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Guest editor’s letter newint.org
Holding on to hope
Why should we hold out any hope for greater equality when the very richest people in the world are taking more and more? Pessimistic reactions are commonplace. But there is often great pessimism just at the point when a great injustice becomes apparent – when it becomes widely accepted that it is an injustice and people start to correct it.
The evidence that inequality is harmful comes largely from the rich world. In the 1960s affluent countries were so similar that it was not possible to see the negative effects of greater inequality.
But since then some have become much more unequal, providing us with outcomes that illustrate the harm so well.
Today, for many people – especially in the most unequal of countries such as the US, Brazil, the UK and South Africa – the idea that your children and their children might live more equitable lives can seem like a pipedream. But evidence from the more equal affluent nations – as well as from a growing number of poorer countries where inequalities are now falling – shows what is possible. This evidence is fully laid out in my new book The Equality Effect (nin.tl/equality-effect).
Elsewhere in the magazine Ana Palacios’ remarkable photo reportage from Togo and Benin brings to life efforts to ensure a safer future for trafficked children. And our Making Waves profile of Indian activist Prafulla Samantara demonstrates how not giving up can sometimes bear fruit. n danny dorling for the New Internationalist Co-operative newint.org
This month’s contributors include:
Fiona Broom is a freelance journalist currently studying for an MSc in Environmental Management at SOAS (University of London). Based between South Asia and Lebanon, she focuses her work on human rights and environmental issues.
Ana Palacios is a photojournalist who covers African issues. Her work has been widely exhibited and published, and been showcased in two books: Albino (on the plight of albinos in Tanzania) and Art in Movement (about art as social change in Uganda).
Alessio Perrone is an Italian journalist with experience in online and print media in China, Italy and Britain. He joined New Internationalist as web editorial assistant intern in 2016, working primarily on the website and on social media.
Megan Iacobini di Fazio is an Italian/English freelance writer based in Nairobi. Although she covers a variety of topics she especially loves writing about music, for which she has no talent but an almost obsessive passion.
Let’s get politicians reading The Equality Effect Now is a time of hope for politics in the UK. The recent election result felt nothing short of momentous, as huge swathes of ordinary people voted ‘for the many not the few’. It was a real rejection of Conservative policies of neoliberalism and austerity. We’re riding on this heart-warming surge of positivity with this edition, which is inspired by Danny Dorling’s ground-breaking book, The Equality Effect. In it, he proves that greater equality is good for all of us. In more equal countries we are happier and healthier, there is less crime, more creativity and higher educational attainment. We want to get this book into the hands of as many policy-makers as possible, starting with the UK – the most economically unequal country in Europe. If you’d like to give this book to a politician, please visit nin.tl/ShareTheEqualityEffect Helen Wallis for New Internationalist Co-operative helen.wallis@newint.org
N ew Inter natio nal is t ● july/august 2017 ● 3
