Activism in The Books Store

This book is about modern pirates: those who sail huge cruise ships from one port to another, offloading thousands of visitors a day. While the industry rakes in billions of dollars a year, paying virtually no income tax, the ports that ships visit are left with relatively few crumbs. It exploits workers onboard ships, uses graft from its deep war chests to shape political decisions and influence media, and bullies administrations into accepting, for example, that Carnival's 50 percent-plus market dominance is not anti-competitive, or that its abysmal environmental and health practices are responsible. It represents capitalism at its worst.

Cruise Ship Squeeze focuses on the politics and economics of an industry that is continually subsidized by ports and by local, regional, and national governments and which runs roughshod over environmental and other laws and regulations. Through confidential documents and meetings with port officials, corporate executives, politicians, and industry insiders, cruise specialist Klein includes information never previously reported on:

Campaign contributions (19972004)
Health outbreaks (20022004)
Money spent on lobbyists (19972004)
Donations from industry-sponsored and -funded foundations (19962004)

A detailed and alarming exposé of the injustices of cruise tourism, the book's concluding chapter examines social and political action that has been directed toward the cruise industry, identifies key organizations and groups that have been effective and that have maintained their integrity, and calls on readers to help contain the industry through grassroots activism so that it becomes environmentally, socially, economically, and politically viable.

Ross Klein has taken more than 30 cruises in all parts of the world, comprising over 300 days. An associate professor of social work at Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland, he has written widely on the cruise business, and his previous book, Cruise Ship Blues, caused waves in the industry.

Based on dialogues with a broad spectrum of Africans, who have played key roles in both revolution and reform, the authors suggest that, despite great problems facing the whole continent, there is much room for hope and possibility.

Participants in these discussions--excerpts of which are shared here for the first time--include Ela Gandhi, Kenneth Kaunda, Graca Machel, Sam Nujoma, Julius Nyerere, Jerry John Rawlins, Salim Ahmed Salim and Walter Sisulu.

Based on some ten years of collaboration, 'Guns and Gandhi in Africa' also chronicles a unique Pan-Africanist peace perspective. The authors, coming from different generational, regional, and cultural frameworks, reflect upon their own activist and academic experiences. In particular, Bill Sutherland's work from his move to the Gold Coast in 1953 up to his decades in Dar-es-Salaam set the context of much of the dialogues.

Chosen by Rebecca Solnit for her "Secret Library of Hope: 12 Books to Stiffen Your Resolve" (Dec. 2007).

“The movements in Argentina have been among the most creative and inspirational in recent years. Marina Sitrin’s collection allows us to learn from the activists themselves and continue the experiments in autonomy and democracy they have begun.”—Michael Hardt, co-author of Empire

“...a fascinating account about what is fresh and new about the Argentine uprising.”—John Holloway, author of Change the World Without Taking Power

The popular rebellion that began in December 2001 in Argentina with the IMF melt-down and subsequent capital flight sparked a process of creativity that continues to this day. Different from so many social movements of the past, this rebellion rejects political programs, opting instead to create directly democratic spaces on street corners, in factories, and throughout neighborhoods. Many have come to call this new social relationship, “horizontalidad.”

Horizontalism is an oral history of the exciting transformations taking place since the popular rebellion. It is a story of cooperation, vision, creation and discovery. It is a history told by people in the various autonomous social movements, from the occupied factories, neighborhood assemblies, arts and independent media collectives, to the indigenous communities and unemployed workers movements.

Marina Sitrin is a New York City-based lawyer, writer, and activist who has spent large portions of the past three years in Argentina. Her work has appeared in Left Turn and Perspectives.

Greenpeace is known around the world for its activism and education surrounding environmental and biodiversity issues. With a presence in more than 40 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Greenpeace is undoubtedly a dominant force in the realm of environmental activism.

This is the story of how Greenpeace came to be.

In September 1971, a small group of activists boarded a small fishing boat in Vancouver, Canada, and headed north towards Amchitka, a tiny island west of Alaska in the Aleutian Islands, where the US government was conducting underground nuclear tests.

At that time, protests against nuclear testing were not common, yet the US tests raised genuine concerns: Amchitka is not only the last refuge for endangered wildlife, but is also located in a geologically unstable region, one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world. The threat of a nuclear-triggered earthquake or tsunami was real.

Among the people sardined in the fishing boat were Robert Hunter and Robert Keziere.

The boat, named the Greenpeace by the small group of men aboard, raced against time as it crashed through the Gulf of Alaska, braving the oncoming winter storms. Three weeks was all they had to reach Amchitka in an attempt to halt the nuclear test. Ultimately, the voyage-beset by bad weather, interpersonal tensions and conflicts with US officials-was doomed. And yet the legacy of that journey lives on.

In this visceral memoir, based on a manuscript originally written over 30 years ago, Robert Hunter vividly depicts the peculiar odyssey that led to the formation of the most powerful environmental organization in the world.

Features 40 black and white photographs taken during the voyage by Robert Keziere.