by Eminent Canadian law professor and legal theorist Joel Bakan
[Forwarded from Sandy Mitchell]============================================
"We can have democracy in this country or we can have great
wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have
both." --Justice Louis Brandeis
Book: *The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Power*
Eminent Canadian law professor and legal theorist Joel Bakan
contends the modern business corporation is created by law
to function like a psychopathic personality.
Bakan¹s most recent book, *The Corporation: The Pathological
Pursuit of Profit and Power*, will be released by Penguin
Canada in March 2004, and in the US by Simon & Schuster.
Bakan¹s book was written during the making of the film THE
CORPORATION (co-created with Mark Achbar) and formed the
basis of the research and writing for the film.
Beginning with its origins in the sixteenth century, Bakan
traces the corporation's rise to dominance. In what Simon
and Schuster describes as "the most revolutionary assessment
of the corporation since Peter Drucker's early works," THE
CORPORATION makes the following claims:
-- Corporations are required by law to elevate their own
interests above those of others, making them prone to prey
upon and exploit others without regard for legal rules or
moral limits.
-- Corporate social responsibility, though sometimes
yielding positive results, most often serves to mask the
corporation's true character, not to change it.
-- The corporation's unbridled self interest victimizes
individuals, the environment, and even shareholders, and can
cause corporations to self-destruct, as recent Wall Street
scandals reveal.
-- Despite its flawed character, governments have freed the
corporation from legal constraints through deregulation, and
granted it ever greater power over society through
privatization.
Bakan urges restoration of the corporation's original
purpose, to serve the public interest, and calls for
re-establishment of democratic control over the
institution. Concrete, pragmatic, and realistic reforms are
proposed. A groundbreaking book filled with big ideas and
fascinating stories, THE CORPORATION is original,
provocative and informative.
"This fine book was virtually begging to be written. With
lucidity and verve, expert knowledge and incisive analysis,
Joel Bakan unveils the history and the character of a
devilish instrument that has been created and is nurtured by
powerful modern states. They have endowed their creature
with the rights of persons -- and by now, rights far
exceeding persons of flesh and blood -- but a person that is
pathological by nature and by law, and systematically
crushes democracy, freedom, rights, and the natural human
instincts on which a decent life and even human survival
depends: the modern corporation. This incisive study should
be read carefully, and pondered. And it should be a
stimulus to constructive action -- not at all beyond our
means, as the author outlines." --Noam Chomsky
"Bakan's *The Corporation* is one of those rare books that
opens up a new world. It's message is compelling -- and
more important now than ever. With exquisite historical
evocations and incisive contemporary examples, the author
challenges us to recognize the flaws inherent in the very
nature of the corporation and the practical possibilities
for reform. You will want to have the book at hand for
frequent reference for many years to come." --Robert Monks
"Since Rachel Carson's *Silent Spring* began to expose the
abuses of the modern industrial system, there has been a
growing awareness that profit at the expense of Earth --of
individuals, society, and the environment -- is
unsustainable. Joel Bakan has performed a valuable service
to corporations everywhere by holding up a mirror for them
to see their destructive selves as others see them. The
clarion call for change is here for all who would listen."
--Ray Anderson
MAKE SURE TO GIVE A LONG LOOK AT
http://www.thecorporation.tv/productdemos.html
Revealing CLIPS from the movie.
------ End of Forwarded Message