NI 541 - January, 2023

The cost of living crisis

A note from the editor

Sharing the treasure

A recent headline about an Italian design studio’s plans for a gigantic superyacht caught my eye. Shaped like a turtle and the size of a small city, it would be the largest floating structure ever built, with a cool $8 billion price tag.

Maybe more pipedream than billionaire bunker, but there is a crowd-funder running where you can buy non-fungible tokens (NFTs) giving you virtual ‘unreal estate’ aboard (please don’t!).

Perhaps that is a logical outgrowth of a world where markets have gone mad. Back in reality, the cost of living crisis is biting almost everywhere. But did that stop the Monaco Yacht Show, the annual conclave of luxury tubs? Of course not. Carpe diem is the mood of the moment among prospective floaters (what else to call owners of superyachts?), an organizer told CNN. And there was me thinking seizing the day meant a beer too many on a Friday night, or not putting off tackling that pile of dirty dishes.

In this edition we dive into the damage wage-busting inflation is doing around the world, fish out its causes and, since the rich aren’t throwing us a life rope, swim in search of our own solutions.

The jarring co-existence of extreme riches and severe deprivation is not incidental but central to this unfolding tragedy. So – to stretch the analogy a bit further – let’s climb the rigging together, scan the horizons and set sail for more equal shores.

Elsewhere, we have Sophie Neiman reporting on the trial of a former child soldier in the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army, Husna Ara imagining a decolonized mental health service and Danny Chivers on some of 2022’s climate wins.

Nick Dowson for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

Protestors in Panama City in July 2022 demand the government puts a ceiling on the price of fuel, food and medicines.

Photo: Erick Marciscano/Reuters/Alamy

NI 541 - January, 2023

The cost of living crisis

A note from the editor

Sharing the treasure

The big story

As the cost of living crisis becomes entrenched, Nick Dowson examines the scene of the crime, tracks down the culprits and proposes a route to resolution.

The Big Story

Initiatives, action, and further reading on the cost of living.

Inflation, poverty and hunger, debt, profit and inequality.

How Bolivians beat a corporate water grab.

As the International Monetary Fund keeps pushing austerity, Zambian journalist Zanji Valerie Sinkala explores whether that’s really a solution to her country’s economic woes.

Boom time for billionaires and the super-rich, by Vanessa Baird.

Price hikes are leaving many in Sierra Leone unable to even afford food. Alessio Perrone reports.

The mass protests of 2020-21 in India showed the world what solidarity in action can look like.

Words by Nick Dowson.

Spain’s human shields against evictions, by Luke Stobart.

Climate disasters and fossil fuel dependency are ramping up the cost of living crisis. Marianne Brooker looks at the solutions that are there for the making.

Those seeking justice for the survivors and victims of Bolivia’s dictatorships are still being stonewalled. Thomas Graham reports.

Opinion

The threats and promises game by Leonardo Sakamoto.

Out of the shadows by Rosebell Kagumire.

Hijab – how far can the state dictate a woman’s choice? By Nilanjana Bhowmick.

Currents

Report from Iran.

The 2022 prime minister of Italy.

Report on Mexico by Martha Busby.

Report on Palestine by Amy Hall.

Report on Brazil by Raphael Tsavkko Garcia.

Report on Colombia by Conrad Landin.

Report on India by Shoaib Mir and Parthu Venkatesh.

Hooting Star; No Pressure; Just Desserts.

Regulars

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

Stephanie Boyd opens her series from Peru in a remote Amazonian village, where a little human miracle arrives

Stuck in limbo, by Amy Hall.

In too deep, by Husna Ara.

Domestic violence vs gender.

Protest in support of the doctors’ strike in Madrid, Spain.

‘Climate goals’ by Tjeerd Royaards (Netherlands).

The photos, facts, and politics of South Korea.

Jack Dunleavy and Lawrence Dodgson tell the story of the soda giant’s botched campaign in the Philippines.

Symon Hill and Archie Woodrow get to grips with a thorny and salient question.

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

5 good news climate stories from 2022 by Danny Chivers.

Online security by Marc Roberts.

Frances Leach speaks to human rights activist Muhanned Qafesha about the life-and-death battle to defend his people’s land from illegal demolitions and settlements in Hebron, Palestine.

Spirit. Illustration by Kate Evans.

The new president of the Philippines.

Desertification by P J Polyp.

Crossword Puzzle, Association Words and Wordsearch.

Ethical and political dilemmas abound these days. This month: Local vs Fair Trade coffee.

We decolonized mental health services? Husna Ara rethinks our collective response to distress.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

20 Riot Cops to Nick 2 Chickens; Ten Planets; Miss Major Speaks; White Torture: Interviews with Iranian Women Prisoners.