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Revisiting No Logo: A message from Naomi

Ten years ago, on November 30, 1999, tens of thousands of protestors shut down a meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle. The activists were not against trade or globalization, despite the many misleading claims in the mainstream media. They were against a system of deregulated capitalism that was spreading around the world.

At the time of the Seattle protests, my first book, No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, was at the printer. The book tracked the ascendency of the "superbrands" as well as the first signs of a new fight back against corporate power. It was good timing for an author-activist: I had the rare privilege of watching my book become useful to a movement I believed could change the world.

On the ten-year anniversary of the Seattle protests, with anger mounting at the open collusion between corporations and governments, I am rereleasing No Logo with an extended new introduction. Among other developments, the new essay looks at the unprecedented bailout of Wall Street, as well as the rise of the Obama Brand (the most powerful brand in the world right now) and examines the troubling gaps between its marketing and reality.

But I don't think this is a time for nostalgia. A new wave of exciting "climate justice" activism is underway in the lead up to the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, one that builds on many of the networks born in Seattle. As I write in Rolling Stone (full article below), for activists, Copenhagen "represents a chance to seize the political terrain back from business-friendly half-measures, such as carbon offsets and emissions trading, and introduce some effective, common-sense proposals—ideas that have less to do with creating complex new markets for pollution and more to do with keeping coal and oil in the ground."

Please take a look at the articles below, as well as a "from the archives" op-ed on Seattle, and follow the links to the many incredible climate action campaigns underway.

Happy Anniversary!
Naomi

The 10th Anniversary edition of No Logo will be available in the US and Canada on mid-November and in the UK in January. You can pre-order your copy.

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