NI 421 - April, 2009

Put people first

A note from the editor

Jobs, climate, justice

So a receding economic tide has exposed the naked bathers. Once upon a time, a rising economic tide supposedly lifted all boats. The tide will rise again. Won't it?

Well, the passing likeness of capitalism to one force of nature does not eliminate all the others. Throughout my lengthening lifetime capitalism has segued from one 'crisis' to the next, more like a cancerous growth. I can't, off-hand, think of a single day when a capitalist crisis of one sort or another was not seeking immediate attention. Though reports of the death of capitalism have often proved exaggerated, the tide receded most memorably just before the tsunami in 2004.

Capitalism, socialism, fundamentalism, nationalism, isms and ists of all kinds have apparently failed us, claiming by way of an excuse that perfection would come with the next rising tide. In one sense everyone has been bathing naked – and finally has that one thing, at least, in common. So we have little choice but to recognize ourselves for what we are and consider the remaining options afresh.

Some of them are remarkably attractive and are explored a little further in this magazine. At the same time, the New Internationalist has for once stepped out of the commentary box and actively joined the growing campaign for a just and sustainable future. One immediate focus is the mobilization (see pages i-xvi) around the 2 April meeting in London of the G20 – a self-appointed huddle of 'world leaders' that is part of the problem. In the years ahead, the real challenge will be to construct a more habitable and diverse economic, social and political 'architecture' from the bottom up, on much firmer foundations as a result.

This will doubtless include the people of North Korea. You'll also find in this magazine a rare insight into the daily lives of people once judged to inhabit an 'Axis of Evil'. North Koreans may not be naked, but they are recognizable all the same. The financial meltdown has given the Minority World just a taste of what it has been like to live in the Majority World for far too long already. If the chickens do not eventually come home to roost, then eggs will be off the menu for good.

David Ransom for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

NI 421 - April, 2009

Put people first

A note from the editor

Jobs, climate, justice

The big story

As the empire of international finance collapses, David Ransom finds the chance to reset the compass towards democracy, equality and the survival of our planet.

Features

Recession heads South – and meets resistance.

How free-market fundamentalism brought the world to its knees

It’s time to ask some very basic questions, like: What are banks for? What are houses for? What’s credit for? What’s the economy for? Or, for that matter, what’s the environment for? Vanessa Baird suggests a 10-point economic detox programme.

Campaigns, contacts and resources.

A rare glimpse into the world’s most secretive country, by French aid worker Jérôme Bossuet who spent three years there.

Blogs

Positive points that might come in handy...

Currents

11 members ambushed and shot at by an armed group, on their way home from a wedding performance.

Major chocolate companies still using child labour

How sex with widows helps dead men

Scouts log tens of thousands of acres of forestland

World Bank project leaves families homeless

Regulars

Jeremy Seabrook on how bogus environmentalism is threatening some of India’s best friends of the environment.

Facts, figures and the history of Ghana.

A haunting and sensitive glimpse into a Malaysian orphanage by photographer Abdul Rahman Roslan.

Egypt’s President Mubarak may have survived six assassination attempts but does not escape the NI treatment.

Polyp tackles climate change

Viyakula Mary talks to Ewa Jasiewicz.

Even when the odds are stacked against them, Maria Golia observes her neighbour’s family taking life as it comes.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

Although Gandhi is a household name all over the world, Babasaheb Ambedkar, architect of the Indian Constitution and the first person to fight effectively for the rights of dalits (aka ‘untouchables’)

Sander L Gilman delves into culture to demonstrate that our belief that fat can be identified with a number of character flaws

The first ever Arabic detective novel to be translated into English

Sissoko’s warm-toned vocals and fluid kora work, counterpointed by Stone’s banjo-picking make for a wonderfully expansive sound on Africa to Appalachia

Congo’s amazing disabled rhythm-maestros Staff Benda Bilili

Respectful, real and engrossing: Modern Life in rural France.

The late 1970s. A kitsch television show is looking for a Tony Manero impersonator. Tony who? Horribly, wonderfully real, and incredibly repulsive.

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