NI 553 - January, 2025

Guns and power

A note from the editor

Arms of power

A young boy, Zein Yousef, sleeps on the grave of his mother who died in an Israeli air strike in Gaza. A mother cries as she speaks to journalists, cradling her listless and starving daughter in Sudan. Two-year old Ali Khalifeh, found alive after 14 hours under the rubble in Lebanon, lies on a hospital ward – his parents, sister and grandmothers were all killed.

The human cost of war and genocide is rarely far from the headlines at present. But what about the business behind it?

While war means devastation for most, for the arms industry it means big profits. The trade in weaponry, military equipment and private security can seem like a vast, secretive, faceless foe.

And in many ways it is. But a powerful resistance is growing. This Big Story explores the power of the arms trade, how it fuels violence, displacement and inequality, and the threats it poses to our planet, democracies and safety.

We need an internationalist movement to confront the global network of arms manufacturers, dealers, and political actors who profit from bloodshed. And the handy thing is there are so many ways we can take action on our doorsteps: on our high streets, in our workplaces and in our court rooms; with our pens, and with our bodies.

Also in this edition, Ben Jacobs explores Guyana’s oil boom, Charlie Milner keeps the spotlight on migrants in Greece, and Tauseef Ahmad and Sajid Raina report on the hardships experienced by Kashmir’s ‘half widows’.

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

The big story

Palestine Action activists occupy the roof of an Elbit Systems building in Bristol, Southwest England on 13 April 2021.

Photo: Vladimir Morozov/Akxmedia/Alamy Stock Photo

NI 553 - January, 2025

Guns and power

A note from the editor

Arms of power

The big story

People across the world are standing up to the power of the arms trade. Amy Hall explores its threat to life and democracy.

The Big Story

Action, and further reading on the arms trade.

State of the industry; Deadly business; At the border; Who’s supplying whom?

As the West’s power wanes in other areas, the arms industry is the perfect vehicle through which to assert itself. Vijay Prashad discusses the trade’s influence on international relations with Amy Hall.

Amy Hall explains how a group of determined activists ran one of the world’s biggest arms companies out of town.

Israel and India have gone from covert traders to public allies, and arms are part of the special relationship. Mohammad Asif Khan outlines the nexus of power and what people are doing to try and disrupt it.

Western militaries are taking on a new enemy: climate change. Nico Edwards unpicks the myth of green militarism.

Joely Thomas explores the role of activists in showing how climate action and demilitarization cannot be separated.

Eiad Husham reports on how the flow of weapons into Sudan is fuelling violence and the devastation of war.

Thousands of men have gone missing in Kashmir since the 1980s. Tauseef Ahmad and Sajid Raina report on the hardships faced by ‘half widows’ as they live with the uncertainty of their husbands’ disappearance.

Ten years on from the height of Europe’s refugee ‘crisis’, Greece remains a ‘holding pen’ for people on the move trying to start new lives. Charlie Milner reports from Lagadikia camp, where hundreds are stuck in limbo.

An oil rush is reshaping Guyana’s future, but as profits bypass locals could a familiar history of exploitation, extraction and colonialism be repeating itself? Ben Jacob reports on a nation at a crossroads.

Comment

Making AI work for women, by Nilanjana Bhowmick.

Left in Lebanon, by Rosebell Kagumire.

Elon Musk’s walk of shame, by Leonardo Sakamoto.

Disaster appeals that airbrush Israel’s role in the Gaza genocide are not just offensive – they’re dangerous, argues Nick Dearden.

Currents

Indigenous leaders from the Amazon call out COP16's sidelining of their voices while biodiversity and their homes face relentless threats, writes Beatriz Miranda.

Locals reclaim Baguran Jalpai beach from tourists, restoring its vibrant ecology and securing a biodiversity heritage site designation, writes Ritwika Mitra.

Haiti’s revolutionary legacy meets violent turmoil as foreign exploitation and global indifference fuel its crisis, writes Harold Isaac.

Police and pensions; War war; Stuffed ballots?; NHS Vultures; Worrying welcome; Abu Ghraib win.

HIV prevention breakthrough lenacapavir sparks outrage as trial countries like Peru and Brazil are denied access to affordable generics, writes Sophie Cousins.

Israel intensifies deportations of international activists from the West Bank, aiming to isolate Palestinians amid escalating settler violence, writes Bethany Rielly.

Kazakhstan’s Lake Balkhash faces extinction as climate change, overuse, and a proposed nuclear plant push it toward an Aral Sea-like collapse, writes Omar Hamed Beato.

Canada’s harsh crackdown on bridge-climbing activists exposes the growing criminalization of climate protests, writes Paula Lacey.

Sri Lanka’s new president, riding a shift away from mainstream political parties.

Valencia’s deadly floods expose a government scrambling for excuses amid warnings ignored and lives lost, writes Esperanza Escribano.

As Mauritius prepares to reclaim the Chagos Islands, displaced Chagossians demand recognition, reparations, and a voice in shaping their future, writes Lorraine Mallinder.

Egypt 1, Malaria 0; Union strong; Life in the deep.

Regulars

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

The murder of Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei has shone a spotlight on Uganda’s domestic abuse crisis. Sophie Neiman pays tribute to the determined runner.

'The Host' by Vasini Varadan (India).

Passports for the powerful, by Nick Dowson.

Protesters demand climate action before Donald Trump takes office at a rally in Washington DC on 17 November 2024. The returning president has pledged to decimate Joe Biden's climate policy.

The photos, facts, and politics of Mauritius.

ILYA traces the key role of propaganda in Kenya’s Mau Mau anti-colonial rebellion – and examines how history is made.

The flame of democracy, by P J Polyp.

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

Coal power vs people power. Why the climate victories of the past may win us a better future. Words – Danny Chivers.

Practical acts of compassion, connection, solidarity, and resistance. Illustration by Kate Evans.

Free-market democracy in action, by Marc Roberts.

The United States was disbanded? Could a break-up proffer the end of the empire? Conrad Landin weighs up the arguments.

Struggling with an ethical dilemma? New Internationalist’s Agony Uncle can help you find answers in our troubled political times.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

Safety Through Solidarity; We Need To Talk About Climate; The Newsmongers; World Without End.

Rumours; The Girl with the Needle.

Avoudé; 3.

A French novelist has mastered the post-industrial landscape – and his latest book is as tender as they come. By Conrad Landin.