The Shock Doctrine: An EXCELLENT Review...

The Face Of Fascism In A
Global System Heading For Collapse

By Juan Santos

31 December, 2007
Countercurrents.org
http://www.countercurrents.org/santos311207.htm


A Review of The Shock Doctrine


"The signs of war on the horizon are clear.
The war, like fear, also has a smell.
And now we can begin to breathe its stench in our lands.
In the words of Naomi Klein, we need to prepare ourselves for the shock."

- Subcomandante Marcos, EZLN –


Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatistas is a poet, but he is not just any poet: he’s a poet armed not only with words, but with bullets – and not only with words and bullets, but with the heart of the Mayan people of Chiapas. He is a poet and a revolutionary who abandoned the ivory tower for the jungle – for the Selva Lacandona - to live with, to fight with, and to die with los de ‘bajo – the people on the bottom, who lives are crushed beneath the weight of the pyramid of Empire. He has taken their part, their lot, their future as his own.

Naomi Klein is a writer, one who sees with the eyes of her heart, one who backs the knowledge and vision of the heart with the most rigorous research - research she uses to build the sharpest and most aggressively articulated and documented of cases, a case developed as if our lives depended on it. They do. And Klein, like Subcomandante Marcos, has taken sides, the side of the poor. Marcos has said her latest book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, “is one of those books that is worth having in your hands. It is also a very dangerous book.”

“Its danger,” he says, “resides in that it is possible to understand what it says.” In the clearest terms, The Shock Doctrine lays bare the vicious nature of capitalist globalization, and shows us how and why our world has been so radically transformed over the last half-century; Klein spills the blood of the lie that “free markets” mean free people. She builds and proves a solid - often breathtaking– case that the global “free market” has been imposed around the world through terror. She calls it “shock” – with all the graphic undercurrents of electric shock treatments, torture and deep trauma that the word implies – spelled out in exquisitely researched detail. Her tale is the tale of the rise of “corporatism” – a technical word for the economic and political system called fascism – on a global scale. While a few Left pundits like Alexander Cockburn almost dismiss Klein’s work for ignoring the precedents of capitalist terrorism prior to the era of globalization, they miss entirely that her book is focused on a particular period of history and on stripping bare the real meaning of the time we have lived through over the last generation. They also miss the power of the writing and the sense of values and the heart-felt methodology that guides and informs it.

Subcomandante Marcos is right when he says that the book’s danger for the rulers “resides in that it is possible to understand what it says.” Klein has written a book on global political economy – one that is as gripping as the best murder mystery, as well researched as the best investigative journalism – on a par with the work of a Seymour Hersh. The Shock Doctrine is as accessible as a history by Howard Zinn, and nearly as evocative in some of its storytelling as the writing of Eduardo Galeano.

That’s why The Shock Doctrine – surprisingly for a scathing and in-depth leftist critique of globalization – is already on the best seller lists in six countries. Klein tells a meaningful and fully comprehensible story in human terms that makes sense of the world we have lived in. It’s the global story of our lives, one that contextualizes, crystallizes and personalizes the meaning of what we’ve lived through and often only dimly understood. She brings our recent history, the world around us, and thus our lives themselves, into sudden clarity and focus.

Klein’s central metaphor – yes, this is a book on fascism and global political economy that has a central metaphor – is shock treatment; its development as a means to wipe clean the meaning of a human personality and to replace it with a newly programmed persona, one in line with the electrical master’s wishes. At the outset of her book, she talks in depth with – she encounters - a survivor of electroshock - one of the victims of the early experiments that would be used by the CIA to write manuals on torture - as the woman struggles daily with the problems of reclaiming a memory that has been erased, and with reconstructing a life, a history and a personality that has been wiped out by a man - call him a doctor, call him a torturer -sworn to heal her, by a man sworn to do no harm.

In The Shock Doctrine the personal and political are inseparable. The lies, betrayals and brutal political manipulations of its antagonists (who seek to wipe the slate clean in “maladjusted” countries and bring them under their own control the way that experts in electroshock and CIA torturers seek to wipe out human memory and personality) and the valiant and often tragic resistance of its protagonists, are told with an immediacy that is lacking in any kind of “charitable” pity or condescension. Instead, the immediacy and vividness of her story is empowered and made more compelling by a consistently rigorous research that, in Klein’s hands, nails the truth and that makes its emotional impact inescapable.

Although she doesn’t bore us with the “correct” theoretical arguments that critics like Cockburn would seem to prefer, Klein is dealing in The Shock Doctrine with one of the core contradictions of capitalism, the relationship between bourgeois dictatorship and bourgeois democracy, and she shows us, through example after compelling example, how, under capitalism and imperialism, the reality of bourgeois dictatorship trumps the illusion of bourgeois democracy every time.

She shows us in vivid examples the reality behind the theory, how “democracy” and negotiation and the power to make decisions over our lives is reserved for the capitalist and imperial elites, who then impose the end result of their of their debates - their desires - on those who are most vulnerable to them, and how they do so, consciously, just at the moments when we are most critically vulnerable. As “free market” economist Milton Friedman put it, “Only a crisis, actual or perceived, produces real change.” The logic, actually, the pathology, Klein exposes, is the now-global pathology of the rapist, the serial killer, the fascist, of the torturers of Abu Ghraib; of the Hannibal Lectors in business suits who both run and gorge themselves on the world. Here the essence of the world capitalist, who, as Marx put it, is the “soul of capitalism personified.” The brutal pathology and machinations of these men are shown, in concrete example after example, unmistakably for what they are; the pathology and methodology of torturers whose aim is not mere terror, but the gutting of people’s lives and livelihoods - the gutting of the world for their own enrichment. Klein doesn’t rely, as such, on the terms for them that I’ve just used. She’s not name-calling or breathing hell and damnation. She lets the stories she tells and the documentation that backs the stories - the documentation that makes them coherent extensions of one another across decades and vast distances – speak for themselves. They do just that, and the conclusions to be drawn from the picture the stories reveal are unavoidable.

What do the iconic events of our era - Pinochet's coup in Chile, the death squads throughout Latin America, Tienanmen Square and the capitalist conversion of China and Russia, the strangulation of the liberation struggle in South Africa, NAFTA, the birth of a new spirit of resistance in Latin America, the planes slamming into the towers in New York, the “Shock and Awe” unleashed against Iraq, the so - called "War on Terror," and the preparations for fascism in the US have to do with one another? What are globalization and neoliberalism, and how and why did they arise? Klein lays it out in stunning detail. See the finely produced short film that introduces the book at the link below.

http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/short-film

For all the horror and overwhelming power of the global elites that Klein depicts, her conclusion is as hopeful as it is realistic. She tells us, in effect, that systems based on shock, terror, repression and exploitation cannot be sustained. She puts the matter simply and with concrete examples from around the world: Shock wears off. The story returns, memory, continuity, coherence and meaning return. The soul returns. The victim of torture can come to her senses once more. Submission can be cast aside, the will to resist, the will to live, reasserts itself. Lives, homes, cultures and economies shattered by crisis and repression – wiped out by shock- can be restored. “Information,” she tells us, “is shock resistance. Arm yourself.”
http://www.countercurrents.org/santos311207.htm

Juan Santos is a Los Angeles based writer and editor. His essays from 2006 can be found at:
http://the-fourth-world.blogspot.com/. He can be reached at: JuanSantos@Mexica.net.

It was a very good year. I finished Krugman already, now reading Wolf. Klein is next.

I have heard mixed reviews.

Probably 8/10. Not surprisingly it was statistic-heavy and a little dry - academic in nature, I would say. But the facts are laid out nicely and irrefutably. Our country is in deep trouble and it is going to take something major to rescue it.

So you have to expect a minor deluge of data. Thanks for the response. I think I will be picking "Shock Doctrine" and Krugman's book up this week end.

One can tell that his politics are directly aligned with the typical pissed off/desperate/hopeful DUer, but if you're looking for presentation that matches Franken's or Ivins' wit or Parenti's passion or Palast's or Klein's prose, this one will leave you a little unsatisfied. Happy reading!

Edit: typo

well educated about "the problem," something I've been aware of for years, yet lack the organizing power to CHANGE what's going on. We seemed to have lost some fundamental organizing capability, to bring disparate groups together who agree on what the problem is and can agree on what needs to be done to fix it.

After reading Naomi Klien's Shock Doctrine I don't feel a deep need to read more political books. I now know the recipe. Spotting new cooks is an easier task.

It is an excellent book. I think it is important to read the last portion which is optimistic in tone and offers examples of those implementing constructive change.

but haven't read the book.

RE: Naomi Klein's interview.

I agree with much of what the author says however things are worse than she thinks (or leads us to believe). She doesn't think we are a Fascist state yet. There are many Americans who are now victims of this type of rule who would disagree with her. We are a Police State and Fascism does rule (Halliburton, Carlyle, drug companies, etc.).

Naomi said just her being allowed to talk proved we still had freedom of speech. She forgot her interview was not on the main stream media. It was on computer or cable. Many Americans (especially older and poor Americans) have no access so they are either in the dark or silenced.

Klein says the corporate rule of torture, fear, and chaos started in S. America in this last century. No it started during the Roman Empire.

The Empire was all about fear, chaos, etc. to get their power and wealth. Any economics major like Friedman and Strauss were aware of that I'm sure. Getting a prize for this concept to remove democracy was not a good and honorable thing for the world.

The Empire makers make up false enemies, etc. acting like they were protecting people. Freedom of religion and culture was OK until Roman Christianity was forced on them. So this reign of torture, fear, and chaos is an old method of rule by the few (the few elite in Rome had more rights and wealth than their so called "Roman citizens in their Empire"). There was a division of rich and poor (like today). There was also religious tyranny and conflict for rule (like today). There was corruption and lies for more wars, etc. There was also a huge influx of immigrants into Rome. They were not full citizens as they were lead to believe. The conquered Barbarians of the Roman Empire came to her door demanding food and money since Rome had destroyed it all (destruction, chaos, fear, lack of planning) on their way to Empire. Rome then fell.

You can not talk about Empire without talking about religion and the wealthy few who rule today. Globalism for the wealthy few is not good for the world since the destruction and chaos causes environmental damage. It is worse today because of chemicals, nuclear weapons, loss of whole areas of the earth, etc.

It frightens me to think that democratically located universities such as the University of Chicago was (and still might be) the fertile ground for training future leaders to destroy our democracy by tyranny, fear, and chaos (Milt Friedman and Leo Strauss).

Professor Albert Einstein was a pacifist. He their hero (University of Chicago) would have been outraged over their warrior and nuclear agenda.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Friedman Milton Friedman was a Nobel Prize winner in Economics and taught at the University of Chicago (he trained Neo Cons).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Strauss Leo Strauss taught at the University of Chicago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein Einstein the Peace lover. Also a Nobel Prize winner.

Yale University is about the same with leaders like the Clintons, Kerry, Bushes, etc. Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfovich went to the University of Chicago. Yale used to be a Protestant religious training college. It now teaches globalism (world trade and power). It now has a huge endowment behind it.

Neo Cons have made a mess of the earth and destroyed not just our democracy but others around the world. It is not the time of the Dark Ages (but feels like it). The modern chemicals, weapons, and destruction could ruin human existence on earth. Pox on their arrogant elite.

I'm not a believer in any economic or religious policy being good for the world. Call it what you want...Globalism, Fascism, Socialism, Democracy, Monarchy, Communism, Theocracy, etc. We've seen the good and bad of all of these "government systems" to rule the people. Only a system which results in a safer, peaceful, and prosperous world for all will do since we all fall or prosper together. No man is an island rings true. In war there are no winners also rings true (even the elite fall and suffer in the end).

So far the Swedish government system of Democratic\Socialism worked the best. Capitalism still worked as did a religious community. The young, old, mentally ill, and sick still were taken care of. There has to be rule of law so chaos does not result. Corruption and greed with no accountability will destroy any country. We don't have any of that today in America. Did any one on that Nobel Prize committee think of that when awarding Milton Friedman that economic prize?

RE: Neo Cons Meant to Rule?
"Shadia Drury of the University of Regina, author of 1999's Leo Strauss and the American Right, says "Strauss was neither a liberal nor a democrat... Perpetual deception of the citizens by those in power is critical (in Strauss's view) because they need to be led, and they need strong rulers to tell them what's good for them. .. The Weimar Republic (in Germany) was his model of liberal democracy for which he had huge contempt," added Drury. Liberalism in Weimar, in Strauss's view, led ultimately to the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews. (I trust you see the Edward Luttwak teachings in that fact regarding Strauss’ teaching to people like Wolfowitz and Shulsky.)

According to Drury, Strauss, like Plato, taught that within societies, "some are fit to lead, and others to be led". But, unlike Plato, who believed that leaders had to be people with such high moral standards that they could resist the temptations of power, Strauss thought that "those who are fit to rule are those who realize there is no morality and that there is only one natural right, the right of the superior to rule over the inferior". (This is in part how we now have a government of tyranny over us rather than a government by us. If your peace, happiness and prosperity are waning, this is part of the reason why – our government belligerence towards us.)

For Strauss, "religion is the glue that holds society together", said Drury, who added that Irving Kristol, among other neo-conservatives, has argued that separating church and state was the biggest mistake made by the founders of the U.S. republic. "

Separation of Church and State made this country the most religious and diverse population in the world living peaceful next to each other. At the time, they weren't doing it in Europe. There were centuries of religious wars that continue even today. We see religious wars all over the world today but people won't admit that is the reason for the conflict among the people. The crooks and criminals (Neo Con elite) use religion as a reason to go to war for their own power and rule.

Without it...we would have what we have today...a fight for power and war. Theocracy is a terrible state to live in for those who want to be free...it is the Dark Ages all over again (Medici family like rule).

This is Leo Strauss' theory of government. Cheney, Bush, etc. believe that they are meant to rule. Problem is none of them are fit to rule. They are not the most talented or educated...smart. They are arrogant and murderous..they are thieves and liars. They are "inferior". So was Leo Strauss that lying, cruel, heartless, arrogant, traitor. How dare he (Strauss) come to this country and try to destroy our democracy. We gave him a home to prosper and he wanted to destroy what is good about it.

It wasn't democracy that led to Hitler's use of Jews as "bogeymen", it was Fascism. Corporate rule, religion, over government was allowed. The people lost power because of fraud by their leaders. They lacked wealth to fight it. There is peace in a real democracy because the citizens never want to go to war. Their leaders lie them into war and aggression out of fear. War is a failure of commuication. The only winners in war time are the profiteers of the weapons, bankers, military equipment, etc.

Their Neo Con theories are full of holes. I wish, I had been in their class to hear all this crap. Instead, I went to a "liberal" college in NY State. I would have told the professor and the students their philosophy doesn't fit into history. It is narrow and lacks intellectual common sense.

No society can be healthy or peaceful with these Neo Con corrupt types at the helm.

You should read it! You may, like myself, find yourself frequently thinking "I already knew about that crime". By the end of the book you might, like me, come to understand the sweeping vista she documented with detailed support. Documented, with lots of footnotes and references. Hers is not a conspiracy theory book. It is a reference book, in prose. She seems to take great care in avoiding any statements that are not supported by facts. It is a 'centerist' work, something reassuring to those still clinging to old assumptions (see vote fraud censorship for a recent example).


I wouldn't be so sure. I don't know myself, but I have heard her suggest using the term Authoritarian Corporatism (I think that was the term, can't be sure).


I would have suggested the Civil War, or the Federalist Papers, if it is US history. But if all of history is available, I'd say it started before the Roman Empire (though Cato's ugly echoes continue to this day). What about Ancient Egypt?

if we were a Fascist state as people stated. She said no since she is free to speak right here on this program for all to hear. At the time I questioned the bit of opinion.

I used the Roman Empire because it was one of the most powerful the world has ever seen. After the fall of Rome it took the world 400 years to recover. The devastation, infrastructure,education, government, etc. was gone. I read Cahill's book about How The Irish Saved Civilization.

I think it was this interview on CSPAN. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0ejNylVztk