Articles by Vanessa Baird
Who’s backing Glencore’s toxic mining? (You, perhaps?)
Banks and pension funds in the UK and Europe are helping to ruin lives in Colombia and Peru, Vanessa Baird writes.
Fifty years of independent journalism
As New Internationalist celebrates its 50th anniversary, Vanessa Baird looks back over five decades of campaigning journalism and inspiration.
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The gift of writing
Writing, reading, giving are all central to the history of humankind. Vanessa Baird visits a new exhibition showing how it all joins up – and may even change the world.
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The two 9-11s
This year is the 50th anniversary of the Chilean coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power. September, a new show by Brazilian playwright Tereza Briggs-Novaes prompts us to think about responsibility, love and betrayal, writes Vanessa Baird.
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Wealth safari
Prices getting you down? Spare a thought for the rich, says Vanessa Baird – those booming profits won’t count themselves. -
Killing of protesters sparks early elections
Vanessa Baird traces how Peru’s political turmoil swiftly tipped into bloody state violence.
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‘Self-coup’ backfires for Peru’s Pedro Castillo
Vanessa Baird explores an episode of political suicide and high drama, extraordinary even by Peru’s standards.
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‘Stop the poison’
Peruvian women call on Anglo-Swiss mining giant Glencore, investors and UK and EU parliamentarians to take action on toxic drinking water. Vanessa Baird reports.
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What if…we said ‘no’ to concrete?
The world is turning grey as more and more concrete is poured. Vanessa Baird posits an alternative.
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Ukraine – what can internationalists do?
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine requires urgent action. Vanessa Baird asks what we can do.
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‘Think about what is to come, for all generations’
Faced with Covid restrictions and visa backlogs, many activists from the Global South might not get to the COP26 climate summit. But their voices need to be heard. From Peru, Melania Canales, Henry Córdova and Osver Polo talk to Vanessa Baird and the Peru Support Group.
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Afghanistan – what can I do?
The question so many of us are asking. Vanessa Baird has a few suggestions.
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How to talk with conspiracy theorists
Vanessa Baird offers some nifty tips in tackling a growing problem.
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How we are gulled
Propaganda and media expert Peter Pomerantsev on tackling disinformation and the power of the digital platforms.
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Peace talks need women
Women in war zones are the best peace-makers, yet they rarely get a place at negotiation tables dominated by men. Iranian gender activist and senior adviser to the UN Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini is working to change that.
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Democracy on the edge
Unloved and under threat from several sides, democracy seems to be in peril. Should it be saved – or helped to change? Vanessa Baird investigates.
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Trump’s ‘coup’ is not a US first
The storming of Capitol Hill sent shock waves around the world. But democracy-subverting, coup-fomenting US presidents are nothing new, writes Vanessa Baird.
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What if…we got real about sustainability?
It might reverse the UN’s order of holiness, Vanessa Baird finds.
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US election: what does it mean for democracy?
Let’s enjoy Trump’s defeat, writes Vanessa Baird. But with realism and greater ambition.
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Lessons from the pandemic
How can we transform the calamity that has befallen us and create healing? Vanessa Baird on the change we can be.
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Mandela of the Middle East?
How did a once hardcore Marxist-Leninist and nationalist guerrilla leader come to develop a politics of participatory democracy, feminism and ecology? Vanessa Baird traces Abdullah Öcalan’s journey.
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Betrayed again
Under the cover of Covid-19, Turkey is hammering the Kurds. Again. Should the world care? Vanessa Baird offers several good reasons why it should.
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Only internationalism can beat Covid-19
Competition and chauvinism kills. We must save lives with international action and solidarity, urges Vanessa Baird
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A message to our readers
As we enter another week of remote working, our thoughts are with you – our readers and contributors.
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COVID-19 – who gets it?
Action – and inaction – on coronavirus is an equality issue, locally and internationally, writes Vanessa Baird.
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The news we all deserve
How do we get news that is true – and in the public interest – to the places it does not reach, asks Vanessa Baird?
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‘If they kill me, they kill me’
Indigenous human-rights defender Virginia Pinares talks to Vanessa Baird about mining in Peru and why she needs to enter national politics.
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What if...cities became car-free?
Vanessa Baird on how to turn a toxic bane into a liberating blessing.
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Is the ‘pink tide’ returning to Latin America?
Argentina has just joined Mexico and Bolivia in electing a Left-leaning government. Brazilian academic and activist Emir Sader shares his views with Vanessa Baird.
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Who owns the sea?
Vanessa Baird examines the free-for-all consensus when it comes to the world’s oceans, and its implications for our future.
Who has the final say on Brexit?
Parliament or the people? And which people? Vanessa Baird prepares to march for a confirmatory vote.
