From the book description:
"From dawn to dusk on November 30, 1999, tens of thousands of people shut down the World Trade Organization meeting, facing cops firing tear gas and rubber bullets, the National Guard, and the suspension of civil liberties. An unexpected history was launched from the streets of Seattle, one in which popular power would matter as much as corporate power, in which economics assumed center stage, and people began envisioning who else they could be and what else their economies and societies might look like.
"The Battle of the Story of the Battle of Seattle explores how that history itself has become a battleground and how our perception of it shapes today's movements against corporate capitalism and for a better world. David Solnit recounts activist efforts to intervene in the Hollywood star-studded movie, Battle in Seattle, and pulls lessons from a decade ago for today. Rebecca Solnit writes of challenging mainstream misrepresentation of the Seattle protests and reflects on official history and popular power. Core organizer Chris Dixon tells the real story of what happened during those five days in the streets of Seattle."
Why this is progressive/liberal: In light of the OWS protests sweeping the nation this work (which I randomly assigned to this date back in July) is especially pertinent. This book by the Solnits isn't so much about the 1998 protest as it is about trying to control the story afterwards. Anybody who has attended an Occupy protests and then read about it in the news (or seen it reported on TV) has noticed the disconnect between the "official" version presented by the media elites, and the experiential version of those who witnessed and participated. This book helps explain how that
No comments:
Post a Comment