The World Unspun

Corruption, pollution and child labour have long blighted the Democratic Republic of the Congo's cobalt industry. But is there any way of turning the country’s critical mineral wealth into a blessing rather than a burden?In the final episode of our mini series, Dig, Baby, Dig! we spoke to Alaka Lugonzo a senior civil society adviser at Global Witness and Jean Pierre Okenda, the executive director of Sentinel Natural Resources.Host: Maxine Betteridge-MoesGuests: Alaka Lugonzo and Jean Pierre OkendaCredits: Maxine Betteridge-Moes (Producer, Digital Editor), Amy Hall, Bethany Rielly, Conrad Landin, Nick Dowson (Co-Editors), Paula Lacey (Editorial Assistant), Isabella Poderico (Editorial Intern) Samuel Rafanell-Williams (Sound Design), Nazik Hamza (Audio Editor), Mari Fouz (Logo Design)Read NI555: Dig, Baby, Dig! Can Critical Minerals Save the World?Further reading from this episode:Congo's cobalt curse (Cat Rainsford, New Internationalist - subscribe to read)Can mining save the world? (Vanessa Baird, New Internationalist)Women’s agency in the DRC (Sophie Neiman, New Internationalist)It’s time to hold Big Tech accountable for violence in the DRC (Passy Mubalama, New Internationalist)Transition Minerals Tracker: 2025 Global Analysis (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre)In numbers: Critical mineral production, ownership and social unrest (Global Witness)Avoid Amazon by shopping at New Internationalist’s very own Ethical ShopNo billionaires. No media moguls. No corporate ads. Just truly independent, co-operative media. Subscribe today and use the code THEWORLDUNSPUN for 20% off your first year of a print and/or digital subscription.

New Internationalist co-owner Kiran Gupta presents The Long Read from NI552: DisinformationFurther reading from this episode:Women’s agency in the DRC war (Sophie Neiman in New Internationalist) Reporting for this story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. Neiman was awarded the prestigious Gaby Rado Award from the Amnesty International Media Awards in June 2025 as a result of this story.Support independent media by becoming a New Internationalist co-ownerSign up to Currents for dispatches from the frontlines of global progressive movements. Sent straight to your inbox, twice a week.No billionaires. No media moguls. No corporate ads. Just truly independent, co-operative media. Subscribe today using the code THEWORLDUNSPUN for 20% off your first year of a print and/or digital subscription.

'Why do we care about the climate crisis unless it is to save natural spaces that are exactly like the Jadar Valley?'The second episode in this mini series takes you to Serbia, where the Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto is trying to dig for lithium in the Jadar Valley in spite of widespread public protests.We speak to actor and activist Bojana Novakovic of Marš sa Drine about how people power has delayed the project by two years – and what other resistance movements can learn from Serbians.Host: Maxine Betteridge-MoesGuest: Bojana NovakovicCredits: Maxine Betteridge-Moes (Producer, Digital Editor), Amy Hall, Bethany Rielly, Conrad Landin, Nick Dowson (Co-Editors), Paula Lacey (Editorial Assistant), Samuel Rafanell-Williams (Sound Design), Nazik Hamza (Audio Editor), Mari Fouz (Logo Design)Read NI555: Dig, Baby, Dig! Can Critical Minerals Save the World?0:28 Introduction to critical minerals2:45 Welcoming Bojana Novakovic4:04 What’s at stake in the Jadar Valley?6:01 Introducing Mars sa Drine7:00 The beginning of protests against lithium mining8:09 Why Serbia?10:13 Vucic’s re-election12:28 Student-led protests after deadly disaster14:20 Knock on effects for the rest of Europe15:43 Mass arrests and criminalisation17:13 Using direct action18:45 Can we afford collateral damage in the climate crisis?23:10 Has lithium had a capitalist glow up?Further reading from this episode:Can mining save the world? (Vanessa Baird, New Internationalist - subscribe to read)White flamingos and lithium frenzy (Vanessa Baird, New Internationalist - subscribe to read)Once upon a Rio Tinto mining project (Andrej Ivančić and Sergey Steblev, New Internationalist)Avoid Amazon by shopping at New Internationalist’s very own Ethical ShopSign up to Currents for dispatches from the frontlines of progressive movements. Sent straight to your inbox, twice a week.No billionaires. No media moguls. No corporate ads. Just truly independent, co-operative media. Subscribe today and use the code THEWORLDUNSPUN for 20% off your first year of a print and/or digital subscription.

Katie Fallon is the Advocacy Manager at Campaign Against the Arms Trade, while Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe is a lawyer at Global Legal Action Network, tackling UK arms exports to Israel. Saeed Taji Farouky represents Palestine Action, and Maaz Salih Idres is a peace builder from Sudan. They discuss the arms trade's devastating impact on global conflicts and the importance of grassroots activism. The conversation highlights legal challenges, UK complicity, and the urgent need for accountability and international solidarity in the fight against the arms trade.

Hosted by New Internationalist digital editor Maxine Betteridge-Moes. Every two weeks, we bring the pages of our award-winning print magazine to life through fascinating conversations with our global contributors.

In this discussion, guest Vanessa Baird, a contributing editor at New Internationalist, uncovers the rising importance of critical minerals, especially in the context of Peru's controversial copper mining. She shares insights from local activists fighting against the Tia Maria project, highlighting the environmental and human rights challenges posed by such mining operations. Baird emphasizes the violent clashes between protesters and police, as well as the broader struggles for community rights and sustainable practices amid government-backed mining initiatives.

For nearly half a century, the British police embedded agents within progressive political and protest movements; officers deceived activists into intimate relationships, sometimes fathering children, before vanishing from their lives forever. As the Undercover Policing Inquiry continues to unearth new abuses, New Internationalist co-editor Bethany Rielly speaks to two spycops campaigners about their search for justice.In this episode we also hear evidence given to the ongoing Undercover Policing Inquiry by ex-undercover officer Andy Coles, who is accused of having an intimate relationship with an animal rights activist known as ‘Jessica’ when she was 19 years old. Coles publicly denied the claims in the Peterborough Telegraph after he was unmasked in 2017, dismissing them as ‘lurid’. Despite this, in 2020, the Metropolitan Police upheld a complaint by Jessica, after launching an internal investigation which found ‘credible evidence’ about the alleged relationship. It said Coles would have faced a disciplinary hearing on a charge of gross misconduct if he had not already retired from the Metropolitan Police in 2013. On 18 and 19 December 2024, the ex-officer again refuted the allegations in oral evidence to the inquiry. Other female activists have also accused Coles of making sexual advances on them, which he also denied.Read NI546: Spying on dissentHosts: Maxine Betteridge-Moes & Bethany RiellyCredits: Paula Lacey (Editorial Assistant), Samuel Rafanell-Williams (Sound Design), Nazik Hamza (Audio Editor), Mari Fouz (Logo Design)Credit for audio clips of hearings: The Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI)Guests: Tom Fowler, JessicaThe cop who spied on grief (Bethany Rielly, New Internationalist)Why Spycops victims walked out from the police inquiry (Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance, New Internationalist)Spycops Info (Undercover policing podcast hosted by Tom Fowler)

2025 marks 50 years since Morocco invaded Western Sahara, forcibly displacing the Sahrawi people into neighbouring Algeria. Women’s rights and climate activist Najla Mohamed-Lamin joins us from the Sahrawi refugee camps to talk about the multigenerational impact of 50 years of forced exile, and the common struggles of Indigenous peoples around the world.Read NI554: Treaty / NI545: Decolonize now / NI540: Take back the landHost: Maxine Betteridge-MoesCredits: Maxine Betteridge-Moes (Producer, Digital Editor), Amy Hall, Bethany Rielly, Conrad Landin, Nick Dowson (Co-Editors), Paula Lacey (Editorial Assistant), Samuel Rafanell-Williams (Sound Design), Nazik Hamza (Audio Editor), Mari Fouz (Logo Design)Guest: Najla Mohammed-LamineFurther reading from this episode:With all eyes on Gaza, Morocco strengthens its hold on Western Sahara (Maxine Betteridge-Moes, New Internationalist)Love Locked Up (Maxine Betteridge-Moes, New Internationalist)Spotlight: Aziza Brahim (Graeme Green, New Internationalist)A new dawn? Western Sahara and the Arab Spring (Jeremy Corbyn & Stefan Simanowitz, New Internationalist)War and Peace in Western Sahara (New Internationalist Issue #297) Subscribe to read in our digital archive.How Sahrawis See the Western Sahara Conflict (Najla Mohamed-Lamin, The National Interest)Support the Almasar Library CentreNo billionaires. No media moguls. No corporate ads. Just truly independent, co-operative media. Donate today: a.nin.tl/2BSubscribe today and use the code THEWORLDUNSPUN for 20% off your first year of a print or digital subscription.

Following the defeat of a 2023 referendum on an Indigenous advisory body to Australia's parliament, our latest issue scrutinizes the ongoing denial of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sovereignty. In this episode, guest editor Zoe Holman talks about how she commissioned this Big Story and interviews Senator and Indigenous activist Lidia Thorpe about today's rallying call for Treaty.Help Rewire the World. Fund journalism that sparks change. Donate today at https://a.nin.tl/2BRead NI554: Indigenous Sovereignty in AustraliaHosts: Maxine Betteridge-Moes, Zoe HolmanCredits: Maxine Betteridge-Moes (Producer, Digital Editor), Amy Hall, Bethany Rielly, Conrad Landin, Nick Dowson (Co-Editors), Paula Lacey (Editorial Assistant), Samuel Rafanell-Williams (Sound Design), Nazik Hamza (Audio Editor), Mari Fouz (Logo Design)Guest: Zoe Holman, Senator Lidia Thorpe00:00 Help Rewire the World 2:46 Issue highlights and why you should care9:45 Interview with Senator Lidia Thorpe 10:10 Why work in politics? 12:40 Sovereignty14:05 The First Nations justice debate explained17:12 How would a Treaty help in policy terms? 21:14 Confronting King Charles 25:38 The importance of international solidarity Further Reading from this Episode:This is not your land (Zoe Holman, New Internationalist)Truth-telling in the Stolen Country (Zoe Holman, New Internationalist)Rise from this grave (Tony Birch, Overland)The last path forward to Treaty (Daniel James, 7am podcast)Subscribe today and use the code THEWORLDUNSPUN for 20% off your first year of a print and/or digital subscription.Sign up to Currents, our subscribers' exclusive newsletter for dispatches from the frontlines of global progressive movements. Recent editions include stories on Rojava's civilian resistance and legal cases against weapons exports to Israel. 30 days FREE then £3/month. Learn more.

In the years since Syria’s civil war began in 2011, the country has been slowly drifting away from the mainstream media spotlight. But on 8 December, everything changed.Turkish-backed opposition forces declared Syria liberated from the 24-year rule of President Bashar al-Assad, capturing the capital Damascus in what seemed like the blink of an eye.So what does the future hold for religious and ethnic minorities in Syria? Will the Kurds realize their dream of self-governance under the defacto HTS authority? What remains of the country's political opposition and labour movements, and how can the international community support a fair and equal redistribution of power for Syrians?Matt Broomfield and Leila Al-Shami provide some answers.Guests: Leila Al-Shami and Matt BroomfieldHost: Maxine Betteridge-MoesCredits: Maxine Betteridge-Moes (Producer), Amy Hall, Bethany Rielly, Conrad Landin, Nick Dowson (Co-editors), Paula Lacey (Editorial assistant), Samuel Raffnell-Williams (Theme music), Nazik Hamza (Audio Editor), Mari Fouz (Logo Design)0:32 The day everything changed 3:02 Introducing Matt Broomfield 4:36 The Kurdish forces and their role in defeating ISIS 6:08 Turkey's attacks on Syria 7:41 Trump’s impact on the region 11:50 What cards can Turkey play? 12:45 The relationship between the autonomous administration and the HTS 14:03 Israel's expansion and occupation 16:41 How can post-Assad Syria benefit from Kurdish input 20:34 Introducing Leila Al-Shami26:34 Does a secular society best represent Syria's diverse social fabric?29:21 How can people on the left in Syria and beyond challenge neoliberal restructuring? 31:33 Nothing can be worse than Assad 33:52 Further reading Further reading:The war isn't over (Matt Broomfield, in our forthcoming March/April 2025 issue - subscribe here)Where to now for Syria’s women? (Zaina Erhaim in New Internationalist)Riad al-Turk’s Lifelong Struggle for a Free and Democratic Syria (Leila Al-Shami in New Internationalist)Read NI 526 The Kurds: Betrayed again (New Internationalist, 2020)Start your 30 day FREE trial of Currents to receive bi-weekly dispatches from the frontlines of progressive movements.No billionaires. No media moguls. No corporate ads. Just truly independent, co-operative media.Subscribe today and use the code THEWORLDUNSPUN for 20% off your first year of a print or digital subscription.