Adbusters
 
The Adbusters magazine describes itself as "a not-for-profit,
reader-supported, 120,000-circulation magazine concerned about
the erosion of our physical and cultural environment by
commercial forces". What does that mean? Well, once every two
months you what might be described as an experiment - what would
a glossy magazine look like if it actually cared about what is
really going on in the World, free of any commercial
sponsorship? The results are surprising. The only possible
criticism may be that it tries to be all things to all men with
scatter-gun content. Large sections are dedicated to art works,
poetry and short fiction stories. If this isn't your thing then
you can skip these bits because there is always around
three-quarters of the material left to digest. The diversity of
topics is also surprising with everything from politics to
environmental concerns, everything from mental health to media
monopolies on air-time. You name it, if it fits the radical
agenda you will see it here.
Adbusters is just one outward manifestation of a larger
organisation based in Vancouver in Canada. They have a Media
Foundation, an Advertising Agency and something called "Culture
Jammers" that almost defies definition. They have various
campaigns running such as "Buy Nothing Day" and "TV Turnoff
Week". Then there is something called "Blackspot" which can only
be described as an anti-logo. Blackspot represents any product
or service that is worker or community owned and run
not-for-profit. This includes everything from Cafes to Running
Shoes. Visit their website at
www.adbusters.org and
you can find various products and "activist tools" to buy. This
includes teacher packs for schools, books, sneakers, "TV-B-Gone"
(remote control switches ANY TV off), DVD's, T-Shirts, flags,
and so on. The magazine comes out once every two months and
until recently was only available mail-order. However a recent
trip to a High Street Branch of "WHSmiths" (near London in the
UK) recently revealed copies on their shelves - even if those
copies were the out-of-date issues! Also note that they have a
UK edition (a recent innovation) alongside US, Australian and Canadian
versions. The contents are identical but the cover story
differs. This is a reflection of their expansion into High
Street Retail in those countries. A nice touch. A thoroughly
recommended magazine from a thoroughly recommended organisation.
Their campaigns deserve all our support.... "Our aim is to
topple existing power structures and forge a major shift in the
way we live in the 21st Century." Orwell will drink to that.
AK Press & Distribution - 2007
Catalogue
  Yes,
it's a Catalogue not a real magazine. AK Press originates out of
the US but they have a British Headquarters in Edinburgh,
Scotland. You can visit them at their web site at
www.akuk.com where you will discover that the web is
far more useful than the paper catalogue. The Catalogue is
somewhat bereft of any pictures of the publications whilst the
web benefits from a search engine and cross-referenced
classifications to help you browse. However, the benefit of the
Catalogue is that you can flick through it your spare moments to
spot something you might not have been looking for specifically
on the web. It contains over 3000 books, magazines, T-Shirts,
panphlets, CD's and Tapes. The example page (right) shows the
section for the works on Noam Chomsky. The Catalogue is
available free from AK Press in the UK. TCW sourced several of
the DVD's we have reviewed from AK. This includes Chomsky's
"Distorted Morality" and Arundhati Roy's "Instant-Mix Imperial
Democracy".
Ordering from their Web Site seems quick and simple
if you have a Credit Card. Orwell was delighted to find that his
package arrived with a personal note and a small refund for
postage that they had not needed. Now that is great Customer
Service that you often don't get from a faceless Corporation!
You can also order by post, E:Mail, phone or fax, and pay by cheque, postal order and
IMO. Discounts apply for Trade Orders. AK Press and Distribution
(Europe) can be contacted at PO Box 12766, Edinburgh, EH8 9YE,
tel: +44 (0)131 555 5165, fax: +44 (0)131 555 5215. Nice people to do
business with. Check out the Links section on their web site.
The US web site is at
www.akpress.org.
Recommended. New
Internationalist
New Internationalist contains many useful articles concerning
Global Justice and eroding effects of Empire. In their own words
"The New Internationalist workers' co-operative exists to report
on the issues of world poverty and inequality; to focus
attention on the unjust relationship between the powerful and
the powerless worldwide; to debate and campaign for the radical changes
necessary to meet the basic needs of all; and to bring
to life the people, the ideas and the action in the fight for
global justice" (our emphasis). So, whilst the Global Justice
movement is only a vague relevance (to Contract and Convergence
Strategy) the noteworthy point here is that radical changes must
be made to meet human need. New Internationalist was founded in
1970 and has its editorial offices in Oxford in the UK. It is
published monthly and is available through High Street
Newsagents in the UK such as WHSmith. To subscribe in the UK E:Mail newint @
subscription.co.uk or go to
www.newint.org |
