The Case Against the Global Economy. - book reviews

Progressive, The, Jan, 1997 by Matthew Rothschild

I 'm not big on anthologies. I don't like the grab-bag approach, the shifts in tone and style, the repetition of examples and arguments. I much prefer a single author tackling a major subject from beginning to end, with a logical argument and a seamless style.

Alas, when it comes to one of the most important issues of our day--the overarching power of global corporations--no one author seems up to the task.

So I sat down with two new anthologies on the subject, Corporations Are Gonna Get Your Mama, edited by Kevin Danaher (Common Courage) and The Case Against the Global Economy, edited by Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith (Sierra Club Books).

Despite the inherent flaws of the species, these anthologies are worth reading. The Danaher book is the breezier of the two. It features short chapters from some of the leading leftwing thinkers in the field, including Ralph Nader, Richard Barnet, John Cavanagh, Robin Broad, Jerry Mander, Kirkpatrick Sale, and Jeremy Rifkin.

The introduction by Noam Chomsky sets the ideological framework. Chomsky notes that the vast majority of the American public already understands that big business has too much power. But this hasn't changed the way the mainstream media cover the issue. As Chomsky tartly observes, "The new broadened spectrum of responsible debate now extends from those who believe that the rulers of the private economy should ruthlessly seek profit, to the other extreme, where it is felt that they should be more benevolent autocrats."

A few other contributors write with particular zest. I enjoyed Kirkpatrick Sale's diagnosis. He says our society is suffering from "technophilia," "consumptivitis," and "giantism."

But I cringed when Ralph Nader and Russell Mokhiber, just five pages apart, both said that societies "rot from the top down." More attentive editing would have spared me that double dosage of cliche. (A few too many typos--including one on the second line of the introduction--also get in the way of the presentation.)

Still, Corporations Are Gonna Get Your Mama gives you all the facts you need about runaway corporate power: the maldistribution of wealth and income; corporate welfare; corporate crime; the failures of GATT, NAFTA, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund; the assault on the environment; and the tawdry triumph of technology.

And best of all, it doesn't content itself with issuing indictments. It goes on to offer hope, not just in theory but in practice--what Danaher calls "the globalization of grassroots democracy."

The Case Against the Global Economy covers much the same ground, and with some of the same authors, though the list of contributors includes more Native-American, international, and Third-World voices. It's a deeper book, pitched to a more academic audience, and so it is littered with polysyllables.

But the book has two major strengths.

First, it gives a comprehensive view of the problems of corporate power and free trade, and goes beyond Danaher's anthology to include a discussion of the food supply and the patenting of life forms. It also provides two corporate profiles, one on G.E. and the other on Wal-Mart.

Second, it shows in detail some of the ways people can build alternative economies. Wendell Berry has a typically cogent chapter on the need for conserving community. He says we have a two-party system, but he cuts it differently: "One is the party of the global economy; the other I would call simply the party of local community. The global party is large, though not populous, immensely powerful and wealthy, self-aware, purposeful, and tightly organized. The community party is only now coming aware of itself; it is widely scattered, highly diverse, small though potentially numerous, weak though latently powerful, and poor though by no means without resources." He also issues seventeen commandments for local community members to live by. Here's number one: "Always ask of any proposed change or innovation: What will this do to our community? How will this affect our common wealth?"

Other chapters offer advice on community-supported agriculture, the potential of local currency, cross-border organizing, and the use of state charters to control corporations.

The editors say these are "steps toward relocalization"-- another good idea in search of a better slogan.