### A Primer for the Looking-Glass World `Author:` Eduardo Hughes Galeano `Availability:` [[Suggestions]] > [!info] > ![[IMG_0814.jpeg]] ## Summary ‘In a series of mock lesson plans and a "program of study" Galeano provides an eloquent, passionate, funny and shocking exposé of First World privileges and assumptions. From a master class in "The Impunity of Power" to a seminar on "The Sacred [[Cars|Car]]"--with tips along the way on "How to Resist Useless Vices" and a declaration of the "The Right to Rave"--he surveys a world unevenly divided between abundance and deprivation, carnival and torture, power and helplessness.  We have accepted a "reality" we should reject, he writes, one where poverty kills, people are hungry, machines are more precious than humans, and children work from dark to dark. In the North, we are fed on a diet of artificial need and all made the same by things we own; the South is the galley slave enabling our greed.’ ## Key Takeaways Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World by Eduardo Galeano is a trenchant, satirical critique of global inequality, written in the form of a “schoolbook” to teach readers about the distorted values of the modern world. Here are the key points and themes: 📘  Key Points from Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World 1.  The World Is Inverted Galeano’s central metaphor is that the world operates as though viewed through a looking-glass—[[Morality]], logic, and justice are inverted. What should be condemned is celebrated, and what should be valued is discarded. - The poor subsidise the lifestyles of the rich. - [[Violence]] is condemned in the streets but celebrated in [[War]] and profit-making. - Children are taught obedience rather than critical [[Thinking]]. 2.  [[Education]] as [[Indoctrination]] The book criticises how formal education often suppresses dissent, rewards conformity, and prepares students to serve the system rather than challenge it. - “The school of the world teaches the art of failure.” - Education often mirrors consumer culture, prioritising obedience over creativity or questioning. 3.  Inequality Is Global and Structural Galeano explores the deep divides between the Global North and South, exposing how wealthier countries benefit from the exploitation of poorer ones. - Poor nations are punished for the consequences of a system they didn’t design. - Wealth is extracted from the South through unfair trade, debt, and corporate dominance. 4.  The Normalisation of Absurdity Galeano shows how [[injustice]] has become ordinary, even invisible, through mass [[Media]], education, and culture. - Advertising promotes consumption as happiness. - Prisons grow while schools decline. - The [[Economics|economy]] prioritises profit over people or the planet. 5.  Critique of Neoliberalism and Consumer Culture Galeano attacks the global economic system for promoting [[Individualism]], market supremacy, and economic “efficiency” at the expense of dignity, justice, and [[Community]]. - Neoliberal policies are portrayed as inevitable “truths” rather than ideological choices. - “Success” is redefined in terms of money, power, and possessions. 6.  Violence and Fear as Social Tools Violence—both physical and systemic—is used to maintain the [[Status]] quo. Fear is a method of social control. - Crime is used as a justification for authoritarian policing. - Fear keeps the poor isolated, submissive, and mistrustful of solidarity. 7.  Hope and Subversion Despite its bleak vision, the book ends with a call to imagine and create an alternative world. - Galeano encourages remembering other ways of being, rooted in solidarity, memory, and defiance. - “The nobodies” of the world—its forgotten and marginalised—are presented as seeds of resistance. ## Quotes - ## Notes `Concepts:` `Knowledge Base:` [[Books index]]