Out of the Reeds by Pharaoh's Daughter
September 2004's Issue
As China hurtles towards a market economy its people are openly debating social and economic issues at a level that’s unprecedented in the Chinese Communist Party’s 55-year rule. Civil society is developing as NGOs become an established part of the social fabric.
But those who are stepping into this new found political space are acutely aware of its limits. People who challenge the supremacy of the Chinese Communist Party still risk losing their careers, reputations and enduring long periods of detention.
From inside China, the NI turns up the volume on the voices that are now being heard in public as well as those that the Communist Party continues to suppress.
Every month, we put up a selection of articles from the magazine. To enjoy the complete magazine, subscribe and receive three free issues and a world map. Or buy a digital subscription which gives you unlimited access to all magazines since 2007 and for a year after purchase on your computer or mobile device, in their original full-colour design.
Featured in issue 371
The onion fields
Playwright and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah visits Senegal and discovers the shocking truth about free trade.
- Kwame Kwei-Armah
- 1 Sep 2004
- 0
Interview with Marie Hilao-Enriquez
A life spent in pursuit of human rights: Philippine campaigner Marie Hilao-Enriquez.
- Chris Richards
- 1 Sep 2004
- 0
Polyp's Big Bad World – September 2004
From tax cuts to more golf, George W Bush’s top priorities revealed by Polyp.
Let us Speak
New political spaces are opening up in China. Chris Richards turns up the volume on what’s safe to say in public… and what’s not.
- Chris Richards
- 1 Sep 2004
- 0
Bones and myths
Reem Haddad celebrates the remarkable life of a British woman who became a local legend
- Reem Haddad
- 1 Sep 2004
- 0
Islam Karimov
All bow down before the glorious rule of Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov.
- 1 Sep 2004
- 0
Where the broom does not reach, the dust will not vanish
Who now has the ear of the Communist Party: the capitalists or the workers? Chris Richards eavesdrops.
- Chris Richards
- 1 Sep 2004
- 0
The body as weapon
What prompted a group of middle-class Indian women to protest by stripping naked and marching to an army barracks? Urvashi Butalia explains.
- Urvashi Butalia
- 1 Sep 2004
- 0
When the tide goes out, the rocks are revelealed
Transnationals say they’ll bring free speech to China. Yuezhi Zhao explains why they won’t.
- Yuezhi Zhao
- 1 Sep 2004
- 0
Neo Ntsoma
Youth culture in South Africa, by the first woman CNN Africa Photographer of the Year, Neo Ntsoma.
- Neo Ntsoma
- 1 Sep 2004
- 0
A look at the sky from the bottom of the well
Poetry, prose and FACTS from Falun Dafa, Tibet and Gay China.
- 1 Sep 2004
- 0
A single spark starts a prairie fire
Large-scale farmers’ protests are sweeping the countryside. Yu Jianrong investigates.
- Yu Jianrong
- 1 Sep 2004
- 0
The big tree catches wind
On the world stage, China speaks for both the rich and poor world. Nicola Bullard translates its schizophrenic message.
- Nicola Bullard
- 1 Sep 2004
- 0
On Newsstands
Trade unions: rebuild, renew, resist
Trade unions
A relic of a bygone era – or a billion-strong social movement fighting for workers’ rights everywhere? The reality of trade unionism today falls somewhere in between. In the Western world, union-busting laws, globalization and internal conflicts have left many trade unions reeling. In some countries of the Global South, trade unionists face discrimination, danger and even death. Meanwhile, workers’ rights are being sacrificed on the altar of corporate greed gone mad: zero-contract hours, sub-contracting, privatization, outsourcing and special economic zones are all part of a ‘race to the bottom’ being run by transnationals concerned only about their profits.Yet all is not lost. From Colombia to China, Bangladesh to Barcelona, workers are still fighting for their rights – and, sometimes, winning. This issue, New Internationalist looks at the state of the unions, how they need to adapt to the new reality for workers in the 21st century, and why they are more important than ever.
Online now
Smiley-faced monopolists
For Facebook, Amazon and Google, we have traded our privacy for something we find useful and put on hold our support for ethical shopping in exchange for the ease of low (or no) price and almost-instant gratification. This month's magazine looks at just how far down the line we are and asks how deeply exploitative and anti-democratic is this new ‘surveillance capitalism’ under which we now live. This month’s contributors include security expert Bruce Schneier, psychologist Robert Epstein and engineer and software activist Prabir Purkayastha.
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