NI 478 - December, 2014

NGOs - Do they help?

A note from the editor

‘You won’t forget all the good work, will you?’

It’s a nightmare when articles get double-parked. Let me explain.

When Ruby Diamonde’s Letter from Bangui came in for this month’s edition, it spoke movingly of a forest haven for animals in a country sadly better known these days for human strife.

If Ruby had caught a glimpse of Eden, Sophie Pritchard’s piece on the excesses of some conservation NGOs offered up hell. The same nature reserve, with the same NGO partner (WWF), but across the border in neighbouring Cameroon, was a site of evictions and human rights abuses. What to make of it?

Not much except to accept that the reality in Central African Republic may be somewhat different from that in Cameroon.

At another point in the preparation of this magazine, a colleague asked: ‘You won’t forget all the good work NGOs do too, now, will you?’ I don’t think that was ever in doubt – it figures in some form in almost every edition of New Internationalist.

But with NGOs numbering in the millions globally and the largest ones with budgets that match transnational corporations, it is also worth inspecting the charge-sheet against them. NGOs inspire public trust; we express solidarity by giving to them. Even their most trenchant critics are quick to add, ‘I don’t mean all NGOs...’ Maybe this edition will help you decide how to find ones you can support.

A further provocation this month comes from Jeremy Seabrook’s searching essay on the roots of radicalization. It’s an analysis that’s largely missing among the friction the subject generates.

And Roxana Olivera’s piece from Peru takes us back to the forest, where heroic defenders of nature and the public interest have put their lives on the line.

Dinyar Godrej for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

Not today: a girl walks past a school in Kibera, a nairobi slum without running water or electricity, where 800 aid organizations operate.

Noor Khamis / Reuters

NI 478 - December, 2014

NGOs - Do they help?

A note from the editor

‘You won’t forget all the good work, will you?’

The big story

There are more NGOs today than ever; some are bigger than ever. Yet, discovers Dinyar Godrej, questions persist about their role.

Features

Big NGOs and big corporations – Ian Brown finds they are getting a bit too close.

Cartoonist Polyp’s satirical take on field work.

The green imperialism of some conservation charities, by Sophie Pritchard.

Accused by the government of stalling development and by critics on the Left of not being radical enough, NGOs in India are facing many challenges. Dionne Bunsha reports.

MSF respond to charges against the way they operate in Sierra Leone.

John Hilary on a degrading spectacle that keeps coming back.

Strange goings-on in the trial of indigenous protesters accused of killing police in Bagua. Roxana Olivera reports from the Peruvian Amazon.

Opinion

David Hoile and Angela Mudukuti go head to head.

Seize the spirit of 1989.

Agenda

Padmini Prakash makes history in India.

US debts wiped clean through crowdfunding.

Those living with HIV in the Ukraine face an uncertain future following cuts to support services, reports Gabriella Jozwiak.

Chris Brazier looks back at an issue of New Internationalist from 1979 on foreign aid.

In London's Parliament Square, protesters provide a visible alternative to the politics of vested interest. Hannah Martin reports.

Richard Swift welcomes the Bolivian president's third term in office.

Syrian artists in exile feel free to express themselves and their politics, discovers Lydia James.

A new law in Egypt is a positive step for women, but not the end of the struggle, says Chalaine Chang.

Jess Worth on indigenous Canadians' fight against a mine.

Thirty years after the disaster, the campaign for justice continues.

Good news from around the world this month.

Regulars

Praise, blame and all points in between? Your feedback published in the December 2014 magazine.

Ruby Diamonde escapes the city and delights in the beauty of the rainforest.

Cartoon by Simon Kneebone.

Facts, figures and photos from Chad.

Brandan Reynolds from South Africa with ‘Unprotected’.

Cartoon by Marc Roberts.

Jeremy Seabrook considers the myths of radicalization.

Cartoon by P J Polyp.

Pondering the future in Cameroon, by photographer Jean-Pierre Kepseu.

Sofi Lundin meets Catherine Hamlin, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and doctor extraordinaire.

Best-selling author Elif Shafak on Twitter, Turkey and making peace with her fears.

Film, Book & Music Reviews

Silk & Stone by Amira Medunjanin; Lament by Einstürzende Neubauten.

Citizenfour directed by Laura Poitras; We Are The Giant directed by Greg Barker; Winter Sleep directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

The Drum Tower by Farnoosh Moshiri; The Final Charge by Dawood Ali McCallum; The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck; They Can’t Represent Us! by Marina Sitrin and Dario Azzellini.

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