New Internationalist articles from October 2004

New Internationalist archives from October 2004

From this month's editor.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... TYPE 'Jew' into any internet search engine and you are guaranteed to find a high proportion of antisemitic websites. The internet's assurance of anonymity combined with easy access to reams of hate literature and networking forums has been...

True faith.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Like Vanessa Baird (Keynote: 'In the name of God', NI 370) I was brought up as a Catholic, but I think I only believed in God in the same way that I believed in Father Christmas--young people believe what their parents tell them. When I was a...

Overcoming terror.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Congratulations on an excellent issue (NI 370), particularly on the articles by Vanessa Baird and David Boulton. Boulton's identification of religion as 'the itch that can't be healed' and Baird's observation that 'useful religion can easily...

Cult of psychoanalysis.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Robert Young's psychoanalytic examination of religious fundamentalism ('Why?', NI 370) is a distraction. We could just as easily ask 'What is the difference between believing in a birth-giving virgin or a talking animal-god and believing that...

Culture of dialogue.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... As a Westerner of Christian background I find it alarming to read of young, Western-educated, intelligent followers of Islam who persist in putting their 'fellow Muslim brothers and sisters' above any sense of loyalty to their own country ('On...

Genocide.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Re: 'Alive & kicking: the facts', NI 370--'In killing six million Jewish people, Hitler's Germany was responsible for the single most devastating genocide in history of a group identified by their religion and race.' The non-distinction of...

Sex work.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... 1 I think Peter Churchill (Letters, NI 370) has got the right idea, but being a man generally precludes the experience of being treated like a prostitute, whether you actually work as one or not. I found my experience of the sex...

Addictive cigarettes.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... The world has no real problem with tobacco (Hooked on tobacco, NI 369). The problem exists with the manipulation and manufacture of the addictive pre-rolled cigarette and its non-degradable filter. Cigarettes are just too convenient, leading to...

Life lessons: a voice from the past brings Reem Haddad back in touch with a life touched by brilliance--and suffering.(Letter from Lebanon)
October 1, 2004... I KEPT staring at the tall, lanky young man sitting across from me. 'I don't want money or food,' he said, lowering his eyes. 'But there is one thing I want more than anything. I have one dream and you're the only person who can help me.' ...

Highlighting the work of photographers from the Majority World.(Southern Exposure)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Second World War had adversely affected farming in Japan. I began producing a documentary on farming in 1962. The farmers were not getting a fair price for their milk. Then Japan started importing powder milk and things got really bad. In...

Nollywood looks to the future.(View from the South)
October 1, 2004... IN the early 1990s, the resourceful Nigerian entrepreneur Ken Nnebue sponsored the production of Living in Bondage, a video movie in Igbo, a major Nigerian language--with English subtitles. That movie, shot with rudimentary equipment, turned...

Banana benders: transnationals do legal gymnastics to avoid compensating banana workers.(Nicaragua)
October 1, 2004... FOR more than 20 years, Nicaraguan banana plantation worker Maria Isaidris Cruz Salgado has suffered from scabs affecting her whole body. When she got pregnant, she swelled up so badly that the foetus--which had no bone structure--had to be cut...

From conflict springs life.(Currents)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Korea's demilitarization zone (DMZ)--a war remnant still separating the North and South of the country--now provides life to endangered species. The DMZ is landmined and therefore a tract of land where people literally feared to tread. As a...

Asia's longest war drags on.(Currents)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Indonesia's security forces claim that, over the past three months, they have killed around 2,000 independence fighters in Aceh--one of its western provinces, rich in oil and gas. They also claim to have captured thousands of Aceh separatists...

Kazakh homes end up in Uzbekistan.(Currents)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Villagers along the frontier between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have long known that officials were heading their way to translate lines on a map into an international border that would slice through their neighbourhoods--in some cases their...

Global youth unemployment at all-time high.(Currents)
October 1, 2004... Youth unemployment has skyrocketed worldwide over the past decade to around 88 million, according to a new study by the International Labour Office (ILO). The study found that young people aged 15 to 24 now represent nearly half the world's...

Fat workers penalized.(Currents)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The traditional rice, fish and vegetable diet is now less popular in Japan as its people turn to high-calorie diets. In January electronics giant NEC began objecting to workers' appearance, supposedly in the interests of health. Workers who...

The language of war ...(Currents)
October 1, 2004... Word power 2 warfare n. post-conflict reconstruction contract. insurgent n. combatant of whom little is known except that they don't like you. collateral adj. dark-skinned and far away. offshoot n. friendly fire. oxymoron...

Speechmarks.(Currents)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... 'If you want to steal, steal a little cleverly, in a nice way. If you steal so much as to become rich overnight, you will be caught.' Mobutu Sese Seko, making an anti-corruption speech in 1976. During his time as dictator of Zaire (now...

Labour the point: the US privatization agenda in Iraq sparks a trade union revival.(Iraq)
October 1, 2004... Iraqi workers lost no time in reorganizing their country's banned labour movement once the US occupation of Iraq began over a year ago. The resulting union activity is helping Iraqis secure higher wages despite the best efforts of US-appointed...

The profits of doom.(Strange Tales from the World's End ...)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... At the dawn of a new millennium, the Western World is reeling from the chaos caused by decreased social spending, mind-achingly dumb politics, computer viruses, spam, reality-TV programmes and the grinding juggernaut that is Europop. The...

A human balance: whether it's antisemitism or its polar opposite, rarely are Jews seen as ordinary human beings--as flawed and perfect as everyone else. Adam Ma'anit appeals for just such a balance.(Keynote)(Cover Story)
October 1, 2004... A TYPICAL moment in the course of a child's life. Somehow playful banter in the schoolyard suddenly descends into a tense showdown of wills. Young boys clash over the most mundane reasons, and someone inevitably ends up getting hurt. In this...

Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999).(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Celebrated violinist and human rights activist on how he came to be named 'Yehudi' which means 'Jew' in Hebrew. 'Obliged to find an apartment of their own my parents searched the neighbourhood and chose one within walking distance of the...

The longest hatred: historical antisemitism peaked with the Nazi genocide, but the nightmare is centuries old.
October 1, 2004... Anti-monotheism With its monotheistic theology, Judaism was viewed with deep suspicion by polytheistic societies in the Middle East, particularly in Egypt where nearly a million Jews lived among polytheistic Egyptians, Greeks and the...

Fear and loathing: too often Judeophobia is discussed in abstract terms. Lucy Michaels brings the anguish that some Jews feel into sharp focus.(Jewish Community)
October 1, 2004... IT has only been in recent months that I've found the courage to speak to some of my Jewish and non-Jewish friends within the Palestine solidarity community, and the broader anti-globalization/anti-war movement, about the difficulties I have...

The facts.(Judeophobia)
October 1, 2004... Europhobia* Despite the legacy of the Shoah (Holocaust), prejudice against Jews in Europe persists. * A 2004 survey conducted in 10 Western European countries found that an average of 21.8% of respondents held antisemitic views. (2)...

ZOG ate my brains: conspiracy theories about Jews abound. Chip Berlet unpacks their appeal.(Conspiracism)
October 1, 2004... IF you surf the web, you may have encountered the claim that the Israeli spy agency Mossad warned 4,000 Jews who worked in the World Trade Centre to stay home on 11 September 2001; or that a handful of Jewish lobbyists control US foreign...

Spreading the stain: while antisemitism is rife in the Arab World, the Israeli Government often uses it as moral justification for its policies. Asma Agbarieh argues the case against both.(Arab Antisemitism)
October 1, 2004... In late July, responding to antisemitic incidents in France, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called on French Jews to immigrate. French President Jacques Chirac responded by informing Sharon he was persona non grata in Paris. Manifestations...

Portrait of the artist as an antisemite: many highly regarded writers and artists held deep antipathy towards Jews and incorporated anti-Jewish themes into their work.(Cultural Antisemitism)
October 1, 2004... DESPITE his belief in 'redemption' and 'Christian love', Fyodor Dostoevsky developed fervent antisemitic views that were explicitly revealed in his popular diary but also in his later masterpieces such as the House of the Dead and The Brothers...

The world according to Judeophobes: Jews have always been the favoured scapegoat of influential leaders and elites.(Ideological Antisemitism)
October 1, 2004... THE charge of deicide (the murder of God) against the Jews would influence the actions of a string of Christian leaders such as Augustine who opined that 'the degradation of the Jews all over the world [serves] as a contrast to the beauty of...

Demagogues in denial: the Holocaust 'revisionist' industry is running a brisk trade. Nick Ryan meets the merchants of denial.(Holocaust Denial)
October 1, 2004... IN the midst of increasing antisemitic sentiment and attacks against Jews, ardent Holocaust deniers (or 'historical revisionists' as they like to see themselves) are now finding the perfect opportunity to insinuate their views into the wider...

Action & resources.(Judeophobia)(Calendar)
October 1, 2004... CAMPAIGNS AND ORGANIZATIONS International Day Against Fascism And Antisemitism-9 November An annual European initiative marking the anniversary of the kristallnacht pogrom, though there is no reason why groups in other parts of the...

Alvaro Uribe Velez.(Worldbeaters)(Biography)
October 1, 2004... Job: President of Colombia Reputation: Paramilitary death-squad pinup with close ties to the cocaine cartels COLOMBIAN President Alvaro Uribe Velez is a loyal ally of George Bush and Tony Blair in the 'war on terror', but has used all...

Bebel Gilberto.(Music)(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
October 1, 2004... Bebel Gilberto by Bebel Gilberto (East West 5046 732 662 CD) What does a Brazilian girl do when her father's a legend, her mother's star in her own right and her stepmother is the original girl from Ipanema? She hotfoots it out of...

Taima.(Music)(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
October 1, 2004... Taima by Taima (Fullspin FSPCD 1436) Maybe it's global warming, but Taima could be the hottest thing to come out of the Arctic since the end of the ice age. Behind the beautiful and frigid cover lies the warm universe of guitarist...

Hymns of the 49th Parallel.(Music)(Brief Article)(Audiobook Review)
October 1, 2004... Hymns of the 49th Parallel by kd lang (Nonesuch 7559 798 472 CD) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In which kd lang simultaneously releases her first album for Warner's hip new music imprint, Nonesuch, and confirms that she's best when...

Creating Chaos.(Books)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2004... Creating Chaos by Claire Dowle (Methuen ISBN 0 413 77417 1) Playwright and stand-up performer Claire Dowie's debut novel is constructed as the chronology of a commune, spanning the last 30 years of the 20th century. When...

Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide.(Books)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2004... Conspiracy to Murder The Rwandan Genocide by Linda Melvern (Verso ISBN 1 85984 588 6) At the end of World War Two the great powers vowed never to allow genocide to take place again. Nearly 50 years later the international...

The Unconquerable World: Power, Non-Violence and the Will of the People.(Books)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2004... The Unconquerable World Power, Non-Violence and the Will of the People by Jonathan Schell (Allen Lane ISBN 0 7139 9766 4) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Schell's terrific re-reading of the great events of recent history shows the...

Blue Gate Crossing.(Film)(Movie Review)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Blue Gate Crossing directed by Yee Chih Yen If we are to believe Hollywood, the emotional lives of teenagers are easy to depict on celluloid. Everything is black and white--there is little room for shades of grey. This is especially...

The NI prize crossword.(Big Bad World)
October 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 with Pandurang Hegde.(Making Waves)(Interview)
October 1, 2004... THE Western Ghats rise up behind the coastal belt of northern Karnataka in South India. The sunlight has a purity and density in this upland area that you can almost touch. It etches shadows on the dry dark earth. Here the meaning of...

Master of the moment: Sadanand Menon pays tribute to the great French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson--and marks his connection with India.(Essay)
October 1, 2004... No artist/journalist in living memory so epitomized the camera's extraordinary affinity to the gun in its ability to draw-and-shoot and 'hunt reality' as Henri Cartier-Bresson. The work of the French legend illustrates that genre of photography...

Bosnia & Herzegovina.(Country Profile)
October 1, 2004... THE white stone bridge shimmers in the Mostar heat, arching over the turquoise waters of the Neretva River: a perfect postcard from the Turkish Ottoman Empire. But the centuries-old architecture is an illusion. Look closer and the stone is...