New Internationalist articles from August 2006

New Internationalist archives from August 2006

Banks.(nab, name says it all)(Editorial)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... As politicians stride down the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne, Australia, looking out over their city for inspiration, they see a horizon dominated by banks. Tall skyscrapers owned by the banks. Big signs advertising the banks. And soon...

The kingdom of capital: if money rules the world, bankers are the rulers. Chris Richards meets the thieves on their thrones.(KEYNOTE)(Cover story)
August 1, 2006... There are three things that I really hate. First, getting whacked with a parking ticket (well--don't most people?). Second, semi-automatic washing machines (they know I hate them, so they eat my clothes). And third, banks. My dislike for banks...

The banks are made of marble.(Poem)
August 1, 2006... I've travelled round this country From shore to shining shore. It really made me wonder The things I heard and saw. I saw the weary farmer, Ploughing sod and loam; I heard the auction hammer A-knocking down his home. But the...

Banks against the wall: dipping deep into public funds, Anil Netto finds the Malaysian Government bailing out banks ... and their well-connected debtors.(GOVERNMENT)
August 1, 2006... When I was a child, my father used to pick me up after school and drive me home. Sometimes he would stop by at the local branch of the United Malayan Banking Corporation (UMBC), where he had an account. I would wait in the car while he applied...

Transfer the problem: the money that migrant workers send home to their loved ones through official channels is now double the amount of world aid. But banks have been slow to respond--as this story by Yvonne Chua illustrates.(POVERTY)
August 1, 2006... Bani, a town 420 kilometres northwest of Manila, produces what many say are the sweetest, reddest and juiciest watermelons in the Philippines. But farmers in this 237-year-old municipality live at nature's mercy. Last year torrential rains fell...

Confessions of a banker: with help from a whistleblower, Lucy Komisar follows the money trail through the offshore operations of the world's biggest bank.(OFFSHORE ACCOUNTS)
August 1, 2006... You may have read how, in 2001, Argentina defaulted on its national bonds and its economy went into meltdown. What you might not have heard is that--according to some Argentine financial critics--their government's inability to pay its debts...

Banks--the facts.
August 1, 2006... Inside the vault The world's top 50 companies in 2005 (1) recorded a profit of $433 billion--up 27% from the previous year. More than a fifth were banks (22%)--Just ahead of oil and gas companies (20%). Assessing the top transnationals...

Give them credit: whoever thought loans were linked to income hasn't experienced the credit card's true potential. Lezak Shallat reports from Chile.
August 1, 2006... Gimnasia bancaria--bank gymnastics--is a widespread exercise-routine and a legitimate excuse to arrive late to any mid-morning meeting in Chile. It involves something that can quickly work up a sweat--juggling funds between accounts. And its...

The bang in the buck: banks fund arms traders. Dheepthi Namasivayam goes in search of ones that won't.(ETHICS)
August 1, 2006... 'Burned. Burned bodies. I mean, it burned children, and it burned women. White phosphorus kills indiscriminately... And when it makes contact with skin, then it's absolutely irreversible damage, burning of flesh to the bone.' This is how US...

On the people's account: a group of new internationalist campaigners brainstorms a rainbow of options to make the business of banking more open, fair and relevant.(ACTION & ALTERNATIVES)
August 1, 2006... Ask questions: Have you been down to your bank recently and asked the manager where your money goes once you hand it over the counter? You can read about one such encounter in Australia on page 18. Recent reports about the British high street...

Exodus: Iraqis flee in terror from the war on terror.(SYRIA/IRAQ)
August 1, 2006... Nearly half a million Iraqi refugees are now living in unsustainable conditions in Syria. According to aid agencies in Damascus, it is a socio-economic crisis resulting from the US-led war on Iraq that the international community continues to...

One laptop at a time?(TECHNOLOGY)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... A prominent group of US computer developers claims it can close the 'digital gap' between the children of rich and poor countries. The way to do it, declares the project director for One Laptop per Child, is with a small but powerful $100...

Bolivian land returned to the people.(LAND REFORM)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Plans are under way in Bolivia to redistribute land. The first phase will be to distribute 4.5 million hectares of state-owned land. Two million hectares have been earmarked for women and indigenous peoples. The second phase will involve...

Paradise regained: Chagos islanders resist superpowers.(HUMAN RIGHTS)
August 1, 2006... The long and hard-fought campaign by Olivier Bancoult and other members of the Chagos Refugee Group has eventually paid off. A boat journey for 100 Chagossian exiles--85 from Mauritius and 15 from the Seychelles--took them home to the...

Let the dirty tricks begin!(PROPAGANDA)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... It only took an hour to cover their tracks. In 2006, a group of US 'veterans, enlisted personnel, and officers', who are apparently horrified by defeatist news coverage and peace activism surrounding the interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan,...

Speechmarks.(Currents)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... "I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait till oil and coal run out before we tackle that." Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), US inventor of the light bulb, phonograph and movie...

The language of Majority World healthcare ...(Currents)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... Word power 19 aide-de-camp n. Medecins Sans Frontieres staff blood-money n. government funds directed to military rather than healthcare budgets death-rate n. cost of patented drugs. doctor n. healthcare professional who...

Assault on free speech: government desperate to restrict the spreading rural revolt.(CHINA)
August 1, 2006... China has launched a massive campaign to stifle news of unrest in rural China--the country's most pressing domestic issue--a special report by the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. Fearing that news of land disputes and other civil...

Because football is for infidels.(Seriously)
August 1, 2006... The World Cup this year has reminded us of just how popular a sport football (soccer) is for millions around the world. Indeed, according to FIFA, the world governing body for the sport, over one billion people are estimated to be watching the...

Robert Friedland.(Worldbeaters)
August 1, 2006... Status: Chair of Ivanhoe Mines. Reputation: Speculative, high-risk mining operations. 'King of the Canadian Juniors' to his friends; 'Toxic Bob' to environmentalists. Robert Friedland is a 'self-made' billionaire. He made number 645...

Ok-Oyot System.(Sound recording review)
August 1, 2006... Ok-Oyot System by Extra Golden (Thrill jockey Thrill 153 CD) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ok-Oyot System--the Lua words mean 'It's not easy'--is a one-off that came about by a delicious accident of fate that brought together a brace...

Introducing Etran Finatawa.(Sound recording review)
August 1, 2006... Introducing Etran Finatawa by Etran Finatawa (World Music Network Intro105 CD) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] From the first moment that a Wodaabe man danced across the screen of Werner Herzog's film, Herdsmen of the Sun (1988), it was...

Techari.(Sound recording review)
August 1, 2006... Techari by Ojos de Brujo (Diquela) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Out of cosmopolitan Barcelona comes one of the most exciting new world fusion bands. Ojos de Brujo (Eyes of Wizard) call their music 'jiphop flamenquillo' but this flamenco...

Little Fish.(Movie review)
August 1, 2006... Little Fish directed by Rowan Woods [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Tracy has her life sorted. After kicking a heroin addiction, she's ground out four years in a video store, and stayed clean. It isn't easy....

The Servant Problem.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2006... The Servant Problem by Rosie Cox (IB Tauris ISBN 185043 619 3 HB) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Rosie Cox has a sharp eye for the paradoxes of domestic labour. Still regarded as 'women's work' it is consequently given less importance...

Havana Black.(Brief article)(Book review)
August 1, 2006... Havana Black by Leonardo Padura translated by Peter Bush (Bitter Lemon Press ISBN 1904738 15 X) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The best way, some say, to find out what a place is really like is to read its contemporary crime fiction....

The Death of Mr Lazarescu.(Movie review)
August 1, 2006... The Death of Mr Lazarescu directed by Cristi Puiu [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Wow--we know what happens in the end; it's about the last hours in the life of a lonely boozy widower; and it's over two-and a-half hours long, with long...

Highlighting the work of photographers from the Majority World.(Southern Exposure)(Brief article)
August 1, 2006... I was on an assignment at Domra Kanda, an asylum for the mentally ill in Kishoreganj, Bangladesh, where the only medications provided are these 'medallions' filled with spiritual spells and 'blessed water' from traditional spiritual healers....

The trouble with models.(Uganda)
August 1, 2006... Not too long ago Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni was considered a model of leadership in and for Africa. It was a Museveni-led liberation army which finally brought to an end the chaos and violence which followed the collapse of Idi Amin's...

The privatization of Patagonia: fences are marching across the Patagonian wilderness, displacing Indigenous peoples and turning pure water into private property. Tomas Bril Mascarenhas reports on another conquest, this time by foreign investors.
August 1, 2006... 'If we don't stop this intrusion we will live in exile in our own land,' says Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980 for his struggle to defend human rights in Argentina. He is now worried about the impact on the...

Big bad world.(Cartoon)
August 1, 2006... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Interview with Lalo Moreyra and local environmentalists causing an international stir in Latin America.(Making Waves)(Interview)
August 1, 2006... Surrounded by the trappings of an Argentinean corporate executive, Lalo Moreyra is an unllkely environmental campaigner. But from his comfortable office in the province of Entre Rios, this Pepsi distributor and football fanatic leads an...

Deceptive appearances.(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... I read your discussion of carbon offsetting with great interest (C[O.sub.2]nned, NI 391), as I have long suspected that there was something not quite right about it. It seems obvious that the solution to exponentially increasing carbon...

Ineffectual UN.(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... I have no doubt that Kamal Fadel has good reason to feel betrayed (View from Western Sahara, C[O.sub.2]nned, NI 391), but I'm not sure he is right to blame the Secretary-General of the UN. The idea that the UN should stand firm against...

HIV in Venezuela.(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... In the facts spread on Venezuela (The Venezuelan Revolution, NI 390), you state: 'At over five per cent, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS remains among the highest in Latin America.' HIV is indeed a serious problem in Venezuela, but the situation is...

Intestinal fortitude.(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... I think you were extraordinarily generous in giving Francis Fukuyama's After the Neocons: America at the Crossroads 'one star' (Mixed Media, NI 390)! It is without question the greatest load of codswobble I've read in a long career of reading...

Democratic depression.(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... 'Japanese students are now graded every term on their patriotism,' says your Worldbeater on Koizumi (Trade Justice!, NI 388). I don't think that is happening in all the state schools yet, however the fact is already quite depressing. Another...

Millions get the funnies.(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... Leif Packalen mentions that 'American comics had only recently arrived' in India ('Less text! Less text!', No laughing matter, NI 387). I am in my fifties and grew up in Bombay (now Mumbai). Through my childhood and teenage years there, my...

Ungenerous Australia.(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... While catching up with 'Empire Left & Right' (Essay, Squatter Town, NI 386), I was reminded of Alexander Downer's comment when criticized for Australia's earliest position on negotiations with Timor Leste over the oil fields revenues. He said,...

The power within.(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... I am writing to thank you for The Challenge to Violence edition (NI 381), which I find extremely relevant under the current increase in the number of youths carrying knives in London and across England. As a young Londoner, I want to do what I...

Start talking.(Letter to the editor)
August 1, 2006... Iran has been clamoring for direct bilateral negotiations with the United States for years over its nuclear program. And Bush has been doing exactly what has been done in North Korea, with every bit as much success: which is to say the Bush...

The wrong Ian Gordon.(Correction notice)
August 1, 2006... In NI 387 No Laughing Matter we credited the article 'Mainstream Comic Books' (page 15) to 'Ian Gordon, author of Beyond the Funnies: Comic Books, History and Hegemony'. The piece was actually written by another Ian Gordon, a Scottish comics...

Empire's exiles: Lindsey Collen on the women who have kept the flame of memory and longing alive for a homeland grabbed from under their feet.(Letter from Mauritius)
August 1, 2006... 'Never heard of it,' well-informed people from all over the world used to say when I asked them if they knew about Diego Garcia. Some even asked, 'Who's he?' And when I embarked on telling them how the British and US governments in the late...

Belize.(Country Profile)(Country overview)
August 1, 2006... Belize City, the commercial capital, is said to have been built on empty rum bottles discarded by the British pirates who used to launch their attacks on Spanish ships from behind the shelter of Belize's 300-kilometre-long coral reef. When...