BOOK LIST 1
Brinton, M., The Irrational In Politics, See Sharp Press, 1993.
Chomsky, N., How The World Works, Hamish Hamilton, 2012.
Davis, M., Planet of Slums, Verso, 2006.
Fromm, E., Fear of Freedom, Ark Publishers, 1984.
Fukuyama, F., State Building, Profile Books, 2004.
Goldsmith, J., The Trap, MacMillan, 1994.
Hartman, T., Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, Hod. & St., 1998.
Hilary, J., The Poverty of Capitalism, Pluto Press, 2013.
Holden, P., Indefensible, 7 Myths of The Global Arms Trade, Zed Books, 2016.
Jones, O., Chavs, Demonisation of The Working Class, Verso, 2011.
Jones, O., The Establishment, Penguin Books, 2015.
Klein, N., The Shock Doctrine, Penguin Books, 2008.
Klein, N., This Changes Everything, Penquin Books, 2015.
Kovel, J., The Enemy of Nature, Zed Books, 2007.
Milgram, S., Obedience To Authority, Harper & Rowe, 1975.
Monbiot, The Age Of Consent, Harper Perennial, 2004.
Moore, M., Stupid White Men, Penguin Books, 2001.
Orwell, G., 1984, Penquin Books, 1987.
Pick, A. C., The Nation State, An Essay, On-Line.
Pilger, J., The New Rulers Of The World, Verso, 2003.
Rogers, H., Gone Tomorrow, The New Press, 2005.
Smith, D. J., If The World Were A Village, A & C Black, 2006.
Wall, D., Babylon And Beyond, Pluto Press, 2005.
Wilkinson, R., Pickett, K., Spirit Level, Penguin Books, 2009.
A Few Brief Quotes
“The Irrational In Politics is an attempt to analyse the various mechanisms whereby modern society manipulates its wage (and house) slaves into accepting their slavery and – at least in the short term - seems to succeed. It does not deal with ‘police’ and ‘jails’ as ordinarily conceived, but with those internalized patterns of repression and coercion and with those intellectual prisons in which the ‘mass individual’ today is entrapped. It probes the various ways in which the psyches of modern human beings have been rendered receptive to an authoritarian, hierarchical and class-dominated culture.” Brinton, The Irrational In Politics, Page iii.
“At the deepest level, the media contribute to the sense that the government is the enemy, and they suppress the sources of real power in society, which lie in the totalitarian institutions – the corporations, now international in scale – that control the economy and much of our social life. In fact, the corporations set the conditions within which the government operates, and control it to a large extent. The picture presented in the media is constant, day after day. People simply have no awareness of the system of power under which they are suffering. As a result – as intended – they turn their attention against the government.” Chomsky, How The World Works, Page 156/7. (See: www.spanglefish.com/ttmobgi)
“Thus, the cities of the future, rather than being made out of glass and steel as envisioned by earlier generations of urbanists, are instead largely constructed out of crude brick, straw, recycled plastic, cement blocks, and scrap wood. Instead of cities of light soaring toward heaven, much of the twenty-first-century urban world squats in squalor, surrounded by pollution, excrement, and decay. Indeed, the one billion city dwellers who inhabit post-modern slums might well look back with envy at the ruins of the sturdy mud homes of Catal Huyuk in Anatolia, erected at the very dawn of city life nine thousand years ago.” Davis, Planet of Slums, Page 19.
“The continuing impoverishment of the peoples of the global South, incorporated into the bottom of corporate global value chains so as to generate ever greater profits for those at the top, is a lasting reminder that the programme of corporate globalisation was developed not for public benefit but to further the interests of the few.” Hilary, The Poverty of Capitalism, Page 5.
“Unfettered free markets have been allowed to dismantle our local communities, bit by bit. Places where young people – and the rest of the community, for that matter – could congregate have been disappearing.” Jones, Chavs, Page 212.
“The current political order faces little meaningful challenge. Yet trust in politicians is at a pitifully low level: according to pollsters Ipsos MORI, over 50 per cent of Britons think MPs put their own interests first; 72 per cent do not trust them to tell the truth; and 65 per cent that at least half of MPs use their power for personal gain.” Jones, The Establishment, Page 83.
“Without a coherent alternative, widespread resignation will only continue. Far-reaching change can only happen if a broad enough section of people are inspired enough by its promises, and confident enough about its realisation.” Jones, The Establishment, Page 302.
“It was in 1982 that Milton Friedman wrote the highly influential passage that best summarises the shock doctrine: ‘Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around.’ ” Klein, Shock Doctrine, Page 140.
“We have seen that the circuits of capitalist society are defined by having - and excluding others from having – until society becomes a collection of gated communities inhabited by lonely egos, each split from all and the atomized selves split from nature.” Kovel, The Enemy of Nature, Page 270.
“...since the gain of state power by the revolution is essential for redirecting power, so must the revolution give high priority to building ways of dissolving that power....” Kovel, The Enemy of Nature, Page 272.
“The Security Council mimics the notional constraints of the democratic state. By this means it claims to sustain a world order founded on right rather than might. The problem with the post-war settlement is that those with the might decide what is right.” Monbiot, The Age Of Consent, Page 69.
“Before he became a war leader, Tony Blair was fond of promoting ‘the end of ideology’ when, in fact, the ideology he shares with an entire political and media class is one of the most powerful of the modern era. It is all the more pervasive for its concealed and often unconscious attachment to a status quo of inequity based on class and wealth.” Pilger, The New Rulers Of The World, Page 163.
“The apex of built-in obsolescence was the disposable commodity. Marketed under the alluring dual banner of cleanliness and convenience, widespread production and consumption of disposables kicked off a whole new level of wasting.” Rogers, Gone Tomorrow, Page 115.
“Capitalism also has a psychological dimension. The system tends to select those whom are most aggressive and inspired at increasing profit. Individuals in firms who decide that there is a kinder, gentler way of doing things or who have priorities other than profit trying to produce what is most ecological or useful, for example, either fail to rise to the top or are replaced....” Wall, Babylon And Beyond, Pages 162-163.
“At this stage, creating the political will to make society more equal is more important than pinning our colours to a particular set of policies to reduce inequality. Political will is dependent on the development of a vision of a better society which is both achievable and inspiring.” Wilkinson, Picket, Spirit Level, P 271.
“A destabilised climate is the cost of deregulated, global capitalism, its unintended, yet unavoidable consequence.” Klein, N., This Changes Everything, Page 82.
“…(imposed) government must always depend on the opinion of the governed. Let the most oppressed people under heaven once change their mode of thinking and they are free.” William Godwin (1756-1836)
"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains,” Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)
“Ye are many - they are few,” Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)