Naomi Klein outlines 'The Shock Doctrine' with MSNBC's Olbermann

[Joanne98]

Naomi Klein, discussing her book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism with MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, outlines how crises, real or perceived, have been used by governments, especially the United States under George W. Bush, to strongarm a disoriented citizenry into accepting changes to its rights, and its government, that it wouldn't otherwise accept.

People "don't actually want to hand their democracies over to multinational corporations," says Klein. "So, you need some kind of a shock. And that shock could be a war. It could be an economic meltdown. It could be a terrorist attack, but something that creates a period of confusion, of dislocation, of regression."

"And then," continues Klein, "politicians come forward, playing a father figure."

Klein cites, among historical reference points, the shock from the September 11 attacks, the vehicle with which Iraq was invaded, the PATRIOT Act was passed and the military was largely privatized by firms such as Blackwater and Halliburton.

The Iraq invasion is the next example, framed as a failed corporate selloff following the aptly named "Shock and Awe" campaign, with which former Bush administration official Richard Armitage sought to make the Iraqi people "easily martialed."

"There is a word for what happens when you invade a country, especially on a false pretense, and then you grab its assets," says Klein. "It's called looting, right? And it's illegal. And Iraqis responded as if their country was being looted. Not as if it was being restructured, or developed, or reconstructed, or any of the cleansed words that were used to describe it."

"It was a corporate takeover with guns," responds Olbermann.

"Yes, armed robbery, yes."

As if performing an autopsy, says Klein, we are starting to piece together the ways in which we have been exploited by the shock of 9/11. Next in line for the United States, she and Olbermann predict, is the economic crisis. Says Klein, the best way to be prepared for the next crisis, and avoid a repeated manipulation of public consciousness, is to have ideas at hand when the crisis hits.

Video of Naomi Klein's entire appearance, including transcript, is available below. It was aired on MSNBC's COUNTDOWN with Keith Olbermann on November 29, 2007.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Namoi_Klein_joins_Keith_Olbermann_to_1130.html