Progressive thinking for progressive actions
- Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
- The book that launched the modern American environmental movement. Rachel Carson was a biologist-naturalist. She was aware that the
American industry and agribusiness were externalizing their costs; among
other things, toxic wastes were piling up in some places and pesticides used extensively
in agribusiness were creeping into human food cycle. These not only presented threat
directly to human welfare but were also impetus to irreversible damages in ecosystems.
She gave concrete example of how DDT used extensively in farming
had deteriorated natural habitat and she sought to curb damages done by more toxic waste dumping
and extensive uses of chemicals in agribusiness which were happening under the nose of the
American public.
- The Cartoon Guide to the Environment - Larry Gonick and Alice Outwater
- Global Rift - L.S. Stavrianos
- History & analysis of Western Imperialism and its impact on
modern political, economic, and ecological orders. This is what
got me interested in the history of Western imperialism in the Third World.
Whether you want to believe it or not, much of the misery and backwardness in the Third World
is a legacy of Western greed and continuation of opression and negligence by
the political and economic elites riding on their own people's back.
- Environment Under Fire: Imperialism & the Ecological Crisis in Central America - Daniel Faber
- The history of Central America is colored by American imperialism, revolutions and ecological crisis.
Nicaragua, for example, has had problems in achieving political and economic stability
because its people were constantly dealing with those elite riding on their back and
foreign businesses unashamedly capitalizing their natural resources and inflicting damages
to their nation and the environment. The degree of opression and suffering
of the indigenous people is too much. It made me think of whether we have
done some kind of injustices onto the indigenous people back home.
- Whose Common Future? The Ecologist
- We cannot talk about environmental protection without first addressing
the crisis faced by the poor people of the earth. Why? Because we might be misled to
believing that environmental crisis is
ultimately caused by poverty, overpopulation, etc;
in other words, we might be blaming the victims. In fact,
according to the group, it is grand-scale economies which created mass poverty
and environmental damages in the first place. Sounds a bit surprising?
Not so, if we recognize the fact that many aspects of grand-scale economies are
associated with injustice and environmental maladies. Building a huge dam
for hydroelectric project, for example, means that vast tract of lands is flooded,
and the people are removed and their communal systems are all shuffled up.
The dam itself presents hazards to the local ecosystems. This book attempts to offer
remedies to widespread poverty and ecological crisis; those kinds of remedies
oriented toward sustainable development and democratic economic schemes.
The Ecologist is known for sound environmental management schemes with strong scientific fundamentals. The book offers insight into many flawed findings in Our Common Future, the Harlem-Brundlandt Commission on Sustainable Development. - The New Resource Wars - Al Gedicks, South End Press
- Native & Environmental Struggles Against Multinational Companies.
- The author documented the struggle of Native Americans in defending their rights and fighting for economic justice in the US. The Indians had undergone various kinds of injustices ever since Christopher Columbus `discovered' (we say invaded) America, but they will never surrender their means of survival and existence to the greedy white man. They used to be in wars with spears and guns, but now they are fighting all the way through by legal means, challenging the big companies and government agencies which try to evict them from their ancestors' lands. I think the term `Fifth World' is used by some to refer to the plightful indigenous societies around the world, apart from the so-called modern, industrial societies. In fact, the Fifth World people have come forward and show that the survival of their cultures and lifestyles might save our modern societies from our own self-destructions.
One chapter of the book touches on the plight of the indigenous peoples in Sarawak on their battles to defend their homelands. - The author documented the struggle of Native Americans in defending their rights and fighting for economic justice in the US. The Indians had undergone various kinds of injustices ever since Christopher Columbus `discovered' (we say invaded) America, but they will never surrender their means of survival and existence to the greedy white man. They used to be in wars with spears and guns, but now they are fighting all the way through by legal means, challenging the big companies and government agencies which try to evict them from their ancestors' lands. I think the term `Fifth World' is used by some to refer to the plightful indigenous societies around the world, apart from the so-called modern, industrial societies. In fact, the Fifth World people have come forward and show that the survival of their cultures and lifestyles might save our modern societies from our own self-destructions.
- Divided Planet - The Ecology of Rich and Poor; Tom Athanasiou
- This is a book that stikes hard with questions on so-called modernization and
Western technologies. An interesting question: if all the people of China enjoyed
the same standard of living and level of consumption as that in the States, you know, cars, refrigerators,
dishwashers in every household, packaged foods etc, what would happen to the global climate
and natural resources? Is high standard of living going to make all of us happy,
or are we actually talking about seeking higher quality of life?
My personal opinion is, accumulation of wealth and material growth is surely desirable but the creation of
wealth and materialism always comes with byproduct: injustice and environmental damages. Not the entire population of a
Third World country is poor and desperate people: the elites are well off in their mansions and high-rise buildings just
across the slums. Inequity and deprivation surely help to explain the paradox of plenty characterizing
the cruel divide between the rich and the poor.
The author directs attention to Western arrogance of trying to sustain their
extravagant level of consumption and shifting the environmental problems from their backyards
to the Third World. The author also talks about greenwashing, attacks
on environmentalism, and sustainable development.
- World Hunger: Twelve Myths; France Moore Lappe & Joseph Collins
- Exposes the myths of hunger and poverty. The authors were the founders of
the Institute for Food & Development Policy a.k.a
Food First. The authors point out to the fact
that many people were so deprived of basic necessities, i.e., food and shelter that
their everyday live is a matter of survival. We might be quick of blaming the victims for
their suffering without knowing the very root cause of the problems. Among the myths surrounding
hunger & poverty, according to the authors, are that there is simply not enough food
to feed everybody, poverty and overpopulation are the root causes of environmental crisis,
and the ultimate solutions are free market and Western capital and technologies.
A simple but powerful book to open eyes to the problems of mass poverty, so-called modern
developmental schemes, and sustainable development.
- The Poor of the Earth; John Cole
- Adresses the scale of world poverty and what is it like in Third World countries;
the New International Economic Order and dilemmas faced by both
fully developed countries and Third World nations; possible remedies
of poverty in countryside and in urban areas;
realities and obstacles for World's chance for changes.
- Global Village or Global Pillage - Jeremy Brecher, Tim Costello, South End Press
- Economic Reconstruction from the Bottom Up.
- Discusses the impacts of globalization on our present and future. Since the turn of as early as 13th century, we witnessed in history the expansion of Western economic powers in unprecedented scales. What followed were subjugations, colonialism, imperialism, industrialization, and commercialization like never before, all the product of capitalist industrial expansionary. After World War II, world economic systems began transforming from nation-based economies to globalized economies dominated by giant enterprises. To put it simply, capitalist expansionary results in seemingly limitless accumulation of wealth and at the same time, power, privileges, and resources are concentrated in fewer hands. What we have now are bunches of multinational corporations (MNCs) and giant monetary institutions like the World Bank and IMF with power, wealth, and resources far superior than many of the Third World countries. These, and the fact that their objectives and economic schemes often undermine the priorities and well-being of communities and environment are prominent concerns of progressive thinkers, laborers, social activists, communities, and environmentalists. In the US for example, we have just began to comprehend the global effect of `capital flight': a company relocates its production facility in someplace else for cheap labors and lax environmental regulations (like in the maquiladoras south of the US-Mexican border), dependent US workers lose sources of incomes, Third World workers and communities exploited, environment assaulted, and the company keeps all the profits it could get. [Example: read Ken Saro-wiwa and the fight of the Ogoni tribes against Nigerian regime and Shell's assault on their livelihood]. Now what Karl Marx said in his economic theories really makes sense (in my personal opinion). The buzzwords are now globalization and sustainable development. These words seem to represent noble ideas but for multinational enterprises and political powers, they just mean that expanding intrusion and tighter grip on global socio-economic structures. To understand the new economic trend is to understand the mechanism of the capitalist expansionary, to assess present situations, and to predict what is it going to look like in 5-10 years ahead. We already see that traditional communities, working class, underclasses, indigenous people, whether in the US, Indonesia, Mexico, or Malaysia are being in difficult situations, notwithstanding the economic growth trumpeted by politicians and business conglomerates. What the authors call for are our own initiatives to take back social & economic powers from the hands of the few for the well-being of all and future generations.
- Discusses the impacts of globalization on our present and future. Since the turn of as early as 13th century, we witnessed in history the expansion of Western economic powers in unprecedented scales. What followed were subjugations, colonialism, imperialism, industrialization, and commercialization like never before, all the product of capitalist industrial expansionary. After World War II, world economic systems began transforming from nation-based economies to globalized economies dominated by giant enterprises. To put it simply, capitalist expansionary results in seemingly limitless accumulation of wealth and at the same time, power, privileges, and resources are concentrated in fewer hands. What we have now are bunches of multinational corporations (MNCs) and giant monetary institutions like the World Bank and IMF with power, wealth, and resources far superior than many of the Third World countries. These, and the fact that their objectives and economic schemes often undermine the priorities and well-being of communities and environment are prominent concerns of progressive thinkers, laborers, social activists, communities, and environmentalists. In the US for example, we have just began to comprehend the global effect of `capital flight': a company relocates its production facility in someplace else for cheap labors and lax environmental regulations (like in the maquiladoras south of the US-Mexican border), dependent US workers lose sources of incomes, Third World workers and communities exploited, environment assaulted, and the company keeps all the profits it could get. [Example: read Ken Saro-wiwa and the fight of the Ogoni tribes against Nigerian regime and Shell's assault on their livelihood]. Now what Karl Marx said in his economic theories really makes sense (in my personal opinion). The buzzwords are now globalization and sustainable development. These words seem to represent noble ideas but for multinational enterprises and political powers, they just mean that expanding intrusion and tighter grip on global socio-economic structures. To understand the new economic trend is to understand the mechanism of the capitalist expansionary, to assess present situations, and to predict what is it going to look like in 5-10 years ahead. We already see that traditional communities, working class, underclasses, indigenous people, whether in the US, Indonesia, Mexico, or Malaysia are being in difficult situations, notwithstanding the economic growth trumpeted by politicians and business conglomerates. What the authors call for are our own initiatives to take back social & economic powers from the hands of the few for the well-being of all and future generations.
- One World - Ready or Not; William Greider
- The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism.
- Capitalism, the quest for accumulation of wealth, has many inherent contradictions. Despite more and more material abundance, the world is not becoming a better place for the majority of the global population. The gap between the super-rich and the poor has widened tremendously. Free market, the main economic mantra of capitalism, delivers benefits for only those who can pay and enrich those already in the positions to exploit and exclude the weak and disadvantaged, and those working peoples who have no power to determine their own well-being. In France, one of the leading rich nations, social unrest is the order of the day as a result of growing joblessness and deteriorating standard of living of the working class. In Thailand, a so-called emerging economy, the creation of wealth is side-by-side with human exploitation and modern barbarism. For every new millionaire, there are thousands of rural peasants being evicted of their lands and thousands more laborers toiling under inhumane treatment and indignity in what the author calls `the dark Satanic mills.'
The case of capital vs. labor is not pretty. What's wrong with the unfettered capitalism and free flow of capital around the world? Well, owners of capital are naturally seeking to maximize profits, and the fertile grounds are where labor is the cheapest, environmental standards are almost nonexistent, and no protection whatsoever for local communities, laborers, and environment from assaults of unbridled capitalism. In the age of economic globalization, multinational corporations, greedy politicians, and ruthless businessmen surely help to globalize exploitation and environmental degradation as well. - Capitalism, the quest for accumulation of wealth, has many inherent contradictions. Despite more and more material abundance, the world is not becoming a better place for the majority of the global population. The gap between the super-rich and the poor has widened tremendously. Free market, the main economic mantra of capitalism, delivers benefits for only those who can pay and enrich those already in the positions to exploit and exclude the weak and disadvantaged, and those working peoples who have no power to determine their own well-being. In France, one of the leading rich nations, social unrest is the order of the day as a result of growing joblessness and deteriorating standard of living of the working class. In Thailand, a so-called emerging economy, the creation of wealth is side-by-side with human exploitation and modern barbarism. For every new millionaire, there are thousands of rural peasants being evicted of their lands and thousands more laborers toiling under inhumane treatment and indignity in what the author calls `the dark Satanic mills.'
- The Case Against The Global Economy; edited by Jerry Mander & Edward Goldsmith, Sierra Club Books
- And for a Turn Toward the Local.
- For once and for all, the calls for ending economic globalization - multinational corporate dominations over national economies and every other aspects of ordinary peoples' lives, and working toward rebuilding domestic economies, strengthening communities, preserving self-sufficiency, and protecting the environment.
Collection of articles from prominent figures in economics, environmentalism, anthropology, Third World groups, and nongovernmental organizations. - For once and for all, the calls for ending economic globalization - multinational corporate dominations over national economies and every other aspects of ordinary peoples' lives, and working toward rebuilding domestic economies, strengthening communities, preserving self-sufficiency, and protecting the environment.
Where to find
Note* most parts of the book reviews here do not directly reflect the exact contents of each book; what I hope to strive here is to outline the ideas and new knowledge gathered from each reading, and the grand messages of each of the authors are not lost.
Azhar Awang jengkatriangle@ geocities.com Jan 5, 1997
Last updated: June 6, 97
