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The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
Investigative journalist Naomi Klein speaking on “The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” is a PM Press DVD produced by Bonobo Films. It consists of a brilliant 65-minute talk Naomi gave on May 19, 2008 at the Friends Meeting House in London introducing the paperback edition of her book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (New York, 2007), plus a remarkably insightful 10-minute interview with Naomi done in London the next day. Some sections of the talk are on youtube (1), but the whole is not, and is worth having in its entirety.
Continue reading...The Cove
17. June 2010
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Underwater cameras capture the peaceful sway of sea plants beneath the surface in Taiji, Japan. As the scene progresses, the plants become obscured by creeping wafts of dolphin blood. Rapidly, the entire screen turns crimson, the ocean water thick with the grisly evidence of slaughtered dolphins. The Cove, a 2009 Oceanic Preservation Society film, follows a team of activists
Continue reading...You Don’t Play With Revolution: The Montreal Lectures of C. L. R. James
8. June 2010
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Renowned as an anti-colonial theorist, intellectual and political activist, C. L. R. James has written books that represent some of the most daring anti-capitalist works of the 20th century. He is best appreciated for pushing readings of Marx beyond what even Marx himself may have originally envisioned.
Continue reading...The Holocaust and the Henmaid’s Tale
1. February 2010
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Karen Davis’ The Holocaust and the Henmaid’s Tale is a heretical book in the very best of senses. Davis challenges the firmly held beliefs of a society that systematically devalues the lives of nonhuman animals as a means of justifying their exploitation
Continue reading...The Fire and the Word: A History of the Zapatista Movement
27. December 2009
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This richly illustrated and designed volume, featuring indigenous art and photographs on nearly every page and unprecedented interviews with members of the early villages, is a result of the seven years Mexican journalist Gloria Muñoz Ramírez’ spent with the Zapatistas in Southern Chiapas.
Continue reading...Humiliation, Abu Ghraib and the Failed Peace in Iraq
20. September 2009
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Victoria Fontan offers a fascinating perspective on the Iraq War and War on Terror, arguing that humiliation plays a key role in both. She starts with the premise that humiliation was instrumental in the shift from liberation to counterinsurgency in Iraq and, more generally, serves as the central rallying cry for fundamentalist terrorism across the globe.
Continue reading...The Guantanamo Files
29. August 2009
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Andy Worthington's hard-hitting new book shines a stark light into the black hole that is Guantanamo Bay prison, describing the process and consequences of a US intelligence project which is at the same time both ruthless and cackhanded; all the while failing to achieve its intentions.
Continue reading...Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights
12. August 2009
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Empty Cages: Facing the Challenge of Animal Rights is a highly accessible introduction to animal rights alongside leading animal rights philosopher Tom Regan’s own story of transitioning to an animal friendly lifestyle.
Continue reading...Teaching Rebellion: Stories from the Grassroots Mobilization in Oaxaca
19. June 2009
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Teaching Rebellion: Stories from the Grassroots Mobilization in Oaxaca reflects the spirit of the historical teachers' struggle in Oaxaca, Mexico in the spring of 2006, which is rooted in the principal of radical (direct) democracy and social justice. The narratives assembled in this book are the voices of political implications of theory drawn from the experimental frameworks within this community struggle for "living wage, infrastructure repair, free school books and social services for poor students" (p.25).
Continue reading...Chicana and Chicano Art: ProtestArte
13. April 2009
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Mao Tsetung was famously quoted as saying there was no such thing as art for art's sake, or art detached from politics. In Chicana and Chicano Art: ProtestArte, Carlos Francisco Jackson probes such concepts, as well as their limits. Social justice-oriented creative expressions have proven a transformative force in many eras, from the Black Arts Movement to the explosion of Mexican-American humanities from the 1940s to 1970s.
Continue reading...Open Wound: The Long View of Race in America
12. April 2009
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Since the election of U.S. President Barack Obama, mainstream commercial and noncommercial media have hailed a shift in America's disquisition around race. The leading conversation here, however historically stunted, is how Americans conceive of race has changed because whites voted for a man with a Black father and white mother.
Continue reading...Become A Friend
17. August 2010
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