Combatting caste
Mari Marcel Thekaekara on the enduring evils of an ancient system of oppression and the struggles for dignity.

The caste system
The oldest social hierarchy in the world.

Caste out
Nikki van der Gaag reveals how some practices persist even in the West.

View from the top
An interview with KR Narayanan, India’s only Dalit President.

Caste – THE FACTS

I, a Brahmin
Why Brahmin writer U R Ananthamurthy got a hostile reception when he argued against the practice of Untouchability.

Mariamma’s shame
The girl had done nothing wrong – but her caste and sex meant that she was going to be punished all the same. By Dalit writer Bama.

Between a rock and a hard place
Activist Sagar Bishwakarma argues that Dalits in Nepal are trapped between the Government and the Maoists.

The choice
When Manami Mori fell in love, her family saw only dishonour.

Tied to the job
Caste still has to shake off its shackles in Africa.

The blacksmith and the noble
Stories that tell how castes came to be formed are no tall tales for people in Burkina Faso.

Action and worth reading

FROM THIS MONTH'S EDITOR

THIS has been a very high-tech magazine - what with the two of us in Oxford and South India editing, writing and commissioning, and teleconferences spanning four continents and five countries.

At the same time, it has been hard just to find ordinary photographs of the people who call themselves Dalits because they are so afraid of the retribution they may face for being identified. And with good reason. In India, Dalits face constant discrimination. Every hour two are assaulted; every day three Dalit women are raped and two Dalits are murdered - simply because they come from a caste considered 'Untouchable'; the bottom of the heap.

This is the hidden apartheid in a country which prides itself on its burgeoning middle class and its expertise in IT. This magazine has been a long time in the waiting because caste is such a difficult issue to raise, especially in India. But it was born out of Mari's fury when she went to visit the bhangis - the women who - the women who sweep other people's shit - to research her book Endless Filth.

It is a story that needs to be told. And now is a good time to tell it. Dalits themselves are organized as never before. Caste - not just in South Asia but in Africa and throughout the Indian Diaspora - is now on the agenda at the United Nations and the EU. It is beginning to be something that people can discuss. We hope to publish this in India as well, as part of the campaign to cast out caste. And we are happy if we can help to stir a different kind of shit.

Mari Marcel Thekaekara
Nikki van der Gaag
for the New Internationalist
Co-operative
nikkivdg@newint.org

Letters
Precarious times call for radical changes; 'fi ghting' for global justice is not the way; Australian's one-child policy.
PLUS: Letter from Lebanon explosions rock Beirut, prompting in Reem Haddad fears of the bad old days of civil war.

Southern Exposure
On 24 April a march in Yerevan marked the 90th anniversary of the Armenian genocide and was photographed by Onnik Krikorian.

View from the South
The inimitable Eduardo Galeano offers his thoughts on football.

Currents
Massive military build-up in West Papua; Argentine people power keeps up the pressure; Brazil dumps Microsoft out the windows.
PLUS: WordPower – the language of international trade.
PLUS: Seriously

Worldbeaters
The NI predicted his ascent in this section back in September 2000 and now 'God's Rottweiler' has become Pope Benedict XVI.

Big Bad World
A bedtime story from the IMF Book of Fairytales, published by Polyp.
PLUS: NI Prize Crossword

FRONT COVER: Ami Vitale / Panos Pictures
MAGAZINE DESIGNED BY: Andrew Kokotka
On-line mag maintained by: Simon Loffler

© Copyright 2005 New Internationalist Publications Ltd. All rights reserved.