Toronto band, consisting of Andrew Clark and Dan Oughton and occasionally a drummer or bassist. First and only CD so far is entitled Grounded, and includes some really neat tunes. Published by Silvershard Records; check them out at http://www.silvershard.com/

Also the title of a book by Naomi Klein on the anti-globalisation movement and the beginnings of a trend towards the rejection of corporate logos on everything.

This is a review of the book No Logo by Naomi Klein.

No Logo could be called the Das Capital of the Anti-Capitalist movement. Part cultural analysis, part "mall-rat memoir", it is the first book to place the growing opposition to global capitalism into clear historical and economic perspective.

The book is divided in four sections, each detailing the corporate takeover in those parts of our lives. The first part, No Space, deals with the slow process of branding and corporatising public spaces, such as our streets, in the form of billboards and even total street takeovers in the name of advertising; schools, where companies are increasingly taking out contracts to supply branded textbooks and food to these public institutions; and even our towns themselves, such as Celebration, Florida, which is wholly owned by Disney Corp.

In No Choice, Klein takes apart the myth that modern capitalism offers us a choice in our way of life, as she shows us the homogenised monoculture that is propagated by CNN, MTV and Nike. This is not American cultural imperialism, it is enforced multiculturalism, as in the styles are made up of parts of European, Japanese, American and even African fashions and traditions, but are still forced upon us in an imperialistic vent. It is mono-multicultureism. You can have as many cultures as you want, as long as they are all the same. Over 274 million households in the world have MTV, the global 'teen' network. To quote Klein, "MTV International has become the most compelling global catalogue of the modern branded life".

No Jobs deals with the increasing dominance of service industry McJobs, to quote the McLibel trial. These are low-paid, low-quality, low-skilled jobs, frequently considered to short-term, but for some have become primary sources of income. In the companies quest for expansion, wages are often overlooked, and if any workers try to unionise, the shop is just shut down. Another spectre of the modern job market is the proliferation of "temp" agencies. Why employ your workers, and have to provide benefits for them, when you can simply hire another company to do so. Most of Microsoft's workforce, the figureheads of the so called "e-economy", are temp workers, some of whom have been at the company for so long they call themselves "permatemps". All of this is just another part of the modern global economies obsession with reducing prices, and disassociating itself with the actual production of goods, instead outsourcing these to sweatshops in the third world. These companies can then concentrate on their primary goal, creating a "brand image", and maximizing shareholder value.

In the final section, No Logo, Klein details the campaigns that have been fighting this corporate hegemony, such as Reclaim The Streets, the various anti-sweatshop organisations, and the McLibel activists. She also goes on to show the ultimate limits of brand-based politics. Any campaign that is based stopping people from buying what they want is going to create a backlash in our consumer world. She emphasizes the need for laws and international regulation, and embracing this new global community, not going back to the dark-ages as some activists would have.

All in all, this book is an excellent piece of journalism, and deserves its place as the so-called Bible of the anti-capitalist movement.

This is another review of the book No Logo by Naomi Klein

Most of the things azure83 said about No Logo are true. It is a well written, cool and thoroughly researched book about global capitalism, branding and living in the times of the logo. Klein brings culture critique, anti-capitalist critique against transnational corporations, human rights and ecological concerns together and shows that there is indeed a global movement against globalism.

But I have to disagree with azure83 where s/he compares No Logo with The Capital or The Bible. It's neither the first book to bring consumer activism and capitalism in an economic and historic perspective. Rather, it's the first well-written, popular book binding together the big problems of our times and linking them to a common source, going into the best-seller lists that way. (Or to put it more provcative: It's the first anti-global capitalism book published by a major transnational media corporation)

I think, everybody should read No Logo - it's witty, convincing and helps you to buy with some knowledge what you're doing. But if it will become the cornerstone of a new, emerging movement - or only a good book: that has yet to be decided.

No Logo is a revolutionary book by Naomi Klein. In this path breaking book, the young Canadian author discusses how brands and logos dominate our over-corporatised lives. She brings out vividly brands have tried to take over every aspect of our lives, our neighbourhoods, our billboards and even our loos.

The most interesting chapters in the book deal with how many important brands have suddenly taken up a 'cause' not because it really cares, but because it is important to project a socially conscious angle. (Benetton would be a good example).

She also deals extensively with cases of corporate censorship.

She travels to various Export Processing Zones (EPZs) around the world to document the plight of workers to produce some of the most well known brands in the world today- Nike, Gap etc.

Finally, she speaks about culture jamming, the growing wave of anti-corporate activism in the USA and the sweatshop movement. This book is a must read for those who would like to explore the ill effects of globalization even in First World nations.

Naomi Klein's latest book is called Fences and Windows

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