NI 471 - The war on whistleblowers - April, 2014

NI 471 - April, 2014

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The war on whistleblowers

A note from the editor

Spilling the beans

When I was growing up there was one thing you did not do: tell tales.

I suspect the reasoning behind it was that adults didn’t want to become embroiled in children’s squabbles.

Times have changed – and brought a greater realization of the harm done by putting secrecy (and often loyalty) above addressing wrongdoing. The recent coming to light of sex-abuse cases, going back decades, has made this explicit.

So common is the term ‘whistleblower’ today that it’s easy to forget its relative newness. It only became a household term in the 1970s, popularized by US activist Ralph Nader. Whistleblowing tends to come in waves – and it’s fair to say we are witnessing a tidal one right now. Necessary it most certainly is, as revelations show the extent to which we – the public – are being infantilized by the states that rule us and their so-called security apparatus.

All is not lost, though, as the courage of whistleblowers testifies. One of the contributors to this month’s Big Story, David Morgan, drew my attention to this poem by Emily Dickinson: We never know how high we are/Till we are asked to rise/And then if we are true to plan/Our statures touch the skies.

As usual, she says it best, with fewest words.

Also in this month’s issue, Tim Gee travels to Yasuní in Ecuador to see how local people and environmentalists are still determined to resist oil interests intent on drilling into the heart of one of the world’s most ecologically valuable troves of natural biodiversity.

And finally, Louise Gray catches up with Angélique Kidjo, the dynamic and fearless musician from Benin who makes archbishops dance and speaks truth to tyrants.

Vanessa Baird for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

Illustration: Ben Jennings/Cartoon Movement

NI 471 - April, 2014

The war on whistleblowers

A note from the editor

Spilling the beans

The big story

Admired by the public, reviled by those in power, whistleblowers are on the frontline of democracy. But need they be martyrs? Vanessa Baird asks.

Features

A historic look at some who took the plunge to make a difference.

Psychoanalyst David Morgan on what makes some people risk all to speak out.

The cleric who exposed sex abuse in Uganda’s Catholic Church talks to Patience Akumu.

Whistleblower Ian Taplin investigates whether exposing banking malpractice has got any easier.

Heaven help military personnel who blow the whistle. Alexa O’Brien is tracking the case of Chelsea Manning.

Sandhya Srinivasan writes from India on the curious tale of Dinesh Thakur and the generics maker Ranbaxy.

Tim Gee visits Ecuador to uncover the reasons for the failure of the much-heralded initiative to ‘keep the oil in the ground’, and discovers a new wave of activism that could yet secure the future of the national park.

Nadja Wohlleben’s photos capture Lebanon’s silent constitutional revolution.

Persecuted in Pakistan for being 'non-Muslim', the Ahmadi community has sought refuge abroad. But intolerance is not easily escaped, as Samira Shackle discovers.

Opinion

Mark Engler revisits Paul Simon's 'Graceland'.

Why Steve Parry doesn't like newspaper columnists.

Basic Income UK co-ordinator Barb Jacobson and author and sociologist Francine Mestrum go head to head.

Agenda

Ewa Jasiewicz wonders what the US troops will be leaving behind.

Regulars

The climate change wheel of fortune by P J Polyp

Ali Divandari from Iran, with ‘$O$’

Only planet cartoon by Marc Roberts

That's for us to ask! - a cartoon by Simon Kneebone

Where do you go when your home no longer exists? Ruby Diamonde hears one woman’s story.

Louise Gray talks to the award-winning musician about the resilience of African music, and why she won’t be pigeon-holed.

The facts, figures, flag and photos from Colombia.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

Marinah by El Baile de las Horas; The Phoenix and the Turtle by Beverley Martyn.

The Past, directed by Asghar Farhadi; Plot for Peace, directed by Carlos Aguilo and Mandy Jacobson.

The Man Who Loved Dogs by Leonardo Padura; Charlie Chaplin by Peter Ackroyd; Feminist Activism, Women’s Rights and Legal Reform by Mulki Al-Sharmani; The People by Selina Todd.

Other media out there that didn't quite make the top list.

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