex workers in Kyrgyzstan face targeted persecution.

Update from Honduras on the murder of indigenous environmental activist Berta Cáceres.

Canada finds the unmarked graves of 215 indigenous children.

Germany acknowledges its country’s historic crimes against the Herero and Nama people.

President Ivan Duque has promised to ‘modernize’ Colombia’s police force.

Après macdo; Keep the faith; Nelson’s column.

Regulars

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

Iris Gonzales delves into some of the reasons why the vaccine rollout in her country is encountering drag.

Call of the wild.

Art for art’s sake.

Wealth inequality in South Africa.

Protesting Britain’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

Corona wide angle view by Harm Bengen (Germany).

The photos, facts, and politics of Chile.

How Britain robbed an island and made its people disappear by Florian Grosset.

Are legal punishments an effective way to tackle domestic violence, or are they failing to go to the heart of the problem? Leigh Goodmark and Stella Nyanzi go head to head.

Vaccine equality by Kate Evans.

The burning issue; Breaking the mould; Here comes the sun.

Filtered. Cartoon by P J Polyp.

Brazil’s former leader is the frontrunner in polls for the 2022 presidential election, well ahead of Jair Bolsonaro.

Idiocy coated in patriotic self-righteousness courtesy of Marjorie Taylor Greene.

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

No results found, by Marc Roberts.

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

Armed forces were abolished? Symon Hill plots a path to peace

Crossword Puzzle, Association Words and Wordsearch

Film, Book & Music Reviews

Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka; Little Brother by Ibrahima Balde and Amets Arzallus Antia, translated by Timberlake Wertenbaker; World Politics since 1989 by Jonathan Holslag; Patriarchy of the Wage by Sylvia Federici.

I’m Your Man directed and co-written by Maria Schrader; Sabaya directed and written by Hogir Hirori.