April 2007
Issue No. 399
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Cotton: peril and promise
Richard Swift wonders if there are better ways to get along with this difficult shrub.

Whatever happened to cotton?
Jim Thomas looks back from 2035.

Death by cotton
India’s farmers have been killing themselves by the thousands. Richard Swift finds out why.

Organic and beyond
Can a shift to organic create a sustainable yield? Richard Swift weighs the evidence.

The Cotton Chain – The Facts
Cotton clothes the world. It represents 38% of the world fibre market.

Powerloom prison
India’s textile industry is changing – and the workers are not the beneficiaries. Dionne Bunsha reports.

Natural alternatives to cotton...
Advances in cotton production and the development of synthetic fibres.

Cotton - a history

Sweat, fire and ethics
Bob Jeffcott makes the case against ethical shopping.

News, views, and & voices

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from
THIS MONTH'S EDITOR

As part of the preparation for doing this issue I travelled to India.

As part of the preparation for doing this issue I travelled to India. It is a commonplace about NI editors that when you make a trip like this, the place you go to always seems so much richer and more complex than your previous understandings. The world feels flattened and ‘de-peopled’ by all but the best of journalistic treatments. With India I found this true in spades. India is reduced to a series of clichés – Indian exotica, the ‘New India’ created by market magic, India and the War on Terror, Bollywood glitz and squatter poverty. I found India such a complicated and fascinating place, with an historical and cultural depth to it that I despaired of ever being able to understand – even if I had several lifetimes to do so.

The same could be said for cotton. Seemed simple enough at the outset – you plant it, harvest it, process it, sell it and wear it. Sure, as the song goes: ‘The rich get rich and the poor poorer.’ It’s our job at the NI to expose how that happens. But, again, so much more complicated: different types of cotton; the intimate relationship between cotton and technology; its cultural importance (particularly in India); the intricacies of trade politics; the eco-consequences of growing and of not growing cotton. It makes the head spin.

So, if he is flummoxed by all this complexity, why doesn’t he find another line of work? Good question. I comfort myself with the thought that starting by admitting complexity is the best way of avoiding being a ‘know-it-all’ simpleton. Then at least you can move the questions that need to be asked to a level where it is harder for those who have the power to avoid answering them. It’s a kind of provocation. That’s what I have tried to do here.

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.

Raised Voices video:

Atossa Soltani from Brazil on the Climate Change

Desmond Desai from South Africa on Corporate Power

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