NI 543 - May, 2023

Loneliness

A note from the editor

The crisis of loneliness - craving connection

Joyce Carol Vincent. A woman whose name I’ll never forget.

In 2006, the body of Joyce – a vivacious, young, talented aspiring singer from West London – was discovered in her flat three years after her death. The TV and heating were still running, Christmas presents laid unwrapped from 2003.

Joyce’s story left me with lingering questions. How – as a society – have we become so atomized that Joyce’s death could go unnoticed for so long? What do we need to stop this from happening? Can we be honest about the difficulties of community-building, while still welcoming it in to our lives?

This edition of New Internationalist explores loneliness and social isolation – phenomena that go well beyond anomalous tragic cases, taking in the disappearance of public space and how algorithms are leading us further down consumerist, chauvinist rabbit-holes, and away from intimate human connection.

But there is also hope. As labour reporter Eve Livingston argues, loneliness can also be a catalyst for thinking through how we might once again reach each other. From writings about cinema’s social impact to coaxing men out of patriarchal isolation, we hear about the myriad ways people are are restoring social connections.

Hana Pera Aoake reports on how New Zealand/Aotearoa has become a ‘world-leader’ in returning Indigenous ancestors home and Lorraine Mallinder charts how rap has become the language of protest in Iran.

Husna Ara for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

Rush hour – Workers scurry speedily to their next destination. Since the 1970s, Singapore and Guangzhou, China have seen the highest increase in pedestrian walking speeds. Calls for effiency in mobility can often come back to bite us with reduced social empathy and ableist attitudes.

Photo: Estherpoon/Shutterstock

NI 543 - May, 2023

Loneliness

A note from the editor

The crisis of loneliness - craving connection

The big story

Loneliness and social isolation have become chronic issues across the world. We must resist attempts to close down meaningful human interaction, writes Husna Ara.

The Big Story

Initiatives, action, and further reading on loneliness.

Work from home policies aren’t going anywhere. So, with many workers in the UK feeling the strain of isolation, now is the time to ramp up trade union organizing, writes Eve Livingston.

From rank and file unionist heroes to industrialist lone wolves, Bollywood storytellers and ‘content creators’ have shifted to write out India’s collective spirit. Ishika Saxena questions what this means for how the country’s citizens can be brought together.

Success coaches, pick-up artists, men’s rights activists. Popular influencers are preying on men and boys’ emotional isolation. Daisy Schofield reports on how we might intervene.

Tooba Syed on how Pakistan’s gender non-conforming community are fighting renewed attacks on their age old existence and customs – through queer kinship.

Husna Ara speaks to Dr Samara Linton about The Colour of Madness, her co-edited anthology that brings to life the varied experiences of alienation for migrants and people of colour in the UK.

As Scotland bids farewell to first minister Nicola Sturgeon, Conrad Landin looks at the state of the democracy she leaves behind.

Rap is a genre intertwined with politics, but the political courage of Iran’s rappers takes some beating, Lorraine Mallinder finds.

After 17 years, Zapotec Indigenous communities in Mexico finally gain control over their water sources, reports Magdalena Rojo.

In a time of toxic ‘culture wars’, it may be hard to see the liberating potential of transgender rights for us all. But this piece from 2015, by Vanessa Baird, did just that – while taking a pop at the tyranny of the binary.

Opinion

Choose your scapegoat by Rosebell Kagumire.

Brazilian Blood Gold by Leonardo Sakamoto.

March for the nation by Nilanjana Bhowmick.

Currents

Report on the violent expansion on environmental pretexts in Azerbaijan by Matt Broomfield.

Report on Shahidul Alam's criminal case by Kabir Agarwal.

The former NATO general and 2022 Czech president elect.

State surveillance in Greece, by Bethany Rielly.

Report on beekeeping in Kitui, Kenya by Shadrack Omuka.

Report on the ‘Refugia’ project in London by Alice Mccool.

Report on Pakistan's emergency financial bailout by Kabir Agarwal.

What does the future hold for young people in Nigeria after the 2023 presidential elections? Obiora Ikoku reports.

Goodbye to gas guzzlers?; Ocean reprieve; Barcelona boycott.

Regulars

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

Stephanie Boyd reports from the Peruvian Amazon, where Indigenous communities are fighting to save their language.

Not welcome here. By Charlotte Rubin.

Out of the woods? By Nick Dawson.

Top 1% vs bottom 1% of CO2 emitters.

Violent crackdowns on protest in Peru.

Migrants Boats by Osama Hajjaj (Jordan).

The photos, facts, and politics of United Arab Emirates.

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

A natural history of the future by Marc Roberts.

Coal in a hole. Words Danny Chivers.

The Indian physicist and veteran food sovereignty activist speaks to Amy Hall about a lifetime of keeping smiling while fighting the lies of the ‘poison cartel’.

Illustration by Kate Evans.

The King of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).

Climate solutions by P J Polyp.

Crossword Puzzle, Association Words and Wordsearch.

Ethical and political dilemmas abound these days. This month: Insecure work vs safety.

Children led the fight for their rights? It’s time adults stopped trying to mould kids into obedient neoliberal subjects, argues Matt Broomfield.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

Bodies Under Siege; Shalash the Iraqi; Dust Child; Siblings.

Harka; 1976.

Marjaa: The Battle of the Hotels; Les Égarés.

Mixing traditional African instruments like the ngoni and kora with modern electronic production techniques. Words by Graeme Green.

Site map:

Top 1% vs bottom 1% of CO₂ emitters.