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__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. Introduction : Blank is beautiful: three decades of erasing and remaking the world -- Part 1. Two doctor shocks: research and development : The torture lab: Ewen Cameron, the CIA and the maniacal quest to erase and remake the human mind -- The other doctor shock: Milton Friedman and the search for a Laissez-Faire laboratory -- Part 2. The first test: birth pangs : States of shock: the blood birth of the counterrevolution -- Cleaning the slate: terror does its work -- "Entirely unrelated": how an ideology was cleansed of its crimes -- Part 3. Surviving democracy: bombs made of laws : Saved by a war: Thatcherism and its useful enemies -- The new doctor shock: economic warfare replaces dictatorship -- Crisis works: the packaging of shock therapy -- Part 4. Lost in transition: while we wept, while we trembled, while we danced : Slamming the door on history: a crisis in Poland, a massacre in China -- Democracy born in chains: South Africa's constricted freedom -- Bonfire of a young democracy: Russia chooses "the Pinochet option" -- The capitalist id: Russia and the new era of the boor -- Let it burn: the looting of Asia and "the fall of a second Berlin wall" -- Part 5. Shocking times: the rise of the disaster capitalism complex : Shock therapy in the U.S.A.: the Homeland Security bubble -- A corporatist state: removing the revolving door, putting in an archway -- Part 6. Iraq, full circle: overshock : Erasing Iraq: in search of a "model" for the Middle East -- Ideological blowback: a very capitalist disaster -- Full circle: from blank slate to scorched earth -- Part 7. The movable green zone: buffer zones and blast walls -- Blanking the beach: "the second tsunami" -- Disaster apartheid: a world of green zones and red zones -- Losing the peace incentive: Israel as warning -- Conclusion: Shock wears off: the rise of people's reconstruction.

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, 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.

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 'Impassioned, hugely informative, wonderfully controversial, and scary as hell' John le Carré Around the world in Britain, the United States, Asia and the Middle East, there are people with power who are cashing in on chaos; exploiting bloodshed and catastrophe to brutally remake our world in their image. They are the shock doctors. Exposing these global profiteers, Naomi Klein discovered information and connections that shocked even her about how comprehensively the shock doctors' beliefs now dominate our world - and how this domination has been achieved. Raking in billions out of the tsunami, plundering Russia, exploiting Iraq - this is the chilling tale of how a few are making a killing while more are getting killed. 'Packed with thinking dynamite ... a book to be read everywhere' John Berger 'If you only read one non-fiction book this year, make it this one' Metro Books of the Year 'There are a few books that really help us understand the present. The Shock Doctrine is one of those books' John Gray, Guardian 'A brilliant book written with a perfectly distilled anger, channelled through hard fact. She has indeed surpassed No Logo ' Independent Hannah is in a mental health unit, in shock and rendered speechless following the sudden death of her husband and baby son. She pays little attention to her institutional surroundings as events play and replay inside her head. There is no way out, no way back, and no future she can possibly imagine, just an endless, unbearable present. Huia is also there, a long-term resident who lives entirely in her own inner world. Her mutterings, her sleeve-plucking, her foot-tapping? Well, that's just Huia. But who is she? What is her story and why does the mystery of the older woman start to play on Hannah's mind? Gradually drawn out of her own web of misery, Hannah learns to read Huia and decides to follow the tiny clues back to the source and discover the truth of Huia. In the process, she uncovers the strange bonds that unite them and finds it might, after all, be possible to save her own life - that families can and should heal. And that Huia may be her path to redemption. Two women, two literally unspeakable tragedies, two families, one powerful and unforgettable story. No one should ever be made to feel invisible. And you are never alone. **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)) The story of how countries are shocked - by wars, terror attacks, coup d'etats, economic crisis and natural disasters. And of how countries are then shocked again - by those who exploit that shock to push through economic reforms that, rather than help a country rebuild itself, serve only to further break it down The bestselling author of "No Logo" 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 50 years.