mendations, including: •,Prohibit multinational corporations from investing in more than one area-of energy developmen.t through horizontal divestiture. • Reorganize the DOE to ensure that solar development is given equal support"in both financial and policy terms to the level of sup- - port now given to other energy R & D pro..: grams. . • Mandate that the FTC's Bureau of Competition and the Department of Justice aggressively and accurately monitor big ~usiness involvement in solar energy and putsue litigation where necessary. • • Mandate that at least 46% (the app. annual % contribution of small businesses to the nation's GNP) of all government solar R & D and procurement contracts be awarded to small businesses. Alarmed at the concentration CEP describes, the Senate Anti-Trust Subcommittee, c;haired by Sen. Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH), set hearings for October 17, 1980. As we go to press the hearings have been postponed until November 14, 1980. -:-MR The Big Business Reader, edited by Mark Green and Robert Massie, Jr., 1980, 640 pp., $4.95 from: The Pilgrim Press 132 W. 31st Street New York, NY10001 This is one of those books whose message remains with you long after you put the book down. While none of the information presented here is shockingly new (we all know that big business is unhealthy for people and the environment), I often found myself returning to information I'd read here to illustrate a point I was trying to make in some other context. The articles are wellresearclied and drawn from a variety of . sources-from a former GM·executive looking at internal policy making in that corpora-. tion to Ralph Nader on nuclear power. Corporate Governance, Technology, Health and Labor are among the topics covered. Good background reading for anyone seeking some of the better articles on this subject. -LS "South Africa's foot-dragging vexes U.S. Companies," Business Week, Oct. 20, 1980~ $1.50 from: Business Week P.O. Box430 Hightstown, NJ 08520 Gold is to South Africa what oil is to the Middle East . . . very big money.. . . the sort of balance of trade scenario (5-year payback on investments!) that attracts the multinationals. Undaunted by the "hassle factor" of political unrest, some Americanbased corporations are cleaning up in South Africa. The Fluor Corp., chief contractor for the SASOL Ltd. coal-liquefaction complex (see Winona's article, this issue) seems unaffected by "the blend of South African constraints, polemics back home from apartheid spokesmen, and pressure from stockholding churches, universities·, an'd other institutions on U.S. companies to divest themselves of . their South African operations." Fluor is acquiring valuable experience there that will tum an even bigger buck back home when they cash in on our $88 billion Synfuels program. This Business Week article really looks more at the overall state of the economy in South Africa than at Bob Fluor's little business, and the article's tone is certainly "Business Week" as usual. Still, reading B. W. is one good way to keep track ohhe comings and goings of corporate hoo-hahs. They're popping up all over the planet. -CC Frif!ndly Fascism: The New Face·of Power in America, by Bertram Gross, 1980, 420 pp., $15.00 from: M. Evans & Company 216 East 49th Street New York, NY 10017 Bertram Gross is an old-time New Deal · Democrat with a long i1:volvement in government planning and liberal reform. As a result, Friendly Fascism is interesting both because it is written from an insider's perspective, and because Gross is saying some fairly radical things for someone who has been so deeply involved in the rise of modern · corporate society. If you've paid much attention to the increasing power of the corporate/ government structure, then you probably won't find many startling revelations in this well-presented book. If the threat of fascism with a human face is a new concept to you, - however, this book is detinitely worth checking out. Two important points emerge as Gross analyzes the shape and future of the American corporate s_tate. One is that corporate fascism is not only possible, but almost inev- .•itable in a centralized corporate society. The other is that very few of the political and social reforms that occur in such a society will be effective over the long run. The only effective way to counter modern fascist tende_ncies and achieve meaningful reform is through a decentralized, locally controlled economic and political structure. -KB EDUCATION Hucksters in the Classroom: A Review of Industry Propaganda in the Schools, by Sheila Harty, 1979, $20.00/business groups, $1Q.00/educators, from: Center fo~ Study of Responsive Law • P.O. Box19367 ' Washington, DC 20036 . Twenty years ago the complaint about our school system was that it no longer taught the basics: reading, writing and arithmetic. Today it is criticized on a much more fundamental level-for stifling the creativity of youth, their ability to think critically and to December 1980 RAIN Page 15 REDDY KILOWATT. The Mighty Atom in Person! i: Q E ti) ti) 0 ~ ';: .5 ~ ~ r. • ...,. little atom! I split myself in two! -E I ~ply •• mony tima os I hcnre ;obs to do! ~ la Sumaer, Winter, Spring or Fall ~ 1'111 reody eYery hour; Ei • Mt _pash a switch and wa.tch me sip r~ . With li9ht or heat or power. _!: be self-reliant. Hucksters in the Classroom is an expose of the insidious and successful me_ans by which corporations have entered the classroom, promoting their products to captive children under the guise of objectivity, generosity and consumer interest. Free handouts have an immediate and obvious appeal to overworked teachers whose materials budgets (often one percent of a school's overall budget) have been severely slashed. Yet the information that actually reaches the students is often biased, filled with-half-truths and misinformation. Students are taught to read u~ing worksheets which display food and toiletry products as teaching tools(" 'A' is for Agree: the Shampoo and Conditioner that hon~stly helps the greasies"), cartoons are used to present the case of nuclear power (a Disney/ Exxon comic, "Mickey Mouse and Goofy Explore Energy") t~at appeals to a child's ;'natural . credulity and sense of loyalty" while making light of such serious issues as nuclear)"aste. The first half of Hucksters in the Classroom uncovers corporate propaganda in nutrition, energy, and economid education. The second half explores the means and manner of regulating corporate trafficking: who should be screening educational material? While corporate contributions are not outrightly rejected, several valuable recommendations have been suggested to curtail their use: 1) that materials be chosen discriminantly; 2) that they be used as a supplement rather than a basic teaching device; 3) that practices followed in selection be put in writing, officially adopted and widely circulated; and 4) that state law be used as a means of regulatory action. While changes in educational practice ~re necessary, the process will be a long and arduous one. Hucksters doesn't offer any easy solutions, but.it does raise important questions about the role of corporations in education and the responsibility of the educator to screen "free" handouts more carefully so that students will get the education they deserve. -LS
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