Synopses & Reviews
The Global Activist's Manual is a guide to transforming the corporate globalization movement. Two dozen authors look beyond the spectacular shutdowns and protests to introduce the reader to farmers in Iowa, industrial workers in Tennessee, and anti-sweatshop activists in Maine who connect global injustices to the issues in their own front yards.
The authors range from movement "stars" to unsung heroes challenging the worlds largest corporations. Since the Seattle protests, the globalization movement has been "localizing" its work. Global and local activists have joined forces to protest the prison-industrial complex, corporate campaign financing, and clear-cut logging. Whether the cause is antiracism, the environment, genetic engineering, human rights, immigration, labor solidarity, or reproductive rights, strategies are outlined to make a difference and change an attitude.
"Localizing globalization" in this way presents its own challenges, however, and the book takes them up. After framing articles to set a context, case studies describe how activists across the country are meeting each challenge according to their local realities. Protest photos, cartoons, and outrageous quotes by world economic leaders provide an ironic running commentary to the text. The book ends with a "yellow pages" appendix of the many causes in the globalization movement including contacts, websites, phone numbers, and addresses.
The Global Activist's Manual is introduced by the best-selling anti-sweatshop writer Naomi Klein.
Review
"Got the globalization blues? Read this savvy guide to global activism and read it today. It could change your life and, believe it or not, help you make history." Charles Derber, Corporation Nation
About the Author
Mike Prokosch is a graphic artist who directed New England organizing for the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) from 1986 to 1998. He now coordinates the globalization program at United for a Fair Economy, the national economic justice group in Boston, MA.
Laura Raymond is an activist in the globalization movement and in prison reform and lives in Santa Cruz, CA.