the world cannot feed 9.3 billion people

The world is sleepwalking into a famine of catastrophic proportions. More than a million people in the world today are on the verge of daily starvation. Another billion are in ‘hidden hunger’. The numbers are increasing daily.

We are saving more people by offering vaccines in infancy, to let them die later through the applications of global policies which are often actually perverse. This book explains in simple language the challenges ahead, the bleak reality facing billions of poor people, some in the richest countries on earth and the inconsistency of our approach to trying to tackle world poverty.

Sleepwalking inTO glObal famine By Benny Dembitzer Out on 10th May £5 plus p&p

Order from: www.ethical-events.org Ethical Events Ltd, PO Box 2800, London SE24 9NU.

polity resources series Food

Timber

Jennifer Clapp

Peter Dauvergne & Jane Lister

“In this admirably clear exposition Clapp explains the increasing ‘financialisation’ of food commodities. Will sub-prime eaters be blamed for some future market crash? It makes you think twice about a second breakfast.” The Guardian

Pb 978-0-7456-4936-8 £12.99 November 2011 200 pages

Fish

Elisabeth R. DeSombre & J. Samuel Barkin

“A great environmental case study. Once you’ve read this book, you’ll be hooked.” The Ecologist

Pb 978-0-7456-5020-3 £12.99 May 2011 200 pages

“In what increasingly reads like a Sherlock Holmes thriller, the authors unravel the alliances and corruption of the giant multinational players involved in the rape of the forests.” Irish Examiner

Pb 978-0-7456-4928-3 £12.99 March 2011 200 pages

Coltan

Michael Nest

“A clear, thorough and urgent contribution to our understanding of what’s going on – and, hopefully, to the campaign to end it.” New Internationalist

Pb 978-0-7456-4932-0 £12.99 March 2011 200 pages available now from all good bookshops

New internationalist 188x134 SC 03.12.indd 1

politybooks.com

30/03/2012 07:40 Agenda

8 Eurovision re-opens old wounds in the Caucasus 9 Eritrea is a cynic’s paradise 10 Happy Meals™ for victims of stop and search 11 Tuaregs hard hit by Mali conflict 12 News in brief this month PLUS – Open Window guest cartoonist

Mohamed Sabra from Egypt 13 Coal? No thanks PLUS – Reasons to be cheerful

8

AP Photo / Frank Augstein

The Big Story – Mental Health

14 A healthy mind in a healthy society Mental health shouldn’t just be about individuals; we need strong communities too. Dinyar Godrej makes the case. 18 Mental Health – THE

FACTS 20 Tears are good medicine Young First Nations people

14

Harvey Photography in Manitoba tackle their number one problem – suicide among their peers. Janet Nicol reports.

i e s l o g

Te c h n o

H e m e r a

20

24 Our trauma is not your trauma

The past is always present for Burmese refugees in

Thailand. Nick Harvey witnesses health workers adapt their approach to this reality. 26 Unbound Liberating communities from prejudice in Ghana, by Peter Yaro. 28 Utopia or bust Consumer culture is collective insanity,

says John F Schumaker.

58

Features 44 Xstrata's killing fields Look at Peru if you think mining giant Xstrata should merge with Glencore. Stephanie Boyd reports. 54 Muddy waters Big business sees water scarcity as a profit opportunity. Joyce Nelson uncovers the Aqueduct Alliance’s dodgy dealings. 58 Gone for soldiers The reality of conflict, from World

War One to Afghanistan, has had a terrible impact on Joe Glenton and his family.

54

Contents www.newint.org

Mixed Media 39 Indian skin, Albion voice With Britain approaching Jubilee June,

39

a reinterpretation of ‘Englishness’ from musician Bishi is timely, says Louise Gray.

PLUS: Solomon Islands band Narasirato introduce us to the thong-o-phone; a quiet revolution in the making in Money as Debt III; and Escape from Camp 14 – a remarkable insight into life in a North Korean labour camp.

Opinion 34 Argument – should India still receive foreign aid? Praful Bidwai and Jamal Kidwai go head to head. PLUS: Your feedback on last month’s debate: ‘Should donor nations give aid to countries with poor human rights records?’ PLUS: Polyp’s Big Bad World cartoon. 48 Letter from Botswana

Football fever gives Lauri Kubuitsile reason to hope. 53 Mark Engler Now is not the time to hate the state. 57 View From Peshawar Journalist Manzoor Ali on his dangerous profession. 61 Steve Parry

Not in front of the children!

Regular Features 6 Letters PLUS: Scratchy Lines by Simon Kneebone. 32 Country Profile: Guatemala 49 Puzzle Page 50 Southern Exposure Syrian political cartoonist Ali Ferzat.

56 Making Waves

Tom Kocherry, fisher for justice.

62 And finally...

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on being, rather than making, the news.

Front cover: iStockphoto / Thinkstock Magazine designed by Alan Hughes, Andrew Kokotka and Ian Nixon. All monetary values are expressed in US dollars unless otherwise noted.

62

Luke MacGregor / Reuters

N ew I n t e r nat i o nal i s t ● MAY 2 012 ● 5