Book Description
Corporations rule the world, claims Thom Hartmann, and they are despoiling it for profit. He traces the historical friction between individual rights and the corporation, culminating in a landmark 1886 court case that altered the course of constitutional protection forever. Since then, corporations have steadily acquired power, enrolled the average citizen in a new kind of servitude, shifted an unfair share of the tax burden, taken control of the media, and co-opted the regulatory process for their own purposes. Hartmann cites examples of the absurd and frightening power: sterile streams and undrinkable water, poisonous neighborhoods, a government's willingness to drill for oil in untouched Alaskan wilderness when saving 2 miles per gallon per car would produce more oil in 2 years than in all of Alaska. To end the abuses, Hartmann calls for a grassroots revolution. He says it's time to understand the true costs of our consumerist society, take back the government, and shift to a values-based economy.
Customer Reviews:
Corporate Power, where did it come from? .......2007-07-13
I was actually in the process of writing a book about the same subject matter when I became aware of Mr. Hartmann's book. After reading this book I conclude that Mr. Hartmann beat me to it and has done a more thorough job than would have satisfied me. It is a very important matter and threatens to change our nation in fundamental ways. A shortcoming in Mr. Hartmann's book is the weakness of his proposed solutions. I have proposed to Mr. Hartmann actions which I think would be more effective in the long haul. I am searching for an existing organization having the sole goal of putting back in their place those corporations which are usurping the power given We the People by the Constitution. I'm too old to form a new orgnization and those I have learned of are not sufficiently focused.
This book changed my life.......2007-05-10
I read this book and have been a Thom Hartman fan ever since.
He is brilliant and packed with knowledge.
Everyone needs to read this book!
Check out his radio show.
Gives the insde on the need to rationalize corporations.......2007-04-08
Going into the Freedom Portal (Free State) I had doubts about the morality, perhaps even the constitutionality, of corporations.
What, after all, is a corporation?
American Heritage says: "a) A body of persons granted a
charter legally recognizing them as a separate entity having
its own rights, privileges, and liabilities distinct from those
of its members. b) Such a body created for purposes of
government."
Now isn't the b) part of that definition interesting? At the very least we know corporations are creatures of the government and do not exist at common law.
Thomas Hartmann, a true modern lower-case democrat, writes that Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, and several other Founders warned strenuously against monopoly corporations:
"I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." --Thomas Jefferson to George Logan, 1816
And from Andrew Jackson:
"Corporations have neither bodies to kick nor souls to damn."
These conscientious men were worried about abuse of power. Early chartering of corporations in America reflects this concern, often imposing severe limitations--such as prohibiting corporations from owning other corporations and requiring annual renewal of the charters.
Many people do not realize the Boston Tea Party was a revolt against corporate privilege. Queen Elizabeth charted the East India Company (EIC) in 1600; into the 1700s it dominated trade by Britain with America. Tea became a huge import to America by the mid-1700s and EIC wanted all the business.
Several acts prohibited Americans from acquiring tea from other sources. In 1773, the Tea Act exempted EIC (of which the king was a stockholder), but not colonial merchants, from taxes to the crown. The tea partiers were telling the Crown and the EIC stick their cheap tea where the sun don't shine.
...
For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]
Brian Wright
Copyright 2007
Unequal Protection:the rise of corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights.......2006-11-10
A call to all fair minded Americans, as well as citizens around the globe.
One of Thom Hartmann's BEST. A history lesson and a call to reclaim our humanity.
'The' book to read on the issue of the role of corporate power in the US.......2006-04-30
Disclaimer: I'm a bit more than half through the book - and ready to comment on it.
I read quite a few books on liberal politics. This one is on a very short 'best' list of them.
It hits its mark right on - just the right amounts of history, the scope of its message, the gritty details when needed, the pacing.
I began to learn new details on well-trodden ground early in the book - for example, who knew that the pilgrims arriving on the Mayflower in 1620 were hardly England beginning its presence in North America - that it was the Mayflower's third or fourth trip carrying over staff of the East India company since 1601 - it was a company presence, the religious visitors were an afterthought.
He does an outstanding job of explaining the dominant role of colonists' opposition to the East India company in our own resolution. It's important to understand these things when we look at how to respond to powerful corporations today.
He does an excellent, balanced expose of the history of the legal doctrine that corporations are entitled to equality with humans.
The ramifications are huge, as today we face a political system in which the influence of our citizens is dwarfed by that of the inhuman organizations - where the citizens are turned into consumers to be sold to and manipulated with well-funded marketing, rather than acting as the sovereigns necessary for a democracy to work well.
If we don't begin to do something now, the chances may begin to disappear to be able to. Even now, we have democracy's power to represent its people castrated by clauses in the so-called 'free trade' agreements which allow the corporations to get all kinds of laws nullified.
I highly recommend the book.
Book Description
Globalization promises to bring people around the world together, to unite them as members of the human community. To such sanguine expectations, Pheng Cheah responds deftly with a sobering account of how the "inhuman" imperatives of capitalism and technology are transforming our understanding of humanity and its prerogatives. Through an examination of debates about cosmopolitanism and human rights, Inhuman Conditions questions key ideas about what it means to be human that underwrite our understanding of globalization. Cheah asks whether the contemporary international division of labor so irreparably compromises and mars global solidarities and our sense of human belonging that we must radically rethink cherished ideas about humankind as the bearer of dignity and freedom or culture as a power of transcendence. Cheah links influential arguments about the new cosmopolitanism drawn from the humanities, the social sciences, and cultural studies to a perceptive examination of the older cosmopolitanism of Kant and Marx, and juxtaposes them with proliferating formations of collective culture to reveal the flaws in claims about the imminent decline of the nation-state and the obsolescence of popular nationalism. Cheah also proposes a radical rethinking of the normative force of human rights in light of how Asian values challenge human rights universalism.
Customer Reviews:
I Am a Human, And Nothing Inhuman Is Alien to Me.......2007-06-30
Inhuman Conditions is a serious, often laborious and sometimes tedious attempt at delineating the global forces that shape our human condition. These forces are not just economic and geopolitical but also include those techniques for the subjugation of bodies and the management of populations that Foucault designates by the term bio-power. They form the "inhuman conditions" of humanity, pointing to the fact that, as Foucault conjectures in The Order of Things, "man is an invention of recent date. And one perhaps bearing its end."
Cosmopolitanism and human rights are often seen as two primary ways of making globalization more human, particularly by opening a post-nationalist space and by placing normative limits to the sovereignty of the nation-state, which is seen as particularistic, oppressive, and even totalitarian. Pheng Cheah refuses this simple opposition between cosmopolitanism and nationalism. As he points out, cosmopolitanism preceded the birth of the nation-state in the nineteenth century: Immanuel Kant's famous essay, Toward Perpetual Peace, was written in 1795. It is more a philosophical republicanism and federalism designed to reform the absolutist dynastic state than a theory opposing the modern construct of nationality. As the Spring of Nations of 1848 illustrates, cosmopolitanism and nationalism often progressed hand in hand. And the modern defense of economic trans-nationalism by multinational firms and international organizations often coincides with the promotion of the United States' national interest.
The new academic field of global studies, illustrated by Saskia Sassen, Arjun Appadurai, and many others, has given rise to a new kind of cosmopolitanism. Its proponents suggest that existing transnational movements and exchanges can translate into actually existing popular cosmopolitanisms, understood as pluralized forms of global political consciousness comparable to the national imagining of the political community. But is there really a fit between the spatial extension of material conditions and the scope of forms of consciousness? Benedict Anderson has argued that the nation in Latin America originated in global pilgrimages from the Creole Americas to the European metropole. The role of transnational migrant communities in fanning nationalist sentiment in their own country is by now well documented. Besides, the activities of progressive social movements have to connect with the nation-state at some point because it is the primary site for the effective implementation of equitable objectives for redistribution on a large scale.
The less convincing part of the book is the author's attempt to ground his discussion on human rights in the socio-political terrain offered by post-colonial South-East Asia. His description of the role played by Chinese diasporas offers nothing new, besides the use and abuse of the Derridian concept of spectralization to characterize the instrumentalization of socio-ethnic categories by colonial powers and nationalist discourse. Indeed, Pheng Cheah has a talent for applying difficult theoretical concepts to trivial realities, and his use of the concept of bio-power, or bio-politics, in the context of Singapore's development policies could easily be replaced by the standard expressions of human capital formation, or human resource management. Besides, I would recommend him to attend an Economics 101 class before characterizing the WTO as a "transnational capitalist superstructure that institutionalizes uneven economic relations", or considering the international division of labor as "a form of superexploitation that largely benefits multinationals and deepen global economic divisions." This may appeal to some people's politics, but to me these are just empty words put in a row.
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Globalization of Human Rights
Manufacturer: United Nations University Press
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ASIN: 9280810804 |
Book Description
The Globalization of Human Rights addresses a set of questions focusing on the justice at the national, regional, and international levels. The examination of these questions is conducted through analysis of rights, both civil and political, and economic and social. Any search for justice is based upon identifying values, including relationships with others that are eventually institutionalized as rights. Such rights become the basis upon which claims are made, as well as the horizon of justice to which society and institutions try to conform. This volume maps out the requirements of justice for all mankind, providing normative guidelines as well as goals.
Book Description
Two sharply contrasting views of China exist today. On the one hand a rising superpower predicted to have the largest economy in the world by mid century, on the other hand a brutal, anachronistic and authoritarian regime, a threat to geo-stability and to the economies of the industrial world. So which China is the real China? Randall Peerenboom addresses this question by exploring China's economy, political and legal system, and most controversially, its record on civil, political and personal rights in the context of the developing world. Avoiding polemic and relying on empirical evidence, he compares China's performance not with first world countries such as the US and UK but with other middle income countries and highlights the often hypocritical stance of an international community which demands standards from others that it does not match at home. He also critically evaluates the benefits of globalisation and democratisation and the normative values of the West set against Beijing's determination to retain its cultural and political integrity. This book seeks to bridge the gap in understanding about China and to create a firmer foundation for mutual trust, while recognising that there are inevitable risks in a shift in global power of this magnitude that will require hard headed pragmatism at times where interests collide.
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Violence, Conflict, and World Order: Critical Conversations on State Sanctioned Justice
Gregg Barak
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
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Transnational and Comparative Criminology
ASIN: 074254768X |
Book Description
Violence, Conflict, and World Order: Critical Conversations on State-Sanctioned Justice examines the interpersonal, institutional, and structural relations of injustice and violence, both domestically and globally, through a series of dynamic conversations that are rich with personal and passionate prose, gritty and grounded questioning, and, in several instances, spirited and lively debate. These conversations are attentive not only to the areas of cultural studies and social science in general, but also to the studies of criminology, criminal justice, and public policy in particular.
Book Description
Micheline Ishay recounts the dramatic struggle for human rights across the ages in a book that brilliantly synthesizes historical and intellectual developments from the Mesopotamian Codes of Hammurabi to today's era of globalization. As she chronicles the clash of social movements, ideas, and armies that have played a part in this struggle, Ishay illustrates how the history of human rights has evolved from one era to the next through texts, cultural traditions, and creative expression. Writing with verve and extraordinary range, she develops a framework for understanding contemporary issues from the debate over globalization to the intervention in Kosovo to the climate for human rights after September 11, 2001. The only comprehensive history of human rights available, the book will be essential reading for anyone concerned with humankind's quest for justice and dignity.
Ishay structures her chapters around six core questions that have shaped human rights debate and scholarship: What are the origins of human rights? Why did the European vision of human rights triumph over those of other civilizations? Has socialism made a lasting contribution to the legacy of human rights? Are human rights universal or culturally bound? Must human rights be sacrificed to the demands of national security? Is globalization eroding or advancing human rights? As she explores these questions, Ishay also incorporates notable documents--writings, speeches, and political statements--from activists, writers, and thinkers throughout history.
Customer Reviews:
Reads like a well researched book report.......2007-09-28
Ishay's introduction outlines an ambitious book, tracing human rights' origins and evolution over an immense historical period. However, what the introduction promises the body fails to deliver. Ishay spends most of her time simply recounting European history, and even that is done in such a maddeningly tangential way as to render it essentially useless. The book is a collection of facts, utterly lacking a cohesive argument or understanding. And some attempts are simply laughable - her attempt to explain the hegemony of the Western conception of rights is bland paraphrasing of Jared Diamond and leaves a question that could occupy the entire volume to be answered in mere pages. Please save your time and buy something else!
Good overview.......2006-11-23
What I really liked about this book was its emphasis on human rights and how previous and current laws help or hurt human rights. This book is very useful if you want to know where some of the laws we have today came from. It also compares the religious traditions and their laws. Overall, I liked this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in human rights history.
European History?.......2006-11-05
Although much of the book provides a good background for much of Western history though the goggles of Human Rights, it at time seems to skip and distort aspects of it. How did benevolent religions sanction large scale war? Robespierre was not a champion of human rights by killing 20,000 people. Why are human rights still so in danger today? Don't get me wrong though, if you are looking for a historical read and do not have a lot of knowledge about European History, pick this up.
Readable, interesting, well-researched.......2006-11-04
This book is a great overall history of human rights. I really liked how it talked about the origin of ideas and then wove those ideas throughout the book. It's a very well-researched and complete work. One thing that does is make several assertions that are extremely contentious among human rights scholars; for example it contends that human rights is a concept that is western in origin.
Human rights history is great, and badly needed........2005-07-08
Highly recommended to everybody. The book is an attempt to provide an account of the evolution of human rights over time and through political and philosophical thought. The author is well versed in political science and shows it off in this book while surfing in a very wide literature. It is well written. Two drawbacks in this beautiful book: not enough history of human rights; a scarce attention to those movements which paved the way to future developments but were unsuccessfull at first. Great piece of work anyway! Look forward for Vol. II.
Book Description
In Human Rights Horizons, one of the world's foremost authorities on human rights and international relations maps out the way to a more just and human global society. Borders are being erased; democracy and capitalism are spreading. The world is rapidly changing, and these changes are opening the door for the promotion of human rights to become and integral part of worldwide politics and law.
In his provocative new book, Falk discusses the borderline between the promotion of human rights and the promotion of interventionist and coercive diplomacy. Can the US and the UN find an acceptable balance between unnecessary, protracted violence (Somalia) and simply letting genocide spread (Rwanda)? While looking at specific cases, Falk also sheds important new light on non-Western attitudes toward human rights, the challenge of genocidal politics, the intersection of morality and global security, and the pursuit of international justice. Thoughtful and very accessibly written, Human Rights Horizons clearly presents a path to an original new humanitarian policy for the 21st century.
Book Description
"Intellectual and political project." —Signs
Globalization has a taste for queer cultures. Whether in advertising, film, performance art, the internet, or in the political discourses of human rights in emerging democracies, queerness sells and the transnational circulation of peoples, identities and social movements that we call "globalization" can be liberating to the extent that it incorporates queer lives and cultures. From this perspective, globalization is seen as allowing the emergence of queer identities and cultures on a global scale.
The essays in
Queer Globalizations bring together scholars of postcolonial and lesbian and gay studies in order to examine from multiple perspectives the narratives that have sought to define globalization. In examining the tales that have been spun about globalization, these scholars have tried not only to assess the validity of the claims made for globalization, they have also attempted to identify the tactics and rhetorical strategies through which these claims and through which global circulation are constructed and operate.
Contributors include Joseba Gabilondo, Gayatri Gopinath, Janet Ann Jakobsen, Miranda Joseph, Katie King, William Leap, Lawrence LaFountain-Stokes, Bill Maurer, Cindy Patton, Chela Sandoval, Ann Pellegrini, Silviano Santiago, and Roberto Strongman.
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Reproductive Rights in a Global Context: South Africa, Uganda, Peru, Denmark, the United States, Vietnam, Jordan
Lara M. Knudsen
Manufacturer: Vanderbilt University Press
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Infertility around the Globe: New Thinking on Childlessness, Gender, and Reproductive Technologies
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Women's Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics
ASIN: 0826515282 |
Book Description
Traveling alone when she was between 17 and 22, with no institutional affiliation and no financial assistance, the author visited five developing countries and two developed ones on five continents. Her goal was to extend her own experience in an abortion clinic in Portland, Oregon. Lara Knudsen interviewed over 90 women's rights activists, health professionals, NGO workers, and government officials, gaining a sense of both official policies and the actual delivery of services in local clinics. The book places the experiences of women within the global context of how international population control agendas have influenced women's reproductive rights in the past, and how the changing international discourse on reproductive health continues to influence those rights today.
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