Naomi Klein on Corporate Opportunism

Photo Credit: Mariusz Kubik.

Wandering the vast Internetz over the today I came across a post on DeusExMalcontent.com from last year referencing a couple articles I missed from Naomi Klein.

Naomi Klein, in case you've not heard of her, is a Canadian journalist who covers things decidedly unpopular to the establishment. Now, I'm sure most people would think of her as a "left wing" reporter, but I see her work as more anti-both sides of the political spectrum. She tends to slam both parties after all--the Republicans for their blind support of businesses and banks, and the Democrats for their lack of spine.

Buy it!

The first article the Deus Ex Malcontent blog points to is a Harpers.Org article from September of 2004. It's all about the US Iraq Attack and how it was never about WMD or Iraqi Freedom or even about the oil. It's really about creating a blank slate by clearing the playing field, both literally and mentally. This article seems to have been the basis for Klein's latest book The Shock Doctrine which compares the very frightening practice of shock treatment therapy to the way the military and big business seem to work in concert to remake a people into good little capitalists. The idea is that shock treatment regresses a single person back to near-infancy (as the theory goes) so that a new personality can be grown on a blank slate. The Shock Doctrine, Klein argues is the same process but on groups of people.

In the case of Iraq, the entire country is bombed into psychosis so that the survivors will be willing to accept any kind of (capitalist) society so long as it doesn't include the shit being bombed out of them.

The other article the Deus Ex Malcontent blog post points to is a piece by Klein on how the Beijing Olympics were just a huge advertisement for the efficiency of government oppression in creating the perfect little free market capitalist society. In the article, Klein explains:

These Olympics are the coming out party for a
disturbingly efficient way of organizing society, one that China has
perfected over the past three decades, and is finally ready to show
off. It is a potent hybrid of the most powerful political tools of
authoritarianism communism -- central planning, merciless repression,
constant surveillance -- harnessed to advance the goals of global
capitalism. Some call it "authoritarian capitalism," others "market
Stalinism," personally I prefer "McCommunism."

While I respect Naomi Klein, I find the word "McCommunism" a bit too glib, especially since the word communism stops meaning anything once people are told to buy and sell things that aren't theirs in the first place. The idea behind communism (I thought) is that the state/people own everything right? But this isn't anything vaguely communistic.

I'm thinking it's more a "Corruptionist" society.

Let's think about it for a sec:

In China, corporations buy their way into markets, essentially bribing the Chinese government to make foreign investment easier. If government wants the big businesses to function in their towns, cities and country, they'll do what big business needs them to do. Anything to get the money flowing.

HEY! That's just like America!

I guess that makes the US a Corruptionist society, too, huh?

Posted via email from thepete's posterous

---

Orignal From: Naomi Klein on Corporate Opportunism