August 2005
Issue No. 381
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The challenge to violence
Alternatives to violence can get better results. So why aren’t we using them? Chris Richards goes to Sri Lanka and finds out.
The power of the people
History’s rich tapestry of human rights won and dictators defeated without so much as a shot fired.
Letters from Gandhi
What would Gandhi say today? Anthony Kelly and Jason MacLeod ask his spirit.
How the hawk kills the dove
Stephen Zunes exposes the Western tactics that suppress peace in Iraq.
Attention!
Dylan Mathews explores new media methods that break down conflict in Africa.
About face!
Former Costa Rican President, Oscar Arias Sánchez, explains his vision for a world without armies.
Present arms!
Sholto Macpherson reports that equating guns with small penises is encouraging Latinos to disarm.
Forward march!
Jo Wilding sets out seven ways to help stop the violence in Iraq.
The face of violence
Mayra Jucá discovers why injuring others attracts young men.
Flowers on the razor wire
Chris Richards reports from the frontline of nonviolent action’s newest frontier.
Action
Contacts and resources.
News, views, and & voices
Letter from Lebanon
The same faces are back, and Reem Haddad can’t believe what she’s seeing.
Southern Exposure
In New Delhi a boy studies the Qu’ran. Gautam Narang captures the moment.
View from the South
Ike Oguine in Nigeria questions the difference between defending a culture from globalization and the nationalism of the extreme right.
Currents
Ethiopian repression
Security forces in Addis Ababa and several other Ethiopian cities have cracked down hard on demonstrations over alleged fraud in the recent elections. Three dozen unarmed demonstrators were killed in the capital and more than 100 wounded.
Golden pen
The veteran Sudanese journalist and editor Mahjoub Mohamed Sahil has been awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom award by World Editors Forum.
Intifada in Western Sahara
The Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara intensifies
Reds implode
The spectre of Stalinism still lingers as the Communist Party of the Philippines steps up its programme of assassinating political opponents.
Turkey takes the honour out of killing
Early last year 22-year-old Guldunya Toren was shot in Istanbul, Turkey, because she gave birth to a boy out of wedlock.
Turning back the clock
The position of women in Central Asia is worsening.
Big Bad World 381
Live8: multimillionaires for economic justice. by Polyp.
Worldbeaters
Journalist Thomas Friedman boosts imperial traditions of US media.
Mixed Media
Film
Argentina – Hope in Hard Times
directed by Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young
Film
Dangerous Living directed by John Scagliotti
Music
Chávez Ravine by Ry Cooder
Music
In the Heart of the Moon
by Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté
Book
Minaret
by Leila Aboulela
Book
The Travels of a T-Shirt in The Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli and Ripped and Torn by Amaranta Wright
Making Waves
The Women’s Development Bank of Venezuela has Nora Castañeda for a power supply.
NI Essay
Impressive engineering, but Erling Hoh fears the new link with China could spell the end of Tibet.
Country Profile
The Gambia
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from
THIS MONTH'S EDITOR
8:50AM, 7 July 2005: An office day like any other. Except that a minute later, a bomb goes off in London’s underground: the first of four. The radio goes on. Two are dead, then 10, then 38, and rising. Hundreds are injured. At this moment during a Thursday morning peak hour, everyone in the NI's Engish office knows someone who is likely to be travelling on the underground. The telephone lines melt down. By the time I finally get through to Melbourne, Australia, (where I usually work and live) my family is frantic. ‘Thank the gods you are all right,’ they say.
As Australians, my family and I experienced how an act of terrorism can rip into a nation’s soul after the Bali nightclub bombing nearly three years ago. Now in London, the parallels are immediately obvious. For weeks news sources will be full of blood and tears. An indiscriminate hatred against Muslims, whilst not officially encouraged, will nevertheless grow. Initial paralysis will slowly yield as Britain’s leaders galvanize the people: ‘We shall not cower. We will overcome.’
Bombings like these have been limited to nations who’ve sent their troops and guns to Iraq. Responding to terrorists by increasing conflict will be self-defeating – as these bombings show, violence begets violence.
But, ‘business as usual’ seems an equally ineffectual response. The stories you are about to read explain the power of nonviolent actions, and how they have moved monsters from their seats of power. Would they work on terrorists? Why not try.
Chris Richards for the New Internationalist Co-operative chrisr@newint.org
Voices from the margins:
Multimedia: video, podcasts, and more.
- Poetry Slam in Zimbabwe
- The House of Hunger poetry slam held in Zimbabwe in 2006, and organised by the Pamberi Trust, showcased young artists performing inspirational work on issues from corporate power to child soldiers. The video features four of the poets.
Published by Pambazuka News.
- Iranian women speak out
- 3 March 2007, London. Women's rights activists marched through the English capital last week to celebrate International Women's Day with a protest against the misogyny of the Islamic regime in Iran and the threat of invasion by the US. Hear the voices of Iranian feminists Azar and Leila Parnian and the sounds of the demonstration as it passed through the heart of the city. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Produced by Heidi Bachram.
- Raised Voices audio:
- Benny from West Papua on Corporate Power
- Vinayan from India on agriculture
