The automobile reigns supreme in North America today. A quarter of our working lives are spent paying for them; communities fight each other for the right to manufacture them; cities are torn down, remade and planned to accommodate their needs; wars are fought to keep their fuel tanks filled; songs are written to praise them.
In Stop Signs: Cars and Capitalism on the Road to Economic, Social and Ecological Decay, authors Yves Engler and Bianca Mugyenyi report scathingly on car culture and its many effects on our society. It’s a must-read for all those who wish to escape the clutches of auto domination.
The Kootenay Carshare Cooperative, a progressive alternative to private car ownership, is bringing Engler to town to give a presentation and lead a discussion on Thursday, June 30 at 7:30 pm at the Nelson library.
Everyone is welcome, admission is by donation and light snacks and refreshments will be provided.
An anti-car, road-trip story, Stop Signs argues that the automobile’s ascendance is inextricably linked to capitalism and involved corporate misconduct, political intrigue, backroom payoffs, media manipulation, racism, academic corruption, third world coups, secret armies, environmental destruction and war.
Author, urban planner and activist Yves Engler has been dubbed “one of the most important voices on the Canadian Left today” (Briarpatch magazine) and “in the mould of I. F. Stone” (Globe and Mail). His four previous books, including the “Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy” have been praised by Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, William Blum and others.
“Mugyenyi and Engler illustrate the relationship between cars and suburban living. You come away shaken, but ready to roll up your sleeves and contribute, however modestly, to constructing a new world in the twenty-first century.” -- Richard Bergeron, Montreal city councilor,
For more info: http://stopsigns.fairtrademedia.com