Naomi Klein on Global Neoliberalism
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Naomi Klein on the end of "El Modelo." Question: Why did you write Shock Doctrine? Naomi Klein:It came out of reporting that I was doing in Iraq after the invasion the first year of occupation. But I guess it dates back earlier than that. I happen to have been in Argentina making a documentary film when the war in Iraq began. And it was a really amazing time to be in Latin America. This was 2002, 2003. And this was, I guess, the beginning of what we now think of as this pink tide that has swept Latin America. But it was a moment in Latin American history -- certainly a moment in Argentinean history -- where the economic model that Latin Americans call neo-Liberalism, Americans call the free market. But these policies of privatization; free trade . . . the so-called free trade deregulation in the interest of corporations; deep cuts to social spending; healthcare and education cuts; things like that, in Argentina they actually just call this "el modelo" -- the model. Everybody knows what the model is. It's the so-called Washington Consensus. It's the policies that have been imposed on Latin America first through military dictatorships, then as conditions attached to loans that were needed during economic crises . . . the so-called "debt crisis" of the 1980s. When I was in Argentina the model was collapsing, and Argentineans overthrew five presidents in three weeks. So it was this moment of incredible tumult and political excitement because people were trying to figure out what would come next. But it went beyond Argentina. In Bolivia they hadn't yet elected Evo Morales, but they had these huge protests against water privatization. And Bechtel had just been thrown out of Bolivia. And in Brazil they had just elected Lula. And of course Chavez was already in power in Venezuela, but he had successfully overcome a coup attempt. He had been brought back to power. So there were all of these things going on in Latin America that were all connected in this rejection of this economic model. So to be in Latin America when the invasion of Iraq began was a really unique vantage point from which to watch the war. I'm very grateful to have had that experience to have been able to watch that through the eyes of my Latin American friends who saw the war so differently from . . . from the way it was seen, I think, by so many of us in North America. They saw a real connection between their rejection of these economic policies and the fact that the same economic program was being imposed in Iraq through tremendous violence. And you really saw and felt those connections in Latin America. You know Bechtel just thrown out of Bolivia suddenly shows up in Baghdad with the exclusive contract to rebuild their water system. And what it felt like was that . . . was that there was a change going on; that this model that had been imposed coercively though peacefully through the International Monetary Fund, through the World Bank, through the World Trade Organization -- that that wasn't working anymore. People were rejecting it that the legacy of these policies . . . the legacy of inequality was so dramatic that the sales pitch of "Just wait for the trickledown" wasn't working anymore. And so now there was this new phase. And it wasn't even asking, and it wasn't negotiating. It was just imposing through raw violence. And that's where I came up with the thesis for the book, which is we have entered this new phase that I'm calling "disaster capitalism"; or the Shock Doctrine using a shock -- in this case the shock and awe invasion of Iraq -- to impose what economists call "economic shock therapy". So I think it was . . . It was definitely that experience of seeing it from Latin America -- a continent in revolt against these policies -- that made it easier to identify this as a new phase. And once I identified that I started to see these patterns recurring. After the Asian tsunami there was a very similar push to use the shock of that natural disaster to push through, once again, these same policies. Water privatization, electricity privatization, labor market ..., displacing poor people on the coasts with hotel developers. So a sort of social re-engineering of societies in the interest of corporations, which I think is what we've been doing under the banner of free trade. But now it's under the banner of post-disaster reconstruction.
Comments
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One of the best books I've ever read. Sadly, I just got to read it recently. However, good work Naomi, you are a beacon for us social justice advocates!
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Naomi Klein a couple of years ago: Using a crisis to advance your political goals is disgraceful.
Naomi Klein today: Lets use the crisis of climate change to advance our political goals and why not slander Milton Friedman in the process just for fun.
Lying hypocrite. -
A CHILD'S STORY ABOUT COMPOUND INTEREST, CLIMATE DISRUPTION, & NEAR
TERM EXTINCTION.
In 1951 I was in the 6th grade.
I was a smaht working class kid living near Bahstin, MA
Our teacher gave us a basic lecture on the increasing national debt
& how the debt was growing.
I asked incredulously;
"If we are the richest country in the world, how can we be in debt?"
The teacher's face went white, she appeared distressed, & after a
few seconds she answered; "That's a very good question."
The event is as vivid today as in 1951.
Bush's Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson openly professed; "We want people to
be able to get the CREDIT that they NEED."
Fatso Zionist bankster Larry Summers says that privatization is a "LAW
OF ECONOMICS."
The perverse continually expanding economy & its perverse compound
interest Jewish banking "story" encompasses all our lives. -
LA SISTEMA!!
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Naomi Klein
-economist..... hahahaha
she is NOT an economist, she is author,social activist and film maker!
she doesn't even has a degree of "anything" in university of Toronto.
She dropped out.... -
What a mental lightweight. She has no understanding of economics.
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Mixed economy is the way to go. Enough neoliberalism with its distruction of the working and middle classes.
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why does youtube or google not suggest naomi klein when you start typing her name? If you type naomi k it suggests like ten people i have never heard of before but if you type naomi kl there are no suggestions anymore.
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she was put on the no fly list for writing her book. needless to say, she told us everything they didnt want us to know.
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What a Marxist airhead.
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Neoliberalism: Become indoctrinated by the vile maxim!
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so that's what she looks like! I've only ever heard her on the radio. I assumed she had darker hair. don't know why..
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Fine but do you like cheesecake Naomi?
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NAOMI KLEIN - BRILLIANT GIGANT HYPOCRITE AUTHOR!!!
Amy Nold2 meses atrás
"Brilliant woman with extremely incisive perception." -
FROM BILLY GRAHAM TO G. W. BUSH AND SARAH PALIN!!! Neo Con,s GLOBALISM IN THE SPYRIT OF THE BIBLE!
”Neocon Globalist” Aspects of the Obama Administration
"A look behind the scenes shows that Barack Obama's Presidential Administration is predominantly filled with ”Neocon Globalist” individuals from previous Administrations, which should concern anyone regardless of their political affiliations.
Few actually understand who the people are that actually control American and global politics or their long-term agendas which have been progressing seamlessly over many decades.
This article explains ”Neoconservative” and ”Neoliberal” agendas of the Obama Administration which show its motives being entirely in line with deceptive long-term agendas of the global elite." -
Neoliberalism is mostly like a metaphysical belief in the market as the hand of God somehow giving order to the universe. These people are not only unthinkably greedy but are a world class religious cult. Thank you Naomi Klein for this excellent review.
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The most dangerous thing in the world is the condition we have in America where the major corporations run the foreign policy. When a company such as Exxon Mobil or United Fruit sees a country with resources they covet, and the country does not want to yield to every demand of the corporation, they merely arrange to have the government overthrown. Thus you have Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, etc. and the destabilization of the entire continent of Europe with millions of refugees.
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lol
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