NI 545 - September, 2023

Decolonize now

A note from the editor

Tales of empire

There’s a popular proverb displayed on a sign in the Barbados Museum: ‘Unless you know the road you’ve come down, you cannot know where you are going.’ As Barbados continues on its path as a young republic, it’s a reminder that the past is always present in the future.

The sign stands at the opening to the museum’s exhibit on Africa, where most of the island’s population have their heritage but which is half way across the world. As the museum reminds us, over a period of 500 years many Caribbean societies ‘were created by the forces of capitalism’ and these forces of capitalism had empire at their heart.

As an internationalist magazine, with a focus on the Global South, how Empire shaped our world is an essential part of any story we tell. So, as voted for by our readers, it’s a topic we’ve been tackling head on for the past year. This Big Story rounds off our Decolonize How? series, which has been using the methods of ‘solutions journalism’ to do just that.

Keep an eye on our website for more stories until the end of September, plus ways in which you can join the discussion: online and in person. Catch up on the rest of the series at: newint.org/special/decolonize-how

This edition also includes two new sections: an extended commentary slot, in which Nanjala Nyambola takes on racist border policies, and a longer book review. Let us know what you think, and what we could tackle in these pieces in the future.

Amy Hall for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

Activists from Debt for Climate and Extinction Rebellion shut down traffic in front of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington DC on 13 October 2022.

Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

NI 545 - September, 2023

Decolonize now

A note from the editor

Tales of empire

The big story

Confronting the impact of empire is not about getting stuck in the past, writes Amy Hall. It’s vital to how we build a better future.

The Big Story

Action, and further reading on Decolonization.

It was a moment that could have remade the world, but it was squashed by neoliberal agendas. Kojo Koram charts the rise and fall of the anti-colonial New International Economic Order.

Barbados took the plunge and ditched the British monarchy two years ago. Has anything really changed since? Amy Hall reports.

The push for repair emanates from movements with a rich and varied history. Priya Lukka explores where we’ve come from and what could be ahead.

Carlos Edill Berríos Polanco reports on the growing movement to get the Global North to cough up for its climate debt.

Decolonizing Africa’s media means interrogating its form as well as its content. Patrick Gathara examines an initiative which tells narrative stories through live performance in Kenya, and asks what lessons it holds for the continent at large.

Tarushi Aswani on how the Indian government is using the language of decolonization to promote its own form of rightwing nationalism.

Guatemala may have made progress in trying to hold people to account for abuses of power, but with so many tragic cases languishing in the courts, Mira Galanova explores what’s getting in the way of justice.

At least 500 people have drowned in the Mediterranean in a single incident, just the latest in increasingly normalized disasters. Yet in the Western political milieu, it made barely a ripple. Nanjala Nyabola asks why migration policies have become so deadly, and what it will take to change them.

From the archive: New Internationalist’s first ever issue, in March 1973, arrived amid escalating tensions in southern Africa, with Ian Smith’s white-ruled Rhodesia imposing a blockade on neighbouring Zambia.

Opinion

Women are being short changed, writes Nilanjana Bhowmick.

Can the quest for peace in Europe bring calm at home? By Rosebell Kagumire.

Agribusiness backers in Congress scupper climate gains. By Leonardo Sakamoto.

Currents

Report on food shortages in Ethiopia by Samuel Getachew.

Nigerian president known as ‘the kingmaker’.

Report from China by Andrew Rolland.

Reclaiming parking space, by Paul Krantz.

Report on the Pucallpa-Cruzeiro do Sul highway that would connect Peru with Brazil by Jack Dodson.

Report on Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh, by Lauren Crosby Medlicott.

Report on police violence in France by Manasa Narayanan.

No faith in fossil fuels; Gaining ground; Cough up.

Regulars

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

Stephanie Boyd reports from a remote village in the Peruvian Amazon, where ways of life are changing with modern times – but ancient traditions live on.

Escaping anti-LGBTQI+ hate, by Alice McCool.

This misogyny is hidden, by Anna Scott.

Austerity vs excess deaths.

Trans healthcare matters, by Alice McCool.

Where to hide? by Maarten Wolterink (Netherlands).

The photos, facts, and politics of Yemen.

David Lester and Marcus Rediker with Paul Buhle.

Ending the artwash. Words by Danny Chivers.

Minstream media by Marc Roberts.

The outspoken artist and architect speaks to Subi Shah about what gets her fired up.

The billionaire, by Kate Evans.

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

Slippery slope, by P J Polyp.

President of Tunisia.

Crossword Puzzle, Association Words and Wordsearch.

Ethical and political dilemmas abound these days. This month: Gentrification.

We were not socialized to be monogamous? Bethany Rielly asks us to end our judgements over multiple partners.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

Bluebeard’s Castle; Traces of Enayat; Austria Behind the Mask; Standing Heavy; To the Lighthouse.

Brother; Our river...our sky.

The Book of the Sediments; Cloud horizons.

Words by Subi Shah.

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