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logo x nologo

bambozzi — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 05:03:46 +0000

A documentação do dia 1 de maio adquire novas configurações na medida em que se relaciona com outras imagens, a partir de procedimentos de apagamento e suobreposições (scratches). Se o logo/marca é a imagem mais fiel do produto, nessa nova situação, ele se torna ruído e nada mais resta.

No Logo

Spideymang — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:20:48 +0000

Es fin de semana y por lo general para los que no salimos de casa la red nos trae muchas formas de divertirnos y a la vez obtener conocimiento.

Ahora les traemos el documental de No Logo que está basado en el libro del mismo nombre, de la autora Naomi Klein, y que en general nos presentan lo que la globalización y las grandes empresas hacen para estar siempre en la preferencia de los consumidores y/o usuarios, aunque muchas veces esto implique practicas desleales.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2343596870021245516]

Si les llamo mucho la atención todo este tipo de practicas por parte de las transnacionales les recomiendo leer el libro ya que este documental solo nos muestra algunos puntos de lo que el libro contiene en realidad.

También pueden visitar el site de la autora.

Saludos!!

No Logo by Naomi Klein

expresionminima — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 22:54:18 +0000

Excelente libro sobre las corporaciones que destruyen lentamente al planeta. Marketing, dinero, mano de obra barata...¿Qué más quieren? Recomendado para leer durante los comerciales de su programa de TV favorito...

One on One - Naomi Klein - Sept 26

citizenbrain — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:57:40 +0000

Internationally acclaimed writer and activist Naomi Klein talks to Riz Khan.

Part 1

Part 2

Boekenjacht zoveel

yvespernet — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:20:29 +0000

Vandaag met een kameraad nog eens op stap geweest. De buit van vandaag:

KAGAN, R., De terugkeer van de geschiedenis. De liberale democratie en de opkomst van het nationalisme, Amsterdam, De Bezige Bij, 2008
KLEIN, N., De shock doctrine. De opkomst van rampenkapitalisme, Breda, De Geus, 2007
KLEIN, N., No logo, Rotterdam, Lemniscaat, 2001

Vervolgens ook nog

Fenomenologie van de geest, geschreven door Hegel, uitgegeven bij Uitgeverij Boom te Amsterdam en vertaald door Wim Van Dooren
Il Principe en andere politieke geschriften, geschreven door Niccolo Machiavelli, uitgegeven bij Ambo en vertaald door Paul Van Heck.

No Logo - Naomi Klein

infraser — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 11:15:53 +0000

No Logo es una de los libros imprescindibles para comprender el capitalismo contemporaneo. Estrictamente no cuenta nada nuevo o que no se sepa, pero da una visión bastante completa de como nuestras vidas se ven afectadas por los movimientos de las grandes compañias. El marco del análisis es el comportamiento desde los 90-00 de las grandes compañias, como progresivamente han ido desprendiendose de las tareas productivas (poco rentables) para centrar su negocio en la marca, el branding.

Al margen de los abusos patentes y casos sangrantes como los multiconocidos de nike, disney etc, a través del libro se pueden entender fenomenos como la crisis económica actual. Una de las partes precisamente aborda como afecta este proceso al mercado laboral. Klein investiga fabricas de 'paises en vías de desarrollo' donde se trabaja en condiciones infrahumanas, con turnos de 6/7 dias a la semana por sueldos de subsistencia, mientras que en occidente todo ese trabajo desaparece, quedando el sector servicio cada vez más sujeto a las arbitrarias normas de las empresas (con más poder de negociación).

Nace lo que denomina el Mcwork (en alusión a las condiciones de trabajo de la famosa cadena) donde el trabajador por un sueldo misero está sujeto a turnos o condiciones abusivas. Este (y otros ) forman parte de una gran masa de trabajos temporales, trabajos que el trabajador no considera sino meros pasos intermedios que sin embargo, componen el grueso del mercado laboral. Ahora, que sucede cuando, por ejemplo, los tipos de intereses se elevan?, pues que con unos salarios de transito y que han perdido poder adquisitivo cualquier variación produce crisis como la inmobiliaria américana (o la española, aunque esta tenga sus características propias).

El libro, del 2000, no anticipa la crisis inmobiliaria americana, pero da una imagen muy clara de sus bases. Al margen de esto, podemos asistir a la galería de los horrores de las marcas, practicas abusivas, lavados de mente, desfachatez, exclavismo, todo ello soportado (o al menos con la complacencia) del consumidor preso desde el inicio en las redes de las grandes compañias (una parte se dedica a criticar la presencia de las marcas en las escuelas e incluso en los programas didácticos). Nada de esto te hará que no compres Nike la proxima vez que necesites unas alpargatas, y aunq así fuera las opciones son igual de nefastas, pero con suerte te proporcionará unos minutillos de reflexión.

The Economics of Pocket-Money

Tariq Sami — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:54:34 +0000

The 16-24 demographic is an interesting one. In days gone by, deference to a maturer, more stable authority was essential to society. Resultantly, young adults could be repressed and disenfranchised, forced to await their turn in the aging process. The early part of last century saw times change. The two wars saw male youths on the front line and their girlfriends in the factories. The erosion of Christian values accelerated. The teenager emerged.

That the teenager is an economic phenomenon should not be underestimated. Youth with disposable income shifted market power. The McDonald brothers in 50s San Francisco were among the earliest beneficiaries. Ray Kroc, eyeing a lucrative chink in the market, commercialised the franchise and gave us perhaps the most enduring brand of the last half-century.

Without exciting youth tendencies, perhaps branding would never have taken off. Mass production could now produce the goods, but to shift them advertising was needed. Andy Warhol, a former commercial illustrator, scandalised the art world when, in 1962, he put up his 32 Campbell’s Soup Cans for display. The painting of 32 uniformly ordered metallic soup cans with differences only in the titling of the soup variety brought to the fore themes of commercialisation, repetitiveness and cultural dullness. Whatever Warhol’s personal opinions, it was clear: advertising had much to overcome.

It was the youth market with their financial clout who propelled ad-men to consider branding in ever more innovative ways. The adolescent had a need to feel valued and esteemed - something that brands cottoned on to as they began to offer spiritual comfort in material goods. Now, minimum reflection will cause one to observe that the growing pains of adult awareness lead to highly suggestible, unreasonable and downright financially obnoxious young people. Today, in a world where advertising has become ubiquitous, society is found obsessing with youth value. The result is that political revolutionaries have been reduced to bland cultural icons recognised only for having some vague alignment to teenage rebelliousness. Sports megastars have been granted the right to tell us what we drink, eat and wear. Brand logos are now so personally sentimental that they are tattooed onto people’s physical bodies. We should be worried on the assault of the brands against basic intelligence. Advertising is stripping the ability to have a half decent intellectual debate from our society. Not for anything has television been called “the Idiot Box”, or the whole gamut of cinema, radio, newspaper etc as “the Great Stero Opticon.”

It was the activist author, Naomi Klein, who took up this question in her radical work No Logo (1999) to show that not only did the cultural degradation reflect badly on modern consumer society, but also that it was intertwined the sweatshop industries of child labour, poor pay and reinforced bondage. If the reader is unaware of Ms. Klein’s work, let me reproduce it in a nutshell: The artificial branding economy (e.g. mega-millions for Hollywood endorsements) is highly profitable so long as corporations outsource their production needs in order to keep their overheads to an absolute minimum. That outsourcing fosters and encourages labour practices which contravene any form of basic labour provision. However the countries to which they are being outsourced scrap any notion of labour rights in exchange for investment. This heavy deregulation which attracts multinational capital into their country leads to what can only be described as modern bondage.

Now, it is true, that there is a converse argument. To read it, one may flick through to Chapter 11 in Charles Wheelan’s Naked Economics, provocatively entitled “The Good News About Asian Sweatshops.” Here, Wheelan argues that to let the power of the market reign unbridled will allow a trickle-down effect. Sweatshop labour exists because there is a market for it, and the growth of that market will ultimately benefit the bottom-rung employees. Re-adjustment will happen by the forces of the market; any intrusive legislation is bound to hamper the process. Now, one could question how effective the so-called trickle-down effect really is. Yet, more worryingly, is it seriously possible to rule out legislating for humane working conditions? Anyone who is concerned about human rights will automatically cede the argument to Klein. Granted, she goes over the top (she rants against Wal-Mart's decision to not stock products promoting Satanism because it contravenes their family value system) and her politics become a bit top heavy (she herself is part of the anti-globalization movement, granddaughter of Marxists, daughter of a staunch feminist i.e. left through and through) – but the core tenets of her work remain unassailable.

We need however to be careful of dismissing this network of teenage angst, scheming ad-men, profit-driven multinationals and victimised third-world labour as evil by definition. At the very least, financial capital is induced to flow through, money that would not be otherwise. Arguments must be made to reform and not to destroy. In my view, four things must happen: 1) Western media needs to re-examine its attitude to advertising and be more bold in challenging youth purchasing behaviour, 2) multinationals must be incentivised to work in 3rd world countries with strict labour laws, 3) we must rid ourselves of anti-trade-unions sentiment and realise that they will always be the first port of call for basic labour provision, and 4) the multinationals must engage in the trade-off between stratosphic profits and human rights. These are formidable tasks, but they are achievable. It is no good campaigning against the market - we need to reinvest it with a sense of humaneness.

Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine

arakias — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 18:00:53 +0000

I recently read the book The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein and was floored. It started to make me feel outraged and ended somewhat placating me, but no matter how I felt after, it was an important and interesting read.

Basically about how free market capitalism (like Milton Friedman proposed) needed to take advantage of political or environmental crises to get a stronger foothold in nations, with encouragement and expectations from foreign lenders (World Bank, IMF) and governments. During these crises, or shocks, people tend to focus on recovering, while the governments use the opportunity (or are coerced) to enact privatization of business and lower industry regulations. This has been done from South America to Russia to Sri Lanka. With a reduction in socialized, public projects and support, the dichotomy between the rich and poor grows for income, health and well-being and education.

Anyways, theres not much I can say that isnt on Naomi's site or elsewhere on the web, but if you have an interest in economics and current politics, this book is highly recommended. I have yet to read her earlier book, No Logo, but that is on my list and I'll get around to it sometime.

She also recently did an interview for the Onion's AV Club, which had this quote as a highly notable issue to address, "But what I wanted to ask them was whether they're advocating nationalizing ExxonMobil, because this whole idea that we'll drill and then we'll get the oil is insane because we don't have a national oil company....But the U.S. Government has no power over Exxon to force them to not sell the oil that they drill offshore to China."

And though I havn't watched it yet, below is the short film for The Shock Doctrine by Alfonso Cuaron (director of one of my favorite movies, Children of Men, that I had caught when it opened first in London). I imagine this will be enduring as well.

And I cant forget that a great (jam)band Sound Tribe Sector 9 (STS9) named a song "Shock Doctrine" on their latest cd, Peaceblaster. I should get around to reviewing that on my music blog, but who knows when that will happen...

Naomi Klein (official site with Shock Doctrine page as well as speaking dates).

Naomi Klein Interview @ The A.V. Club

Naomi Klein @ AlterNet (additional articles/essays)

Rolling Out China's Police State 2.0 At The Olympics

Ryan Napier — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:43:10 +0000

Excellent article by Naomi Klein about how China has used the Olympics as an excuse to upgrade its instruments of repression and how this "new China" represents a new kind of police state based on American capitalism and ready for export. Coming here soon?

The games have been billed as China's "coming out party" to the world. They are far more significant than that. These Olympics are the coming out party for a disturbingly efficient way of organizing society, one that China has perfected over the past three decades, and is finally ready to show off. It is a potent hybrid of the most powerful political tools of authoritarianism communism -- central planning, merciless repression, constant surveillance -- harnessed to advance the goals of global capitalism. Some call it "authoritarian capitalism," others "market Stalinism," personally I prefer "McCommunism..."

The goal of all this central planning and spying is not to celebrate the glories of Communism, regardless of what China's governing party calls itself. It is to create the ultimate consumer cocoon for Visa cards, Adidas sneakers, China Mobile cell phones, McDonald's happy meals, Tsingtao beer, and UPS delivery -- to name just a few of the official Olympic sponsors. But the hottest new market of all is the surveillance itself. Unlike the police states of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, China has built a Police State 2.0, an entirely for-profit affair that is the latest frontier for the global Disaster Capitalism Complex.

Naomi Klein

kvinnekongen — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:50:02 +0000

Naomi er en kvinne som slenger nye ideer på bordet. Ikke ideer du intuitivt svelger fordi du har hørt dem i en tilnærmet versjon tidligere. Det eneste Klein ikke kildesorterer eller resirkulerer er samfunnvitenskapelige analyser. Naomi Klein har skitt under negla fra eget feltarbeid og er ikke redd for å beskrive verden med egne ord.

Kleins første bok 'No Logo' var en omfattende dokumentasjon av konsekvensene av et globalisert produksjonsmønster. Begrepet 'Race to the bottom' ble betegnende for en ny utvikling hvor fattige land lokket til seg produsenter ved å tilby produksjonsbetingelser fri fra fagforeninger, miljøhensyn, sikkerhetstiltak og skattelegging. 'No Logo' var en gripende fortelling som fikk bred appell.

'The Shock Doctrine', Naomi Kleins siste bok, (2007) ligger som nummer 18 på bestsellerlisten til The New York Times (3. august 2008). Boken demaskerer Chicagoskolens paradigmatiske teoretisering av den frie markedsliberalismen. Klein hevder at denne økonomiske strategien ikke har vunnet terreng via demokratisk oppslutning, men gjennom rå og planlagt utnyttelse av kriserammede samfunn. Klein ramser opp som perler på en snor flere eksempler på økonomisk plyndring av denne sorten i filmsnutten under.

I San Francisco Chronicle sin anmeldelse heter det at Naomi Klein kan ha avdekket vår tids 'masternarrativ'. Altså vår tids nøkkel til forståelse av egen samtid. Ved første møte med sjokkdoktrineteorien mobiliserte jeg endel mostand. Det er jo godt dokumentert at markedsliberalismen i stor grad er tvunget på den tredje verden. I-land har opprettholdt sin proteksjonisme og handlesprivilegier i stor stil. Hvorfor er denne sjokkdoktrinekteorien overhodet nødvendig? Kleins viktigste argument er at denne teorien konseptualiserer et mulig forsvarsverk mot markedsliberalistisk ideologi og ikke minst den makttilrøvelsen som ofte finner sted under store samfunnsmessige kriser. Konseptet 'sjokkdoktrine' kan derfor virke som alarmklokke i kriser hvor folks sivile beskyttelse står i fare og sårbare samfunn er befinner seg i økonomisk risiko.

Naomi Kleins Merittliste:

2000. 'No Logo'. Boken symboliserer et manifest for antiglobaliseringsbevegelsen.

2002. 'Fences and windows'. En samling artikler og appeller hun har hatt for antiglobaliseringsbevegelsen.

2004. 'The Take'. En dokumentarfilm om arbeidsløse i Argentina som tok seg inn på en nedlagt fabrikk og startet opp produksjonen igjen.

2007. 'The Shock Doctrine'.

E' lui!

kickaway — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:57:28 +0000

Oggi ho passato (perso?) il pomeriggio a cercare un paio di cose per downtown, mi sono fatto quasi tutti i cinesi sulla Yonge, poi non ne potevo piu' in effetti..

Non ne potevo piu' anche perche' dovevo andare all'ufficio postale (piu' una cartoleria col bancone delle poste canadesi in verita') e ritirare il pacco proveniente dall'Italia. Ebbene si', era lui, dopo soli 12 giorni di attesa le poste italiane, in collaborazione con quelle canadesi, mi hanno recapitato le 600 pagine (l'altro, No Logo, ne aveva 500, quando ci si mette si impegna..) che avevo ordinato! Shock economy di Naomi Klein (che fra l'altro vive in citta').

nota: caso ha voluto che la newsletter della Klein fosse inviata proprio oggi (a settembre presenta anche il libro qua.. )

Faded Paper Figures

tenacioustimothy — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:27:20 +0000

Damn Damn Damn! I am seriously hooked on Faded Paper Figures and you can only get the album Dynamo in the States at CdBaby...and they don't have it in stock just yet! Yeah the music junkie has returned and I need my fix.

These guys are seriously good though- a definite Postal Service vibe with the bonus of female vocals so some great harmonies that grab your attention. They are just damn sublime and from the three tracks that I have heard- North By Northwest, Metropolis and No Logos I can't wait to hear the rest. Go to Obscure Sound or to their MySpace for a listen and I guarantee your toe will be tapping for the rest of the day!

Logos- just the sound

Arte- Arte en la calle: Jorge Rodriguez Gerada, carboncillo sobre pared..

rosarusa — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:18:20 +0000

Jorge Rodriguez Gerada es un artista de la calle porque realiza obras efimeras con carboncillo sobre paredes, trabajo que sorprende por lo poco habitual de esta tecnica en este soporte y por su gran formato.

Las obras de Rodriguez Gerada ademas de su valor artistico tienen otro valor el de mostrar a los habitantes "del lugar" en el que se realizan. El artista elige como modelos personas anonimas que tengan el espiritu del lugar, busca en el barrio donde realiza su obra entre los vecinos que se "sienten del barrio".

Su trabajo ha tenido gran difusión en los medios de comunicación pero lo que mas impacta es encontrarte segun caminas con alguna de sus obras como la que pude ver hace aproximadamente un año en el barrio de Malasaña de Madrid, una grata sopresa de la que no podia apartar la mirada.

Obra de la "identity series" en solar de Malasaña,

Plaza San Idelfonso esquina la Corredera de San Pablo

Foto: galeria de dug_da_bug en flickr

Rodrigez Gerada se ha dado a conocer en España y tambien de forma internacional con la repercursion de su trabajo llamado "Identity series" que consiste en estos retratos a carboncillo sobre pared que comenzó en el 2002 en Barcelona.

El artista vive actualmente entre Nueva York y Barcelona. Fué uno de los mienbros fundadores del grupo Artfux de activismo social que estuvo activo de 1989 a 1992 en New Jersey y posteriormente de Cicada Corps of Artists que realizaba su trabajo en el entorno de Nueva York. En Mayo de 1997 se publico una entrevista en el Village Voice relizada por Naomi Klein a Rodriguez-Gerada el articulo de llamó "Subvertising". Aparecio posteriormente en el libro No logo, de Naomi Klein como "uno de los más inteligentes y creativos fundadores de la contrapublicidad, que en la práctica consiste en parodiar los anuncios y en asaltar vallas callejeras para alterar por completo sus mensajes".

Porque aqui el poder del arte en la calle es el del activismo social...

Retrato de una vecina del barrio de Malasaña por Jorge Rodriguez Gerada: aqui

El arte marca su territorio articulo en elpais.com: aqui

Pagina de Rodriguez Gerada: aqui

Sobre el libro "NO LOGO" : aqui

Funciona en el Lenguaje #3

rcaos — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:00:22 +0000

Jueves 24/7
Funciona en el Lenguaje #3
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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Funciona en el Lenguaje #3"][/caption]

¿Qué es Funciona en el Lenguaje?
Las palabras tienen valor. Lo que decimos nunca es lo que decimos. Con las palabras pensamos y es hora de pensarnos a nosotros mismos: de pensar las palabras.

En esta edición de Funciona en el Lenguaje
Funciona en el Lenguaje Número 3: “Publicidades: de los productos a las marcas”. Las grandes marcas globales y la estrategia de la buena imagen. Ejemplos actuales.

Equipo de Producción: Sofía Kloster, Alejandro Pisera, Santiago Kahn y Julián Mónaco.

Podés escucharlo en la página o bajar programa en MP3 (5.02 Mb)
http://www.radiocaos.com.ar/audio/funcionaenellenguaje240708.mp3
Para bajarlo poné “Guardar destino como” o “Guardar enlace como” sobre el link

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Para seguir debatiendo: funcionaenellenguaje@radiocaos.com.ar

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RadioCaos es una Radio en Internet.
Los programas NO son en vivo.
Son PODCAST, o sea, los podes escuchar desde la página o bajar a tu computadora o escucharlo en tu reproductor de MP3.

http://www.radiocaos.com.ar

ESCUCHANOS, CRITICANOS, DIFUNDINOS.

Nike: Kuraia

Joseba — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:15:57 +0000

20 urte pasa dira, eta oraindik orain Just Do It aldarria ozen entzuten da, nere gusturako marketinaren historiaren marka-posizionamendurik indartsuena, kirolaren mundutik askoz ere urrunago joan dena, ekintzarako eta ausardiarako deialdirik biziena, jarrera erradikalki kontrakulturala proposatzen diguna, eta bizitza bera arriskatzearen apologia ederra egiten duena gure mugen gainetik bizi gaitezen. Bizitzaren eta superazio pertsonalaren sublimazio indibidualista, kontraste ederra egiten duena Aquarius-en proposamenarekin, non superazio kolektiboa azpimarratzen den "el ser humano es extraordinario" esateko:

Ez dakit nola ikusten dezuen zuek, baina neretzako Nike-en Just Do It hau askatasunaren aldeko oihua iruditzen zait, kontraesan guztiekin, baina oihu askatzailea iruditzen zait, eta testuinguru sozio-politiko eta kultural jakinetan, are askatzaileagoa, Madonnak erakutsi digun bezala.

Eta courage irakurri dudanean, gure kuraia-raino etorri nahiz, itzulpena eginda, eta segituan gogoratu naiz Kuraiaren Antigonarekin: ez begiratu atzera, kabroia izorratzearen plazerra sentitu, erraietan. Just Do It.

Eta gauza hauetan pentsatzen nengoen, gogoratu naizenean Sam Roddick-en elkarrizketa batekin (Anita Roddick, The Body Shop-en sortzaile zenduaren alaba eta Coco de Me r denden sortzailea), Brandlife aldizkariaren paperezko bertsioan irakurri nuena. Elkarrizketa horretan Sam Roddick-ek esaten zuen marketinean aritzen direnen garunak aktibismora ekarri nahi zituela mundua aldatzeko, eta horregatik joaten zela Cannes-eko Publizitatearen Festibalera, haien lanak ikusteko. Ezaguna da publizitateak gure kulturan eragiteko duen indarra, batzuetan kulturaren sistema moraletik atera gabe, eta beste batzuetan sistema hori zulatuz. Hau izan daiteke horietako kasu bat:

Penagarria da Heinz-ek iragarki hau erretiratu izana batzuen presioarengatik.

Kazetariak kontraesanak aipatu dizkionean, aktibista pragmatikoa dela esan dio Samek, eta garai batean anarkista zurruna izan zela aitortu (ez daukat elkarrizketa eskura eta gutxi gora-beherakoa da haren hitzei buruzko aipamena). Hortxe eztabaida eternala.

legea hautsi
arauak hautsi
jarraitu bihotzari
beldurrak beldur
usteak ustel
bihotzaz fido izan
zeruari listua bota
patua okertu zazu
jokatu modu polemikoan
izanaren dardar argia
ez begiratu atzera
kabroia izorratzearen
plazerra sentitu erraietan
otsoen lupatzaren erdian den
ehiztari bakarti eta lotsatia zara
munstroa akatzea bait duzu xedea.
senagatik urrutiratu
eromenari hurbildu
itxi begiak
burua astindu
dantzatu izotza urtu arte
ez begiratu atzera
kabroia izorratzearen
plazerra sentitu erraietan
otsoen lupatzaren erdian den
ehiztari bakarti eta lotsatia zara
munstroa akatzea bait duzu xedea.
Bizi antigona!

P.S.- Esan gabe doa, baina jarrera hau NIKE markari ere berari aplika dakioke, giza eskubideen aurkako gehiegikeriengatik. Egiten dituenaz informazio gehiago nahi baduzu, Naomi Klein-en NO LOGO liburu ezaguna eta Klaus Werner eta Hans Weiss-en EL LIBRO NEGRO DE LAS MARCAS ez hain ezaguna irakurri ditzazkezu, ez baitira gauza berdina marketina eta malketina ;-)

Canada's Naomi Klein: Anti-Capitalist Crusader

vodkasoda — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:55:38 +0000

After the success of "No Logo" Naomi Klein has set her sights on "Disaster Capitalism"

Her grandfather was a Marxist who was fired from Disney for trying to organize the workers. Her father fled to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War. Naomi Klein made her name in the materialistic 1990s by railing against Nike for using dirt cheap labour abroad and against Starbucks for squeezing out the little guys. She became an intellectual celebrity with the publication of "No Logo" in 1999 where she decried the rise of corporations and how they monetized every aspect of our lives and culture. In our post 9/11 world, Klein has upped the ante in her war with the corporations in her latest book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Klein turns her fury towards American policy since the Second World War and how "disasters" have provided pretexts in which to spread globalization and corporate power at the expense of the poor. Her central thesis is that free-market economics as defined by the Chicago School and in particular Milton Friedman were implemented against the will of the people around the world through disorientation whether caused by war, coup d'etats, or disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

Is Klein right? Is there a conspiracy by corporations and their government partners to cause chaos like war or to take advantage of disasters like tsunamis in order to spread the reach of corporations for the sake of profit? Jonathan Chait of The New Republic doesn't necessarily agree with her theory in: Dead Left.

Naomi Klein, "No Logo"

oryxandcrake — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:06:31 +0000

When I was reading this book, I could not get rid of a deja vu feeling. And then it dawned upon me. Her style and ideas are very similar to bolshevik agitators of pre-revolutionary Russia. They, too, have stirred the workers' and peasants' masses with loud slogans and revolutionary ideas. But, as a result of bringing these ideas into life, has human unhappiness been really abolished? No. The revolution brought Russia only more unhappiness, atrocities, famine, more oppression and deaths.

Leftist ideas do not work. (They do for you if you want to receive a grant or publish a book, but as a solution, for real life, they don't.) There is no need to explain this to me or someone like me who grew up in a socialist state. However, talking to people in Canada I was surprised to hear them praising "free healthcare" that socialist countries provide. I am sorry to say that this comes from insufficient knowledge about how things really were in socialist economies. For example, I am sure no one of them would like to have a root canal done without anaesthesia. None of them would like to live with their mother-in-law for twenty years without any possibility of moving into your own apartment. None of them would like to have one bedroom for the whole family. Yes, officially housing was affordable. But in fact you had to be entered on a municipal waiting list and wait. And wait. And wait… Besides, you would not be entered into the municipal waiting list unless you have less than a certain number of square meter per person (in my time, it was 5). To give you some idea, an average Canadian home has about 180 square meters. It means that 36 people had to be living in the house this size before they would be allowed to enter the municipal waiting list. Does that sound like paradise to you - or more like "1984"?

Mikhail Bulgakov, a Russian author, wrote a book, "Dog's heart", about a dog who got a human brain transplant. (You can find an English translation here: http://www.lib.ru/BULGAKOW/dogheart_engl.txt.) The dog started changing and eventually looked like a man. The newfangled man proved himself extremely rude, obnoxious and ignorant. The dog-man started expressing extreme leftist ideas. He proposed the simplest solution to people's inequality: "Take everything away from everybody, then divide it up . . ." Of course, it was instantly clear to the readers that his ideas were ridiculously unfeasible. However, when similar ideas start coming from better-washed and more articulate people, other people don't deride them that easily. But history proved that "take everything from everybody…" principle does not work. And the people who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.

Simple solutions never work, because life is not simple. The problem is that simplistic solutions appeal to people who do not have a habit of critical thinking. And that's how fascism starts.

When Klein incites ghetto teens to go and picket Nike headquarters with demands like "Decrease the price of sneakers to 30 dollars AND give your profits to community centers AND raise the workers' wages", it is ridiculous. Why 30 dollars and not 25 or 35? Has Klein made any calculations based on real expenses of the sneaker manufacturing company? Probably not, at least she does not say so. Does she know what happens when a company is forced to sell its wares at the prices lower than cost? Two things can happen: either the company closes down and the people lose their jobs, or the company has to be subsidized by the government with money taken from our taxes. Do you feel like subsidizing sneakers manufacturing this morning?

Of course it is ridiculous. But it is scary, too. Because it is very easy to brainwash someone who has no real experience in life and no habits for critical thinking. Hitler-Jugend or Hong Wei Bing, anyone?

Depois de "No Logo"

n5211 — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:19:24 +0000

Embora pouco tenha actualizado o blog, não tenho parado de pesquisar. Deveria ter feito um registo contínuo da minha pesquisa, mas cada vez que penso que sei o que escrever, mudo de opinião por ter lido mais qualquer coisa.

Depois de ler o No Logo de Naomi Klein fiquei com a sensação de não ter onde pegar. Cada vez que durante a leitura chegava a uma ideia nova, descobria pouco depois que já não era nova. Sem dúvida que este livro é uma peça muito importante na minha pesquisa. Mas com ele absorvi tante informação nova, e uma perspectiva mais conciente do "mundo governado por multinacionais". E desta forma a minha ideia inicial perde força.

Tal como Naomi diz:

"As críticas à publicidade que tradicionalmente provêm do mundo académico foram igualmente inconclusivas, embora por razões diferentes. A maioria dessas críticas concentra-se não nos efeitos do marketing sobre o espaço público, a liberdade cultural e a democracia, mas nos poderes persuasivos dos anúncios sobre as pessoas aparentemente indefesas."

Desta forma resolve ela muito bem a minha problemática.

Realmente as pessoas, não são indefesas, e precisam de comprar.

Fica para mim decidir por que lado hei-de intervir.

Recuperação de espaços;

Direitos humanos e laborais;

Luta contra a globalização através do capitalismo (pessoas vs lucros);

Consumo consciente.

attivismo, eventi estate 2008

atti84it — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:24:42 +0000

ciao a tutti e a tutte,

ho raccolto in una pagina - che cerchero' di tenere aggiornata - un po' di eventi relativi all'estate 2008 nel campo dell'attivismo, a 360 gradi, dalla zona hippie a quella anarco-libertaria, da quella anti-globalizzazione a quella primitivista, dal popolo di seattle del "un altro mondo e' possibile" alla zona ambientalista e movimentista.

l'elenco degli appuntamenti lo trovate cliccando QUI: ESTATE 2008.

buon risveglio a tutti!

Minu tanksaapad, minu koer, minu fotokas! Minu mets ootab mind!!

ieska — Thu, 29 May 2008 06:20:05 +0000

Niisiis klassipiknik.
Kõik marssisid esimese sabas otse rappa!
Ma ka tore koon, teadsin küll teed, olin samas kohas ju mõni nädal tagasi käinud, aga ütlema ka ei hakanud, ju eesmineja teab.
Aga seda lubatud järve ei tulnud, jäi teine meist pigem lõunasse kui otse ette. Ühesõnaga tuli mingil hetkel leiutada tee järveni.
Kaks täiskasvanut, tegelikult küll mina ja Z läksime teed otsima.
Sai seal küll pisike kompassikasutamise koolitus läbi tehtud, kuid mulle meeldis.
Õpetaja arvas, et ei mängi välja, teed ei ole. Läksime laste juurde tagasi, et mis edasi saab.
Kuid Z leidis siiski tee, eeldas selle meist otse ~500 meetri kaugusel olevat.
Suured lapsed olid tublid, otsustasid ikkagi võta ette tee läbi raba, selle asemel, et minna pikemat ja kindlamat teed ehk tuldud teed tuttava kohani tagasi.
Teekond läbi raba ja metsa.
Minu isiklik nunnumeeter lõi kaane kohe pealt ära.
Siis tuli ametlikul piknikuplatsil tants ja tagaajamine, lapsed otsisid veel teise läheduses olnud järve üles.
Ühtki sanga kaasas ei olnud, lapsed laulsid ise kui lauluisu tuli.
Ja totaalseks üllatuseks oli, et 6-aastane ei ole kordagi kuulnud käo kukkumist ja ei tea üleüldse, kesse see kägu siuke on. Mina selleks vanuseks olin vist paar tükki juba puu otsast allagi raputanud.

Ühesõnaga, mehed, minu tanksaapad, minu koer, minu fotokas - ja saatke mind metsa tagasi.

La doctrina del SHOCK

clauderoubillie — Mon, 26 May 2008 20:11:08 +0000

gracias chicago boys