Give this a spin
1
I found your Big Story on railways in NI 539 very interesting. However, regarding ‘Top tracks: a playlist for the rails’: ‘City of New Orleans’ was not written by Arlo Guthrie, but by Steve Goodman, a Chicago singer who first recorded it himself. I was surprised that no African-American music was chosen, when there is so much that refers to trains and/or includes the rhythm of moving trains. The latter includes the boogie-woogie piano style of the 1930s and 40s; probably the classic example is ‘Honky Tonk Train Blues’ by Meade Lux Lewis. And a track that itself expresses a lot of what the feature has to say about the function of railways in the Global South is ‘Coal Train’ by Hugh Masekela. The train of the title carries not coal but migrant workers for the coal mines of South Africa.
2
‘The Runaway Train’ was a glaring omission from your playlist. The original was recorded by Vernon Dalhart in 1925, but please can anyone tell me who was responsible for the version which brightened my 1950s childhood?
Line up
The way you made railways a global issue (NI 539) really made me read the whole mag this time. So timely and well done for getting ASLEF and Unite involved. I liked the lifestyles vs system change debate feature as well. Went back to find other recent issues and lined up stopping oil (NI 537), cleaning rivers (NI 538) and care (NI 528) issues to read properly.
Deselect?
Writing as a huge fan of New Internationalist, I must ask you to be selective in which trade unions you allow to advertise in your publication. Unfortunately, some unions take positions that are in conflict with the principles of NI.
NI 539 carried a full-page advertisement for Unite the Union. Unfortunately Unite champions airport expansion and calls for the UK Government to commission new warships. I’m sure I don’t need to explain to NI readers why this is a problem.
Trade unions are important for worker representation, but this doesn’t mean that they are always progressive in their demands.
Intentional fallacy
Your profile of Michelle O’Neill (Currents, NI 538), the Northern Irish Sinn Féin leader was insightful and timely given her potential role in any likely constitutional changes that may come on the island. However, from a Left perspective it might be best to temper the idea that ‘they can represent a cosmopolitan pro-Europe internationalism’. Sinn Féin have been able to distance themselves from other forms of nationalism in Northern Ireland through relative social liberalism (something not hard to achieve in the Northern Irish context) and opposition to Brexit (an understandably popular position given the region’s unique exposure to its consequences). However, as voices of the leftist Irish political wilderness (such as that of veteran civil rights campaigner Eamonn McCann) might argue, European Unionism does not really constitute ‘internationalism’ given its imperialist genesis and neo-colonial intent, at least not in the way this fine publication intends it.
Leaving (not) on a jet plane
A possible error in ‘Fossil fuels - a journey in time’ (NI 537): you state that in 1958 a BOAC plane made the first transatlantic passenger jet flight. My family emigrated from England to Canada on a BOAC airplane in 1957. It occurs to me that maybe you mean specifically a plane with jet engines [indeed we did – Ed], while my flight in 1957 was made on a turbo-prop plane. If so, I stand corrected and your timeline is correct.
Thanks for being there. NI is a breath of fresh air among all the corporate media.
Why I...
...campaign to stop coal.
Coal is the most polluting fossil fuel out there and if we don’t stop burning it, we’ve no hope of averting catastrophic climate change. But rather than stopping, the world is actually increasing the amount burned each year. As I write this, despite targets and treaties, the UK has five coal mine applications and extensions in the works. It’s essential these plans are stopped in their tracks, which is why my friends and I work as part of Coal Action Network. We fight with everything we have because there is everything to fight for.
