NI 432 - Iraq - seven years later - May, 2010

NI 432 - May, 2010

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Iraq - seven years later

A note from the editor

The legacy of invasion

As I write this letter, Iraq’s fortunes hang in a delicate, dangerous balance.

Politicians horse-trade, bombs continue to kill innocents and Iraqis get on with the art of survival.

‘Iraq is finished,’ a middle-aged man told me on my trip to the beleaguered nation in March. And indeed at times it felt like that: a broken, divided and ultimately colonized place.

But, as always, it was the young people who inspired hope. A young actor, who had survived sanctions, Saddam and post-invasion violence, and who was rehearsing for a play about a beloved and fiercely nationalist poet, told me: ‘I love my country.’ And his statement was heartfelt.

I often wonder about the children in this photo, taken in 1998 when I was reporting on the US bombing campaign called Desert Fox. Even the day after bombing, in the midst of a crippling embargo, they displayed so much joy and resilience. What has become of them now? And what will the future hold for their children?

This issue offers only a handful of stories from a people who have suffered through decades of war, sanctions and occupation. But I hope it will give you a sense of the Iraqi spirit – al roh al iraqiya – that sustains them and has so touched me.

And our special feature by Rwandan genocide survivor Jean Baptiste Kayigamba brings home both the damage done to victims of war and sectarian violence, and the urgent need to bring those accountable to justice.

Hadani Ditmars for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

A man in Karradah rebuilds his home, damaged by Desert Fox bombing in December 1998.

Hadani Ditmars

NI 432 - May, 2010

Iraq - seven years later

A note from the editor

The legacy of invasion

The big story

Hadani Ditmars returns to a country where ongoing conflict underscores a humanitarian disaster.

Features

Jean Baptiste Kayigamba, who lost most of his family in the Rwandan genocide, wonders why Britain and France are harbouring the major perpetrators and whether recent legal changes will make a difference.

Despite fatwas and foreign troops, the show in Iraq must go on.

In a country of widows, women have borne the brunt of years of war, sanctions and occupation.

Iraqi Christians, once a million strong, face persecution in a post-secular society.

War and underfunding have decimated Iraq’s public health system, once the best in the Arab world.

Anarchy, violence and nostalgia for a golden age mark Iraqi politics in the run-up to the elections.

Twelve years of sanctions and seven years of occupation have taken their toll as Iraqis struggle with wrecked infrastructure and continuing insecurity.

Currents

India’s first ‘private city’ will do nothing to help the poor

Sea captain taken prisoner while attempting to stop Japanese whalers

Activist who scuppered oil and gas carve-up faces jail

The fight is on to end illegal logging in the uniquely biodiverse ancient forests of Madagascar

Regulars

In an Egypt where sexual feelings are kept buttoned up by religiosity, Yahia Lababidi observes an all-pervading sensuality that will not be denied.

Diego Martinez’s camera captures the beauty and intensity of a Brazilian festival.

Durga Sob, founder of the Feminist Dalit Organization, is fighting discrimination in Nepal.

Chilean President Sebastián Piñera under the spotlight.

Maria Golia recalls a transcendent moment amid the clamour of Cairo.

A profile of the West African island republic

Today's Clark Kent: US superpowers in Polyp's cartoon

Film, Book & Music Reviews

Lierre Keith has written a passionately argued, highly personal, and deeply informative book about the destructive and unsustainable nature of modern day agriculture – but disguised it as an argument against vegetarianism.

It’s only a feature film, and it’s shot in black and white, but City of Life and Death is an intense, indelible experience.

Three Florida sisters with very different lives, all seeking love.

The latest album from Jah Wobble and the Nippon Dub Ensemble.

Dirtmusic's debut album.

By Ngugi Wa Thiong'o

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