January 2009
Issue No. 419
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Power politics
Stopping climate change will involve reversing
some fundamental injustices, argues Jess Worth.
Four principles for climate justice
Social movements around the world are calling for urgent and radical action, broadly based on four main principles.
Degrees of delusion
Yang Ailun and David Spratt on why politicians are failing.
A million mutinies
Sunita Narain looks to the environmentalism of the poor for answers.
Climate Justice - The Facts
Climate change is causing human suffering all over the world and it's the poorest of the poor who are going to be worst hit.
A timely death?
Patrick Bond foresees a rocky future for carbon trading.
Leave it in the ground!
Activists Nnimmo Bassey and Mel Evans report from the frontline.
Just or bust
Danny Chivers surveys the options for the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009, and asks if they can deliver climate justice.
Homegrown energy
In Brazil, communities are forging their own solutions, reports Lucia Ortiz.
Don't panic: take action!
You can play your part in the global movement for climate justice by getting involved in local and national campaigns wherever you are. Here are a few tips for taking effective climate action.
WEB SPECIAL: Cool Change
Listen to ‘Cool Change’ — an audio adventure to discover how combating climate change can create a fairer world. Progressive people from Europe, Asia, Latin America, North America and Australia offer us successful strategies to confront climate change as well as some radical changes that are already taking place around the world.
News, views, and & voices
FINANCIAL CRISIS
A new, green, democratic deal
How the financial, social and environmental crises collide – the opportunities and the dangers. Susan George and Walden Bello get the debate going.
Meltdown South
David Ransom examines the impact so far on the Majority World.
REGULAR FEATURES
No place like home
Cairo's poor show a peculiar brand of camaraderie.
Diamonds are for never
Swiss mining company grabs Sierra Leone gems
Remember, remember the fourth of November
New law gives animal rights campaigners reason to celebrate.
Fall-out in Kazakhstan
Fall-out from nuclear tet zone still killing Kazakhs.
Hugo's Bank
Latin American Bank held up by its members.
Healthcare crippled
Millions of African lives lost from shortfall in doctors.
Aryan Outfitters
Business is booming for sinister seamstress
Sock and Awe
Take off your shoes to George Dubya?
Expert Security
Eat in or get taken away
Big Bad World 419 - Climate change
A word from Polyp on climate change
Tatiana Cardeal
Brazilian photographer Tatiana Cardeal on Kayapó body painting.
Mikheil Saakashvili
The democratic credentials of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili are in tatters.
Interview with Jeff Halper
The veteran activist Jeff Halper talks about his part in breaching the blockade of Gaza.
The Best of 2008
The best music, books and films from 2008
Che - Part 1, Che - Part 2
We get to see a lot of Che's iconic look in over four hours of film, but sadly, though long on detail, it's short on insight.
Mother-Earth! Father-Sky!
Mother-Earth! Father-Sky! by Huun-Huur-Tu featuring Sainkho
Equatoria
Equatoria by Tom Dreyer
The Other
The Other by Ryzard Kapuscinski
Waitless
Waitless by Empty Boat
The White Tiger
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
Concrete dreams
India's middle class is becoming more antagonistic to the urban poor, says Jeremy Seabrook.
Belarus
A country at the edge of Europe home to wolves, bears, lynx and Europe's last dictator.
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from
THIS MONTH'S EDITOR
'Is the economic crisis going to be the end of green?'
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has asked, provoking a furious debate online. I've been hearing such rumblings a lot lately. The financial meltdown has certainly eclipsed climate change as the crisis du jour: and if last month's UN climate talks in Poznan were anything to go by, it's making it even harder to get progress from governments that is anything other than cheap and half-hearted.
This is a most dangerous state of affairs. It's like finding out that you've got cancer, but then delaying going to the doctor's for treatment for a few months because you want to repaint your house. No doubt your house needs a lot of work, but ultimately there's little point if you won't be around to enjoy it.
Stopping climate change must be our number one priority – and this is the main theme of this month's magazine. But how we go about it goes hand in hand with the task of rebuilding a fairer economy, as we highlight in the 'Clean Start' special feature. The same crushing injustices that triggered the financial collapse have been driving global warming. Now, suddenly, we have an opportunity to change the system. Can we seize it?
With this in mind, the NI held a 'Clean Start' event on 15 December. Speakers included NI contributors Walden Bello and Susan George, and the lively discussion ranged from how we got into this global mess, through specific policies that would put us on a fairer greener path, to how we build a movement to make it happen. Don't worry if you missed it – you can watch clips of all the speakers on our website.
The stakes couldn't be higher. I urge you to get involved, at: www.newint.org/cleanstart/
