NI 539 - September, 2022

Railways

A note from the editor

All aboard

At Ivangorod on Russia’s border with Estonia, several years ago, I was unceremoniously booted off a train and frogmarched down the tracks. It was my own fault – my visa had expired during the journey from Moscow. My nerves only relaxed when a Russian border guard’s phone began to ring, and his ringtone was the Benny Hill Show theme.

At a road border crossing, passing from one jurisdiction to the next is marked by a definitive line on the ground. But trains instead become liminal spaces – in neither one country nor the other. Conductors, border guards and sniffer dogs take part in an erratic dance through the carriages – collecting and returning passports, checking bags and cross-examining passengers. It doesn’t make borders any less hostile or racist, but it shows – like the separate language and laws of national networks – that the railways can be a world unto themselves.

And when properly managed, this can mean it’s easier to get things done on the railways than in other parts of an economy. That should be a huge opportunity for reducing climate emissions by getting passengers off the roads and out of the skies. But unless we re-purpose rail networks to serve the interests of people – and not those of the empires and corporations which built them and run them to this day – we can’t succeed. This magazine aims to show how we can make a start on this task.

Elsewhere in this issue, you’ll find Polyp’s graphic re-telling of the life of Thomas Paine, and Samia Qaiyum on skateboarding as resistance in Palestine.

Conrad Landin for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

India’s railways are frequently hailed by defenders of the British Empire as a positive legacy of colonialism. While the country has an extensive network which ranks among the world’s biggest employers, it was designed to serve the interests of imperialism and private profit – with the directors of the sub continent’s first railway drawn from the ranks of the East India Company. Here passengers prepare to eat on board a modern-day sleeper train.

Photo: Boaz Rottem/Alamy

NI 539 - September, 2022

Railways

A note from the editor

All aboard

The big story

On every continent, the railways are experiencing a renaissance. But what will it take to reshape them in the interests of people? Conrad Landin investigates.

The Big Story

Initiatives, action, and further reading on railways.

Networks, speed, traction, environment, and the safety of railways.

The low-friction, high-capacity technology of railways means the economic and environmental costs of expanding them are worthwhile, argues Gareth Dennis.

The history of the railways is steeped in the development of capitalism and imperialism. But it has also been profoundly shaped from the bottom up. Conrad Landin profiles five trailblazers who left their mark on the tracks.

Tom Haines-Doran explores the recent disputes between Britain’s train operating companies and rail union RMT over driver-only operation – and asks why railway workers are both willing to take strike action and successful in doing so.

Decades on, the relatives of those disappeared under Brazil’s military dictatorship are finally getting some answers about what happened to their loved ones, but calls for justice are going unanswered. Raphael Tsavkko Garcia reports.

When the transnational giant decided to dig for lithium in Serbia it was met by widespread protests. But beyond the people’s rebellion lie deeper questions of imperialism, environmentalism and ‘green’ tech. Andrej Ivančić and Sergey Steblev inspect them in this cautionary tale.

As Israel continues to pursue ‘complete control’ over the Occupied Palestinian Territories, human rights campaigner Maen Hammad is highlighting an overlooked symbol of resistance: skateboards. Samia Qaiyum reports.

Opinion

Everyone’s problem by Nanjala Nyabola.

Pre-election spending spree by Leonardo Sakamoto.

Waiting for the revolution by Nilanjana Bhowmick.

Currents

Report from Ecuador.

The 2022 Colombian presidential election victors.

Report from Sudan by Enas Magzoub.

Report on global protests by Amy Hall.

Report from India by Gurvinder Singh.

Can Ukrainian educators deliver face-to-face schooling during a war?

Report from Spain by Tommy Greene.

Housing first; No more drama; Outfoxed.

Regulars

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

A visit to her family home leads Virginia Tognola to reflect on her life’s journey

‘Stop the wars’

The people’s burger

Junior barristers in London, on strike over low pay.

Private vs state education.

Earth and fire by Hamid Ghalijari (Iran)

The photos, facts, and politics of Angola.

Polyp tells the astounding story of an almost forgotten revolutionary.

Tansy E Hoskins and Matthew Wilson discuss the tensions – or not – between individual action and system change.

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

Payback time, by Danny Chivers.

Graeme Green speaks to the Indigenous activist about the dangerous fight to protect his people’s land from destructive mining in the Brazilian Amazon.

News broadcast. Illustration by Kate Evans.

Science by Marc Roberts.

The outgoing Prime Minister of Israel.

Truth by P J Polyp.

Crossword Puzzle, Association Words and Wordsearch.

Ethical and political dilemmas abound these days. This month: is the language of abuse being misused in personal relationships?

We liberated sex education? Husna Ara plots the path to shame-free learning.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

Solito: A Memoir; A Short History of Tomb-Raiding; Abolish the Family; All Walls Collapse.

Her Way (Une femme du monde); Silent Land.

All of Us in Flames; Afar Ways.

Nigerian cousins who share a love of hi-tech science fiction movies. Words by Subi Shah.

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