New Internationalist articles from October 2005

New Internationalist archives from October 2005

From this month's editor.(non profit organizations)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
October 1, 2005... A few months ago, when the editors first turned to discussing the theme of this magazine--big international non-governmental organizations, or 'bingos'--one suggested that some of the criticisms we might wish to make of them could equally well...

The big charity bonanza: big international non-governmental organizations (bingos) are not just a mouthful--they're a handful, growing into clumsy but powerful giants. David Ransom is not sure they're a good idea.(KEYNOTE)
October 1, 2005... If giving to charity were a mark of virtue then we'd be living in uniquely virtuous times. More money is being donated to non-governmental organizations (NGOs)--'nonprofits' in the US--than ever before. Vast areas of humanitarian or...

The return of the poster child.
October 1, 2005... The use of emotive images, particularly of children in distress, to raise funds has long been a contentious issue. They ignore the context and exploit the subject. The children appear as passive and helpless--and, by extension, so do the...

Green imperialism: in Papua New Guinea, conservation groups have been creating the very problems they aim to solve. Glenda Freeman wonders at their weird ways.(CONSERVATION)
October 1, 2005... Once upon a time, in the not-too-distant past, a bingo decided to do nature conservation in the Wasi river basin, Papua New Guinea. The place was an environmentalist's dream. Lots and lots of bush filled with a multitude of flying and biting...

Charity or justice: Mark Curtis has his doubts about what bingos can really achieve.(big non-governmental organizations)
October 1, 2005... Are bingos part of the solution or part of the problem? I have long pondered this question while working in the British development sector for the past 12 years. I think the balance sheet is mixed, and that many bingos have a lot of explaining...

Thunderbolts from the sewer: the notorious Tvind organization may not be a typical bingo. But, as Pranav Budhathoki reports, its wealth, bizarre history and grim persistence reveal how far--and how easily--things can go badly astray.(Institute for International Cooperation )
October 1, 2005... Windswept Winestead Hall, eight miles east of Hull in northern England. My 60 days' engagement with the College for International Co-operation and Development (CICD) started with an unfussy payment of $2,800 into the private bank account of the...

Bingos: the facts.(big international non-governmental organizations)
October 1, 2005... How they are * By far the largest NGOs of any kind (not just international ones) are in the US. Cultural traditions here often favour 'nonprofits' over government activity across a range of social issues. Some of the biggest (YMCAs in...

The stain in sustainability: cosy deals and revolving doors--it looks to Sharon Beder as if some mainstream environmental groups are fronts for corporate business.(CORPORATIONS)
October 1, 2005... If the thought of The Nature Conservancy drilling for natural gas on the last known breeding ground of the Attwater prairie chicken strikes you as incongruous then you are behind the times. Gone are the days when environmentalists laid down...

Silent revolution: Pandurang Hegde argues that going against the grain doesn't require many millions of dollars--just the work of a lifetime.(SOCIAL MOVEMENTS)
October 1, 2005... The seeds of Chipko--popularly known as the 'tree huggers'--were sown in the early 1980s in northern India and the forests of the Himalayas. For three years Sunderlal Bahuguna and other activists, with the support of the village people,...

Bingobabble: Jeremy Seabrook translates the exotic language of poverty spoken in a country rarely visited by its subjects.(LANGUAGE)
October 1, 2005... As global inequality grows, so does official tenderness for the unequal. Every international agency is concerned with the disadvantaged, the left-behind, the sad laggards of globalism. A formidable jargon has been generated. Billions of dollars...

Ask before you give! Some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are better than others, but it's not always easy to tell the difference. Here are a few questions worth putting to any NGOs that appeal to you. The answers you come up with--from what you already know, from the material they produce, or from asking them directly--might help you to decide.(DONOR POWER)
October 1, 2005... Principles If you want to support an organization, rather than a specific appeal, have you considered: * Searching out small rather than big ones? * Making modest contributions regularly--'committed giving'? * Donating not...

Tsunami business: the public response to the Asian tsunami should have shown bingos at their best. Sadly, says Mari Marcel Thekaekara, it also exposed them at their worst.(DISASTER TOURISM)
October 1, 2005... What to write and when to hold back? As a writer, my instinct is to tell all, do the expose, go for the jugular. After 20 odd years in the NGO world. I wonder though: will this help or hurt the communities I write for? [ILLUSTRATION...

The big smack: Rio's detention centres violate the young.(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
October 1, 2005... 'IF you really step out of line, the staff form a corridor at night. They each pick up a piece of wood and the kid has to pass through the tunnel [while being beaten]. The name of the piece of wood is Kelly Key. She had a pop song that went:...

War is fun as hell.(America's Army, online game site)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... 'Years of writing about public relations and propaganda has probably made me a bit jaded, but I was amazed nevertheless when I visited America's Army [www.americasarmy.com], an online video game website sponsored by the US Department of...

Anti-slavery activists freed.(Currents)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Niger's leading anti-slavery activists, Ilguilas Weila and Alassane Biga (whose imprisonment was reported in Combating Caste, NI 380) have been released on bail. The charges against them of 'propagating false information on slavery and...

Old failures feed new famines: starvation strikes emerging democracies.(WEST AFRICA)
October 1, 2005... WITH more than three million of its people now at risk of starvation, Niger has become the third African country to face a famine in the past five years. Ethiopia suffered famine in 2000 and Malawi in 2002. All three cases violate Amartya Sen's...

The language of the Neocons.(Wordpower)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Word power 11 CONfirm n. company with close personal links to government CONfound v. to speak incomprehensibly in the manner of Donald Rumsfeld CONtaminate v. to pollute freely in the pursuit of monetary gain CONflagration n....

Speechmarks.(quotes)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... How long shall we weary heaven with petitions for superfluous luxuries, as though we had not at hand wherewithal to feed ourselves? How long shall we fill our plains with huge cities? How long shall the people slave for us unnecessarily? How...

Canadian company tied up with Tibet railway.(Bombardier Inc.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... Bombardier--a Canadian-based manufacturer of airplanes, recreational vehicles and rail transportation equipment--is facing increasing pressure to withdraw a contract to supply railcars for a Chinese railway in Tibet (Essay NI 381). Chinese...

Disarming politics: if Aceh's military is to leave politics to the people, Indonesia's must as well.(INDONESIA)
October 1, 2005... SINCE 1975, the people of Aceh, Indonesia's easternmost province, have claimed freedom from the Indonesian Republic. The resulting civil war has lasted 30 years and claimed over 20,000 lives. In an historic agreement signed on 15 August 2005,...

Pop without frontiers.(pop stars, Iraq Idol!, Turkmenistan)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... In the age of globalization and post-globalization and post-post-globalization (which is sort of like post-globalization but the postal service has been re-privatized), is there a more potent symbol of our interconnectedness than the phenomenon...

Southern exposure: highlighting the work of photographers from the Majority World.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2005... I am a Venezuelan biologist now studying Environment and Development in Britain. Since 2001 I have been travelling around Venezuela documenting the conservation status of national parks and promoting environmental democracy among rural...

The poverty of America: the disaster in New Orleans sheds new light on the nature of poverty in the rich world, according to Jeremy Seabrook.(Special Feature)
October 1, 2005... The human toll of Hurricane Katrina Is still being counted as the fetid waters that drowned a city recede or evaporate in the hot sun. Much has been written about how the 'war on terror' diverted spending from the defences of New Orleans. The...

Le Grand Voyage.(Movie Review)
October 1, 2005... Le Grand Voyage written and directed by Ismael Ferroukhi Reda and his father are driving to Mecca. The father, a Moroccan settled in France, is solemnly making the haj before he's too old. Reda is irreligious, and resents his father's...

The Sun.(Movie Review)
October 1, 2005... The Sun directed by Alexander Sokurov Tokyo is in ruins, destroyed by American bombing. Inside his bunker, Emperor Hirohito writes poetry in elegant calligraphy and studies crustaceans in his laboratory. He records a speech, commanding...

Baghdad Bulletin.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... Baghdad Bulletin by David Enders (Pluto Press ISBN 0 7453 2465 7) When he graduated from the University of Michigan in 2003, David Enders made what many saw as a foolish or just plain suicidal decision. Having viewed- and opposed-the...

Invisible Fields.(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
October 1, 2005... Invisible Fields by Iarla O Lionaird (EMI/Real World CDRW 126 CD) Surprise time for anyone more accustomed to Iarla O Lionaird in his guise as singer for dance outfit Afro-Celt Sound System. With its acoustic instruments, fresh...

Culture for Pigeon.(Brief Article)(Sound Recording Review)
October 1, 2005... Culture for Pigeon by Tracy + the Plastics (Too Pure 170CC CD) Tracy's the one who sings; Nikki, who plays keyboards, has brown hair too, but her body language--she likes flashing peace signs a lot--is totally different; Cola, the...

The Greening of Larry Mahon.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... The Greening of Larry Mahon by Dave Duggan (Long Tower/Guildhall Press ISBN 0 946451 81 8) Dave Duggan's impressive debut novel inhabits two seemingly very different worlds; the violence-torn streets of Derry, Northern Ireland, and the...

Princes Amongst Men: Travels with Gypsy Musicians.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2005... Princes Amongst Men: Travels with Gypsy Musicians by Garth Cartwright (Serpent's Tail ISBN 1 85242 8775) Can there be any ethnic group more maligned than the Roma in contemporary Europe? Garth Cartwright seeks to dispel distorted, bogus...

Why the world is ignoring Darfur: the genocide in Sudan has come and gone from the world's headlines, but persists all the same. Becky Tinsley dissects a continuing betrayal.(Essay)
October 1, 2005... British Prime Minister Tony Blair has made it plain that if the genocide in Rwanda were to happen again, Britain would have a duty to act. In 2001 he told the ruling Labour Party's annual conference that there was a moral duty to prevent such...

Big bad world.(Cartoon)
October 1, 2005... INTERACTIVE EXHIBITION OF POLYP CARTOONS--23RD SEPT--16 DEC 2005 MANCHESTER, UK. DETAILS: polyp@polyp.org.uk [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Interview with Sultan Kurash.(Making Waves)(Interview)
October 1, 2005... 'Don't sell your land!' Sultan Kurash's words are so powerful that you can hear the lyrics of his popular song echoing from one end of the disputed territory of Xinjiang to the other. In their attempts to silence him, the Chinese Communist...

Publicizing nonviolence.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... Thank you for your timely issue on nonviolence (NI 381). Too often we only hear about the violent 'solutions' despite the increasing successes of nonviolent campaigns. Your readers might like to know about a new project from the Fellowship of...

Equivocal Muslims?(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... I was absorbed by The Challenge to Violence. There was, however, one rather telling omission, that of international terrorism by devout Muslims. According to a poll in The Guardian (26 July 2005) only five per cent of Muslims in Britain think...

Obscene atrocity.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... According to UNICEF between the two Iraq wars about half a million Iraqi children and half a million adults were killed surreptitiously by UN sanctions--a million innocent lives sacrificed for our supposed security, compared with a few thousand...

Crossing swords.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... 'Letters from Gandhi' (NI 381) was either an attempt to invoke Gandhi's belief for the 21st century or a parody of truly awful and patronizing taste. Stephen Zunes' piece on Iraq effectively missed the point: Saddam Hussein is a fascist...

Sacred land.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... 'Railway to the top of the world' (Essay, NI 381), was read with an enormously heavy heart. Here, for all the world to see, is a replay of the railways which defiled the land that was America, and the genocide of the Native Americans. In...

Missing link.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... Your item 'Live8-lives in lalaland' (Seriously, NI 381) does not mention that the Live8 concert detracted press coverage from a rather bigger and more important event taking place at the same time in Edinburgh: the Make Poverty History March....

Lost in translation.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... While I oppose the war in Iraq, and am not an admirer of Thomas Friedman (generally agreeing with the tone of your Worldbeaters article in NI 381 about him), I do not think it is fair to say that the 'translation' of 'Any war we launch in Iraq...

Dalit assertion.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... As a development worker, I have had a long association of working with Dalits and other discriminated groups across the world (Combating Caste, NI 380). The story of the Indian Dalits is one of continued suffering but we must acknowledge that...

Supportive position.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... Re: Worldbeaters on Pope Benedict XVI (NI 380). I found it a shallow commentary on someone yet to establish himself in a position supported by millions of Catholics and others alike. Fr Ron Nissen SM Hunters Hill, Australia

Point taken.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... We in Nigeria need to appreciate that there are also street children (NI 377) in 'rich' Canada. Onimisi Baiye Abuja, Nigeria The views expressed on the letters page are not necessarily those of the New Internationalist.

An exemplary life.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2005... The Challenge to Violence (NI 381) provided a wealth of ideas to counter confrontation around the world. I was intrigued to see the omission of perhaps the greatest defuser of violence in your hall of fame listing of proponents of nonviolence....

Doubters and dreamers: sometimes memory can be short and forgetting long, as Reem Haddad discovers.(Letter from Lebanon)
October 1, 2005... I STOOD there at the airport waiting for him to arrive. I even carried his picture around my neck. I didn't have a choice--it was a press card. After 11 years of imprisonment, the former Christian warlord, Samir Geagea, the head of the...

Rwanda.(Country Profile)
October 1, 2005... In the verdant mountains of Africa's Great Lakes region, amidst the bustle and good nature of its most densely populated nation, visions of slaughter don't readily come to mind. In Rwanda, though, where skeletal remains from the 20th...