January 2008
Issue No. 408
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Human rights in a time of terror
Thanks to the War on Terror, argues David Ransom, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights marks a low point in its history alongside a propaganda festival at the Beijing Olympics.

'The power of love can conquer the love of power'
Women of Zimbabwe Arise.

Breathless in Beijing
Sam Geall reports on broken promises at the Olympics.

For the happiness of individuals
Sex rights campaigners in Poland and Latvia.

Too late for Martha
Denied treatment while pregnant, she died in agony after her child was born. Jens Erik Gould tells a tragic story that changed the law on abortion in Colombia.

Off the buses
The Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company (Sherkat-e Vahed).

A guide through the maze
The Declarations, Covenants and Conventions that make up the International Bill of Rights.

Who killed Maksim Maksimov?
Not that no-one knows. Maria Yulikova reports on the brutal assassination of a journalist in Russia.

Human rights - the facts
Human rights refer not just to personal civil and political rights, but collective economic, social and cultural ones too. Worldwide, they are more violated than respected.

The blood of Bhopal
TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS – BHOPAL, INDIA

Bitter Crop
Brandon Astor Jones writes from death row in the US about race, class and songs.

Rwanda – why I support the death penalty
Though Jean Baptiste Kayigamba lost most of his family and friends to the genocide, he doesn’t think the Government should kill even more people.

Can do in Kathmandu
Water Rights – Nepal

News, views, and & voices

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from
THIS MONTH'S EDITOR

Even if it ends as routine, the abuse of human rights usually begins in disguise, as an intricate dilemma, a delicate balance, an exceptional circumstance. But there is nothing exceptional at all about the sight of people with too much power cultivating yet more of it, since they can think of little else. Their weakness is that they don’t know just how transparent they have become. Seeing through them is easy, but acting accordingly can be dangerous. For that we tend to rely, perhaps too heavily, on inspiration from the kind of people who crowd the magazine pages that follow. All of them – and many, many more – would, in another world, be revered above any number of athletes manufactured at great expense for the Beijing Olympics. Another world is made not just more necessary but more possible because the stories told here contain, like human rights themselves, the very stuff of life.

David Ransom for the
New Internationalist Co-operative
davidr@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