New Internationalist

Bloody oil: shut down the tar sands!

The past decade has seen a black gold rush of unprecedented proportions. This month’s New Internationalist exposes the severe human and environmental costs of Canada’s dramatic transformation from global good guy to corrupt petro-state, and profiles some of the key figures in what is shaping up to be an iconic struggle in the effort to drag the world back from the brink of a fossil fuel-dependent future.

April 2010, Issue 431

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Other ways to explore New Internationalist: Sample our past issues • Browse by theme

The Big Story

Taking on Tarmageddon
The international campaign to shut down the tar sands is shaping up to be an iconic battle, reports Jess Worth.
Canada's curse
Vast reserves of the black stuff are bringing the country nothing but trouble, argues Andrew Nikiforuk.
Escape from Mordor
Leading Canadian activist Maude Barlow explains how trade agreements are driving the death of nature.
'I'll die doing this'
Zoe Cormier meets two indigenous people for whom this fight couldn't be more personal.
Rock that burns
There are tar sands deposits all over the world. Mika Minio-Paluello visits two of them.
Everyone's downstream
From banks to pipeline routes, refineries to courthouses, meet the activists and communities at the frontline of resistance.
Take action
Simple things you can do NOW, and a directory of films, books and organizations.

Features

Ethiopia's endangered democracy
With elections fast approaching, Nick Hunt exposes how Meles Zenawi’s Government has turned its back on its people.
A soldier's story
Gopal Mitra experienced the violence and tragedy of Kashmir firsthand, but is hopeful of a peaceful future, as Jeremy Seabrook discovers.
The fall of King Tuna
The fate of our favourite fish hangs in the balance. Sara Holden and Greg McNevin explain what needs to be done to give it, and countless other ocean dwellers, a fighting chance.

Regulars

Letter from Cairo: a face for today
A look in the mirror takes Maria Golia to a doctor.
Big Bad World cartoon
Conspiracy theories in Polyp’s cartoon.
Country profile
Tunisia

Mixed Media

Samson and Delilah
This is a haunting and sometimes upsetting film – with little dialogue but great authenticity and power.
Lion's Den (Leonera)
Trapero looks at the culture in a small Argentinean prison showing life in the moment.
The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World
Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World. By Wade Davis.
Genuine Negro Jig
Hoe-down fiddles, the rhythmic rattle of spoons and kazoos with some banjos marking time, and you could be – where? A fictive Appalachian town? Some 1930s travelling music show?
Empire and Love
Folk music, as Empire and Love shows so well, is a music that has a grounding in both past and present, both populist and political.
The Ticking is the Bomb
Part memoir, part social commentary, part philosophical inquiry, US writer Nick Flynn’s book builds on his earlier autobiography, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City.
The New Economics: A Bigger Picture
Anyone who offers a diagnosis of the current economic malaise and prescribes a cure, but has not read this book, doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
Normalizing a coup
Resistance continues despite US recognition of post-coup regime.
Banning the bomb
Cluster munitions – long condemned by human rights groups for the devastating impact they have on civilians caught up in conflict – will be banned in most countries as of 1 August.
We are no lab rats!
Public campaign prevents release of GM eggplant.
An unfathomable future
Ugandans fight repressive anti-homosexuality bill.
A fishy business
European vessels fishing in Western Sahara’s rich waters are in violation of international law, according to the European Parliament’s own legal service.