[Marxism] New Pluto book of interest

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

(Those comrades who recall Marxmail alumnus Andy Austin as fondly as I 
do will want to keep an eye out for this book. He has 2 chapters in it.)

Devastating Society - The Neo-Conservative Assault on Democracy and 
Justice, edited by Bernd Hamm. London: Pluto 2005 (january), 320 pp., 
ISBN: 0745323618 £ 17.99 / US$ 26.95 PAPER

Never since World War II have normal people found themselves so 
pitilessly pressed into insecurity of job and income, never so 
unashamedly exploited by a small clique of shareholders and political 
and economic cadres. Never have we been so openly deceived and dragged 
into war where thousands are being murdered or shot to cripples on order 
of someone who maintains to be Christian. Never was international law, 
the outstanding achievement of human civilization, bypassed so 
self-righteously and cynically. Never has the common good, the very 
fundament of any democratic community, so hypocritically been attacked. 
Never has the Fourth Estate, the media, so terribly failed to fulfill 
their task to critically observe and control those in power. Never have 
fundamental civil rights been so greatly restricted, and surveillance 
and repression become so all- encompassing. Never has public opinion 
been so perfectly manipulated.

Our political and economic leaders as well as the mainstream media must 
know that American society is deliberately and systematically devastated 
by the neo-conservative camarilla. Still, they tend to subserviently 
follow the dictates of the US government and the international financial 
and trade institutions it commands.

In fact, the Bush Gang is an epiphenomenon we are observing and, in 
part, analysing. The underlying cause is a system which allowed the 
BushGang to grab power, strangle US society and even wage war on other 
countries. What is this system? How does it work?

“A much-needed antidote both to simplistic anti-American rhetoric and to 
the view that current trends lead toward peaceful and sustainable 
futures. This book is vital reading for those tired of media evasions, 
who wish to think for themselves and to gain clarity regarding the 
current global economic and geopolitical order.”

Richard Slaughter, Foresight International, President, World Futures 
Studies Federation

"This is an important and fascinating book, which gives an original and 
scathing insight into the workings of the far right of American society 
and its impacts on social justice."

Jean Ziegler, University of Geneva

“Everybody should ponder these chilling indictments of the G. W. Bush 
administration’s self-righteous and cynical acts of dishonesty, domestic 
repression, war-mongering, corruption, and injustice. They show that we 
may have as much to fear from the BushGang as we have from terrorists.”

Wendell Bell, Yale University


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