December 2005
Issue No. 385
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Crime & punishment
How do nations recover from trauma? Wayne Ellwood reports on the emerging global justice system.

Eyes wide shut
Darfur, Sudan, through the eyes of children who’ve fled the conflict.

Whose Truth?
Mark Freeman explains what truth commissions can and cannot do.

A memory of Paine
Memorials keep the Chilean past alive for Carmen Rodríguez

His time will come
George Bush’s, that is.

House of Horror
In Buenos Aires, Tomás Bril Mascarenhas meets a young man who’s discovered a secret – about himself

Battle for the truth
Conflicted history in Armenia, Cambodia, Guatemala, East Timor and Japan.

Mothers’ courage
Irham Čečo talks to the courageous women of Srebrenica

Trial and Error
In Rwanda, thousands of accused killers await justice. Fawzia Sheikh looks at community alternatives.

Truth and Fantasy
Mark Engler accuses the US of twisting El Salvador’s history to suit its foreign policy interests in Iraq.

Resources and Action
Resources and Action

Challenging Impunity
The International Criminal Court may not be perfect, argues Noah Novogrodsky. But it’s a good start.

News, views, and & voices

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from
THIS MONTH'S EDITOR

As you can imagine, researching an issue on genocide makes for some grim reading. Not exactly a laugh a minute.

In fact, one of the more regular complaints we get from readers is that we’re too bloody depressing.

‘I love your magazine,’ one subscriber wrote recently. ‘But I’m not sure I can take it any longer; it’s one problem after another.’

I’ll admit that we sometimes get caught up in the problems. But we also do our best to ensure that our analysis of tough issues and their ultimate solutions are linked, if only implicitly.

Take globalization. We’ve been relentlessly critical over the years of an economic process which seems to be doing more harm than good, both to people and to the environment.

Yet even globalization has its up side. You might say that a new system of global justice which attempts to hold the world’s worst killers accountable for their actions is one of its positive aspects. Justice after genocide means not just punishing the guilty but preventing the slaughter from happening in the future.

That balance between information and action is critical. What we don’t want to do is leave readers feeling powerless or hopeless, or both.

After all, the world may be a messed-up place but it’s us humans who messed it up.

If we caused the problems, we can also do something about them.

Wayne Ellwood for the
New Internationalist Co-operative waynee@newint.org

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