Published in the Winter 2005 401 Richmond Update
New Internationalist Magazine (Studio 393) has had an impressive life span that reaches back to the 1970s and across the ocean from the United Kingdom to Canada and beyond. From its beginnings as a student project at Oxford, to an internationally recognized monthly publication that routinely tackles the most pressing issues of global development, it has had a long and prosperous journey that is far from complete. The magazine is the flagship of an organization that also produces a famous calendar as well as a range of books. Over the years the group has done contract work for various UN organizations as well as the International Red Cross. It is also the heart of an operation that is dedicated to the mission of raising awareness and reporting on substantive issues of poverty, inequality, and global justice.
There are many things that make New Internationalist a unique magazine, obviously the subject matter they deal with in each issue, but also their status as a worker run cooperative that has managed to operate independent of government funding for most of its history. It is magazine production with a twist, rooted in political beliefs that are reflected in both how the organization operates and what it creates.
The Canadian arm of New Internationalist, a British organization, was founded in 1977 when it was decided by the cooperative that it would be beneficial to open an office in Toronto. They had already been working to increase subscription sales, the financial underpinning of their operation, and thought a presence in Canada would be desirable. Wayne Ellwood came on board at this time as the first non-British Editor of the magazine and opened the office in Toronto, which was given some space by OXFAM Canada ( Suite 200, Robertson Building) in their previous location. The office was opened with funding from CIDA’s Public Participation Programme and from mainstream churches in Canada who were interested in educating Canadians about overseas issues. The goal was that within three years the magazine would be able to operate independently. It took a few more years than that, but by 1983 the organization was self-financing. In 2001 when OXFAM Canada began to make plans to leave their building and move into 215 Spadina Avenue, Wayne decided this would be a good time for New Internationalist to strike out on their own and fortunately, they were able to join the community at 401 Richmond.
The Canadian office, which has three staff members, Wayne, Richard Swift who is also an Editor, and Faziah Hamid, the Office Manager, is the largest of New Internationalist’s satellite operations (there is also an Editor in Australia and a business office in New Zealand). Being a workers’ cooperative means many things to the practice of the members; people act as their own bosses; decision making around key issues is a collective process; and they have an equal salary structure. There are some variations based on length of service and dependents, but essentially everyone makes the same amount of money. Despite the fact that people are granted titles, they end up wearing many different hats and working collaboratively in order to achieve goals. For an Editor, this means that if they are editing an issue of the magazine, they are responsible for every element of the magazines composition. It’s what Wayne refers to as “the Swedish model of magazine production. The idea in the Volvo plants was that you always had a team of people that produced the cars right through from beginning to end, and it’s true in this case. If I do a magazine, I do the conceptualization, the commissioning of articles, the editing, the photo research – as the editor you do everything. It’s a cooperative so, if it’s your turn, it’s your turn” – a holistic structure that’s very different from traditional or mainstream magazine production where there is a highly defined and strictly enforced hierarchy of responsibilities.
Wayne and Richard are both currently working back to back on magazine issues, something that happens rarely. The December issue looks at how justice can be achieved in post-conflict societies while the Jan/Feb issue will examine slum communities and urban development in the global south for which Richard will be spending time in Bangkok working with an activist organization in a slum. These are not light topics and they require a comprehensive approach that provides readers with as measured an overview of the issue as possible. The editors are careful to balance the heady subject matter of their stories with some practical ways in which people can become involved in a solution. “One of the criticisms we get from readers who write in is that “I love your magazine, but it’s so depressing. I’m not sure I can take it any longer, it’s just one problem after the next.” When you’re dealing with development issues in the global south [“third world”], which, as we know has serious issues of poverty, corruption, and power imbalances, we’re always trying to make sure that at the same time we describe and illuminate some of the problems, we also give people a handle. These are problems that are largely human caused and if we put our minds together as a group globally, there are ways of achieving positive outcomes, what’s that Eleanor Roosevelt line: ‘better to light a single candle than curse the darkness.’ We think this approach is very important. You also don’t want to keep an issue always at arms length; there are often very strong parallels with issues that are occurring elsewhere and here.”
The future of New Internationalist looks bright and promising. They continue to have a strong subscription base and are working with Community Bandwidth ( Suite 131, Robertson Building) on some interesting and creative ways of developing their website to incorporate some value-added features. The organization will also continue to produce and develop their calendar and catalogue, which provides a fantastic selection of books, magazines and materials that are created by New Internationalist as well as other like-minded organizations.
New Internationalist Magazine will be participating in 401 Richmond’s 13 th annual Holiday Marketplace from December 8 – 11.
New Internationalist Magazine staff: (left to right) Editor Richard Swift, Office Manager Faziah Hamid, and Editor Wayne Ellwood
