Shock Doctrine

Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is being released today. Accompanying the release is the short film Shock Doctrine, by Alfonso Cuaron and Naomi Klein.

In the film, Cuaron and Klein make a compelling link between both engineered and natural disasters and the immediate shift in policy by governments to push through changes which, under normal circumstances, would have been met with widespread opposition.

The actions of the Bush administration serve as an example of how a population, having been left in a state of incredible shock after the September 11th, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, allowed their government to enact draconian legislation, engage in illegal surveillance, neuter the mechanisms designed to curtail government corruption and secrecy, and move power out of the hands of the people into a small group of elites. Without the leverage of the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration could never have imposed the form of authoritarian rule on the United States that they have gotten away with. Without the effect of shock, the population of the US would have railed against the blatant destruction of their civil liberties and lack of input into a decision to start a Middle East war.

Here is the short documentary.


I've already heard a couple of interviews with Naomi Klein in the past day or two. In one she was accused of being a conspiracy theorist. Here's the rub. There are conspiracies out there. The Bush administration, particularly where Cheney and Rumsfeld were involved, is a body attempting to hide a vast conspiracy which is now unraveling. It was only by pursuing theories and getting past the shock of a single event that the bits of evidence come together to expose the depth of such things.

We'll be posting a review of Naomi Klein's book in the near future.

To find more information on Shock Doctrine and how to get a copy, go here.