The Shock Doctrine - An investigation of 'disaster capitalism'

[Lodestar]

An investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance.


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Klein believes that neo-liberalism belongs among "the closed, fundamentalist doctrines that cannot co-exist with other belief-systems ... The world as it is must be erased to make way for their purist invention. Rooted in biblical fantasies of great floods and great fires, it is a logic that leads ineluctably towards violence." As Klein sees it, the social breakdowns that have accompanied neo-liberal economic policies are not the result of incompetence or mismanagement. They are integral to the free-market project, which can only advance against a background of disasters.

At times, writing in a populist vein that echoes her first book No Logo, published seven years ago, Klein seems to suggest that these disasters are manufactured as part of a deliberate policy framed by corporations with hidden influence in government. Her more considered view, which is also more plausible, is that disaster is part of the normal functioning of the type of capitalism we have today: "An economic system that requires constant growth, while bucking almost all serious attempts at environmental regulation, generates a steady stream of disasters all on its own, whether military, ecological or financial. The appetite for easy, short-term profits offered by purely speculative investment has turned the stock, currency and real estate markets into crisis-creation machines, as the Asian financial crisis, the Mexican peso crisis and the dotcom collapse all demonstrate."

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/sep/15/politics


Shock Doctrine: A Film by Alfonso Cuarón and Naomi Klein, directed by Jonás Cuarón.

"When I finished The Shock Doctrine, I sent it to Alfonso Cuarón because I adore his films and felt that the future he created for Children of Men was very close to the present I was seeing in disaster zones. I was hoping he would send me a quote for the book jacket and instead he pulled together this amazing team of artists -- including Jonás Cuarón who directed and edited -- to make The Shock Doctrine short film. It was one of those blessed projects where everything felt fated." - Naomi Klein

[daleanime]

1. Bookmarked

[subterranean]

2. Thanks!

I look forward to watching this when I have the time.

[zentrum]

3. A must see.

[certainot]

4. simple math and well established history of dis capitalism makes

the left's ignore-ance of 1200 coordinated radio stations the biggest political mistake in history

at a cheap $1000/hr x 15hrs/day x 1200 stations, rw talk radio is worth 4.68 BIL$/ year or 390MIL$ /month FREE for pro republican wall st think tank propaganda and swiftboating and spin on any national emergencies — 25 years of it......

and still being ignored into this election, when the right is more desperate than ever.

[2naSalit]

5. For those who have been

disappointed in PBO, it is important to recall that he taught ConLaw at the U of Chicago, the infamous home and founding institution of disaster capitalism... and Milton Friedman, the father of disaster capitalism and the actual "shock doctrine". So it makes sense that he would help create and promote the horrid :free trade" agreements we suffer from already and the ones we must kill now.

If you watch the movies in the OP, you will see the connection. The U of Chicago churns out little Milton Friedmans every year. Had an econ professor who was a Friedman protege, he made frequent trips to Estonia as an econ advisor, I always had an uncomfortable feeling about that... I ended up walking out of that school after a couple semesters and totally bailed on my doctoral quest after realizing this guy was going to trash my quest anyway.

[appalachiablue]

6. K & R. Shock Doctrine Neoliberal economics kills and must end..

[fasttense]

7. It's as if the feudal kings of old were running the world.

Only a few very rich own most of everything - check. A mass of poor dependent on the largess of those few rich and used to fight wars and supply labor - check. A very small middle class to supply intellectual properties and a stepping stone to poverty - check. A political class that is only interested in the needs of the uber rich - check.

I have a hard time figuring out exactly how capitalism is any better than feudalism. We need a new economic system that isn't modeled on slavery and feudalism.

[2naSalit]

9. Exactly! ...nt

[fasttense]

10. Interesting way of putting it. n/t

[libodem]

12. Kick

[libodem]

13. .