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Issue 541 of New Internationalist

Reader-owned global journalism

January-February 2023

The cost of greed crisis

Prices of everyday essentials are spiralling around the world, increasing poverty as they leave wages behind. But misery for many – from fuel poverty to forecasts of famine – means bumper profits for the few. We look through the spin at what’s behind this crisis of inequality, and how we get out of it.

This issue also features stories from Peru, Uganda, the Philippines, the West Bank, Colombia, Brazil, India, Italy and Iran, plus debates, ideas, letters, interviews, reviews and much more.

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In the next issue:
Futures: The world we want to see

In this issue

The Big Story

Whodunnit?

Nick Dowson asks where the global inflation crisis has come from and sketches some people-first solutions.

Lessons in resistance: De-privatizing the rain

Luke Stobart on how Bolivians beat a corporate water grab

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Structural adjustment 2.0

Debt crises are back with a vengeance as the dollar goes from strength to strength and interest rates rise. As the International Monetary Fund keeps pushing austerity, Zambian journalist Zanji Valerie Sinkala explores whether that’s really a solution to her country’s economic woes.

Wealth Safari

Prices getting you down? Spare a thought for the rich, says Vanessa Baird – those booming profits won’t count themselves.

On borrowed rice

Price hikes are leaving many in Sierra Leone unable to even afford food. Alessio Perrone reports.

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The farmers rise

The mass protests of 2020-21 in India showed the world what solidarity in action can look like.

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Busted: three myths about inflation

No, it’s not a consequence of higher wages or the Ukraine war, writes Nick Dowson. And no, high interest rates won’t fix it.

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Debtors unite

Luke Stobart writes about Spain’s human shields against evictions.

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Pushing against the perfect storm

Climate disasters and fossil fuel dependency are ramping up the cost of living crisis. Marianne Brooker looks at the solutions that are there for the making.

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Regulars

Letter from Shapajilla

Stephanie Boyd begins her series from Peru with a dramatic new arrival.

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Country Profile: South Korea

Hailey Maxwell profiles the East Asian nation.

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Cartoon History: Pepsi Number Fever

Jack Dunleavy and Lawrence Dodgson tell the story of the soda giant's botched campaign in the Phillippines.

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The Debate

Is it morally right to send weapons into a conflict? Symon Hill and Archie Woodrow get to grips with a thorny and salient question.

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Southern Exposure

Photographer Ayesha Vellani's otherworldly shot of Karachi's modernist National Mausoleum.

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Temperature Check

Danny Chivers shares some good news for the climate.

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The Interview

Human rights activist Muhanned Qafesha speaks to Frances Leach about growing up under Israel's occupation in Hebron, Palestine.

Hall of Infamy: Bongbong Marcos

Like father, like son? The new Filipino president is the product of his parent's politics, and the centre-left's failure.

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Agony Uncle

Been feeling guilty about your caffeine addiction? Our Agony Uncle says coffee isn't always a black-and-white issue.

What if...we decolonized mental health services?

Husna Ara rethinks our collective response to distress.

Opinion

View from Brazil

Leo Sakamoto on vote-buying scandals.

View from Africa

In light of the World Cup, our new columnist Rosebell Kagumire illustrates the dangers faced by migrant workers in the Gulf States.

View from India

Hijab – how far can the state dictate a woman’s choice?

Features

16 million and counting...

Dylan Sullivan and Jason Hickel investigate how neoliberal policies have led to the death of millions around the world.

The usual suspects

Bolivia may have returned to democracy in 1982, but those whose lives were ruined by previous dictators are yet to see satisfactory justice, as Thomas Graham reports.

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The long wait of Thomas Kwoyelo

Sophie Neiman visits Gulu, northern Uganda, once the epicentre of the war involving the Lord's Resistance Army, to investigate how a legal case involving a former child soldier has been allowed to drag on for decades.

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Mixed Media

Spotlight

Musical traveller Kishon Khan talks about the levelling ability of the arts with Subi Shah.

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Book Reviews

20 Riot Cops to Nick 2 Chickens by Pete Barker; Ten Planets by Yuri Herrera, translated by Lisa Dillman; Miss Major Speaks by Miss Major and Toshio Meronek; White Torture: Interviews with Iranian Women Prisoners by Narges Mohammadi, translated by Amir Rezanezhad.

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Film Reviews

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed directed by Laura Poitras; The Felling directed and co-written by Eve Wood.

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Music Reviews

White Juju by Soweto Kinch; This Stupid World by Yo La Tengo.

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Currents

Iran's revolution song

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Borderlines

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Introducing....Georgia Meloni

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Mexico's thwarted pipeline

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The West Bank's 'deadliest year'

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Joy and trepidation in Brazil

Colombia's historic pact

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Acid attack survivors claim their space in India

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Included in this issue

Muhanned Qafesha

The interview: Muhanned Qafesha

Human rights activist Muhanned Qafesha talks about the life-and-death battle to defend Palestine from illegal demolitions and...

Our Agony Uncle responds to a reader question about coffee emissions.

‘Are carbon emissions an inevitable part of my caffeine addiction?’

Our Agony Uncle responds to a reader’s question about coffee-related carbon emissions.

Past issues

Climate Democracy Economics Technology Human Rights Migration Minorities War & Peace

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