Issue 540 of New Internationalist

Reader-owned global journalism

November-December 2022

Take back the land

Our big story in this issue hears from Brazil, Bangladesh, Kenya and North America on struggles to take back the land from colonizers, wealth hoarders and polluters. 

We also bring you stories and reports from Zimbabwe, Lithuania, Argentina, Myanmar, Brazil, Kenya, and India, plus debates, ideas, letters, interviews, reviews and more. 

And we launch our new series ‘Decolonize how?’ which will explore what people are doing to dismantle the impacts – and current realities – of British-linked colonialism.

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In the next issue:
The cost of living crisis

In this issue

Big Story

The land is ours

It brings power and wealth to whoever holds it, but land should be treated as a public good, argues Amy Hall.

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Unwanted attraction

As the Bangladesh government promotes tourism in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Indigenous Jumma people are being squeezed out. Hana Shams Ahmed reports.

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Land back

Riley Yesno explores some of the ways the Indigenous-led movement is redistributing land and wealth in North America.

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For whose protection?

A global target to expand protected areas for conservation been dubbed the ‘biggest land grab in history’ by Indigenous groups. Amy Hall examines why.

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Nice little earner

Maria Luisa Mendonça and Daniela Stefano explain how a teachers’ pension fund has helped drive intensive agriculture and real estate speculation in Brazil.

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Roads for the rich, tent for the poor

Nearly a year on from mass evictions in the Mukuru kwa Njenga settlement, Amy Hall hears from social justice activist Anami Daudi Toure about his community’s fight for justice.

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Features

The Long Read: Hear us roar

Denise Laura Baker speaks to veterans of the Greenham Common and Faslane peace camps, and assesses their legacy 40 years on.

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Muzzling the media in Zimbabwe

As elections loom, the government clampdown on press freedom gathers pace. Busani Bafana reports from Bulawayo.

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Pushed back and pushed on

Asylum-seekers in Lithuania are caught in a political crossfire. Severia Bel reports on the human impact.

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Around the World

Letter from Buenos Aires

Virginia Tognola’s sympathy for a sweaty Santa as the festive season heats up.

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Country Profile: Myanmar

Almost two years after the military seized power, the determination of Myanmar’s resistance movement has only grown.

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View from Brazil

Just what kind of democracy do Brazilians support, wonders Leonardo Sakamoto.

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View from Africa

Reflecting on Kenya’s general election, Nanjala Nyabola reminds us of the need to view democracy with a critical eye.

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View from India

Nilanjana Bhowmick’s thoughts on the long shadow of caste.

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Stories making the news

The Commonwealth after the Queen

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Introducing: William Ruto

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Corporate warfare in Panama

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Defying big pharma

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Challenging Ukraine’s anti-union laws

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Will COP27 be any different?

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South Africa - a people's vaccine?

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Mixed Media

Spotlight

Sudanese graffiti artist Assil Diab’s political awakening, as told to Subi Shah

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Books

Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez; Wake Me Up at Nine in the Morning by A Yi: The Most Powerful Man in the World by Stefan Aust and Adrian Geiges; Stranger in My Own Land by Fida Jiryis.

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Film

Return to Dust directed and written by Li Ruijun; Tori and Lokita directed and written by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

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Music

The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs of Black British Experience by Angeline Morrison; $/He Who Feeds You… Owns You by The Brother Moves On.

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Regulars

Agony Uncle

Who qualifies for an ‘exhibition of contemporary working class art’? Our Agony Uncle weighs in.

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Cartoon History – The Malayan Emergency

Ilya’s graphic re-telling of ‘Britain’s Vietnam’.

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Hall of Infamy: Paul Kagame

Being the vanquisher of the génocidaires and darling of the West hasn’t curbed the Rwandan leader’s tyrannical tendencies.

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Temperature Check

Aruna Chandrasekhar argues that we need to keep one eye on the ‘other COP’.

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What if...electricity were not for sale?

Nick Dowson imagines a different kind of energy system.

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The Interview

Mohamad Hafez discusses art, architecture and his nostalgia for Syria with Louisa Waugh.

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