New Internationalist

Why is housing in such a state?

Beyond the speculation and scandal of the property market, what’s the state of shelter? Housing is either a site of insatiable appetite and consumption or one of endless insecurity. That inequality that is the defining feature of our age has truly struck home.

April 2013, Issue 461

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The Big Story

Safe as houses?
Beyond the scandal and delusion of property bubbles, Dinyar Godrej looks at ways to turn houses into homes.
Sparks from the Spanish crucible
The movement for housing justice gathers pace. Melissa García Lamarca reports.
Dreams deferred
China’s property boom leaves workers out in the cold, finds Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore.
Beyond the barricade
Unity is survival in Manila’s slums. Iris C Gonzales meets some survivors.
Joining hands
Housing models to beat the tyranny of the marketplace explored by Samir Jeraj.
Housing - THE FACTS

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Features

The real story behind the terrorist attack on the Algerian gas plant
There is strong evidence of Algerian secret service complicity in the attack, says Jeremy Keenan.

Opinion

Argument: Should prostitution be legalized?
Human rights lawyer Dianne Post and writer and filmmaker Bishakha Datta go head to head
Mark Engler
A Nobel Prize for drone strikes?
Steve Parry
Why can’t the one per cent play nicely?
Polyp's Big Bad World cartoon

Agenda

South Africa - Chris Hani remembered
Israel/Palestine - Drone crimes
Uruguay - Bikes for guns
Introducing... John Mahama
FGM rates cut
Mexico - Ill winds
Egypt - Extreme trade threat
India - Copyright clash
Fair freight ahoy!
PLUS: Scratchy Lines by SimonKneebone

Regulars

Letter from Botswana
Wame Molefhe considers the rituals of death – and of life, as she bids farewell to a friend.
Country Profile: Mauritius
Contradictions and extremes on an island country ‘invented by colonization’.
Worldbeater
G4S – the world’s biggest bully
Marc Roberts' Only Planet cartoon
Southern Exposure
Miguel Araoz Cartagena looks to the stars.
And Finally...
Film director Ken Loach on drawing inspiration from those who fight back against oppression

Mixed Media

Film
Good Vibrations, directed by Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn; 7 Stones, directed by Conor McCormack; and Spirit of ’45, directed by Ken Loach.
Music
Mala by Devendra Banhart; and Mo7it Al-Mo7it by Jerusalem in My Heart.
Books
Telling the Bees by Peggy Hesketh; The General by Ahmed Errachidi with Gillian Slovo; The People of Forever are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu; and The Second Arab Awakening by Adeed Dawisha.
Also out there...
Including Fela Kuti, 25 of the most important 'censored' stories of 2011-12 and Norwegian film Turn me on, goddammit.