The language of supermarkets
October 2007's Issue
Psychoanalysts believe that people can be ‘infantilized’ – stopped from growing up. Powerful politicians now seem to think that’s a neat idea. Dog-whistles and diversions of all kinds are designed to turn us away from active political engagement towards passive consumption. In the process, democracy gets hollowed out. Politics becomes another branch of management, left to a political class and an entire industry of spin-doctors, pollsters, ad agencies, lobbyists and dirty-tricksters.
But infantilizing all the people all the time is not so easily done. In this issue of the NI we wonder why, and take a sideways look into the empty space where grown-up political debate should be.
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Featured in issue 405
No sex education please, we’re Indian
Indian states ban sex education in schools
- Nitin Jugran Bahuguna
- 1 Oct 2007
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After the bombs
Bikini Atoll residents still demand compensation from US.
- Dave Kattenburg
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
We are football
Uruguayans remain a ‘footballized’ people, according to Eduardo Galeano.
- Eduardo Galeano
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
Because I am a girl... How young women’s rights are being ignored
Nikki van der Gaag reveals how, in many countries around the world, girls are still discriminated against, abused and treated as second-class citizens – just because they are girls.
- Nikki van der Gaag
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
Farzana Wahidy
Burqa and doves, by pioneering female Afghan photographer Farzana Wahidy.
- Farzana Wahidy
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
Eleven ways to leave your Mummy and Daddy
Michael Bywater gives us some pointers.
- Michael Bywater
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
Magical thinkers
Trevor Turner has his finger on how the fantasies of evasion trip up the political class.
- Trevor Turner
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
The Yacoubian Building
The Yacoubian Building scripted and directed by Marwan Hamed
- Malcolm Lewis
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
Siren song – conspiracy!
The resistance to the status quo has not managed to escape the ravages of childish politics. Chip Berlet exposes the great conspiracy addiction.
- Chip Berlet
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
Paternal deceits
The Indian scholar Ashis Nandy digs deep in the Western psyche to uncover the origins of our political condescension towards others.
- Ashis Nandy
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
Pushing your buttons – welcome to your second childhood
A visual guide to political manipulation.
- Richard Swift
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
Signs of infantilization
The tell-tale symptoms of a democratic ethos in distress.
- Richard Swift
- 1 Oct 2007
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Christopher and Peter Hitchens
Estranged brothers Christopher and Peter Hitchens, opinionated columnists, have completed ideological journeys from far Left to far Right.
- New Internationalist Editorial
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
Dumbing down democracy
Puzzled by democracy’s failed promise, Richard Swift explores the way our political culture infantilizes both the elected and the electorate.
- Richard Swift
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
Trademark travesty
US health-product giant shoots itself in the foot
- New Internationalist Editorial
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
Cybercriminals, beware!
Code cracker gets four years in jail and loses rights to residency.
- New Internationalist Editorial
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
Hawks become doves
Falconers use their influence to help save one of the oldest indigenous groups on the planet.
- Kenyon Gibson
- 1 Oct 2007
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Sri Lanka
Over two decades of conflict have bred a climate of impunity where human rights violations – killings and unexplained ‘disappearances’ of people – have become all too common.
- Lasanda Kurukulasuriya
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
Israel, Palestine and the hypocrisy of power
Noam Chomsky anatomizes the current US-Israel ‘project’.
- Noam Chomsky
- 1 Oct 2007
- 0
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– Emma Thompson –
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