Politico: An Interview with Naomi Klein

[Joanne98]

Jul 24 2008

As a financial crisis batters the world economy, one of capitalism's sharpest critics gives her views on Iraq, Milton Friedman, Obama, and living with contradictions.

Marauding multinationals and their enablers in the U.S. government have a worthy adversary in Naomi Klein, a Canadian social critic whose books puncture the underlying assumptions that have made big business such a dominant, unchecked force in the economy and popular culture.

Equal parts skilled journalist and clever polemicist—and an unabashed leftist liberal to boot—the 38-year-old Klein is providing an intellectual arsenal for those who would like to replace today's capitalist robber barons with something apparently more benign and people-friendly, and would celebrate what they see as the common good over the grubby business of making a profit.

Klein's latest bestseller The Shock Doctrine, has become a rallying cry for opponents of President Bush's economic and foreign policies, much as her 2000 book, No Logo (which harpooned the brand-worshiping corporate culture that allowed big business to exploit third-world workers) became a focus for the anti-globalization movement. The irony is not lost on Klein that she has become rich herself in the process. In the middle of a tour for the paperback edition of The Shock Doctrine last week, Klein gave an exclusive interview to Portfolio.com.

Lloyd Grove: The hardcover of The Shock Doctrine came out in September. So what has happened since then that sort of puts meat on the bones of your theories? For instance, oil was skyrocketing to $80 when the book was published.

http://www.portfolio.com/views/columns/the-world-according-to/2008/07/24/An-Interview-With-Naomi-Klein#page1

[TrogL]

1. I heard her interviewed on the CBC

She does not pull her punches.

[applegrove]

2. That was a great interview. Thanks for posting.

[Joanne98]

3. You are welcome!

[Miss Authoritiva]

4. This says it...

To me, the core issue is democracy. It's whether there is support for the policies that are being pushed through in these moments of crisis. Because these crises are messages, they're telling us that something is wrong, so by definition they require decisive action and require change. I mean, there are some crises that are just fluke events, like the tsunami. But if we're talking about an economic meltdown, if we're talking about the market crash of 1929, if we're talking about the subprime-mortgage crisis today, we're talking about a system that is failing and is crying out for a solution. So my objection to what I'm calling disaster capitalism in The Shock Doctrine is precisely that it is a strategy. It is a democracy-avoidance strategy.

Klein is just such an extraordinarily intelligent and articulate person....always impressive.