Naomi Klein and Disaster Capitalism

Writing about web page http://books.guardian.co.uk/shockdoctrine/0,,2159184,00.html

Disaster Capitalism is the neat neologism coined by Naomi Klein for her new book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. It refers to the phenomena of societies traumatised by disaster, natural and man-made, being seized upon by governments and companies to further neoliberal ends unachievable under normal circumstances. Where most see a crisis, neoliberal actors spy new market opportunities. With citizens focused on daily survival, the usual resistant forces are weakened for just long enough. As Klein sardonically remarks, “some people stockpile canned goods and water in preparation for major disasters; Friedmanites stockpile free-market ideas.”

The accompanying ‘Shock Doctrine’ represents the thesis that for market economies to mutate into something like hyper-capitalism, some crisis is necessary. Klein cites the prophetic words of the high priest of free markets, the now departed Milton Friedman, “only a crisis- actual or perceived- produces real change.” The transformation of Chile into a capitalist laboratory (full of monsters, one feels the need to add), amidst the shock of Pinochet’s coup d’etat, is identified early on as an exemplar.

Dazzling in its intellectual scope and impecabble in its timing, The Shock Doctrine may well replicate the success of Klein’s zeitgeist defining No Logo. Collected here is the melancholy tale of the privatisation of New Orleans’ public school system in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The revelation of the economic “shock therapy” that paired up with the “shock and awe” bombardment of Iraq, to impose a 15 per cent flat tax, mass privatisation and unrestricted free trade on the country. As well as the rapid handover of the Sri Lankan coastline to business interests following the 2004 tsunami, blocking hundreds of thousands of citizens from their old fishing lands. In more ambitious and contentious sections Klein seeks to integrate the Falklands War and the Tiananmen Square atrocities into her thesis.

The Shock Doctrine isn’t actually released in the UK until Tuesday, and the Guardian extracts i’m going on aren’t specific enough to assess the criticisms of her take on China and Russia A few broader observations can be examined though.

Some such as Chatham House’s Diane Coyle on the Today programme, (scroll right down to hear her debate Klein) point out in a critical tone, that it’s not only capitalist forces which have exploited crises and disaster. Indeed, one thinks of the October Revolution, with Lenin returning in the famous sealed train (“like a plague bacillus” in Churchill’s memorable phrase) during The Great War of that time. Klein actually goes on to note the similar strategies of communists and fascists in the book, and the point in and of itself doesn’t invalidate her thesis. Additionally, given the present distribution of wealth and power it’s entirely appropriate to focus on neoliberal forces.

A more challenging criticism put forward by Will Hutton and Madeleine Bunting is that free-markets have not always advanced on the back of shock. Klein’s reply to this charge usefully makes a distinction between those periods when neoliberalism advanced incrementally and those when it “leapt forward”. Long-term political and economic factors are necessary to explain the hegemony of the market, but they are not alone sufficient. Conversely, one point which no contributor seems to have mentioned is that the rise of neoliberalism cannot be decoupled from its twin, neoconservatism. Particularly with regard to Thatcher and Reagan, it was often their social conservatism
on issues such as crime and the family, that motivated low-income, working-class voters to vote against their apparent economic interests.

Returning to some of the responses so far, Alexander Cockburn’s surprisingly critical review is littered with misrepresentation and false argument. For starters, Salvador Allende was overthrown not in 1971 but 1973 (poor form for any leftist), and Klein speaks not of “shock capitalism” but disaster capitalism. The latter may seem pedantic, but it is the title after all, and as is so often the case, a small mistake precedes a big one.

For Cockburn seems to understand Klein’s shock doctrine purely in terms of capitalism using shock tactics to advance its goals, from bombing to regime change. This reductionist interpretation leads him to place Friedman’s economic “shock treatment” alongside the overthrow of Allende and the bombing of Baghdad. But Friedman’s “shock treatment” is not merely another weapon in the armoury of capitalism. As Klein shows, it is a specific ideological doctrine which takes on a life of its own only after a critical event such as a coup or military invasion. Thus, Cockburn erroneously conflates cause with effect. That this original error is so, is further highlighted by his failure to even mention in passing the section of Klein’s analysis which looks at natural disasters.

The rest of the review is largely taken up with detailing centuries-old precedents for “shock capitalism”, in short; you’re onto nothing new Naomi. This seems cheap; Klein’s specific objective is to document how disaster capitalism relates directly to the neoliberal counter-revolution that culminated in the 1980s. This is another blow to Cockburn’s standing following his recent denial of man-made climate change (as demonstrated in this extensive debate with George Monbiot) and one hopes Klein rebuts her Nation colleague soon.

As for the implicit question, ‘Well what would you do then?’, that attaches itself to much criticism, Klein largely seems to favour solutions along the lines of the more egalitarian days of mixed-market Keynesianism. Klein is neither anarchist nor socialist revolutionary, as she writes, “It is eminently possible to have a market-based economy that demands no such brutality or ideological purity. A free market in consumer products can coexist with free public health care, with public schools, with a large segment of the economy – such as a national oil company – held in state hands.”

Klein’s work is a mordant reminder that the forward march of capitalism has rarely been peaceful, and that the tendency to monopoly far outweighs any individually empowering force. That so many ignore or ridicule these elementary economic lessons is apt proof of such work’s necessity.

George Eaton : 17 Sep 2007 01:43 |  Tags: Alexandercockburn Disastercapitalism Iraq Naomiklein Neoliberalism Politics Theshockdoctrine Unitedstates |  Comments (3) |  Report a problem