New Internationalist articles from May 2006

New Internationalist archives from May 2006

An African village.(Editorial)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... A single African village? Why should we read about that? That might very well be your response when you see the title of this issue. And if I add that this village is in one of the poorest countries in the world, Burkina Faso, in an unpromising...

Back to the future: Chris Brazier returns--for the second time--to the African village that changed his way of looking at the world.(INTRODUCTION)
May 1, 2006... Through the doorway I can see her arriving before she sees me. She looks uncharacteristically anxious, though probably no more than I do. As she approaches and we greet each other, we are both inevitably assessing the damage that 10 years have...

Sabtenga.(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... THE NEW TARMAC road from Garango to Tenkodogo, replacing the old dirt road that ran closer to Sabtenga, is not the only change. A new dirt road from Garango to Sabtenga runs north of the lake and is now the main thoroughfare for villagers....

The Big Question: how life is improving ... The new pumps that have made Collecting water less burdensome ... Proof is in the debt-relief pudding ...(BASIC NEEDS)
May 1, 2006... 'Ten years ago I would have walked to this meeting but I came here on a bike,' says the woman in the front row of the assembly, laughing. 'Maybe in 10 years' time I'll come on a mobilette.' It's certainly true that 10 years ago women and girls...

Some things stay the same ... Some change dramatically.
May 1, 2006... MANY VILLAGE ACTIVITIES carry on exactly as they did 20 years ago--and presumably for decades before that. Rupiatu Mone and Ramatu Gengane (above) are among the first to start harvesting their millet. Ramatu is using a daba, an all-purpose tool...

Wives and daughters: women mean business ... An FGM-free zone ... Men marrying more than one wife--and how women feel about that ...
May 1, 2006... 'A man cooking a meal? You're joking--he wouldn't know where to start!' I am sitting in the spreading shade of a tree with the 22 members of the Kobenka Women's Group. Ten years ago I met a recently formed women's group in the Bidiga...

4 wives, 19 children.(Adama Mone)
May 1, 2006... THIS IS ADAMA MONE, now 54, and below are his four wives Meryam (43), Zenabou (49), Bintu (27) and Kadiguiatou (32), together with just some of his 19 living children (though there are some grandchildren in the picture too). Zenabou (second...

A tale of two girls: two-way education ... New schools, new hope ... The damage done by school fees to Salamatu's prospects ...(EDUCATION)
May 1, 2006... My daughter Kate comes with me to the village for the first week of my trip. She's 17 and leapt at the chance of accompanying me, even though I was at pains to underline the rigours of the experience--the heat, the mosquitos, the discomfort,...

The kick inside: deaths in childbirth ... Why the poor must pay for healthcare ... Solar-powered TV.(HEALTH)
May 1, 2006... A while ago I was in my local bakery--a tiny family business that continues to survive against all the odds at the heart of the urban village that is East Oxford. A man came in whom the baker recognized as someone whose wife had just been due...

The Chief and the Delegate.(village politics)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... TRADITIONAL POWER in the village is vested in the Chief, a hereditary position. The Chief is now notably frailer than he was 10 years ago. His blindness is now almost complete--the operation he left for during my last visit does not appear to...

Indiana Compaore.(presidential elections)
May 1, 2006... THIS LUDICROUS POSTER, which portrays Blaise Compaore as a Harrison Ford-style all-action hero, was displayed at the President's election HQ beside the airport in the run-up to the election on 13 November. Compaore has now been in power for...

Thomas Sankara.(POLITICS)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... 'From imperialism's point of [TEXT INCOMPLETE IN ORIGINAL SOURCE]ew it is more important to dominate us cu[TEXT INCOMPLETE IN ORIGINAL SOURCE]urally than militarily. Cultural domination is more [TEXT INCOMPLETE IN ORIGINAL SOURCE]exible, more...

Burkina Faso--the facts: two decades at a glance.(per capita national income)
May 1, 2006... BURKINA FASO--which means 'land of the incorruptible' and replaced the colonial name of Upper Volta--is part of the Sahel belt in West Africa. Its northern provinces are threatened by the relentless march south of the Sahara, while its fertile...

Local heroes: grassroots pressure for change ... Two local NGOs ... Last thoughts.(COMMUNITY ACTION)
May 1, 2006... I return from Sabtenga full of hope not just because of the positive changes in areas such as water, health, education and communication but also because many of those changes have arisen out of grassroots collective action. [ILLUSTRATION...

The Mothers' last march ... but their influence continues.(HUMAN RIGHTS)
May 1, 2006... THE news made headlines across Argentina in February this year--the 'Mothers' were holding their last march. These were the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo: a fearless and determined bunch of women who--after their sons, daughters and husbands were...

Fishy deal: the European Union validates Moroccan aggression by the back door.(EU-Morocco Fisheries Partnership Agreement )
May 1, 2006... INTERNATIONAL law has been clear on Western Sahara since 1975 when the International Court of Justice ruled that Morocco had no claim to the Spanish colony. Two weeks later the Moroccan Army marched in regardless, and refugees fled for their...

Body Shop sells out.(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... News that The Body Shop retail chain has accepted a takeover offer from cosmetics giant L'Oreal has caused consternation. The British-based company, headed by Anita Roddick, has made its ethical stance a priority over the years and Roddick even...

US joins Iran in ban.(gay rights)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... In January this year the United States voted with Iran, Sudan and other anti-gay countries at the United Nations to deny observer status to two gay rights groups at the UN. Eric Resnick, reporting on The Raw Story website, writes that such...

US dirty tricks.(Bolivia, arms smuggling)
May 1, 2006... New Internationalist is following with interest the progress of newly elected Bolivian President Evo Morales who has (amongst other things) pledged to nationalize his country's gas reserves and reject harmful free trade policies. The article...

The language of neocons part 2 ...(Currents)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... Word power 16 neoCON abbrev. new confidence trick. CONgenital adj. of or pertaining to a nepotistic political family. CONscience adj. research that supports a political aim. CONsensus n. agreement achieved by fearmongering. ...

Speechmarks.(Arundhati Roy)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... 'Perhaps that's what the 21st century has in store for us. The dismantling of the Big. Perhaps it will be the Century of Small Things.' Arundhati Roy (1961-), Indian writer and activist.

Radiating heat: report blows open French nuclear testing in the Pacific.
May 1, 2006... SINCE France's last nuclear bomb exploded in the Pacific in January 1996, it has had to face little international fallout. But now a local commission of inquiry has exposed the widespread effects of its nuclear testing. [ILLUSTRATION...

Coldplay coup.(Chris Martin )(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... The Guardian newspaper recently reported that Coldplay lead-singer Chris Martin had come out in support of UK Conservative party leader David Cameron. 'Dave really cares about the things I care about,' Martin was quoted as saying. 'It was the...

Hernando de Soto.(Worldbeaters)
May 1, 2006... Status: Economic consultant to the rich and powerful Reputation: Market maverick. Theorist of people's capitalism. Saviour of the poor. Hernando de Soto is a man in much demand. He and his idea of a 'people's capitalism' have brought...

Not Alone.(Sound recording review)
May 1, 2006... Not Alone by Various Artists (Durtro Jnana 1963CD 5CD) Finally, a charity record that breaks the mould of tired old rehashes branded with a caring, sharing label. Not Alone, a majestic five-CD boxed set compiled by avant garde luminary...

Balance.(Sound recording review)
May 1, 2006... Balance by Sara Tavares (World Connection 43058 CD) It's easy to say that the music of Cape Verde hit the ground running. But spare a thought for the musicians of the new Verdean generation: such artists, like the brightly talented...

Paradise Now.(Movie review)
May 1, 2006... Paradise Now directed by Hany Abu-Assad Don't let the title mislead you. This is a film about a disconcerting, sickening act--a suicide bombing of a bus--but these bombers aren't religious fanatics, their motivations aren't alien or...

The Battle for Saudi Arabia: Royalty, Fundamentalism and Global Power.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... The Battle for Saudi Arabia Royalty, Fundamentalism and Global Power by As'ad AbuKhalil Seven Stories Press, ISBN1 58322 6109) Because of its awesome oil wealth and the paranoid control of its ruling dynasty, books about Saudi...

1000 PeaceWomen Across the Globe.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... 1000 PeaceWomen Across the Globe (Scalo Publishers ISBN 3 03939 039 2) The lives, strategies and visions of 1,000 women nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize have been recorded in this fat hardcover book, complete with photos and...

Pedalling to Hawaii.(Brief article)(Book review)
May 1, 2006... Pedalling to Hawaii by Stevie Smith (Summersdale Publishers ISBN 184024 446 1) 'I believe it is important in our era of cars, trains and aeroplanes, that we are reminded of what human beings can achieve with their own strength and...

Southern exposure: highlighting the work of photographers from the Majority World.(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... In the early 1980s, when this photograph was taken in Bombay (now Mumbai), the old world still survived with the changing and the emerging new world. Near Princess Street, this watch repairer worked from the small space of his shuttered kiosk....

Joyriding.(subway line launched in Delhi)
May 1, 2006... The people of Delhi received an unusual 'gift' earlier this year. The new subway line--until then traversing only the edges of the city--finally made its way to the centre of town. And, in a development that would have been unusual anywhere in...

Cartoon conflict: Sharlf Gemie announces the birth of a global protest culture.(Essay)
May 1, 2006... This has been a non-debate. Only about one per cent of the people who discuss the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad deny the principle of freedom of speech, and only about one per cent deny that such freedoms should be exercised...

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

Interview with Diego Rozengardt: about a new generation of political activists in Argentina.(Interview)
May 1, 2006... 'Our society has demonstrated that if we stay at home and cry, nothing ever happens.' This, says Diego Rozengardt, is why he became one of the main organizers of a flourishing social movement in Argentina called Generacion Cromanon. Not...

Stonking.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... I can't tell you how many times I have thought to myself that maybe it is time to cancel my subscription as I must have read all the possible angles and sub-angles on internationalism and global development that can be printed--and then you go...

Comic surprise.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... What surprised me in NI 387 was that comics have become book-length. For me, comics are a subtle, but light and highly entertaining, read between my usual heavy tomes. Leif Packalen's quote from a bureaucrat that certain comics be called...

Follow up with farming.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... After your Squatter Town edition (NI 386) can I ask you to follow up with two related themes. The first regards the reason that squatter towns have come into existence--the answer must be the failure to establish viable peasant agriculture in...

Disastrous cities.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... Squatter Town gives an account of the South's urban explosion, but does not go into the details of why it is occurring. Possible reasons for people wanting to leave their ancestral homelands could be: * Overpopulation due to decreased...

Fear factor.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... In March 1939 Hitler decreed that all eligible young Germans, from the age of six to eighteen, had to join the Hitler Youth, willingly or otherwise. Keith Hallam (Letters, NI 386) still claims that the people who had their children as...

'Model' genocide.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... It is unfortunate that you appear to put the Armenian Genocide on a par with other mass killing events which are not genocides (Justice after genocide, NI 385). This is not to attribute any 'severity scale' to any such killings. However, the...

Environmental genocide.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... With the recent news of heightened projections of the unavoidable impacts of climate destabilization, I'm puzzled as to why there was no focus on Global Warming in Justice after genocide. The current and growing endemic famine across Africa has...

Scientific challenge.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... Attacking the National Geographic/IBM 'Genographic Project' (Making Waves, NI 385), Debra Harry takes the unreasonable position that her people's religious views should not be challenged by science, especially over the question of how long...

Medication myths.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... 'First person' (Disability in the Majority World, NI 384) revealed the exclusion and lack of understanding which people experiencing serious mental distress or difference face around the world. I was, however, concerned that it seemed to...

No Nestle for me.(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2006... I was glad to see that Transfair Italy (the Italian fair trade organization) refused to give Nestle the fair trade label because it would call the legitimacy of the fair trade label into question. Nestle is guilty of several breaches of the...

Democratization a-la-Labour.(Letter from Mauritius)(Column)
May 1, 2006... All you have to do is plan your visit for just before general elections. Then, when you get here, follow the posters to the open-air meetings at intersections. There the orators will be, standing high on trucks, under coloured flags, addressing...

Chile.(Country Profile)
May 1, 2006... Donned spontaneously by thousands of young women streaming into downtown Santiago to celebrate the electoral victory of Michelle Bachelet on 15 January 2006, Chile's tri-coloured presidential sash suddenly became the fashion statement of a...