vicfar's Full Review: Naomi Klein - No Logo: No Space No Choice No Jobs
Naomi Klein’s scathing report on the age of globalization is now 10 years old and has become a classic. Read today for the first time, this 500 page, highly annotated book does not contain many surprises: who hasn’t heard about sweatshops, massive brand advertising, and No Global activists? Yet reading the waterfall of information Naomi reveals in this book hits the reader like a sledgehammer. Even an addicted fashion shopper will have a guilt attack next time he or she holds a Nike shoe or a Tommy Hilfiger shirt in his/her hands.
The book is divided quite neatly into four sections. The first is called “No Space”. It details how it came to be that in the West corporations have begun to design our cultural space. A quiet revolution has taken place in the 80’s, during which companies have ceased to sell products, and have started selling brands. The seductive techniques have led to the invention of lifestyles where the branded products nicely fit. These techniques have affected especially young people, who are the most brainwashed by the advertising industry.
Is there anything nowadays that is not sponsored or designed by a corporation? And what a corporation sponsors, it automatically devalues. The marching of fast food, computer companies and athletic gear into US schools and universities has turned education centers into instruments of the advertisers, who have generously stepped in where public funding has been insufficient. Naomi presents a few really scary examples where the entry of the corporation in the educational world has muzzled free expression. Thus, the all-pervasive effect of brand advertising-Naomi clearly shows- is a major threat to democracy.
The second section of the book is called “No Choice”. Some of the more aggressive corporate business models are explained in detail, e.g. the “clustering” approach used by Walmart or Starbucks to sweep away the competition. Saturating a town with more stores than the market can absorb leads to the demise of the smaller franchises or independent stores, as well as financial losses by the big corporation. Once wiped out the competition, the corporation will absorb the losses because it has deep pockets, it will close the extra stores that are not needed, and then reign supreme. When companies cannot wipe each other out, they can merge and consolidate, in part also due to the lax anti-trust laws that have hold sway in America ever since Reagan’s presidency. Many examples are provided that show how the omnipotence of the corporation constitutes an attack to free speech, and to our democratic liberties.
The third section, and perhaps the most powerful, is called “No Jobs” and details the rise and the workings of the infamous Asian sweatshops, where basically all the products we buy are manufactured.. The switch to brand advertising and the exponential growth of the advertising budgets have led to the devaluing of manufacturing, which is now not carried out by the corporation, but by contractors. Western factories have closed shop and jobs moved to Third-World countries, where workers have no rights, no benefits, and are paid wages around 10-20c cents per hour. Klein has traveled extensively through these free-trade zones, where Western corporations use local labor without any obligation to provide the kind of benefits that are demanded in the West, and without paying a cent in taxes to the country that hosts them. Indeed, these free-trade zones are a sort of no-man land, where anything goes. The treatment of the workers (or rather, slaves) at the hands of the contract organization is detailed. In a few cases these workers have been invited by antiglobal organizations to travel to New York and see the price tags on the wares they produce, causing dismay, incredulity and tears. The destruction of Western jobs in order to manufacture cheaply must, eventually, lead to the demise of that middle class that is supposed to buy these products. Eventually, there is only so much that the top 5% of our citizens can consume. Without a middle class, these corporations will have shrinking markets. This is perhaps too obvious but also too long-term to worry about, especially for public companies whose CEOs have a 3-month attention span. In addition, creating a citizenry who thrives on greed, while negating the ability to satisfy that greed will eventually lead to civil unrest.
The final section, “No Logo”, details the battles a few idealistic organizations are fighting against the destructive effect of aggressive branding. It is an optimistic chapter, which furnishes examples of how major corporations were humbled and defeated by concerted citizen protests. Three examples are discussed in great detail: that of Nike, whose sales were actually so negatively affected by a general boycott that the company had to address the sorry state of its sweatshops, and actually provide sizable improvements (including a doubling of the wages). The second company profiled is Shell, which was made responsible for the crackdown of the Nigerian government against the Ogoni people, whose living space had been devastated by Shell’s business. When the crackdown led to executions, puppets began to hang from Shell signs at petrol stations. After massive pubblic pressure, Shell had to close shop in the Ogoni region. Finally, the infamous McDonald’s is lampooned: after concerted campaigning by a small organization against McDonald’s business practices, the company sued. This mistake cost McDonald’s billions in lost revenues. For months on end the public got to hear all the sordid details of how McDonalds actually carries out business (advertising to minors, cruelty to animals, low-quality ingredients, abuse of employees), and in the end it was a Pyrrhic victory for the corporation: a small damage payment (uncollected) against extremely negative publicity and massive loss of revenues. In the end, Naomi concludes optimistically, the omnipotent corporations have created the seeds of their own downfall: “By attempting to enclose our shared culture in sanitized and controlled brand cocoons, these corporations have created the surge of opposition described in this book”. And Naomi Klein provides a lot of information regarding no-global organizations one may want to join or support (or despise, if you are so inclined).
This is a very powerful book, and likely to remain the Bible of the militant anti-globalist. Its denunciation of the corrosive effects of today’s corporation on our quality of life and the texture of our democracies is likely to open up a few minds even in the camp of the fans of what the French have termed Le Capitalisme Sauvage. A strongly recommended reading for all of us in the West, who live under this degrading, devastating, and failing economic system. A system which delivers “the goods”, but at an unacceptable price.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.