Klein, Naomi

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Anti-Corporate Handbook
NO LOGO will fundementally alter the way you think about the world.
The Third World has always existed for the comfort of the First
Fascinating Insight For Marketers and Consumers
A must read...

No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs
Naomi Klein
Manufacturer: Picador
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312421435

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We live in an era where image is nearly everything, where the proliferation of brand-name culture has created, to take one hyperbolic example from Naomi Klein's No Logo, "walking, talking, life-sized Tommy [Hilfiger] dolls, mummified in fully branded Tommy worlds." Brand identities are even flourishing online, she notes--and for some retailers, perhaps best of all online: "Liberated from the real-world burdens of stores and product manufacturing, these brands are free to soar, less as the disseminators of goods or services than as collective hallucinations."

In No Logo, Klein patiently demonstrates, step by step, how brands have become ubiquitous, not just in media and on the street but increasingly in the schools as well. (The controversy over advertiser-sponsored Channel One may be old hat, but many readers will be surprised to learn about ads in school lavatories and exclusive concessions in school cafeterias.) The global companies claim to support diversity, but their version of "corporate multiculturalism" is merely intended to create more buying options for consumers. When Klein talks about how easy it is for retailers like Wal-Mart and Blockbuster to "censor" the contents of videotapes and albums, she also considers the role corporate conglomeration plays in the process. How much would one expect Paramount Pictures, for example, to protest against Blockbuster's policies, given that they're both divisions of Viacom?

Klein also looks at the workers who keep these companies running, most of whom never share in any of the great rewards. The president of Borders, when asked whether the bookstore chain could pay its clerks a "living wage," wrote that "while the concept is romantically appealing, it ignores the practicalities and realities of our business environment." Those clerks should probably just be grateful they're not stuck in an Asian sweatshop, making pennies an hour to produce Nike sneakers or other must-have fashion items. Klein also discusses at some length the tactic of hiring "permatemps" who can do most of the work and receive few, if any, benefits like health care, paid vacations, or stock options. While many workers are glad to be part of the "Free Agent Nation," observers note that, particularly in the high-tech industry, such policies make it increasingly difficult to organize workers and advocate for change.

But resistance is growing, and the backlash against the brands has set in. Street-level education programs have taught kids in the inner cities, for example, not only about Nike's abusive labor practices but about the astronomical markup in their prices. Boycotts have commenced: as one urban teen put it, "Nike, we made you. We can break you." But there's more to the revolution, as Klein optimistically recounts: "Ethical shareholders, culture jammers, street reclaimers, McUnion organizers, human-rights hacktivists, school-logo fighters and Internet corporate watchdogs are at the early stages of demanding a citizen-centered alternative to the international rule of the brands ... as global, and as capable of coordinated action, as the multinational corporations it seeks to subvert." No Logo is a comprehensive account of what the global economy has wrought and the actions taking place to thwart it. --Ron Hogan

Book Description

With a new Afterword to the 2002 edition. No Logo employs journalistic savvy and personal testament to detail the insidious practices and far-reaching effects of corporate marketing—and the powerful potential of a growing activist sect that will surely alter the course of the 21st century. First published before the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, this is an infuriating, inspiring, and altogether pioneering work of cultural criticism that investigates money, marketing, and the anti-corporate movement.

As global corporations compete for the hearts and wallets of consumers who not only buy their products but willingly advertise them from head to toe—witness today’s schoolbooks, superstores, sporting arenas, and brand-name synergy—a new generation has begun to battle consumerism with its own best weapons. In this provocative, well-written study, a front-line report on that battle, we learn how the Nike swoosh has changed from an athletic status-symbol to a metaphor for sweatshop labor, how teenaged McDonald’s workers are risking their jobs to join the Teamsters, and how “culture jammers” utilize spray paint, computer-hacking acumen, and anti-propagandist wordplay to undercut the slogans and meanings of billboard ads (as in “Joe Chemo” for “Joe Camel”).

No Logo will challenge and enlighten students of sociology, economics, popular culture, international affairs, and marketing.

“This book is not another account of the power of the select group of corporate Goliaths that have gathered to form our de facto global government. Rather, it is an attempt to analyze and document the forces opposing corporate rule, and to lay out the particular set of cultural and economic conditions that made the emergence of that opposition inevitable.”—Naomi Klein, from her Introduction

Download Description

Once a poster boy for the new economy, Bill Gates has become a global whipping boy. The Nike swoosh is quickly losing its cachet, equated now with sweatshop labor. Teenage McDonald's workers are joining the Teamsters. What's going on? NO LOGO explains why some of the most revered brands in the world are finding themselves on the wrong end of a spray-can, a computer hack, or an international anti-corporate campaign. NO LOGO uncovers a betrayal of the central promises of the information age: choice, interactivity, and increased freedom. Instead, job security and consumer choice have been swallowed whole by companies who enlist us as their human billboards and spokesmen. Equal parts cultural analysis, political manifesto, mall-rat memoir, and journalistic expose, NO LOGO is the first book that both uncovers the sins of corporations run amok and explores and explains the new resistance that will change consumer culture in the 21st century.

Customer Reviews:

Anti-Corporate Handbook.......2007-05-20

What are the effects of multinational corporations in the Branding Age? Naomi Klein tackles that in this seminal work on the subject. While somewhat dated (published in 2000), it gives the most comprehensive picture of the transition corporations have undergone from providing competent products and services to providing ubiquitous branding and advertising to produce loyalty and sell peripherals. This book gives the total picture of the devastation left in the wake of total corporate dominance in the U.S., Canada, and worldwide.

As she details, what has emerged in the last half of the 20th century is a new kind of totality - an economic imperialism spearheaded by Nike, The Gap, McDonalds, Shell, and Microsoft and their lawyers, contractors, and advertising agencies. As they break open markets, crush competition, and lower wages across the globe they've gotten so powerful as to dictate to scores of countries what their trade and economic policies are going to be. These policies are always anti-Union and terrible for workers, leaving nations worse off than before they were Industrialized and Advertised - creating massive wealth gaps and uneven distributions across the board.

The four major sections of the book: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs, and No Logo, each show in example after example, case study upon study that advertising is the product now and the more money spent in that avenue, the more profitable the corporation can be while taking every opportunity away from the poor and disenfranchised, forcing horrible conditions and worse jobs on them, and decreasing their access to health care and nutrition. This is not an accident. This is a concerted policy foisted upon the world through the corporate enforcement arm of the WTO, World Bank, and U.S. Military.

Is it hopeless? Well, civil disobedience is one way to combat the trends and takeover and Klein offers many suggestions and examples in this book. However even she admits that the situation is bleak.

Good luck . . . and good read.

- CV Rick

NO LOGO will fundementally alter the way you think about the world........2006-11-04

Naomi Klien's treatise on the anti-corporate movement of the last decade provides tremendous insight into the philosophies behind today's anti-corporate culture, and more importantly, the "branded" society that has spawned it. Well written and intelligent on every level, NO LOGO carefully tracks such disturbing phenomenons as the disappearance of public space, the rise of corporate censorship, and the transformation of living wage jobs for Americans into sweatshop labor in the third world. If you are completely unfamiliar with today's cultural rebellion against corporate control, NO LOGO serves as an excellent introduction, clearly outlining the dubious marketing trend of promoting "brands not products" such that you will never be able to watch commercials the same way again. If you are a seasoned WTO protester or billboard adbuster, NO LOGO will provide you with all the philosophical and factual ammo necessary to start converting your friends away from their unthinking materialistic lifestyle. This book is a must read for anyone who considers themselves and independently thinking consumer, as well as anyone who is interested in the latest cultural rebellion taking place among today's young and disenfranchised.

The Third World has always existed for the comfort of the First.......2006-11-03

Naomi Klein sketches perfectly the major shift in corporate strategy today: transnational companies are not interested in production anymore, only in branding: products are made in factories, brands in the mind. Branding creates big margins, production in home countries meager earnings.

This strategy causes monstrous layoffs in the First World and creates EPZ (Export Processing Zones) in the Third World.
In the First world, corporations transformed themselves in `engines of wealth growth' for their shareholders, instead of `engines of job growth'. `CEO's of the 30 companies with the largest announced layoffs saw their total compensation increase by 67%.'
The jobs they need are predominantly outsourced, or are McJobs (no `adult wages') and temporary stop-jobs.
The First World stirs fierce competition between Third World countries in order to get rock-bottom prices for their `branded' products, creating colossal margins in the home countries.
Wages in EPZs are so low that most of the money is spent on shared dorm rooms and basic food. Workers cannot afford the consumer goods they produce.

Another aspect of our branded world is the sheer size of the (trans)national corporations created by relentless mergers and acquisitions. Their size permits them to decide what items (also magazines, DVDs) should be stocked in a store, in other words, they create a new kind of censorship.
Big mergers in the media landscape allow conglomerates to produce their own news and in this sense jeopardize basic civil liberties.

While Naomi Klein's analysis of our consumer planet is very revealing, the remedies she proposes are rather innocent, epidermic, symptom healing or too general: ad and brand busting, radical ecology (Reclaim the Streets), anti-globalization and anti-corporate mass protests, boycott, building greater critical social consciousness. Individual actions like attacking in court (Shell in Nigeria), revealing Nike's sweatshops or denouncing McDonald's food are ultimately not more than temporary needle pricks in elephant skins.
What the world needs is a global vision, which we can find in the works of Joseph Stiglitz or (for a view from the South) Walden Bello.

Highly recommended.

Fascinating Insight For Marketers and Consumers.......2006-10-21

I work in online marketing, which means that my work is often much more mechanical than the kind Klein describes in her book, but the insights that form the basis of all marketing (promotion) are similar. Despite the distance between my experience and the focus of much of "No Logo," I found it to be a brilliant and profound look at the end results of various marketing efforts. One that gives you a fascinating view of all sides of the equation - not just the impetus behind the marketing itself, but also the impetus behind the companies, products and brands, the production and supply chain and, finally, the adoption by consumers and a view of how these same consumers come to, as Klein says, inhabit the brand. In a country where it can be, but for the skyline and the geography, increasingly difficult to tell the difference between major cities like Memphis, Dallas and Atlanta, discussing exactly why the lives of so many Americans (and those of other developed countries' citizens) have become increasingly homogenous is something that might behoove us all.

Personally, I've always felt that the best consumer marketing seems obvious to consumers once it has been undertaken. Reading about how consumers, particularly the youth demographic, then go on to adopt the marketing as something of a lifestyle, even when ironically, was fascinating. Sure, we see it every day, but to read about it in a more academic, yet narrative fashion gives a fresh look at something we deal with from the inside. Klein takes concepts of the modern world of marketing that have been discussed in various publications and, no doubt, countless classrooms and weaves them into a brilliant narrative about where our marketing came from, where it is now and where it's going in the future. I think the great value here is the dual purpose the work offers to both marketers and consumers - for the former, a view of how their work affects society beyond the boundaries of ROI and, for the latter, a fascinating view of exactly how they are manipulated to spend their money on things they often don't need.

While consumer marketing isn't new, the scope of its effect on politics, economics, sociology and individual psychology is definitely one of the more pronounced hallmarks of the current era. Everyone thinks that they're immune to marketing, we marketers included, but we are all trapped to one degree or another in a kind of snow globe that has both positive and negative aspects for all of us individually and collectively. Reading works like "No Logo" would no doubt be a great eye opener for John Q. Public. For marketers it may not be new material, particularly now in 2006, but I found it to be a fascinating breath of fresh air and a great reminder of just how many areas marketing touches and in how many ways marketing itself is a symbiotic force in society.

On a completely personal note, I have also spent time outside of and lived outside of the marketing bubble in very foreign, developing cultures where the majority of the marketing is indecipherable and, therefore, lost on me. With this perspective in mind, it can be quite a shock to return home to see the saturation of our culture with marketing messages and the level to which we are buried in marketed, particularly branded goods. Klein discusses this to some degree, but when you have tangible experience with the lives of the developing world citizens who make the trinkets we snatch up due to this marketing and your roots are in the culture that's doing the snapping up, it can't help but make you question - a feeling Klein seems to also want to convey - the morality of the level of consumer saturation that we in the developed world seem to revel in. Some would say this kind of thought comes from a particular political ethos, but I've seen the same kind of dialogue put forth by everyone from counterculture liberals to fundamentalist conservatives. Who we are and why we are who we are is a question for everyone, I think, and there's no doubt that marketing is playing an ever-increasing role in defining our societies and our cultures. If this is an issue that you're at all interested in then the attention given to it from a marketing perspective in this book will be of value to you.

A must read..........2006-10-19

I live in the suburbs of a former steel mill town whose mills are now defunct. At one time we boasted the highest unemployment rate in the state, the highest murder rate per capita and were named number four in George magazine's most corrupt towns list. But we are creating jobs...Wal Mart, Sam's Club, Taco Bell, one chain store after another. My town is a prime example of the new economy - service, part-time and temp work with little room for advancement and little hope.

Why? We do not make anything anymore in the U.S. and it is indicative of much of Europe as many of these jobs, as we all know, are going to other parts of the world where "production zones" are being created, hovels where corporations are free from much of the government restraint that would normally accompany their move to another country. But these zones are being created for companies to bring their manufacturing needs to and are thus given a high degree of autonomy, almost mini countries in and of themselves. Workers are underpaid, working conditions seems to be reminiscent of servitude and corporation are reaping huge profits at the expense of jobs. We know the story.

The reality, however, is that just by buying clothes from someone who does not employ workers at slave wage we are not helping the problem. The way to solve the problem is to pay these people a living wage, not merely buying some other brand of clothing. Ms. Klein's breakdown on the issue is nothing short of revelatory.

This book dives deep into this new economy, tracing the origins and development and explosive growth of the ubiquitous "brand" and the corporations behind them. Perhaps most symbolically it is Phil Knight and Nike who represent the modern day company's realization that it is more profitable not to manufacture anything but to merely market product ultimately made by someone else. Manufacturing it out; branding is in.

The book was not so much a manifesto nor a one-way attack on this whole process. It does provide some glimpses from the other side but her positioning of the quotes from the other side merely highlights the absurdity of their statements thus definitely revealing where she stands on the issue. At times it sounds like a far-left ranting of doom and gloom but she builds the case quite thoroughly.

But as the book develops it provides the realization that it is easy to point the finger and cast blame but the problem lies much deeper than this. This is a rallying cry, a gathering of facts and of hope of a growing awareness, disillusionment and proactivity in regards to these developments. It is not too late - yet. Ms. Klein gives stories and tales of culture jamming, of individuals who have taken on the giants and have had great successes in revealing the trickery, manipulation and profiteering of the companies to which so many bow down in allegiance.

I have known many of these things or have noticed the disturbing trends, not only of these brands but of those who buy them. We, the consumer, are as much to blame. If we did not purchase these things, these companies would not continue to market them. Take action, get information, get knowledge and do something about it. While not necessarily a how-to book it is one that will inform you, enlighten you, even enrage you and help you to look at branding and the homogeneity ("uniform diversity" in corporate speak) that is much of the modern world.

Most refreshing was her inclusion toward the end of views from those who live in the areas where these factories are located who are seeking to change the people who work in these factories to take up the intiative on their own without the inclusion, or intrusion, of Americans and Europeans who, though they may mean well, may actually hinder the process leading to another form of dependence on those from the West. Contrary to the belief in the West that we are saviours of the world, those in the world labeled "third" are doing it for themselves. We just don't hear their voice amidst the self-congratulation of the promotion and celebrity happy Western media.

I recommend this for anyone who cares about where we are headed and who misses the days when we had choices and a world free of commercials inundating us in every nook and cranny of our lives.

I would also recommend Fast Food Nation and the documentary The Corporation (in which Ms. Klein is interviewed) to further add insight and detail to the depths of the issue.

Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate

Average customer rating:

A Huge Disappointment
Interesting but scattered read
A depressing read
Another eye-opener
Involving if not surprising

Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate
Naomi Klein
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312307993

Book Description

Naomi Klein’s No Logo is an international bestselling phenomenon. Winner of Le Prix Mediations (France), and of the National Business Book Award (Canada) it has been translated into 21 languages and published in 25 countries.

Named one of Ms Magazine’s Women of Year in 2001, and declared by the Times (London) to be “probably the most influential person under the age of 35 in the world,” in Fences and Windows, Naomi Klein offers a bird’s-eye view of the life of an activist and the development of the “anti-globalization” movement from the Seattle World Trade Organization protests in 1999 through September 11, 2001. Bringing together columns, speeches, essays, and reportage, Klein once again provides provocative arguments on a broad range of issues. Whether she is discussing the privatization of water; genetically modified food; “free trade;” or the development of the movement itself and its future post 9/11, Naomi Klein is one of the most thoughtful and brilliant activists and thinkers for a new generation.

Customer Reviews:

A Huge Disappointment.......2005-12-30

Naomi Klein, fresh from her bestseller-success with "No Logo", returned with this little collection of writings from the apparent front lines of the globalization debate.

And it's awful.

I read "No Logo" last year, and although I tended to disagree with many of her arguments, it was an enjoyable read. Not so with "Fences and Windows". The writing is, as some reviewers may have already complained, scattered and a bit disjointed. There's nothing new here, nothing at all that "No Logo" didn't already cover.

I also found myself rolling my eyes several times while Miss Klein gushed about the efforts of the protestors and "radical" organizations. This bothered me in "No Logo", but it's even worse in "Fences and Windows". She even attempted to make some connection from this new anti-globalization movement to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. This is absurd. The Civil Rights movements had a clear purpose (to end segregation and elevate the status of African-Americans), and they also had an eloquent and strong leader in Martin Luther King Jr, who kept things on track. This anti-globalization movement, on the other hand, is weak and disorganized and confusing, with no clear goals and no real plans on how to achieve anything. This movement is a mess, and although Naomi Klein seems to consider this to be largly a good thing (for bizarre reasons), I find it appalling that any intelligent person could actually believe that these scatter-brained protests are doing anything meaningful besides giving large companies the odd (and short lived) inconvenience.

I fear that many of these so-called "protestors" are just along for the ride and will never get any long-lasting results. "Fences and Windows" strives to convince the reader that this is exactly the way it should be, that this will change the world, and I find this book to be taking a very shaky stand indeed. This book is annoying and oftentimes downright illogical. I can not consider this to be "serious journalism."

Of course there needs to be major improvements in sweat-shop labour and trade, but the pathetic "movement" Naomi Klein praises is not the way to go about it. Naomi Klein should step aside, so perhaps a leader with true vision and a realistic gameplan that will get results can earn some spotlight. It's certainly about time.

Interesting but scattered read.......2005-02-24

Fences and Windows is an interesting read but much of its content seems both reactionary and propagandic. There is little coverage of the actual 'meat' to the issue of globalization. Instead this book gives the reader little snippets of information (ie: Some really interesting protester was arrested) which lack much intellectual value. Overall, the book is an interesting read but provides little additional information to the globalization discourse.

A depressing read.......2004-12-09

I thought that No Logo had reached the bottom of the pit as far as the literature on anti-globalization goes but here we go again.
Naomi Klein does write her dispatches from a perceived front-line. She strikes out against the very things that are making the world more open, such as tearing down regulation, allowing people to move around and opening markets (putting her in the same camp as neo Nazis and other nationalists whom she is against) but most seriously, her arguments ring flat and one is left wondering what the anti-globalization movement stands for. Even the things for which it is against seem inconsistent.
As one of the apostles of the anti-globalization movement, Klein is a poor one. She does not see the irony of Zapatista t-shirts, baseball hats and ski-masks. She does not find strange the fact that Marcos, who leads the Zapatistas and with whom she seems infatuated happens to have his greatest following among middle-aged women.
She fails to convince the reader that the anti-globalization movement is anything but some hazy new-age mixing of anarchists and doped up teenagers that haven't showered in a week. What sense can one make out of her arguments that the movement is waiting for "something entirely unprecedented"? Are we to wait for Godot?
I have had the misfortune to have read her articles in the Guardian in the UK and like a bad dream; I am hoping that she fades away harmlessly. But with the rise of protectionism around the world, which will hurt the poor world the most, the Naomi Kleins of the world are, unfortunately, the ones, who through their ill conceived logic and weirdness, will shape the thinking of the public.
Reading this book gives one an insight into the anti-everything movement but one does not come out the wiser as to what they really want.

Another eye-opener.......2004-06-15

I was not initially sold (no pun intended!) on Klein's earlier No Logo. I found it repetitive and lacking a clear literary style. Obviously I was pretty much alone in that as the book inspired a generation of young anti-Corporate activists. And rightly so. Klein returns with a collection of articles about the time after No Logo. I found these very moving and concise snapshots of the globalization movement and the need to regain a perspective on the role of multi-nationals in our lives. Now a respected voice on the world stage, Klein finally gets down to writing the book I wanted to read first time around. Not as cleverly titled though :-)

Involving if not surprising.......2004-06-07

The thing about a book by Klein is you are either a real fan or you aren't - there really isn't a middle point. Most people who have encountered Klein before would have read `No Logo' and this book is very much in the same vein, with commentary on, or more specifically against, the perceived rise of a capitalist corporatist culture, driven by a consumerist West which is disadvantaging the rest of the world. This book is a collection of articles and speeches by Klein about issues regarding international regimes, the good and bad sides of globalisation, and the resistance movements that seem to now be a prerequisite for any meeting of economic importance. A good non-scholarly take on one facet of the many-sided debate on globalism and its effects.

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

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The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Naomi Klein
Manufacturer: Metropolitan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0805079831
Release Date: 2007-09-18

Book Description

The bestselling author of No Logo exposes the rise of disaster capitalism and destroys the myth of the global “free market”

In her groundbreaking reporting from Iraq, Naomi Klein exposed how the trauma of the invasion was being exploited to remake the country in the interest of foreign corporations. She called it “disaster capitalism.” Covering Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami and New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic “shock therapy,” losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers.

In Blank Is Beautiful, Klein explores the deeply rooted impulse to erase what is inconvenient and start over from scratch. This journey takes her back to two formative experiments in the 1950s, both funded by the U.S. government. One was a covert university research project in Montreal that blanked the minds of psychiatric patients through sensory deprivation and electroshock—the basis of torture techniques from Pinochet’s Chile to Guantánamo Bay. The other was a program that turned the University of Chicago’s economics department into a factory for developing world politicians. Guided by Milton Friedman, students learned to remake their countries as laissez-faire utopias—but only after what was there had been wiped away. Tracing the imposition of these ideas in the decades since, Klein explodes the myth that the global “free market” triumphed peacefully and democratically. Instead, she argues, it has consistently relied on violence and shock, resulting in the rise of disaster capitalism.

The Global Activist's Manual: Local Ways to Change the World

Average customer rating:

not what you'd expect...
Great book
Gathers success stories of organizers and organizations
A user friendly guide to making a difference

The Global Activist's Manual: Local Ways to Change the World

Manufacturer: Nation Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1560254017

Book Description

The Global Activists' Manual is a guide to transforming the corporate globalization movement. Two dozen authors look beyond the spectacular shutdowns and protests to introduce the reader to farmers in Iowa, industrial workers in Tennessee, and antisweatshop activists in Maine who connect global injustices to the issues in their own front yards. The authors range from movement “stars” to unsung heroes challenging the world's largest corporations. Since the Seattle protests, the globalization movement has been “localizing” its work. Global and local activists have joined forces to protest the prison-industrial complex, corporate campaign financing, and clear-cut logging. Whether the cause is antiracism, the environment, genetic engineering, human rights, immigration, labor solidarity, or reproductive rights, strategies are outlined to make a difference and change an attitude. “Localizing globalization” in this way presents its own challenges, however, and the book takes them up. After framing articles to set a context, case studies describe how activists across the country are meeting each challenge according to their local realities. Protest photos, cartoons, and outrageous quotes by world economic leaders provide an ironic running commentary to the text.

Customer Reviews:

not what you'd expect..........2002-09-24

I salute the efforts of these authors, but the book did not do what the title suggests - provide a blueprint as to how the reader could become an activist.
The book primarily consists of brief stories of activism which, while interesting, do not provide enough detail or direction such that someone who wants to become more of an activist will know how to do it.
There's a section of practical tips that begins on page 242. These seem to be aimed mostly toward causes addressed by a group, and some are helpful (such as the suggestion that one call members who did not attend the previous meeting, so the members do not lapse into complete inactivity).
Some suggestions are perhaps not as useful. As a former newspaper employee, I would disagree with the author's advice that an activist send a press release to the media on the morning of or the day before the event -- the morning of is too late. Also, the authors suggest that an activist put 75% of their energy into writing the headline and first paragraph of a press release. But newspapers almost always write their own headlines, so I would suggest simply writing a clear headline that indicates what the content of the article is. Then move on. There are some useful websites and organizations listed toward the end of the book.
It is not that this book is without merit, since the stories of other campaigns are interesting, if not explored in great detail. They are written in an interesting way. But it isn't really clear how the reader could become an activist.

Great book.......2002-09-16

Just an all around amazing book! Buy it, and change the world

Gathers success stories of organizers and organizations.......2002-06-03

How can community leaders and activists organize campaigns for social change when protesters have cause to fear for their safety? The Global Activist's Manual gathers success stories of organizers and organizations around the world who have battled against the odds to improve conditions for workers, address social issues, or improve community quality. Most important are step-by-step guides to different strategies for making community connections, connecting movements, and obtaining media coverage and support.

A user friendly guide to making a difference.......2002-05-17

Collaboratively edited by community activists Mike Prokosch and Laura Raymond, The Global Activist's Manual: Local Ways To Change The World is an invigorating, practical, "hands on" and user friendly guide to making a difference and fighting back against the worst excesses of corporate globalization. Individual chapters cogently address methods for building local, national, and international coalitions; confronting explicit and implicit white supremacy; informing consumers and organizing boycotts; working with elected officials to effect change; getting media coverage, and a great deal more. The Global Activist's Manual is very highly recommended for anyone, anywhere, who wants to put forth a genuine and effective effort to make the world a better place.

Average customer rating:

Loved It
A terribly stupid book
Naomi had better do year nine maths again
Open up your EYES

No LOGO
Naomi Klein
Manufacturer: Paidc"s Argentina
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Foreign Language Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Loved It.......2005-06-02

I read this book for an American Studies course, and I found it very insightful. It's a lengthy book, and I couldn't put it down.

A terribly stupid book.......2004-09-23

Don't waste your time with this book. Klein was a pampered brat growing up in an affluent society and her guilt trip led her to write a book that would normally have died a quick death if it weren't for the fact that left has gotten hold of her as their poster girl.
The arguments are weak and the book, though entertaining at times, reads like something a high school student, hoping to impress her teacher, would have written.
Don't buy it.

Naomi had better do year nine maths again.......2003-07-01

On my version on page 11, there is a little graph that purportedly shows how advertising has taken over the world in the last twenty years.
The numbers are startling; from a figure of just fifty billion dollars in the late 1970s to a figure of 200 billion dollars in the late 1990s. This compared to a figure of just 4 billion in 1960. The only problem you see, is that she has not (or at least not as far I can see), either taken into account inflation or the growth in GDP during this time. So if GDP and inflation together had averaged 7 per cent a year for twenty years (which seems reasonable), then it stands to reason that advertising expenditure would increase four times. Now if this was some throwaway aspect of the book, not really all that important, then it may not matter, unfortunately it is the premise behind the entire story. If real advertising expenditure has not increased during the last twenty years, then on what grounds would you write a book decrying the explosion in advertising? In other words, either I and my friends are wrong and missed some important labels or the book is a complete fraud.
The other important point is that if advertising expenditure was 4 billion in 1960 and 50 billion in 1980, then surely the rate of growth during this period was far greater than in the next twenty years?
What can I say, but this book is unbelievably stupid. The entire style of the book is taking unrepresentative examples and trying to flog them off as representing all advertising behaviour. Not only that half of her examples hardly amount to any sort of malfeasance on the part of corporations anyway, some of the heinous crimes they commit amount to employing black people (Nike hiring Tiger Woods), and selling goods at a cheaper rate (Wal-Mart). At one point she castigates a security guard for not being up to date on his Ayn Rand; talk about a strawman, this author actually believes that if she can outsmart the average security guard, this somehow makes her arguments airtight. This book reminds me of Michel Foucault, lots and lots of facts, and stories and gripping yarns, all thoroughly researched, but the stories just simply don't say what the author wants them to say, and even if they did, they only constitute a small and non-random sample anyway. To be fair, Foucault was ten times more brilliant than Klein, and he would never have forgotten to include inflation in time series data.
But I think the worst part of this book, is its outright refusal to contemplate the other side of the argument. When you want to write a polemic then you give your own side of the argument and then try to refute as best you can the relevant arguments of the other side. The counter argument to Klein's polemic is that brands combat a phenomenon called asymmetric information. If I do not know the quality of a particular product a priori, and somebody can demonstrate credibly (say by advertising) that they have a vested interest in the quality of the product then I am likely to pay a premium price in order to have the "guarantee" of quality. This is because I, like most people am risk averse. This is one of the main reasons that we have brands, there are other reasons to advertise of course but this is one argument that Klein does not try to refute at all.

Open up your EYES.......2003-01-05

As an expert in the marketing field, I find this book refreshing. Ms. Klein's research is self-evident and easy to digest while putting many things into perspective. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. In fact, working in the marketing industry, I hesitate to recommend it to my peers because of it's inherent power and insight. I can't believe there are no other reviews... BUY THIS BOOK!

Ya Basta! Ten Years of the Zapatista Uprising

Average customer rating:

An essential anthology!
Great Book!

Ya Basta! Ten Years of the Zapatista Uprising
Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos , Noam Chomsky , and Naomi Klein
Manufacturer: AK Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Mexico | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

Revolutionary | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Our Word Is Our Weapon: Selected Writings
Zapatista
The Zapatista Reader
The Story of Colors/LA Historia De Los Colores
A Place Called Chiapas

ASIN: 1904859135

Book Description

"The world has a new kind of hero, one who listens more than speaks, who preaches in riddles not in certainties, a leader who doesn't show his face, who says his mask is really a mirror. And in the Zapatistas, we have not one dream of a revolution but a dreaming revolution."-Naomi Klein

The most comprehensive collection of essays and communiques by Subcomandante Marcos chronicles the written voice of the Zapatista movement and its struggle to open a space within the neoliberal, globalized landscape for the oppressed peoples of the world. Complete from their first public appearance in 1994 through their 10-year anniversary celebrations and period of restructuring in 2004.

"The Zapatista uprising in Chiapas was certainly one of the most dramatic and important instances in our time of a genuine grassroots movement against oppression. In this volume, the writings of Subcomandante Marcos give eloquent expression to this movement, revealing both its philo-sophical foundations and its tactical ingenuity. I believe his words and the statements of the Zapatistas can inspire a new generation of activists and let them understand that it is possible for ordinary people, without military power, without wealth, to challenge state power successfully on behalf of social justice. [This] fantastic collection of Marcos' words conveys the spirit of the Zapatistas as no other book I know has done."-Howard Zinn

"After over 500 years of conquest, the indigenous -people already know what the rest of us must learn about empires: that they exploit the many for the privileges of the few, that they ransack the cultures of antiquity, that they place a burden even on the mother countries. But in their actions and writings, the Zapatistas are inspiring a new generation to join the struggle for a better world. It's our world too!"-Tom Hayden

Customer Reviews:

An essential anthology!.......2006-03-27

This book is an amazing collection of one of Latin America's greatest living writers and activists, Subcomandante Marcos (who I, incidentally, think is one of the sexiest men in the world!!! Apparently, I'm not the only one who shares this opinion. According to the book, "First World, Ha Ha Ha!", Marcos has become somewhat of a sex symbol in the gay community in Mexico. There's even a condom named after him). My fantasies aside, "Ya Basta" is an essential anthology for anyone wanting to learn about Chiapas, Zapatismo and Third World resistance to corporate globalization. I especially enjoyed his stories about Durito and the cool photos. It's a hefty volume, well worth its price.

Great Book!.......2005-11-28

This is a great book, if you really want to know the truth and everything that is happening in southern mexico, this is the book to buy. Its a very detailed book, so its a bit long. It has reading of Sub Comandante Marcos and other great leaders. Great book, really recomend it.
EZLN!!!

Average customer rating:

Useless Left-Wing rhetoric
Feeling ripped off.
Don't bother!
Don't bother!
"No War" is a fraud, its not by Naomi Klein

No War
Naomi Klein
Manufacturer: Gibson Square Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

No Logo: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs
Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate

ASIN: 1903933579

Customer Reviews:

Useless Left-Wing rhetoric.......2005-08-21

More diatribe from the left, which should be a title of a chapter in Klein's silly short book on the Iraq War. She has more political hang ups than a dry cleaner. She simply is out of touch with reality, and is driven insane by emotional outbursts that destroy any effort at objectivity. Some of her arguments in this, and other efforts, are so ridiculous that it's hard to imagine anyone ever giving her an audience. It's truly the blind leading the blinder. Read this book if nothing more than to see how bankrupt the anti-war movement is.

Feeling ripped off. .......2005-08-14

I saw this book at Chapters and immediately grabbed it, of course not suspecting a thing because Chapters can do no wrong. Now I find out that it's a fake and the article has been up for months and so on. Seeing as the legitimacy of this "book" has been beaten to death in the previous reviews, I'm not going to say much else on the matter.

That aside, it is an interesting article. Just don't buy the book to read it.

Don't bother!.......2005-04-11

I saw Naomi Klein speak last month where she said she was working on a new book about Iraq that we could expect in about a year. I was suprised to see it here this early, especially since it's only 96 pages long! Turns out that this is not a new book at all -- her website says that it's just an article from Harper's magazine that has been published as a book without her consent (it's a long article, but 96 pages sounds like a stretch. The font size probably reads like a children's book). She says she has nothing to do with this book and encourages people to instead read the entire article for FREE on her website.

Don't bother!.......2005-04-09

"No War" is a fraud, its not by Naomi Klein.......2005-04-08

"No War" by the way its cover is designed gives the illusion of being a new book by Naomi Klein. I can assure you that it is not. Don't waste your money on it. It is simply a repackaged version of something that Klein has been offering for free on her website for months. It originally was an article that appeared in Harper's magazine entitled: "Baghdad Year Zero." I am the photographer that traveled to Iraq with Klein and took the pictures to illustrate the story, so I know. Don't buy this book and support an unethical publisher who in their own small minded way are trying to profit off of the war in a microcosm of the same way that is described in Klein's writing about the original war profiteers. Instead, go to nologo.org, Klein's website, and read her statement about this book, where you can download this article for free.

Sin Patrón: Stories from Argentina's Worker-Run Factories

Average customer rating:

Sin Patrón: Stories from Argentina's Worker-Run Factories
Lavaca Collective
Manufacturer: Haymarket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Women Incendiaries
Welcome to the Terrordome: The Pain, Politics and Promise of Sports
The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene Victor Debs

ASIN: 1931859434

Book Description

The worker-run factories of Argentina offer an inspirational example of a struggle for social change that has achieved a real victory against corporate globalization.

Authors:

Authors

Authors