Reviews

Sunday Tribune (South Africa) 18 August 2002

by Chris Albertyn, Durban, South Africa

"If ever there was a moment to insist on the right to vigorously challenge authority, it is now. If there was ever a book to help us do it, this is it."

Naomi Klein in the foreword to "Battling Big Business".

Big companies have become more powerful than most governments in the world. Like some governments, there are companies who resort to illegal extremes against citizens who question corporate human rights and environmental abuses. "Battling Big Business" exposes some of the dirty tricks that big corporations use in bullying citizens who dare to question the ways in which they maximise profit. True to its title, "Battling Big Business" also provides disgruntled citizens with chapters that can best be described as a "hand-to-brand" combat manual.

Fifteen investigative journalists, researchers and even a private investigator have together compiled the first and most damning collection of cases in which big companies have been exposed for lying, spying and behaving just like the archetypal evil guys in futuristic James Bond movies. In this very real and chillingly described world however, the bad guys are not people. These villains live for ever; they are companies that have been caught out, Shell, BP, McDonalds, Sony, and Exxon to name but some of the case studies - the same companies who are preparing to parade their "green" credentials at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg next month.

This book acknowledges that there are many books about good companies with really good intentions and practises. The intention of this rare kind of book, according to editor Eveline Lubbers, is "to expose those companies that present themselves as born-again ethical enterprises while at the same time resorting to a bag of dirty tricks".

In today's modern world a company's public image ultimately determines its value on the stock market. Sometimes it becomes more important for polluting companies to fix their public image than it is to fix the actual problem - feeding the public the kind of disinformation that the Oxford English Dictionary now defines as Greenwashing. As more and more businesses are seeking to project clean and green images, sometimes irrespective of their actual practises, the public relations industry has ballooned into a $35 billion U.S. per year enterprise.

We do not know how many "successful" corporate dirty tricks campaigns there are - this book just records those cases that have been exposed and documented. The tricks are compellingly described and credibly referenced, based often upon transcripts of court cases and government inquiries. On the tamer end of the scale the book opens with chapters deconstructing the greenwash and other deceptive strategies of companies such as BP and Phillip Morris the tobacco and food giant.

The bigger the problem a company wants to hide from the public, the more likely they are to use dirty tricks to defend themselves, discredit their critics and get close to politicians. Burger giant McDonalds was so disturbed by a campaign by London Greenpeace that they hired two shady security firms to infiltrate and spy on the organisation, burgle their offices and frame individuals in preparation for court cases. One duo refused to be intimidated by threatening legal letters from McDonalds and opted to go to court. This backfired horribly on McDonalds in what became Britain's longest trial. The McLibel trial gave the activists a platform not only to prove their case against the fast food giant, but uncover a plethora of illegal and unethical behaviour on the part of the hamburger giant, the police and government spies. (see www.mcspotlight.org).

Battling Big Business documents a growing trend in which big companies with dodgy practises use an increasingly blurring mix of public relations companies, private investigation companies and security companies that practically amount to private armies.

While going to remarkable lengths in gathering intelligence on the next public relations threat from activist groups, some of these companies go much further in seeking to disrupt and disable their critics.

Shell, for example, hires permanent cybersleuths to conduct daily scans of the web to report on what groups around the world are saying about them. American company eWatch services 900 companies, alerting them to internet rumours, campaigns and chatroom web-discussions which may threaten their reputations.

The internet is an entirely new terrain that has to a large extent neutralised much of the media-buying power that corporations have. People no longer have to rely on corporate-sponsored publications (including newspapers) who choose what information the public gets. Communities affected by serious corporate abuse can now easily reach a global audience and quickly dent expensively crafted corporate images - and this book provides best practise examples.

The last six chapters reveal an inspiring array of creative strategies and tactics that groups around the world are using in countering this new cold war. Big brother is really watching us, though he is probably more often a big company than a government. Telephone tapping and bugs are common practise. The new terrain is now computer espionage. Some governments and business agencies use an electromagnetic eavesdropping technique called Tempest to remotely monitor computers without having access to them. Activists in Europe have now developed counter-programs to translate the monitor frequencies into melodies that can be received on AM radio.

Battling Big Business describes itself as revealing how corporate giants attempt to control their 'enemies' - and how groups and individuals can fight back. This it does very well. A few more chapters on the powerful relations between big business, governments and the United Nations would have provided a fuller and perhaps more alarming picture.

Even if the world so vividly described in this well-edited book was the stuff of science fiction, I would recommend it as a coherent and entertaining read about life on a troubled distant planet. In revealing a credibly documented compilation of corporate deceit in today's globalising world, it is a disturbing, compelling and yet empowering read.

Eveline Lubbers (Editor) 2002. Battling Big Business: Countering Greenwash, Infiltration and other forms of Corporate Bullying. Green Books. www.greenbooks.co.uk

Chris Albertyn is an independent consultant to governments, universities and environmental groups.