Our Customers Review - The Invisible Doctrine

The first of our new customers reviews Arvind Sivaramakrishnan talks about The Invisible Doctrine by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison

'The authors keep it short and sharp.  The main reason we face global systemic collapse is neoliberalism, the theory that we are nothing but self-advancing individuals whose own success in an unfettered market benefits everyone.

During the government-led post-war boom, the super-rich and the heads of giant corporates created and secretly funded several neoliberal think-tanks; those, at the first sign of economic trouble in the 1970s, got immense media help in convincing politicians that all things public are evil.  Today, oligarchs own vast areas of manufacturing, agriculture, and services – but there have been several major problems, followed by state bailouts amounting to trillions.  Yet neoliberalism is so pervasive that we almost cannot imagine anything else.

Almost, that is.  Among the best responses is participative politics; the authors note that, perhaps following Porto Alegre’s lead, several cities and even countries have adopted forms of that.  Among them are Melbourne, Seoul (which has participatory budgeting), and Brussels.  The countries include Finland and Taiwan. Other examples would be Scottish community land buyouts and Nepali villagers’ successful resistance to a – possibly illegal - hydroelectric project in their grazing-grounds; the Nepali success has also helped protect the red-listed snow leopard.  This book is an education and an inspiration.'

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