nidec08jan09v2:UEANewInternationalist 26/11/2008 09:13 P

School of International Development

Undergraduate Degrees

in International Development

Are you interested in studying for a degree that covers poverty, globalisation, human rights, environmental sustainability, education, gender, population, health, economics and justice?

The School of International Development at the University of East Anglia has a world-class reputation in the research, teaching and policy-advising of development issues. We are profoundly committed to understanding and addressing local and global problems.

Our students are like you- interesting, informed, committed, energetic, creative, and wanting to know and do more.

Each of our Undergraduate Degrees offer an Overseas Experienceoption. Students have the opportunity to gain practical skills and work in a developing country of their choice:

•BA/BSc International Development

•BA Spanish with International Development

•BA French with International Development

For more information please contact: E: dev.admiss@uea.ac.uk T: +44 (0)1603 592332

www.uea.ac.uk/dev

Are you experienced? We are

MA Understanding & Securing Human Rights

CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS

• Teaching the theory, practice, and law of international

human rights for more than adecade

• Stressing practical skills in human rights

advocacy and fund-raising • Arranging work placements with a wide range of

international and national human rights NGOs • Offering a study tour to Geneva

• Full or part-time

• Student bursaries

PhD programmes also available

INSTITUTE OF COMMONWEALTH STUDIES School of Advanced Study University of London The global centre of excellence for policy-relevant research and teaching in Commonwealth studies, focusing on human rights, North-South relations, global peace and security, development, good governance, and the politics of civil society.

+44 (0)20 7862 8662/8661 sas.registry@sas.ac.uk

www.sas.ac.uk

FREE Alastair Sawday’s guide when you open an Online Cash ISA and then deposit £100.† But hurry, your application must be fully complete and your money deposited by 3 April.

Triodos Online Cash ISA The pick of the bunch

The Triodos Online Cash ISA is a secure way to save money with the UK’s most actively ethical bank. We only lend to real organisations that are doing

good – like green energy company Ecotricity and

local, seasonal food campaigners River Cottage. We also publish a full list of all the customers we lend to – so you’ll always know exactly how

we’re making your savings grow. It’s a sustainable

approach to banking, giving you a completely transparent, secure cash ISA that’s easy to open with as little as £10. Open yours today

at www.triodos.co.uk/bunch or for more

information call us free on 0500 008 720

Know where your money goes

*The Triodos Cash ISA is rated the best ethical ISA by www.ethicalconsumer.org/FreeBuyersGuides/money/CashISAs.aspx †Book offer conditions apply. See www.triodos.co.uk/bunch for details. Triodos Bank NV is incorporated under the laws of The Netherlands with limited liability, registered in England and Wales BR3012. Registered office Brunel House, 11 The Promenade, Bristol BS8 3NN.

80712 New inter ad_188x134_v2.indd 1

4/2/09 16:11:44 new Internationalist APRIL Issue 421

Contents

So a receding economic tide has exposed the naked bathers. Once upon a time, a rising economic tide supposedly lifted all boats. The tide will rise again. Won't it? Well, the passing likeness of capitalism to one force of nature does not eliminate all the others. Throughout my lengthening lifetime capitalism has segued from one 'crisis' to the next, more like a cancerous growth. I can't, off-hand, think of a single day when a capitalist crisis of one sort or another was not seeking immediate attention. Though reports of the death of capitalism have often proved exaggerated, the tide receded most memorably just before the tsunami in 2004. Capitalism, socialism, fundamentalism, nationalism, isms and ists of all kinds have apparently failed us, claiming by way of an excuse that perfection would come with the next rising tide. In one sense everyone has been bathing naked – and finally has that one thing, at least, in common. So we have little choice but to recognize ourselves for what we are and consider the remaining options afresh. Some of them are remarkably attractive and are explored a little further in this magazine. At the same time, the New Internationalist has for once stepped out of the commentary box and actively joined the growing campaign for a just and sustainable future. One immediate focus is the mobilization

(see pages i-xvi) around the 2 April meeting in London of the G20 – a self-appointed huddle of 'world leaders' that is part of the problem. In the years ahead, the real challenge will be to construct a more habitable and diverse economic, social and political 'architecture' from the bottom up, on much firmer foundations as a result. This will doubtless include the people of North Korea. You'll also find in this magazine a rare insight into the daily lives of people once judged to inhabit an 'Axis of Evil'. North Koreans may not be naked, but they are recognizable all the same. The financial meltdown has given the Minority World just a taste of what it has been like to live in the Majority World for far too long already. If the chickens do not eventually come home to roost, then eggs will be off the menu for good.

David Ransom for the New Internationalist Co-operative

Put people first maIn FeatuRe

13 (i) The Age of Possibility As the empire of international finance collapses, David Ransom finds the chance to reset the compass towards democracy, equality and the survival of our planet.

euteRs

ae-Won/ R

e J

Le

oRtH

Ws

RLe

CHa

Kate

n:

o

RatI

t

LLus

I

16 (iv) A month in the life of the Majority World Recession heads South – and meets resistance.

18 (vi) Meltdown –The FACTS

20 (viii) Naked Emperors It’s time to ask some very basic questions, like: What are banks for? What are houses for? What’s credit for? What’s the economy for? Or, for that matter, what’s the environment for? Vanessa Baird suggests a 10-point economic detox programme.

28 (xvi) ACTION – Campaigns, contacts and resources

Clean Start

sPeCIal FeatuRe

4 Inside North Korea A rare glimpse into the world’s most secretive country, by French aid worker Jérôme Bossuet who spent three years there.

t

ossue

éRôme B

/J

uL

LIna Pa

a

s

eR

os/ Reut

nt

PauLo sa

RegulaR FeatuRes

2 Letters Campaign to save mothers; military climate sins; and yet more dressing for sex. PLUS: Letter from Cairo

9 Big Bad World Polyp tackles climate change. The NI Crossword

10 Currents How sex with widows helps dead men; the World Bank bulldozes an Albanian village; bad chocolate still uses child labour. 29 Worldbeaters Egypt’s President Mubarak may have survived six assassination attempts but does not escape the NI treatment.

30 Mixed Media Congo’s amazing disabled rhythm-maestros; an horrific and repulsive Chilean take on Saturday Night Fever; and the first ever Arabic detective novel to be translated into English.

32 Southern Exposure A haunting and sensitive glimpse into a Malaysian orphanage by photographer Abdul Rahman Roslan.

33 Making Waves Viyakula Mary talks to Ewa Jasiewicz.

34 Essay: A Savage Environmentalism Jeremy Seabrook on how bogus environmentalism is threatening some of India’s best friends of the environment.

36 Country Profile: Ghana

Front cover: Andrew Kokotka. Magazine design: Andrew Kokotka. All monetary values are expressed in US dollars unless otherwise noted.