A Focus of Anti-capitalist Struggle?
Book review
Cox, Jan
http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/3986
Date Written: 2013-09-01
Publisher: Agaisnt The Current
Year Published: 2013
Resource Type: Article
Cx Number: CX20089
A book review of No Local: Why Small-Scale Alternatives Won't Change the World
Abstract:
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Excerpt:
No Local, the title of Greg Sharzer's book, echoes Naomi Klein's influential No Logo, which examined globalization's impact and documented the rise of the global justice movement. No Local, in contrast, takes aim at aspects of the localist movements (which have grown up in parallel and in opposition to the effects of globalization), where many of the author's potential activist readers might expect to find friends and allies.
Instead, Sharzer claims localism is a dead end -- no outlet, don't go there and here’s why. The why is complicated, and that's what the whole book is about.
Sharzer examines significant threads from the 19th century (P.J. Proudhon) to 21st century proponents of localism (Bill McKibben, Barbara Kingsolver, E.F. Schumacher, among others). It's an ambitious undertaking and Sharzer must be commended for taking it on and publishing it under such a provocative title, an outright challenge to the feel good, vote-with-your-dollars consumerist focus of many localist projects.
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