The Shock Doctrine - The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

**The bestselling author of No Logo shows how the global free market has exploited crises and shock for three decades, from Chile to Iraq In her groundbreaking reporting over the past few years, Naomi Klein introduced the term disaster capitalism. Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic shock treatment, losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers. The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman s free market economic revolution. In contrast to the popular myth of this movement s peaceful global victory, Klein shows how it has exploited moments of shock and extreme violence in order to implement its economic policies in so many parts of the world from Latin America and Eastern Europe to South Africa, Russia, and Iraq. At the core of disaster capitalism is the use of cataclysmic events to advance radical privatization combined with the privatization of the disaster response itself. Klein argues that by capitalizing on crises, created by nature or war, the disaster capitalism complex now exists as a booming new economy, and is the violent culmination of a radical economic project that has been incubating for fifty years. **Amazon.com Review Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine advances a truly unnerving argument: historically, while people were reeling from natural disasters, wars and economic upheavals, savvy politicians and industry leaders nefariously implemented policies that would never have passed during less muddled times. As Klein demonstrates, this reprehensible game of bait-and-switch isn't just some relic from the bad old days. It's alive and well in contemporary society, and coming soon to a disaster area near you. "At the most chaotic juncture in Iraq'' civil war, a new law is unveiled that will allow Shell and BP to claim the country's vast oil reserves... Immediately following September 11, the Bush Administration quietly outsources the running of the 'War on Terror' to Halliburton and Blackwater... After a tsunami wipes out the coasts of Southeast Asia, the pristine beaches are auctioned off to tourist resorts... New Orleans residents, scattered from Hurricane Katrina, discover that their public housing, hospitals and schools will never be re-opened." Klein not only kicks butt, she names names, notably economist Milton Friedman and his radical Chicago School of the 1950s and 60s which she notes "produced many of the leading neo-conservative and neo-liberal thinkers whose influence is still profound in Washington today." Stand up and take a bow, Donald Rumsfeld. There's little doubt Klein's book--which arrived to enormous attention and fanfare thanks to her previous missive, the best-selling No Logo , will stir the ire of the right and corporate America. It's also true that Klein's assertions are coherent, comprehensively researched and footnoted, and she makes a very credible case. Even if the world isn't going to hell in a hand-basket just yet, it's nice to know a sharp customer like Klein is bearing witness to the backroom machinations of government and industry in times of turmoil. -- Kim Hughes**** The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism ......Page 0 Contents......Page 5 Introduction – Blank Is Beautiful: Three Decades of Erasing and Remaking the World......Page 9 Shock Therapy Comes Home......Page 17 Torture as Metaphor......Page 21 The Big Lie......Page 23 Part 1 – Two Doctor Shocks: Research and Development......Page 29 1 The Torture Lab: Ewen Cameron, the CIA and the Maniacal Quest to Erase and Remake the Human Mind......Page 31 In the Shock Shop......Page 35 The Quest for Blankness......Page 36 The Science of Fear......Page 44 The Failure to Reconstruct......Page 52 2 The Other Doctor Shock: Milton Friedman and the Search for a Laissez-Faire Laboratory......Page 55 The War against Developmentalism......Page 63 Lessons in Regime Change: Brazil and Indonesia......Page 72 Part 2 – The First Test: Birth Pangs......Page 79 3 States of Shock: The Bloody Birth of the Counterrevolution......Page 81 The Economic Front......Page 83 The Myth of the Chilean Miracle......Page 91 The Revolution Spreads, the People Vanish......Page 93 A Witness in Difficult Times......Page 100 The "War on Terror" Cover Story......Page 102 4 Cleaning the Slate: Terror Does Its Work......Page 104 Cleansing Cultures......Page 110 Who Was Killed—and Why......Page 112 Corporate-Sponsored Torture......Page 113 Torture as "Curing"......Page 117 "Normal" Children......Page 120 5 "Entirely Unrelated": How an Ideology Was Cleansed of Its Crimes......Page 122 The Blinders of "Human Rights"......Page 124 Ford on Ford......Page 127 Part 3 – Surviving Democracy: Bombs Made of Laws......Page 135 6 Saved by a War: Thatcherism and Its Useful Enemies......Page 137 War to the Rescue......Page 142 7 The New Doctor Shock: Economic Warfare Replaces Dictatorship......Page 148 8 Crisis Works: The Packaging of Shock Therapy......Page 161 Passing on Odious Debts......Page 162 The Debt Shock......Page 165 Part 4 – Lost in Transition: While We Wept, While We Trembled, While We Danced......Page 175 9 Slamming the Door on History: A Crisis in Poland, a Massacre in China......Page 177 The Shock of Power......Page 181 A Very Hesitant Embrace......Page 186 The Shock of Tiananmen Square......Page 190 10 Democracy Born in Chains: South Africa's Constricted Freedom......Page 200 The Shock of the Base......Page 216 Reparations in Reverse......Page 217 11 Bonfire of a Young Democracy: Russia Chooses "The Pinochet Option"......Page 224 When in Doubt, Blame Corruption......Page 245 12 The Capitalist Id: Russia and the New Era of the Boor Market......Page 252 "Statistical Malpractice" in Washington......Page 265 13 Let It Burn: The Looting of Asia and "The Fall of a Second Berlin Wall"......Page 269 The Reveal......Page 278 Feeding Off the Ruins......Page 279 Part 5 – Shocking Times: The Rise of the Disaster Capitalism Complex......Page 287 14 Shock Therapy in the U.S.A.: The Homeland Security Bubble......Page 289 Cheney and Rumsfeld: Proto-Disaster Capitalists......Page 294 September 11 and the Civil Service Comeback......Page 301 A Corporate New Deal......Page 304 A Market for Terrorism......Page 308 15 A Corporatist State: Removing the Revolving Door, Putting in an Archway......Page 314 The Power of the Formers......Page 322 Part 6 – Iraq, Full Circle: Overshock......Page 329 16 Erasing Iraq: In Search of a "Model" for the Middle East......Page 331 War as Mass Torture......Page 337 Fear Up......Page 339 Comfort Items......Page 341 17 Ideological Blowback: A Very Capitalist Disaster......Page 347 18 Full Circle: From Blank Slate to Scorched Earth......Page 366 Dismantling Democracy......Page 367 Body Shocks......Page 371 Failure: The New Face of Success......Page 380 Part 7 – The Movable Green Zone: Buffer Zones and Blast Walls......Page 389 19 Blanking the Beach: "The Second Tsunami"......Page 391 Before the Wave: Foiled Plans......Page 397 After the Wave: A Second Chance......Page 400 The Wider Wave......Page 405 Militarized Gentrification......Page 407 20 Disaster Apartheid: A World of Green Zones and Red Zones......Page 412 21 Losing the Peace Incentive: Israel as Warning......Page 429 No Conspiracies Required......Page 432 Israel and the Standing Disaster Apartheid State......Page 434 Conclusion – Shock Wears Off: The Rise of People's Reconstruction......Page 449 Introduction – Blank Is Beautiful: Three Decades of Erasing and Remaking the World......Page 473 1 The Torture Lab: Ewen Cameron, the CIA and the Maniacal Quest to Erase and Remake the Human Mind......Page 475 2 The Other Doctor Shock: Milton Friedman and the Search for a Laissez-Faire Laboratory......Page 479 3 States of Shock: The Bloody Birth of the Counterrevolution......Page 482 4 Cleaning the Slate: Terror Does Its Work......Page 485 5 "Entirely Unrelated": How an Ideology Was Cleansed of Its Crimes......Page 488 6 Saved by a War: Thatcherism and Its Useful Enemies......Page 489 7 The New Doctor Shock: Economic Warfare Replaces Dictatorship......Page 491 8 Crisis Works: The Packaging of Shock Therapy......Page 492 9 Slamming the Door on History: A Crisis in Poland, a Massacre in China......Page 495 10 Democracy Born in Chains: South Africa's Constricted Freedom......Page 497 11 Bonfire of a Young Democracy: Russia Chooses "The Pinochet Option"......Page 499 12 The Capitalist Id: Russia and the New Era of the Boor Market......Page 504 13 Let It Burn: The Looting of Asia and "The Fall of a Second Berlin Wall"......Page 505 14 Shock Therapy in the U.S.A.: The Homeland Security Bubble......Page 509 15 A Corporatist State: Removing the Revolving Door, Putting in an Archway......Page 512 16 Erasing Iraq: In Search of a "Model" for the Middle East......Page 514 17 Ideological Blowback: A Very Capitalist Disaster......Page 516 18 Full Circle: From Blank Slate to Scorched Earth......Page 519 19 Blanking the Beach: "The Second Tsunami"......Page 522 20 Disaster Apartheid: A World of Green Zones and Red Zones......Page 525 21 Losing the Peace Incentive: Israel as Warning......Page 527 Conclusion – Shock Wears Off: The Rise of People's Reconstruction......Page 530 Acknowledgments......Page 533 A......Page 541 B......Page 542 C......Page 543 D......Page 546 E......Page 547 F......Page 548 G......Page 549 H......Page 550 I......Page 551 J......Page 552 L......Page 553 M......Page 554 N......Page 555 P......Page 556 R......Page 558 S......Page 559 T......Page 561 U......Page 562 W......Page 563 Z......Page 564 About the Author......Page 565 The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism 1 Contents 5 Introduction – Blank Is Beautiful: Three Decades of Erasing and Remaking the World 9 Shock Therapy Comes Home 17 Torture as Metaphor 21 The Big Lie 23 Part 1 – Two Doctor Shocks: Research and Development 29 1 The Torture Lab: Ewen Cameron, the CIA and the Maniacal Quest to Erase and Remake the Human Mind 31 In the Shock Shop 35 The Quest for Blankness 36 The Science of Fear 44 The Failure to Reconstruct 52 2 The Other Doctor Shock: Milton Friedman and the Search for a Laissez-Faire Laboratory 55 The War against Developmentalism 63 Lessons in Regime Change: Brazil and Indonesia 72 Part 2 – The First Test: Birth Pangs 79 3 States of Shock: The Bloody Birth of the Counterrevolution 81 The Economic Front 83 The Myth of the Chilean Miracle 91 The Revolution Spreads, the People Vanish 93 A Witness in Difficult Times 100 The "War on Terror" Cover Story 102 4 Cleaning the Slate: Terror Does Its Work 104 Cleansing Cultures 110 Who Was Killed—and Why 112 Corporate-Sponsored Torture 113 Torture as "Curing" 117 "Normal" Children 120 5 "Entirely Unrelated": How an Ideology Was Cleansed of Its Crimes 122 The Blinders of "Human Rights" 124 Ford on Ford 127 Part 3 – Surviving Democracy: Bombs Made of Laws 135 6 Saved by a War: Thatcherism and Its Useful Enemies 137 War to the Rescue 142 7 The New Doctor Shock: Economic Warfare Replaces Dictatorship 148 8 Crisis Works: The Packaging of Shock Therapy 161 Passing on Odious Debts 162 The Debt Shock 165 Part 4 – Lost in Transition: While We Wept, While We Trembled, While We Danced 175 9 Slamming the Door on History: A Crisis in Poland, a Massacre in China 177 The Shock of Power 181 A Very Hesitant Embrace 186 The Shock of Tiananmen Square 190 10 Democracy Born in Chains: South Africa's Constricted Freedom 200 The Shock of the Base 216 Reparations in Reverse 217 11 Bonfire of a Young Democracy: Russia Chooses "The Pinochet Option" 224 When in Doubt, Blame Corruption 245 12 The Capitalist Id: Russia and the New Era of the Boor Market 252 "Statistical Malpractice" in Washington 265 13 Let It Burn: The Looting of Asia and "The Fall of a Second Berlin Wall" 269 The Reveal 278 Feeding Off the Ruins 279 Part 5 – Shocking Times: The Rise of the Disaster Capitalism Complex 287 14 Shock Therapy in the U.S.A.: The Homeland Security Bubble 289 Cheney and Rumsfeld: Proto-Disaster Capitalists 294 September 11 and the Civil Service Comeback 301 A Corporate New Deal 304 A Market for Terrorism 308 15 A Corporatist State: Removing the Revolving Door, Putting in an Archway 314 The Power of the Formers 322 Part 6 – Iraq, Full Circle: Overshock 329 16 Erasing Iraq: In Search of a "Model" for the Middle East 331 War as Mass Torture 337 Fear Up 339 Comfort Items 341 17 Ideological Blowback: A Very Capitalist Disaster 347 18 Full Circle: From Blank Slate to Scorched Earth 366 Dismantling Democracy 367 Body Shocks 371 Failure: The New Face of Success 380 Part 7 – The Movable Green Zone: Buffer Zones and Blast Walls 389 19 Blanking the Beach: "The Second Tsunami" 391 Before the Wave: Foiled Plans 397 After the Wave: A Second Chance 400 The Wider Wave 405 Militarized Gentrification 407 20 Disaster Apartheid: A World of Green Zones and Red Zones 412 21 Losing the Peace Incentive: Israel as Warning 429 No Conspiracies Required 432 Israel and the Standing Disaster Apartheid State 434 Conclusion – Shock Wears Off: The Rise of People's Reconstruction 449 Notes 473 Introduction – Blank Is Beautiful: Three Decades of Erasing and Remaking the World 473 Part 1 – Two Doctor Shocks: Research and Development 475 1 The Torture Lab: Ewen Cameron, the CIA and the Maniacal Quest to Erase and Remake the Human Mind 475 2 The Other Doctor Shock: Milton Friedman and the Search for a Laissez-Faire Laboratory 479 Part 2 – The First Test: Birth Pangs 482 3 States of Shock: The Bloody Birth of the Counterrevolution 482 4 Cleaning the Slate: Terror Does Its Work 485 5 "Entirely Unrelated": How an Ideology Was Cleansed of Its Crimes 488 Part 3 – Surviving Democracy: Bombs Made of Laws 489 6 Saved by a War: Thatcherism and Its Useful Enemies 489 7 The New Doctor Shock: Economic Warfare Replaces Dictatorship 491 8 Crisis Works: The Packaging of Shock Therapy 492 Part 4 – Lost in Transition: While We Wept, While We Trembled, While We Danced 495 9 Slamming the Door on History: A Crisis in Poland, a Massacre in China 495 10 Democracy Born in Chains: South Africa's Constricted Freedom 497 11 Bonfire of a Young Democracy: Russia Chooses "The Pinochet Option" 499 12 The Capitalist Id: Russia and the New Era of the Boor Market 504 13 Let It Burn: The Looting of Asia and "The Fall of a Second Berlin Wall" 505 Part 5 – Shocking Times: The Rise of the Disaster Capitalism Complex 509 14 Shock Therapy in the U.S.A.: The Homeland Security Bubble 509 15 A Corporatist State: Removing the Revolving Door, Putting in an Archway 512 Part 6 – Iraq, Full Circle: Overshock 514 16 Erasing Iraq: In Search of a "Model" for the Middle East 514 17 Ideological Blowback: A Very Capitalist Disaster 516 18 Full Circle: From Blank Slate to Scorched Earth 519 Part 7 – The Movable Green Zone: Buffer Zones and Blast Walls 522 19 Blanking the Beach: "The Second Tsunami" 522 20 Disaster Apartheid: A World of Green Zones and Red Zones 525 21 Losing the Peace Incentive: Israel as Warning 527 Conclusion – Shock Wears Off: The Rise of People's Reconstruction 530 Acknowledgments 533 Index 541 A 541 B 542 C 543 D 546 E 547 F 548 G 549 H 550 I 551 J 552 K 553 L 553 M 554 N 555 O 556 P 556 Q 558 R 558 S 559 T 561 U 562 V 563 W 563 X 564 Y 564 Z 564 About the Author 565 In her ground-breaking reporting from Iraq, Naomi Klein exposed how the trauma of invasion was being exploited to remake the country in the interest of foreign corporations. She called it "disaster capitalism." Covering Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, and New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being hit again, this time with economic "shock treatment" losing their land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers. The Shock Doctrine retells the story of the most dominant ideology of our time, Milton Friedman's free market economic revolution. In contrast to the popular myth of this movement's peaceful global victory, Klein shows how it has exploited moments of shock and extreme violence in order to implement its economic policies in so many parts of the world from Latin America and Eastern Europe to South Africa, Russia, and Iraq. At the core of disaster capitalism is the use of cataclysmic events to advance radical privatization combined with the privatization of the disaster response itself. By capitalizing on crises, created by nature or war, Klein argues that the disaster capitalism complex now exists as a booming new economy, and is the violent culmination of a radical economic project that has been incubating for fifty years. **The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism** is a 2007 book by the Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein. In the book, Klein argues that neoliberal free market policies (as advocated by the economist Milton Friedman) have risen to prominence in some developed countries because of a deliberate strategy of "shock therapy". This centers on the exploitation of national crises (disasters or upheavals) to establish controversial and questionable policies, while citizens are too distracted (emotionally and physically) to engage and develop an adequate response, and resist effectively. The book advances the idea that some man-made events, such as the Iraq War, were undertaken with the intention of pushing through such unpopular policies in their wake. Some reviewers criticized the book for making what they viewed as simplifications of political phenomena, while others lauded it as a compelling and important work. The book served as the main source of a 2009 documentary feature film with the same title directed by Michael Winterbottom. (Source: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shock_Doctrine)) Journalist Klein introduced the term "disaster capitalism." Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri Lanka after the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed remarkably similar events: people still reeling were hit again, this time with economic "shock treatment," losing their land and homes to corporate makeovers. This book retells the story of Milton Friedman's free-market economic revolution. In contrast to the myth of this movement's peaceful global victory, Klein shows how it has exploited moments of shock and extreme violence in order to implement its economic policies. At its core is the use of cataclysmic events to advance radical privatization combined with the privatization of the disaster response itself. Klein argues that by capitalizing on crises, created by nature or war, the disaster capitalism complex now exists as a booming new economy, the violent culmination of a radical economic project that has been incubating for fifty years.--From publisher description An introduction to the concept of "disaster capitalism" offers an exposGe of how the global "free market" has exploited crises, violence, and shock over the past three decades to promote radical privatization that benefits large corporations and powerful interest groups.