New Internationalist articles from June 2004

New Internationalist archives from June 2004

Decline and fall.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... To describe Joseph Schumpeter as a 'conservative economic historian' (Keynote, West goes East: Life after Communism, NI 366) is quite simplistic, if not misleading. Schumpeter's main concern was the analysis of change in capitalist systems. His...

A right stink.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... Once again, the long-suffering, little people of Eastern Europe have been used as doormats by the 'first up, best dressed' brigade and real democracy remains as illusory as ever. Even Blind Freddy can see that the transition from communism to...

Lithuania on the up.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... The reports in West goes East covered some of the worst countries in Eastern Europe and reflect the dismal state of conditions that I have met in my travels in these sad places. But the issue tended to give the impression that the whole region...

Film stereotypes.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... I support Reem Haddad's decrying of cinematic stereotypes of Arabs (Letter from Lebanon, NI 366) but it should be pointed out that American films shot in Israel are not the same thing as Israeli-made movies. In fact, most Israeli filmmakers...

Lazy generalization.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... I have to express my dismay about the sweeping generalization cast upon the teaching profession by Siegrun Maybole (Letters, NI 366). I am a teacher and have never told a pupil that they were 'lazy, ignorant, stupid etc' and neither would the...

Winter veg.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... I was surprised to read the letter (NI 366) claiming that there are no local fruits and vegetables in winter in Winnipeg. This is a falsehood perpetuated by a profit-hungry food distribution system that insists on trucking food as far as...

Homeopathic dupes.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... Re Gurmej Virk's letter (NI 366). 'Our populations are unhealthier than ever and the diseases that plague us are more serious' compared to 100 years ago? Really? When one in every three children born died of disease in childhood? Big...

A modest proposal.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... Congratulations on Adam Ma'anit's 'Imagine That!' article (More World, Less Bank, NI 365). Allow me to append a suggestion: People through a World Social Forum (WSF) should not only decommission the IMF/World Bank and cancel all debts,...

Wage gap.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... The recent Equality issue (NI 364) told us how women in Australia earn on average 30 per cent less than men (Facts). The average wage gap tells us very little, for it fails to take into account important factors such as age, education,...

Phony co-ops.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
June 1, 2004... Your article 'Sugar daddies' (The sugar trap, NI 363) on how sugarcane production has fuelled political corruption in some states of India left a sour taste. To me these are phony co-operatives and they bring shame on the international...

Worlds of words: Reem Haddad on a beautiful bewilderment.(Letter From Lebanon)
June 1, 2004... MUCH of the time I don't know what people are saying to me. I respond with a smile, a murmur, an unintelligible answer, and hope that I appear all-knowing. The Lebanese are fond of using proverbs to express their feelings--according to a...

Highlighting the work of photographers from the Majority World.(Southern Exposure)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... 'PLAYING badminton at this age and with my disability is difficult,' says Zenat Ara Begum, 'but it's fun anyway.' She has a special gold medal from the Bangladesh Olympics Association. They organized the first Sports Day for disabled...

The West's new friend.(View from the South)
June 1, 2004... So enormous is Muammar al Qadhafi's sense of self importance that he named his small book of political thoughts the Green Book. He obviously saw himself as being in the same league as Chairman Mao, who authored the Red Book so dutifully waved...

The other Guantanamo Bays.(Currents)
June 1, 2004... Since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, the arrest and detention of suspected terrorists have been undermining what have hitherto been regarded internationally as minimum acceptable standards in...

Word corner.(Magazine)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Magazine is from the Arabic makhazin, a storehouse, and this was the earliest meaning of the word in English in the 1500s. The French magasin (shop) is from the same root. A military store of gunpowder was also known as a magazine (hence the...

UN fails to act on genocide: Crisis in Darfur--history in the remaking.(Sudan)
June 1, 2004... ONLY ten years after the Rwandan genocide, history threatens to repeat itself in the little known region of Darfur in western Sudan. Since early 2003. Government-supported militia known as the janjawid have raped, killed and pillaged,...

Military run for president in Indonesia.(Currents)(General Wiranto running for president)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Only 18 months ago, many Asia correspondents were speculating that Indonesia's transition from dictatorship to democracy was looking more hopeful as the influence of the military in Indonesia's Parliament diminished. However, this transition...

Unhappy meals: true tales of a Mc'ed-up world.(McSeriously...)
June 1, 2004... The US House of Representatives recently voted 276-139 for a bill that will prevent people from suing the food industry for making people obese. The vote on the White House-backed 'Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act' came a day...

Tales of the unexpected: the world is a more co-operative place than you might think. David Ransom suggests that co-ops could have a good deal more to do with economic democracy as well.(Keynote)
June 1, 2004... A while ago I lived in a non-smoking, vegetarian household. The years passed, people came and went, until one day someone thought to ask how many of us were, in point of fact, non-smoking vegetarians. All of us were smoking omnivores. ...

What is a co-op? Co-ops around the world have agreed on some basic principles they use to define themselves.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2004... Voluntary Without gender, social, racial, political, or religious discrimination. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Democratic Controlled by its members. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Participatory Members control the capital of...

The pollen and the bees: thousands of Argentineans have set up co-ops to save their bankrupt workplaces from closure. Joseph Huff-Hannon reports on their experience.(Factory Occupations)
June 1, 2004... NEW arrivals in Rosario often find it hard to pass up a shot of espresso or a milanesa sandwich at a nondescript cafe inside the main bus terminal. Argentineans are endearingly loyal to their gastronomic habits, and here in Rosario they can...

Not so crazy: the centre for alternative technology is a workers' co-op that has pioneered clean energy in wales. Amanda Roll-Pickering charts the evolution of a bright idea.(Clean Energy)
June 1, 2004... IT's 1973 and a worldwide oil crisis is bringing down governments, restructuring the global economy and generating fear about the finite nature of natural resources: 'What will we do when the oil runs out?' is a question that needs answering....

Sustained energy.(Clean Energy)
June 1, 2004... Whether you love them or hate them, wind turbines are certainly visible. But if, when you see one you think of the money and jobs being created in the local area, you may realize that turbines bring many benefits that aren't immediately...

Active interest.(Clean Energy)
June 1, 2004... Dulas is a renewable energy company that began its life at CAT as a small group of engineers with a research and development grant. They ploneered alternative technology for application in developing countries, including a 'bug' meter which...

Co-operatives.(The Facts)
June 1, 2004... WHO BELONGS? The best hard evidence we have comes from the membership of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), based in Geneva, which in 2002 counted 725 million people involved in co-operatives worldwide--as consumers, workers or...

Sex workers with attitude: shock. Outrage. Middle-class morality suitably scandalized. The reactions were predictable. Even Mari Marcel Thekaekara wasn't quite sure what to expect from a co-operative of sex workers--and in communist kolkata (Calcutta) of all places, where co-ops are usually of the party, for the party and by the party. Then she went to find out for herself.(Women)
June 1, 2004... As I enter the building the first thing that hits me is the sheer, raw woman power. The office is a noisy, bustling, activity-filled place. A few men, mostly behind desks--but the women are unmistakably and completely in control. There are...

I'm a realist get me out of here!
June 1, 2004... ALL YOU WANT TO DO IS WIN, SO IT ALWAYS PAYS TO DEFECT, AND BETRAY YOUR PARTNER... UNLESS YOU REPEAT THE GAME OVER AND OVER, AND AT THE END OF EVERY ROUND YOU FIRD OUT HOW YOUR FELLOW PRISONER BEHAVED... WHAT THEN BECOMES THE OPTIMUM...

Killing distrust: Kwabena Sarpong Akosah reports on a fast-growing co-op in Ghana.(Fair Trade)
June 1, 2004... 'IF persons who haven't wielded cutlasses before are making money from cocoa purchasing, why not ourselves?' This was said to be the motivating refrain of the founding father of Kuapa Kokoo, the late Nana Frimpong Abeberese, a fetish priest and...

We, the Kuapa people: Georgina Kwaw and Elizabeth Adjei explain to David Ransom why it's not just their chocolate that is 'the best of the best'.(Fair Trade)
June 1, 2004... UNTIL three years ago Georgina worked for another cocoa company. 'I don't like to mention its name,' she says. 'But I realized the terms weren't good for me because they just buy cocoa from the farmers. There's nothing else. We worked for them...

Of caulkers and quilt-makers: Jessica Gordon Nembhard tells the little-known story of the part played by co-ops in forwarding the rights of African Americans.
June 1, 2004... THROUGHOUT his life, African American scholar WEB Du Bois proposed that African Americans should use 'intelligent co-operation' for 'the common good' and advocated for a Black co-operative 'group economy'. Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro...

The story so far: people's instinct to co-operate rather than compete has formed human experience everywhere in the world--but it keeps taking different shapes. Here the NI outlines the growth of the international co-operative movement.(History)
June 1, 2004... First signs There is evidence of co-operative tenant farming in Babylon and of burial benefit societies in Greece as early as 3,000 BC. Indigenous cultures in Africa. Asia and Latin America often placed great value on co-operative social...

Get going: it's easier than you think.(Action)
June 1, 2004... Anyone can start a co-op. Nothing could be simpler. All it takes is a bright idea shared by at least two people--no co-op is too small to make a difference. You meet, decide what to call yourselves--and away you go. However, durable co-ops...

Carlos Slim Helu.(Worldbeaters)
June 1, 2004... Job: Multi-tasking Mexican business leader Reputation: Family man; thrifty and clever capitalist; Mexican nationalist when it suits his purposes. CARLOS Slim is a man with a mission. The Mexican tycoon is already Latin America's...

High Tide: News from a Warming World.(Mixed Media)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... High Tide News from a Warming World by Mark Lynas Flamingo (ISBN 000713939X) In High Tide, Mark Lynas visits five continents to see the often unreported effects of climate change firsthand. He sees how Tuvalu's Pacific paradise is...

The Rough Guide to African Rap.(Mixed Media)(Video Recording Review)
June 1, 2004... The Rough Guide to African Rap by Various Artists (World Music Network RGNET 1126 CD) The idea of Africa--if not the actual place--has long been pivotal in much Black music. It forms the basis of reggae; it's arguable that the...

Egypt.(Mixed Media)
June 1, 2004... Egypt by Youssou N'Dour (Nonesuch 301425 CD) If Senegal's finest musical ambassador has been reinvented in recent years as something of a cultural statesperson, it is with an expansiveness that shines through his latest album....

Moonzoo.(Mixed Media)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... Moonzoo by Paul Hewlett (Fictionland, ISBN 0473 094517) This impressive debut novel from New Zealander Paul Hewlett is a fast-paced satire on ownership, collective responsibility and the morals of our political and corporate...

Love All The People: Letters, Lyrics, Routines.(Mixed Media)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
June 1, 2004... Love All The People Letters, Lyrics, Routines by Bill Hicks Foreword by John Lahr (Constable ISBN 1 841119 8781) 'Rock is dead and so is comedy,' was Hicks' response to being labelled a rock-and-roll comedian. At a time when rock...

Super Size Me.(Mixed Media)(Movie Review)
June 1, 2004... Super Size Me directed by Morgan Spurlock Go Further directed by Ron Mann North American culture has long relied on ever-increasing levels of consumption as a symbol of progress. But could resistance be growing to this 'more,...

The NI prize Crossword.(Big Bad World/NI Crossword)
June 1, 2004... Win a copy of the latest World Guide reference book... All correct solutions received by the 25th of the cover month will be put into a draw--though only the winner will be notified. Post your entry to NI Crossword, 55 Rectory Road, Oxford,...

Interview about: the roger award.(Making Waves)
June 1, 2004... MAKE way Golden Globes. There's a new international trophy strutting the world stage. Step aside Oscar. Here comes The Roger. Each year four or five eminent judges--academics, community leaders, artists, even sportspeople--come together to...

Future organic: Andre Leu argues that there is only one way to feed the world--organically.(Essay)
June 1, 2004... The push for genetically modified organisms (GMOs), growth hormones, animal feed antibiotics, food irradiation and toxic synthetic chemicals is being justified, in part, by the rationale that without such products the world will not be able to...

Albania.(Country Profile)
June 1, 2004... INVESTIGATIVE journalists bullied into silence by police, army officers or plainclothes mafiosi. The vast sinister fleet of stolen and illegally imported Mercedes Benzes on the streets of its cities. The jerry-building everywhere since 1990...