New Internationalist articles from June 2008

New Internationalist archives from June 2008

Social movements for global democracy.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 1, 2008... "At last, a book that takes seriously the role of international institutions in opposing global neoliberalism! While acutely conscious of the biases of these institutions, Smith vigorously argues that the new forms of democratic participation...

On torture.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 1, 2008... Globally, no single issue resonates today as much as torture or allegations thereof. Under the current rubric of the war on terror, the governments of the United States and other democratic nations that have long decried human rights abuses...

Nuclear weapons.(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... The lorry carrying the warheads stopped in a lay-by so the driver could go to McDonald's. So Russell, who'd been following the convoy, ran in after him and shouted: "Hey everybody, want to see what Britain's weapons of mass destruction look...

The line on Jesus.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... If anyone gave up reading Terry Eagleton's 'Was Jesus Christ a revolutionary?' (Special Feature, NI 411) because of the nonsense in the first few paragraphs, I would encourage them to go back and give it another chance. Eventually, it becomes...

Where's the evidence?(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... My dictionary defines colonialism as 'the economic exploitation of weak or backward peoples by a larger power' or 'control by one power over a dependent area or people'. My eyes, therefore, were caught by Hannah Smith's article entitled...

Workers of the world.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... Thank you for covering the efforts of the Starbucks Workers Union spearheaded by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) (Special Feature, NI 410). Unfortunately, the NI credited the IWW as being the 'International Workers of the World', a...

Deceptive language.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... In your Lebanon Country Profile (NI 410), among the reasons stated for the last war: 'In July 2006, Hizbullah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers at the border'. I thought such deceptive language was only used by corporate press and government spin...

Moral connections.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... Adam Ma'anit's intentionally provocative breakout box (Ethical Travel, NI 409) had a veneer of balance and perspective, but ultimately was a shallow cop out, providing excuses for people to fly much as usual. Sure, broad socio-political action...

Era of modesty.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... Ethical travel (NI 409) is an issue very much related to modern individualism. Those from the wealthier countries have grown quite accustomed to going wherever we want, doing whatever we want, whenever we want. In Richard Heinberg's most...

Carbon Tax.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... Just when I started to read Chris Brazier's article on aircraft emissions ('To fly or not to fly?', NI 409) came the news that our Australian coalminers are applying for free emissions permits. Unfortunately it seems that emissions trading is...

Respectable racism.(Letters)(Letter to the editor)
June 1, 2008... Thank you for the special feature on the appalling treatment of the Roma in Romania (Human Rights in a time of terror, NI 408). The feature says that some Roma came to Slough in the UK to escape discrimination and poverty. There is a danger of...

Colossus in the sun: Egypt's rising food prices have hit the headlines. Maria Golia steps back and looks at how the process of provision itself is undergoing headlong change.(Letter from Cairo)(Essay)
June 1, 2008... I recently had an appointment in a place called New Maadi, south of Cairo, more an extension of the city than a town or suburb. I hadn't been down the road that leads there in a while. It passes through the City of the Dead, Cairo's millennial...

The bomb stops here: the world is nuking up again, to new and alarming levels. So why are disarmament campaigners so optimistic? Jess Worth spots a window of opportunity.(Nuclear weapons)(Viewpoint essay)
June 1, 2008... 'When the bomb dropped on Hiroshima I was one Kilometre from the explosion. I was 14. Now I'm 77--a lucky number in Japan.' It's Easter Monday, and I'm listening to Yushio Sato's story in the Great British drizzle, outside Aldermaston...

The facts; there are over 27,000 nuclear weapons in the world. Thousands are deployed on land, at sea and in the air, posing the constant threat of nuclear war and radioactive contamination.(Nuclear weapons)
June 1, 2008... THE WEAPONS An atomic explosion is a chain reaction in which atoms are split. This releases colossal amounts of energy, and particles that collide with more and more atoms causing an exponentially growing chain reaction. This process is...

The charm fades: the country most at risk from Pakistan's bomb could be Pakistan itself, argues.(Nuclear weapons)
June 1, 2008... It is 10 years since Pakistan's atomic tests. But there is none of the chest-thumping, trumpet-blowing nuclear triumphalism of a decade ago. As the country reels under almost daily bomb blasts and suicide attacks by Islamic fundamentalists, the...

WHOOPS! We all make mistakes, and people in charge of weapons of mass destruction are no exception ...(Brief article)(Photograph)
June 1, 2008... 2007: 6 US cruise missiles were mistakenly loaded on to a B52 bomber and lost track of for 36 hours. 1970s: An H-bomb plane was accidentally primed for action when its electronic key was activated by a tune from a spanish pop station. ...

Trident tested: there are many ways of saying no to nukes. Angie Zelter tells the inside story of one of the most inventive.(Nuclear weapons)
June 1, 2008... On the beautiful and rugged western coast of Scotland is an exceptionally deep natural harbour called Faslane. It is home to a British naval base and four Trident submarines equipped with up to 200 warheads. Just one of these has the capacity...

Talking warheads: Western leaders don't like to mention it, but being able to launch a nuclear attack is still central to their notion of 'security'. The real thing, however, requires a very different approach, argues Paul Rogers.(Nuclear weapons)(Viewpoint essay)
June 1, 2008... When Saddam Hussein's forces occupied Kuwait in August 1990, the US led a massive coalition to oust them. Having assembled 600,000 troops and 1, 000 planes from more than 30 countries, Operation Desert Storm started in January 1991 with a huge...

A brief history of nuclear weapons; 'The explosive force of nuclear fission has changed everything except our modes of thinking and thus we drift towards unparalleled catastrophe. We shall require an entirely new pattern of thinking if humankind is to survive.'.(Everything has changed)
June 1, 2008... The Manhattan Project Scientific breakthroughs in the 1930s made atomic bomb production possible. Fearing the prospect of Hitler developing nuclear weapons, top physicists from around the world joined the secret 'Manhattan Project' to...

India's dance with the devil.(ANTI-NUKE ACTION ACROSS THE WORLD)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... India's future as a nuclear state has been the subject of fierce internal debate, delaying the passage into law of a pact with the US which would allow India to expand its nuclear power industry in exchange for greater US influence in the...

Japan betrays bomb survivors.(ANTI-NUKE ACTION ACROSS THE WORLD)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... In Japan, 300,000 survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, known as the 'Hibakusha', are alive today yet less than one per cent receive state medical payments. Mikiso lwasa from Hidankyo, the Hibakusha organization, is suffering from cancer and...

Global campaign for a convention.(ANTI-NUKE ACTION ACROSS THE WORLD)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... An international campaign, which brings together many of the world's most active peace movements and organizations, is calling for a 'Nuclear Weapons Convention' to ban the development, possession, use and threat of use of any kind of nuke....

Australia's ambiguity.(ANTI-NUKE ACTION ACROSS THE WORLD)
June 1, 2008... The ICAN campaign originated in Australia where, according to co-ordinator Jessica Morrison, 'concern about nuclear issues is high. The Australian Labour Party, during their election campaign last year, promised to use their status to lead on a...

'Son of Star Wars': striking back at the empire.(ANTI-NUKE ACTION ACROSS THE WORLD)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... As soon as George W Bush got into power he ramped up attempts to achieve the long-time American dream of a 'national missile defence' (NMD) shield that would intercept and destroy any nuclear missiles heading its way. Dubbed 'Son of Star Wars'...

Better naked than nuked.(ANTI-NUKE ACTION ACROSS THE WORLD)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Brave Israeli students were infuriated by the lack of balance during a seminar on The Nuclear Challenge in the Middle-East'last November so they stood up, stripped off, and unfurled banners reading 'strip the Middle East of Nukes' seconds...

Evading Europe's entanglements.(ANTI-NUKE ACTION ACROSS THE WORLD)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Six European Countries-Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Turkey and Britain-host 480 US warheads under NATO'nuclear sharing' arrangements. The US president can press the red button at any time without the permission of the country hosting...

Battles of Britain.(ANTI-NUKE ACTION ACROSS THE WORLD)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... The fight is on to prevent the replacement of Trident (see page 4 and page 13). At Aldermaston, where the new generation of nuclear weapons will be built, there has been a women's peace camp since 1985. Undeterred by new legal attempts to...

Kiwis fix nukes with number 8 wire.(ANTI-NUKE ACTION ACROSS THE WORLD)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Many of the most effective citizens' initiatives to abolish nuclear weapons have their origins in Aotearoa/New Zealand. In the 1980s Kiwis established their homes, schools, churches, workplaces, and cities as Nuclear Weapon Free Zones - 'much...

The gamblilng boom; Welcome to the flashing lights of the world casino where plankton play fruit machines. David Ransom on the globalized world of gambling and the jaw-dropping gambles of the globalized economy.(Bust!)
June 1, 2008... There's always a chance that the light at the end of the tunnel is an on-coming train. But what chance? You can work it out if you wish-depending a little on the circumstances, it's apparently about one in five. (1) In fact, you can work out...

Scared of a star: spirit of independence shines on.(WEST PAPUA)
June 1, 2008... It may not look very scary to you or me, but to the Government of Indonesia a simple bag is a dangerous threat to the 'unity of the nation'. Earlier this year two West Papuan women, Yohana Pekei and Nelly Pigome, were interrogated by...

Bullshit in a bottle.(BIG BRANDS)
June 1, 2008... In what is quite possibly the last word in cynical advertising, Starbucks and PepsiCo have teamed up with Matt Damon (the Hollywood star who drives a Toyoto Prius to save money, not to be part of an 'environmental trend', so he says) to...

The language of world farming ...(Word power)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... crop v. cut prices by paying overly large subsidies to certain farmers farmhand n. employee paid a pittance because, officially, they don't exist food-chain n. long-distance transportation of animals for slaughter grim-reaper n....

Striking out: Nike workers 'just doing it' for themselves.(VIETNAM)
June 1, 2008... In early April, 21,000 Vietnamese workers at the Ching Luh factory, which makes Nike sneakers, walked off the job, demanding a 20 per cent pay rise and better food in the company cafeteria. After several days of discussions, the ruling...

Teeny tiny terror.(NANOTECHNOLOGY)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Nanotechnology--the manipulation of particles at microscopic levels--is being used in food additives, colourings and packaging, and governments are ignoring the risks, according to Georgia Miller, co-ordinator of the Friends of the Earth...

Who is Harald?(CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS)(Harald Dovland)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... One of the key figures in the negotiations on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)-which met again in Bangkok in April-is Harald Dovland. He's the appointed chair of the (now take a deep breath... )...

Fossil foolery: antics near and far on 1 April.(CLIMATE CAMPAIGNING)
June 1, 2008... Mark Twain wrote that 'the first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year'. The international climate activist network, Rising Tide, was maybe channelling Mr Twain by calling for a worldwide Fossil Fools Day on...

Alien vs predator: cool Ranch.(True tales of a mixed-up world)
June 1, 2008... The worlds of science and marketing are in a tizzy following the revelation that astronomers plan to broadcast a junk food advertisement to a star 42 light years away. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Doritos--makers of tortilla chips and...

Big bad world.(Cartoon)
June 1, 2008... SHIP OF FOOLS PLANE OF IDIOTS S.U.V. OF SELFISH BASTARDS [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Interview with Brain McLaren on the need for Christians to engage with the real world.(Making Waves)
June 1, 2008... Brian McLaren readily admits he has a propensity for asking unconventional questions about religion, his own in particular. The controversial US author, speaker and thinker openly questions why so much Christian activism has been...

Three and Out.(Movie review)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... This one's getting a big studio-scale release with lots of advance publicity. But don't be put off by the brash posters pushing it as a comedy. Though Three and Out is often grimly funny, it's as much a drama and, at times, deeply moving. ...

The Boy Bands Have Won.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Actually, the title to The Boy Bands Have Won is at least 100 words longer than what fits on the cover of Chumbawumba's latest album, but let's just say that it is a yowl of fury against the Pop Idol-type mediocrity that seems so often to fuel...

Daniel Variations.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
June 1, 2008... Daniel Pearl was an American journalist who was taken hostage, then murdered most cruelly by Islamic fundamentalists in Pakistan in 2002. His final words, as recorded in the video made by his captors, were 'I am Jewish'. [ILLUSTRATION...

Swimming Against the Tide.(DVD)(Brief article)(Video recording review)
June 1, 2008... If there is one thing of which Fidel Castro can be unequivocally proud, it's Cuba's health system. Enviable life expectancy and infant mortality statistics speak for themselves; innovative approaches towards conventional medicine, alternative...

My grandmother - a memoir.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 1, 2008... Translation and introduction by Maureen Freely (Verso ISBN 978 184467 169 4) Every family has its secrets. So does every nation. But Turkey's official secret remains extraordinarily potent because public references to the massive event...

Bloodshot Monochroma.(Patience Agbabi's Bloodshot Monochrome)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 1, 2008... (Canongate ISBN 978184767153 0) Patience Agbabi's latest collection is charged with the passion, wit and sheer inventiveness we have come to expect from the Nigerian-born poet. Take, for example, 'Problem Pages'--a series of 'agony-aunt'...

Beijing Coma.(Brief article)(Book review)
June 1, 2008... Translated by Flora Drew (Chatto & Windus, ISBN 9780701178079) The Chinese writer Ma Jian is probably best known for his 2001 travelogue Red Dust. His other books include Stick Out Your Tongue, a story collection about Stick Out Your...

Highlighting the work of artists and photographers from the majority world.(Southern Exposure)(Brief article)(Photograph)
June 1, 2008... I was born in Tehran in 1980 and have for 10 years been working as a journalist and photographer for the Iranian press, including Entekhab, Etemad, and Hamshahri. I am also a photo editor of Cultural Heritage News, a documentary film-maker and...

Standing up to the State.(View from New Delhi)(Viewpoint essay)
June 1, 2008... It's been a year that Binayak Sen, a doctor who was working with the poor and disadvantaged in remote villages in eastern India, has been in prison--the courts refuse to give him bail. It's been more than six years since Irom Sharmila, a young...

Global warming and the King's Arms pub: environmentalists may be missing out a vital part of the argument, suggests Horatio Morpurgo.(Essay)(Essay)
June 1, 2008... On a brilliant April afternoon clouds of stoneflies, just hatched out of the river which runs through Downton, England, are winging to and fro along its main street. Rather weak flyers, they prefer crawling feverishly about on any vegetation...

Country profile Uzbekistan.(Country Profile)(Country overview)
June 1, 2008... In the heart of Central Asia, enclosed by the Pamir mountains to the southeast and desert in the northeast, Uzbekistan was once the seat of vast wealth and influence. Its entrepreneurial spirit took off during the reign of Tamerlane, a fearsome...

At a glance.(Country Profile)(Country overview)
June 1, 2008... Leader: President Islam Karimov. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Economy: GNI per capita: $610 (Kazakhstan $3,790, Russia $5,780). Monetary unit: Sum. Main exports: Cotton, gold, natural gas and oil. Business is driven by politics and...