※日本版の休刊に伴い、2012年1/2月合併号より英語版のみ発行しております。

The absurdity of gold（もう金を買うのはやめよう）

【Agenda】
Stories making the news this month
6 Children swept up in Egyptian repression
6 Solomon Islands’ environmental tussle
7 Lost identities
7 Censorship resurgent in Serbia
7 Introducing Joko Widodo
8 Swedish far-right power bid
8 Migrant-baby court battle in Australia
9 Burmese monks’ assault on interfaith love
9 The big Greek beach sell-out
PLUS: Scratchy Lines by cartoonist Simon Kneebone and Reasons to be Cheerful.

【The Big Story】
Gold
10 Stop the gold rush
The value we place on this yellow metal is absurd - and dangerous, argues Richard Swift.

14 Gold - the facts

15 Churning up the cloud forest
Roxana Olivera on a Peruvian community’s struggles to defend its rights against a mining corporation’s dirty tricks.

16 The myth of ethical gold
Certification schemes notwithstanding, clean gold is a bit of a scam, says Stephanie Boyd.

18 A tale of two Indias
How sinking cash into gold is rocking the country’s economy and deepening the wealth divide, by Jaideep Hardikar.

20 A 10-step plan to end gold addiction

22 View from the ridge
Jewellery designer Jane Theobald’s meditation on the true price of the shiny stuff.

24 Bunker economics
Philip Pilkington on the delusion of worshipping the gold standard.

【Feature】
28 An indivisible and living whole, from the mountains to the sea
In New Zealand, one river now has the legal rights of a person. By Jen Wilton.

【Mixed Media】
34 Film reviews
Mystery Road, directed by Ivan Sen; Two Days, One Night, directed by Jean-
Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

35 Music reviews
Bloody Rain by Sarah-Jane Morris; The Island of Dr Electrico by The Bombay Royale.

36 Book reviews
S Street Rising by Ruben Castaneda; Nowhere People by Paulo Scott; How to be Alone by Sara Maitland; Adventures in the Anthropocene by Gaia Vince.
PLUS: Also out there…

【Opinion】
32 Chris Coltrane
Buy a share in the fun.
PLUS: Polyp’s Big Bad World cartoon.

33 Mark Engler
Why is college so damned expensive?

【Regulars】
4 Letters

5 Letter from Bangui
Ruby Diamonde finds herself in a town with deep scars and an uncertain future.

26 Country Profile: Mauritania

29 Making Waves: Desmond D’Sa Veronique Mistiaen meets the South African environmental justice crusader.

30 Southern Exposure Special Co-founder Shahidul Alam looks back at 25 years of the groundbreaking Drik photo agency, and rediscovers some iconic images.

38 And Finally
Comedian and activist Josie Long tells Jo Lateu about her passion for social justice and extols the joy of cold-sea swimming.