Want a globalized and homogenized world of conflict, poverty and massive environmental degradation run by a corporate oligarchy that wipes its feet on democracy? Or a democratic world, where poverty is history, companies work for people and clean water is a right, not a privilege you pay for? This book shows that it's time to fight for the world.
In this brilliantly researched expos, 'communications Rottweiler' Sharon Beder blasts open the backrooms and boardrooms to reveal how the international corporate elite dictate global politics for their own benefit. Beder shows how they created business associations and think tanks in the 1970s to drive public policy, forced the worldwide privatization and deregulation of public services in the 1980s and 1990s (enabling a massive transfer of ownership and control over essential services) and, still not satisfied, have worked relentlessly since the late 1990s to rewrite the very rules of the global economy to funnel wealth and power into their pockets. Want a globalized and homogenized world of conflict, poverty and massive environmental degradation run by a corporate oligarchy that wipes its feet on democracy? Or a democratic world, where poverty is history, companies work for people and clean water is a right, not a privilege you pay for? Beder 's message is clear - it 's your world, and it 's time to fight for it.
'Sharon Beder carefully and brilliantly dissects how corporations conspire to ravage the world in the false name of progress and democracy. Read this book, you owe it to your children.'
John Stauber, Executive Director, Center for Media and Democracy
'Sharon Beder has taken the taboo subjects of propaganda and censorship in free societies and exposed their insidious threat.'
John Pilger
'Beder's analysis is comprehensive, steely and clinical. She lifts the lid on an elaborate tapestry of lies, deceit, intimidation and destruction.'
Harold Pinter
'[Beder is] the scourge of the world's environment-damaging corporates and public relations bosses.'
Evening Post, New Zealand
'[Beder] is the master of the sound bite and is a communications Rottweiler... [She] exposes conspiracies and scandals of the highest dimensions.'
Michael Pollak and Margaret MacNabb
'A provocative, stimulating and challenging read ...Beder's style and attention to detail makes this a must-read book for any one interested in big business, globalization and sustainable development.'
International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development (Inderscience)
'This is an excellent introduction to the politics of globalisation from a good researcher. More than most, Beder balances an appreciation of the global situation with detailed empirical knowledge.'
Watchdog, 115
