We Are Everywhere: The Irresistible Rise of Global Anti-Capitalism [Paperback]

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Book Description

Series: Notes from Nowhere Editorial | Publication Date: October 30, 2003

We Are Everywhere is a whirlwind collection of writings, images and ideas for direct action by people on the frontlines of the global anticapitalist movement. This is a movement of untold stories, because those from below are not those who get to write history, even though we are the ones making it. We Are Everywhere wrenches our history from the grasp of the powerful and returns it to the streets, fields and neighbourhoods where it was made.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Rather than one dominant political voice, one dogma, one party line, we present you with a collision of subjectivities... moments both intimate and public, charged with inspiration, fear, humor, the everyday, and the historic." So begins this 7" 5", b&w photo-studded tour of the global justice movement's many locales and leaderless actors, from a mostly London-based editorial collective that includes an editor of New Internationalist magazine. The book is divided into seven primer-like chapters-"Emergence," "Networks," "Autonomy," "Carnival," "Clandestinity," "Power" and "Walking"-each with a headline-like subtitle (e.g., "Power: building it without taking it"). The book as a whole makes a case for "direct action," or organized resistance to specific policies or decisions, in a manner that owes the most to Gandhi's targeted nonviolence. The book reveals a movement for whom protest is taken to be a more effective political tool than electoral politics, since the latter realm is, in their view, controlled by lobbies for largely profit-based (rather than people-based) interests. In addition to vivid reportage (including terrific action pix) of specific events around the world, numerous voices explain how they built and now maintain their own "affinity groups," or small collectives that operate in their own manners, with representatives sent to larger umbrella organizations. The idea is to show readers how to form their own groups and to convince them to do so. With its on-the-ground documentation of and practical tips for protest, this book makes an ideal companion to more big-picture works like Noreena Hertz's The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

A response for anyone who may have questioned whether anarchy could really work. -- ikkygrrl, Fifth Estate, Detroit, Spring 2004

If a book could be a carnival instead of a linear narrative, it would read like this. -- Naomi Klein

Jjoyously reflects the rich multicultural lifeblood of these troublemakers and analyzes the economic disparities that motivate them. -- Michael Simmons, High Times, 27 February 2004

Reflects the voices of the voiceless...Read this book. -- Jeff Conant, Newtopiamagazine, 10 February 2004

This is an uprising as big as the revolution that shook the world between 1890 and 1920. Beware. -- Asian Vice President of Goldman Sachs

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Verso (October 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859844472
• ISBN-13: 978-1859844472
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,104,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful, September 25, 2004

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varmint (Boston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We Are Everywhere: The Irresistible Rise of Global Anti-Capitalism (Paperback)

This is a wonderful little book--well, may be not so little at 500+ pages. It gives a good overview of the more radical end of the global justice movement (aka, the "so-called anti-globalization movement"), with its emphasis on openness to multiple viewpoints; direct, participatory democracy; direct action; etc. It's divided into six sections, each of which starts by an analytical but accessible essay by the collective members--"Emergence: An Irresistable Global Uprising", "Networks: The Ecology of the Movement", "Power: Building it Without Taking it", etc. Each section then follows with a number of brief pieces, interviews with or articles by people involved the global justice movement, from all over the world. If you are depressed about what a mess the world is in, this can provide some inspirational reading. It will also provide a good overview of the radical wing of the global justice movement, as much as one can provide an overview of something so complex. If you don't know much about the radical wing of the global justice movement, reading the analytical essays and some of the reports by activists from the field should give you a good feel for it. I say "should" because apparently one of the previous reviewers came away with the bizarre impression that the radical wing of the global justice movement is dominated by Marxist-Leninists. Marxist-Leninism is, thankfully, (mostly) dead. The writers in this book are inspired by anarchism, libertarian Marxism, Gandhianism, etc. The orientation is towards building radical, grassoots democracy and counter-institutions--not seizing state power; towards dialogue between multiple viewpoints--not silencing those who disagree with you; and a wariness of the trap of armed struggle, even among those who aren't pacifists--not shooting your enemies.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An honest and humourous roundup, January 9, 2004

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"tumult17" - See all my reviews

This review is from: We Are Everywhere: The Irresistible Rise of Global Anti-Capitalism (Paperback)

One of the few books i have read on the anti-capitalist movement that covers the wide network of resistance that i have come across. They are honest enough not to prescribe detailed solutions but give enough informed thought for the reader to understand and make their own minds up.

Designed in a novel landscape format, with hundreds of pictures to break up the short texts, it is at once intelectual while also managing to be clear and exciting to read.

If you buy one book about this movement of movements get this one, you will be amazed by its breadth and imagination.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars anti-globalization alive and well, May 11, 2004

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"redghost37" (heart of the empire) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We Are Everywhere: The Irresistible Rise of Global Anti-Capitalism (Paperback)

first, the first reviewer obviously never read the book. the ideas in it are NOT communist or socialist, but ANARCHIST. a good number of the groups mention in the book are organized in a non hierarchal way.

this is a good account of the rising anti-globalization movement. with the fall of communism (and the "victory" of capitalism") came what was known as the end of history. the ant-globalism movement is bring about the end of the end of history. capitalists thought they had won when communism "fell" but all that happened was it gained a new enemy. the tatics used by the WTO, WB, IMF, and gang of 8 (G8) and multinational corporations have created an enemy multiple times larger then communism ever was; the people of the world.

people are pissed off at global capitalism, it ruins millions of lives all in the name of "progress" the elite are running scared of the people, this can be seen since J18, and N30. they now hold their summits in locations virually inaccessible to the people their policies effect. this book is a great documentation of the movement, and where the world is likely heading.