This month's big story

Who owns the skies?

A new space race is set to worsen global inequality and extend conflict. We need to return to seeing space as a place for all humankind, argues Nick Dowson.

In November 1572 a brilliant new star appeared in the sky – initially bright enough to be seen during daylight. Its appearance was recorded worldwide and it stayed v...

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A note from the editor

Nick Dowson

Nick Dowson

Starstruck

As we edited this magazine a rocket exploded on its launchpad at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. This was not owned by NASA but by Blue Origin, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ company, which announced they had ‘experienced an anomaly’. Some euphemism: footage shows a gigantic ball of flame and something that looks very mu...

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Magazine archive

Here are the most recent magazines we've published.

NI 562 - The new space race - July, 2026 The new space race Nick Dowson 1 July 2026 NI 561 - Trade Unions - May, 2026 Trade Unions Henry Fowler 1 May 2026 NI 560 - AI: the people behind the machine - March, 2026 AI: the people behind the machine Decca Muldowney 1 March 2026

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NI 557 - The global far right - September, 2025 The global far right Bethany Rielly 1 September 2025

Recent feature articles

A selection of feature articles from each of the latest New Internationalist magazines.

The launch of the GRACE-FO spacecraft aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in May 2018. The mission is a joint US-German effort which uses twin satellites to measure the mass of Earth and its atmosphere, and any anomalies. Photo: Bill Ingalls/NASA

Who owns the skies?

A new space race is set to worsen global inequality and extend conflict. We need to return to seeing space as a place for all humankind, argues Nick Dowson.

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This year, on the first day of Ramadan in Rafah people gathered around a large table for iftar, the fast-breaking meal, as the sun set. Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo

The Long War for Meaning

Gaza-born journalist Ramzy Baroud traces how Palestinians have turned survival into a struggle for dignity, history and freedom, with Gaza at the heart of the resistance.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at UN headquarters. While the UN General Assembly has consistently condemned Israel, the all-powerful Security Council has blocked international action. Photo: Sopa/Alamy

Global leadership vetoed

The modern failures of the United Nations are not an aberration – but a product of its imperial roots, argues Conrad Landin. So how can we create a functioning system for global co-operation?

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A protester faces off with riot police at an attempted eviction of an occupied building in the Poble Sec neighbourhood of Barcelona. In recent years it’s been revealed that undercover officers in the Spanish National Corps infiltrated several activist groups in the city, including housing rights. One took part in at least four anti-eviction protests during his deployment. Photo: Pau de la Calle/NurPhoto/Alamy

Spies, damned spies

Bethany Rielly explores the chilling impact of the Spanish state’s intrusive surveillance tactics against Catalan civil society. Is there a chance of justice?

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A woman crosses the Qalandiya check point, the biggest in the occupied West Bank, in 2014. Photo: Roger Garfield/Alamy

From accord to apartheid

A new far-right Israeli government’s meddling with the supreme court has Jewish citizens up in arms. But the shredded freedoms of the Palestinian people under Israel’s thumb are still off the table. Zoe Holman looks at how the so-called ‘peace process’ has allowed Israel to deepen its colonial project and regime of control over Palestinian lives.

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A group of women tend to vegetables in Koyli Alpha, Senegal, in March 2019. They were taking part in the Great Green Wall project which has the ambition of restoring 100 million hectares of degraded land across the African continent by 2030. Photo: Simon Townsley/Panos Pictures

The land is ours

We depend on it for food, shelter and work, it’s a cultural marker and a source of identity – but also a site of violence and anguish. It’s time for a reckoning, writes Amy Hall.

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From the archives

A selection of articles from the New Internationalist magazine archives.

Sanctuary boroughs

Sanctuary boroughs

A community group is campaigning to turn the London borough of Haringey into a safer place for migrants. Charlotte England reports.

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 Photo: GovernmentZA/Flickr

Introducing... Emmerson Mnangagwa

Richard Swift profiles Zimbabwe’s new leader.

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 Photo: opencage.info / Wikimedia under a CC licence

Reasons to be cheerful

Turtles swim free; Rebel bank; Atlas of utopias.

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Mixed Media: Film

The Stranger; The Secret Agent.

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Mixed Media: Books

Mixed Media: Books

The Future of Travel; Joyful Revolution; Benbecula; The Taste of Lightning.

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 Illustration: Sarah John

An Ode to Addis Ababa

In her final letter, Maya Misikir reflects on the city’s magnetic pull – and the bittersweet gravity it holds for those who leave and return.

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Anabela (right) provides shade during a participatory video session. Photo: Thor Morales via Insight Share

Making Waves: Anabela Carlón Flores

Nick Dowson speaks with an indigenous lawyer and campaigner fighting a gas pipeline in Mexico.

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Isaias Afwerki

Worldbeater: Isaias Afwerki

We put the track record of Isaias Afwerki, President of Eritrea – and a liberation fighter turned ruthless dictator – under the spotlight.

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The arms trade - The Facts

The arms trade - The Facts

State of the industry; Deadly business; At the border; Who’s supplying whom?

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Country Profile: Iran

Country Profile: Iran

The photos, facts, and politics of Iran.

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 Illustration: Kate Evans

Thoughts from a Broad

The triumph of evil, by Kate Evans.

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