October 2006
Issue No. 394
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Dictatorship of no alternatives
Richard Swift dissects the corporate takeover of the European Union.
Whose Europe? Our Europe!
Susan George mounts a spirited defence of social Europe.
Worth fighting for
Sweden’s has a record of going its own way. Peter Gustavsson wants to keep it that way.
To Barcelona or Hell
Sharif Gemie on a dangerous migration fuelled by desperation.
Bad cop, worse cop
John Hilary issues a warning about European concern for the world’s poor.
Europe in question - the facts
Aux armes, citoyens!
The French provide a good example on how to say ‘non’. Veronique Mistiaen finds out why.
The Old Lady and New Europe
Horatio Morpurgo unearths the seeds of future discord in Romania and Bulgaria.
Tug of Justice
Two Visions of Europe.
The next move?
Richard Swift plays a little euro-chess.
News, views, and & voices
Currents
Picture this
An image from bombarded Lebanon put into context
Seriously
Because resistance is fertile
Mixed Media
Music
Care in the Community by Babar Luck
Music
Savane by Ali Farka Touré
Book
Falling Through the Earth by Danielle Trussoni
Book
There you go! by Oren Ginsberg
Book
Scarred: Experiments with violence in Gujarat by Dionne Bunsha
Film
Sisters in Law directed by Kim Longinotto and Florence Ayisi
Southern Exposure
A song of the soul from Dhaka, Bangladesh, clicked by Shahadat Parvez.
View from Delhi
Urvashi Butalia on why there’s no level playing field when it comes to ‘merit’ in India.
Essay: Coca and society in Chapare
Grassroots politics goes mainstream in Bolivia. Photo essay by Jorge Uzón.
Big Bad World
Bedtime prayers of infamous co-dependents from Polyp.
Making Waves
Being a human rights activist in Colombia can be murder, but that hasn’t stopped Hernando Hernandez Tapasco.
Letter from Mauritius
Lindsey Collen scampers on to rocks in search of grass.
Country Profile: Uganda
Tourism of the more adventurous kind is increasingly common in Uganda – tracking mountain gorillas, or rafting on the Nile, but to many outsiders Uganda’s claim to fame is still little more than Idi Amin, the jovial but brutal dictator.
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from
THIS MONTH'S EDITOR
The other members of NI’s editorial staff thought it might be amusing to get a Canadian to edit this issue on Europe. So I have drawn the short straw. Not really. I have long been a Europhile and I hope that some of that sympathy has crept into the issue. I think perhaps the Canadian standpoint has made me favourable to the more ambitious vision of a united Europe. Canadians have long been sleeping with the elephant – sharing a continent with the United States. We have something called the North American Free Trade Agreement that is supposed to be a doorway for us and the Mexicans to share US prosperity. It is a door we often find slammed in our faces.
Unlike in the EU there is no right to work or any other rights for Mexicans and Canadians going into the US. The supposed dispute mechanism over trade issues is often simply ignored – as in our recent dispute over softwood lumber – when the US is found to have transgressed. Currently a wave of xenophobia against migrants and over border security is being whipped up by a US Right anxious to shift attention away from the failed ‘war on terror’. The Mexican/US border is already militarized and the Canada/US border is quickly following suit. We are condemned as a ‘bed-and-breakfast’ for terrorism. Our politicians, with the new Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper top cheerleader, are doing handstands to please Imperial Washington. So, from my perspective, the train journey from Rome to Copenhagen with barely a hint of a border looks enviable. I think you are pretty lucky if you can just turn up in Berlin and get a job or use your health card. For all its problems – and God knows there are plenty of those – the EU seems a lot more people-friendly than the other ‘free trade’ zones that dot the globe.
Richard Swift for the
New Internationalist Co-operative
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
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