More hard hitting writing from the Black Commentator

In "A 'Movement' Against Walmart" the latest issue of the e-publication Black Commentator comments on the on-going Walmart story, and reports on some of the presentations at a conference in Chicago in January, "Wal-Mart, Race & Gender: Local Controversies, Global Process".

From the piece:

How does one describe - much less defeat - the phenomenon that is Wal-Mart? A "Death Star" that destroys all other economic activity in its path? A tsunami that permanently alters the social and physical landscape of every region it washes upon? The lead horseman in an apocalyptic worldwide Race to the Bottom?

Wal-Mart is all of that, and more - but powerful metaphors cannot substitute for analysis, and absent an understanding of how and where Wal-Mart fits in the deepening national and global crisis, there can be no coherent strategy to resist the juggernaut.

Unfortunately, as with the contentless language of "branding" that is a hallmark of ever-consolidating capitalism, the rhetoric of resistance as often as not papers over reality in search of a "marketable" package. Activists and recruits feel good to be part of a "movement" that promises to increase humanity's chances of survival. Maintaining high morale among the troops is vital to successful activism. But if baseless "movement" talk is allowed to substitute for real movement-building, then no actual Movement will emerge....
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One of the conference presenters, Steven Pitts, of Berkeley, has authored what looks to be an interesting report, "Organize to Improve the Quality of Jobs in the Black Community: A Report on Jobs and Activism in the Black Community."

The conference website doesn't have links to papers, but trolling around the websites of the individual presenters is likely to yield some good material.

Read the full BC article, and don't forget to check out, especially if you haven't read them before, Black Commentator's path-breaking five-part series Wanted: A Plan for the Cities to Save Themselves.

Images from the Black Commentator.

Index Keywords: urban-revitalization; Wal-mart