ContentsNew Internationalist SEPTEMBER Isue 425

I had a lot of help and advice when I was preparing this issue from people who know much more about bees than I’ll ever dream of knowing. One was Charlie Parker, a beekeeper who lives near Beamsville, Ontario, not far from Niagara Falls. Charlie generously gave me a day of his time, drove me to see some of his hives and told me his life story. He started keeping bees when he was 13; he’s now 62. ‘It’s just like a disease, beekeeping,’ Charlie mused. ‘Once you’re stung, you’ve got the bug.’ No pun intended.

NI friend and frequent contributor Mari Marcel Thekaekara, and her partner Stan, also helped by contributing the article on honey gatherers in Tamil Nadu, India. Keeping it in the family, her two sons shot a wonderful sequence of photos to illustrate the article.

Unfortunately, you’re not going to be able to read about Charlie in the pages of this magazine. Nor see all the photos sent by Mari and Stan.

But take heart digital devotees. We will be featuring the full interview with Charlie and all the photos from Mari and Stan on our website when this issue is

posted in a few weeks’ time. So do check it out at www.newint.org

Instead, we’ve added some timely features – including an analysis of the foreign aid debate sparked by the contentious Nigerian academic, Dambisa Moyo. And a pressing piece from journalist Nick Harvey on the situation of Hmong refugees in Thailand.

We’re still not sure if the exploding world of digital media will be our demise or our salvation here at NI. But at least it gives you a chance to read the stuff we couldn’t squeeze into print.

Wayne Ellwood for the New Internationalist Co-operative

main FEATURE

Vanishing bees

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Regular Features 2 Letters When flying is justifiable; jumping

straight into a car-free life; and why we should all work fewer hours. 3 Letter from Cairo ‘Make do and mend’ is a time

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honoured Egyptian talent, discovers Maria Golia. 27 Currents A breakthrough for LGBT rights in

10 Honey is life Gathering wild honey is an age-old

tradition in South India. Mari Marcel Thekaekara and her husband Stan see

how it’s done.

15 A stressed world Extinction is forever.

Ditmars.

12 Ten ways to help save the bees Illustrated by

14 Backyard beehives A walk on the wild side with Hadani

Scott Ritchie.

the position of the Hmong – both inside Laos and the bleak refugee camps of Thailand. 4 Why are they dying? Wayne Ellwood investigates the case of the missing bees. 8 The Bees’ Knees – The Facts

Can we stop the slide in bio-diversity?

16 Looting of a small planet It won’t be easy but

Philip Chandler argues that beekeepers themselves need to lead a revolution in sustainability.

Crisis Pakistan

22 Why Pakistan's Taliban win

as they lose Pakistan's army offensive has

wrongfooted the Taliban. But the larger war of ideas has yet to be won. Pervez Hoodbhoy explains.

Front cover: Frank Krahmer / Corbis Magazine design: Alan Hughes. All monetary values are expressed in US dollars unless otherwise noted.SPECIAL Feature18 The aid debate: boon or burden? Some call it 'live aid'. Some call it 'dead aid'. The debate is raging. Vanessa Baird and Jonathan Glennie tell the story so far...

hmong refugees

24 Jungle orphans Nick Harvey reports on

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India; Afghanistan’s handling of people with mental illness adds to their trauma; and seeing REDD in Papua New Guinea. 29 Only Planet Language may be evolving, but are

humans? ponder Gort and Klaatu in the latest cartoon by Marc Roberts. 30 Big Bad World Mass suicide the CO 2 way in Polyp’s

cartoon. PLUS NI Prize Crossword 31 Interview with

Mike Bonanno The Yes Man

extraordinaire talks about his latest film. 32 Mixed Media Tree-hugging in

Sweden and trainrobbing in Mexico feature in this month’s films, plus a doorstop of a book by Roberto Bolaño which is as hard to put down as it is to pick up. 34 Essay: Why Children Work Jeremy Seabrook

visits Bangladesh to better understand the roots of child labour. 36 Country profile:

Niger

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