New Internationalist

Cover for May 2009 - Issue 422

May 2009's Issue

It was all about equality and respect – values few would have a problem with. So just when did multiculturalism become a dirty word? Was it about the same time as the ideas of respecting difference and embracing diversity began to be overtaken in the public mind by shrill religious fundamentalism and hectoring traditionalists?

This month’s NI sees a vibrant selection of contributors tackling these questions: British and Canadian cultural commentators Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Haroon Siddiqui; Indian journalist Shoma Chaudhury who has met the country’s leading hate-mongers; and the Mauritian novelist Lindsey Collen, who looks behind her island nation’s image as a multicultural haven.

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Featured in issue 422

Who's Left?

Anna Chen wonders quite what the difference is between Right and Left.

Screenings in The Devil’s Garden: The Sahara Film Festival

For a week each May, a desolate refugee camp plays host to the Sahara International Film Festival, helping to raise awareness of the plight of ‘Africa’s last colony’. Stefan Simanowitz reports.

To craft a new society

A divided society needs new answers and new identities, argues Yasmin Alibhai-Brown.

Saturnina Quispe Choque

Bolivian feminist Saturnina Quispe Choque talks to Nadia Hausfather.

Nato

NATO is shrouded in military secrecy, but what we do know is bad enough.

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A corporate piñata

A corporate piñata, by Polyp.

Peace offerings

Members of citizens’ groups for peace that attempt to bridge the Israeli-Palestinian divide talk with Hadani Ditmars about why working together brings its own rewards.

Kicking it Pyongyang-stylie

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Running scared

No reprieve for gay community living with 30 years of sharia law

'Green' government shuts down leading environmental group

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Hanging together

Strategies for social cohesion

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May Day!

Montreal police out of line and in the courts

Victory for Czech peace campaigners

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Upping the ante

Protesters raise the stakes as strikes sweep the French Caribbean

Shahadat Parvez

A Bangladeshi boy is inspired by a French footballer in Shahadat Parvez’s photograph.

Our Seeds: Seeds Blong Yumi

This is a rallying cry that shows the way in which people in many parts of the world are resisting seed privatization through actions big and small.

Easy Come, Easy Go

Subtitled ‘18 Songs for Music Lovers’, Easy Come, Easy Go is a double album containing a wide choice of songs: from Brian Eno’s ‘How Many Worlds’ to Dolly Parton’s ‘Down from Dover’

The Children's Hours

A collection of stories about childhood from a stellar cast of authors from around the world, with all royalties going to Save the Children. Edited by Richard Zimler and Rasa Sekulovic.

Into the vortex of identity

With Dinyar Godrej, whose personal journey as an immigrant reveals some of the faultlines of multiculturalism, making the case for looking beneath the smokescreen of ‘culture clash’.

Another side of paradise

Class or culture – which has caused Mauritius the most upset? Lindsey Collen looks back.

Havana Fever

Like the best, most haunting bolero, Havana Fever is liable to linger in the mind well after its final phrases.

Long Time Coming

Short Writings from Zimbabwe, edited by Jane Morris.

Better Times Will Come

An album loaded with the instrumentation - fiddle, steel guitar, banjo and mandolin - of American roots music.

South Korea

Ripping up the rainbow

Shoma Chaudhury on the hate mongers intent on tearing up the very idea of India.

Ahlaam (Dreams)

This is the first Iraqi film about the American-led invasion. Written and directed by Mohamed Al-Daradji.

What's my identity?

Faith schools get a bashing even from committed multiculturalists. We talk to one supporter who currently teaches English at a secular school in Australia.

No room for bigots

Canadian multiculturalism is in rude health and has licked the kinds of problems that crop up in other countries. Haroon Siddiqui explains how.

Timor-Leste - Don’t Forget

Catherine Scott and Jo Barrett call on the international community to honour its obligations.

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The Feral Rich

The feral rich… are always with us, but ever richer and more savage. What can we do to stop the feckless rich, as they ravage economies to feather their nests? Jan/Feb 2013's New Internationalist magazine.

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