Shock & Awe Doctrine

At a time when the United States is failing under pressure of 20 million workers unemployed the contest for leadership is between two men who supported the Iraq war. In 2003 Canadian journalist Naomi Klein was covering the occupation of Iraq. From her experience she formulated the notion of ‘Shock Doctrine’ from the torture of the people who resisted the occupation.

Klein reviewed CIA methods of repression. Analysing Milton Freidman’s economic doctrines Klein formulated the notion of ‘disaster capitalism’. The Chicago School of economic thought (Friedman was one of them) was behind the 1973 coup in Chile. Now the United States is in another crisis and Klein argues that the corporate elite are using these crises to devise ways of exploiting these shocks.

Andy for the Paradigm Shift has prepared the following report broadcast on the Paradigm Shift on community radio 4ZZZ (fm102.1 Fridays at Noon). Today is International Workers Day, May 1st, 2020.

This week Andy explores the ideas in Naomi Klein’s book “The Shock Doctrine” about how real or perceived crises are used to push through social and economic agendas. May be relevant for our times! Today we talk about this in relation to environmental standards, with EDO lawyer Rachel Walmsley and academic Emma Aisbett.