New Internationalist MAY Issue 400 Daring to dream

CONTENTS

From this month’s editor

There’s been quite a lot of struggle in this edition. I don’t mean editorial toil and gnashing of teeth. Rather that the word ‘struggle’ kept cropping up in articles, wagging like a persistent tail. There don’t seem to be synonyms that match its particular flavour. Perhaps one can’t expect anything different. This 400th edition of the NI is devoted to inspirational ideas and activism from the Majority World. It seems that the sapling of hope is quite partial to the soil of struggle. This edition was conceived as an antidote to the ‘heroes’ editions of more mainstream magazines, which tend to be dominated by Western go-getters. It offers no spurious ‘best of’ lists. There’s no blueprint for a new Left, either. Instead we’ve gone for an eclectic mix of big- and small-scale visions. We hope they will continue to flower, but are aware that some may not. Today the various paths that lead to global justice seem to be bypassing ideology. Rather there is an embrace of diversity and a belief that the right direction matters more than a detailed, hypothetical road map. As a result there’s a broader base of opposition to the enormity of the problems. As I write this, a reader from Mexico, Francisco Ramos Stierle,

has emailed to tell us about a bit of tasty resistance – the launch of Pan Mi General. A group of angry citizens has started a new bakery and a campaign against Grupo Bimbo, the largest breadmaker in the country and a key financier of the fraudulent elections that led to the current Government. Pan Mi General’s bread is organic and made from ingredients produced by local farmers. Hey, but why stop there? As Francisco Stierle continues: ‘We have the need and the means to create a true Earth community. The choice is ours. The time is now. We’re the ones we’ve been waiting for.’ That last sentence could be the motto of the visionary people in this edition.

PS: This issue also sees the launch of a series of special features: this month, the case against the 40year-long occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Dinyar Godrej for the New Internationalist Co-operative

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4 Daring to dream Dinyar Godrej on what truly inspires. 7 Revenge Luis Enrique Mejía Godoy’s song of reconciliation. A TAPESTRY OF VISIONS INCLUDING... 8 Afroreggae beat the violence; Rural women claim their rights in South Africa.

10 Walden Bello ’s thoughts on turning back globalization; Brazil’s small farmers stave off the giants.

16 Corruption busters and activist filmmakers in India; radio revolution in Zambia, Malawi and Namibia.

18 Continental shift Carlos M Vilas gauges the gains of people’s politics in Latin America.

20 The diverse, the multiple, the different A message of resistance from Oaxaca, Mexico.

21 SPECIAL FEATURE Palestine: 40 years is enough Gaza and the West Bank have been occupied since 1967. Samah Jabr counts the cost to Palestinians’ mental health and Omar Barghouti calls for a boycott of Israel.

12 Victor Juliet Mukasa sues the Ugandan Government; AIDS activist Zackie Achmat ’s acts of conscience; Gautam Bhan on the spectrum of queer lives.

14 Afghanistan’s RAWA and Burma’s Charm Tong take on the fundamentalists and the generals.

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Regular Features

2 Letters Doing Poland an injustice; ignoring ancient goddess cultures; CO2 labelling should be mandatory. PLUS: Letter from Mauritius

27 Currents Drug intrigue and murder in Guatemala; Sherpa porters lament in Nepal; interview with a serial kidnapper. PLUS: Seriously...

30 Big Bad World Eco birdbrains in Polyp’s cartoon. PLUS: NI Prize Crossword

31 Worldbeaters The Darth Vader of US elections: Republican dirty tricks king Karl Rove.

32 Mixed Media Including music by Bassekou Kouyate, a feature film of Fast Food Nation and a novel by Niven Govinden.

34 View from Gujranwala Abbas Zaidi tells the chilling story of an Islamic Jack the Ripper.

36 Country Profile Democratic Republic of Congo

Front cover illustration and magazine design: Alan Hughes. All monetary values are expressed in US dollars unless otherwise noted.

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