Naomi Klein
Encyclopedia
Naomi Klein is a Canadian author and social activist
known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization.
, Quebec
and brought up in a Jewish family with a history of peace activism. Her parents had moved to Montreal from the U.S. in 1967 as war resisters to the Vietnam War
. Her mother, documentary film-maker Bonnie Sherr Klein
, is best known for her anti-pornography
film Not a Love Story
. Her father, Michael Klein, is a physician and a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility
. Her brother, Seth Klein, is director of the British Columbia
office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
.
Her paternal grandparents were communists who began to turn against the Soviet Union after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
and had abandoned communism
by 1956. In 1942 her grandfather Phil Klein, an animator at Disney, was fired after the Disney animators' strike
, and went to work at a shipyard instead. Klein's father grew up surrounded by ideas of social justice
and racial equality
, but found it "difficult and frightening to be the child of Communists", a so-called red diaper baby
.
Klein's husband, Avi Lewis
, works as a TV journalist and documentary filmmaker. His parents are the writer and activist Michele Landsberg
and politician and diplomat Stephen Lewis
, son of David Lewis
, one of the founders of the Canadian New Democratic Party
, son in turn of Moishe Lewis
, born Losz, a Jewish labour activist of "the Bund" who left Central Europe
for Canada in 1921.
Klein and her husband live in Toronto
.
s, obsessed with designer label
s. As a child and teenager, she found it "very oppressive to have a very public feminist mother" and she rejected politics, instead embracing "full-on consumerism
."
She has attributed her change in worldview to two events. One was when she was 17 and preparing for the University of Toronto
, her mother had a stroke and became severely disabled. Naomi, her father and brother took care of Bonnie through the period in hospital and at home, making educational sacrifices to do so. That year off prevented her "from being such a brat." The next year, after beginning her studies at the University of Toronto
, the second event occurred: the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre
of female engineering students, which proved to be a wake-up call to feminism
.
Klein's writing career started with contributions to The Varsity
, a student newspaper, where she served as editor-in-chief. After her third year at the University of Toronto, she dropped out of university to take a job at the Toronto Globe and Mail, followed by an editorship at This Magazine
. In 1995, she returned to the University of Toronto to finish her degree but left the university for a journalism internship before acquiring the final credits required to complete her degree.
, which for many became a manifesto
of the anti-corporate globalization movement
. In it, she attacks brand-oriented consumer culture and the operations of large corporation
s. She also accuses several such corporations of unethically exploiting workers in the world's poorest countries in pursuit of greater profits. In this book, Klein criticized Nike
so severely that Nike published a point-by-point response. No Logo became an international bestseller, selling over one million copies in over 28 languages.
, a collection of her articles and speeches written on behalf of the anti-globalization movement
(all proceeds from the book go to benefit activist organizations through The Fences and Windows Fund).
, released a documentary film
called The Take about factory workers in Argentina
who took over a closed plant and resumed production, operating as a collective
. The first African screening was in the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the South African city of Durban
, where the Abahlali baseMjondolo
movement began.
At least one article in Z Communications
criticized The Take for its portrayal of the Argentine General and politician Juan Domingo Perón, which they felt portrayed him as a social democrat.
and the Chicago School of Economics
have risen to prominence in countries such as Chile under Pinochet
, Russia under Yeltsin
, and the United States (for example, the privatization of the New Orleans Public Schools
after Hurricane Katrina
). The book also argues that policy initiatives (for instance, the privatization of Iraq's economy under the Coalition Provisional Authority
) were rushed through while the citizens of these countries were in shock from disasters, upheavals or invasion.
Central to the book's thesis is the contention that those who wish to implement unpopular free market
policies now routinely do so by taking advantage of certain features of the aftermath of major disasters, be they economic, political, military or natural in nature. The suggestion is that when a society experiences a major 'shock' there is a widespread desire for a rapid and decisive response to correct the situation; this desire for bold and immediate action provides an opportunity for unscrupulous actors to implement policies which go far beyond a legitimate response to disaster. The book suggests that when the rush to act means the specifics of a response will go unscrutinized, that is the moment when unpopular and unrelated policies will intentionally be rushed into effect. The book appears to claim that these shocks are in some cases, such as the Falklands War
, intentionally encouraged or even manufactured.
Klein identifies the "shock doctrine", elaborating on Joseph Schumpeter
, as the latest in capitalism's phases of "creative destruction".
The Shock Doctrine was adapted into a short film of the same name, released onto YouTube
. The film was directed by Jonás Cuarón, produced and co-written by his father Alfonso Cuarón
. The video has been viewed over one million times.
The publication of The Shock Doctrine increased Klein's prominence, with the New Yorker
judging her "the most visible and influential figure on the American left—what Howard Zinn
and Noam Chomsky
were thirty years ago." On February 24, 2009, the book was awarded the inaugural Warwick Prize for Writing
from the University of Warwick
in England. The prize carried a cash award of £50,000.
, she argues that, contrary to popular belief, the Bush administration
did have a clear plan for post-invasion Iraq, which was to build a completely unconstrained free market economy. She describes plans to allow foreigners to extract wealth from Iraq, and the methods used to achieve those goals. The 2008 film War, Inc.
was partially inspired by her article, Baghdad Year Zero.
Klein's August 2004 "Bring Najaf to New York", published in The Nation, argued that Muqtada Al Sadr's Mahdi Army
"represents the overwhelmingly mainstream sentiment in Iraq." She went on to say "Yes, if elected Sadr would try to turn Iraq into a theocracy like Iran, but for now his demands are for direct elections and an end to foreign occupation". Marc Cooper
, a former Nation columnist, attacked the assertion that Al Sadr represented mainstream Iraqi sentiment and that American forces had brought the fight to the holy city of Najaf. Cooper wrote that "Klein should know better. All enemies of the U.S. occupation she opposes are not her friends. Or ours. Or those of the Iraqi people. I don’t think that Mullah Al Sadr, in any case, is much desirous of support issuing from secular Jewish feminist-socialists."
(BDS) campaign against Israel
, arguing that "the best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa."
In summer 2009, on the occasion of the publication of the Hebrew translation of her book The Shock Doctrine, Klein visited Israel, the West Bank
, and Gaza
, combining the promotion of her book and the BDS campaign. In an interview to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz she emphasized that it is important to her "not to boycott Israelis but rather to boycott the normalization of Israel and the conflict." In a speech in Ramallah
on the 27th of June, she apologized to the Palestinians for not joining the BDS campaign earlier. Her remarks, particularly that "[Some Jews] even think we get one get-away-with-genocide-free-card" were characterized by an op-ed columnist in the Jerusalem Post as "violent" and "unethical", and as the "most perverse of aspersions on Jews, an age-old stereotype of Jews as intrinsically evil and malicious."
Klein was also a spokesperson for the protest against the spotlight on Tel Aviv at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
, a spotlight that Klein said was a very selective and misleading portrait of Israel.
, The Globe and Mail
, This Magazine
, Harper's Magazine
, and The Guardian
.
Klein once lectured as a Miliband Fellow at the London School of Economics
as an award-winning journalist, writer on the anti-globalisation movement.
Klein ranked 11th in an internet poll of the top global intellectuals of 2005
, a list of the world's top 100 public intellectuals compiled by the Prospect
magazine in conjunction with Foreign Policy
magazine.
Klein was involved in a protest condemning police action during the G20 summit in Toronto, ON. She spoke to a rally seeking the release of protesters in front of police headquarters on June 28, 2010.
In May 2011, Klein received an honourary degree from Saint Thomas University
.
On October 6, 2011, Klein visited Occupy Wall Street
and gave a speech declaring the protest movement "The most important thing in the world."
On November 10, 2011, Klein participated in a panel discussion about the future of Occupy Wall Street
with three other panelists, including Michael Moore
and William Greider
, in which she stressed the crucial nature of the evolving movement.
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization.
Family
Klein was born in MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
and brought up in a Jewish family with a history of peace activism. Her parents had moved to Montreal from the U.S. in 1967 as war resisters to the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Her mother, documentary film-maker Bonnie Sherr Klein
Bonnie Sherr Klein
Bonnie Sherr Klein is a feminist filmmaker, author, and disability rights activist.-Film-making career:Klein worked for the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal as a director and producer in the late 1960s. Between that time and the late 1980s, she made dozens of films there...
, is best known for her anti-pornography
Anti-pornography movement
The term anti-pornography movement is used to describe those who argue that pornography has a variety of harmful effects, such as encouragement of human trafficking, desensitization, pedophilia, dehumanization, sexual exploitation, sexual dysfunction, and inability to maintain healthy sexual...
film Not a Love Story
Not a Love Story
Not a Love Story: A Film About Pornography is a documentary about the pornography industry. It was directed by Bonnie Sherr Klein.It remains one of the landmark works from the Studio D, the women's studio of the National Film Board of Canada...
. Her father, Michael Klein, is a physician and a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Physicians for Social Responsibility is the largest physician-led organization in the USA working to protect the public from the what they consider threats of nuclear proliferation, climate change, and environmental toxins...
. Her brother, Seth Klein, is director of the British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan, policy research institute in Canada that leans to the political left. It concentrates on economic policy, international trade, environmental justice and social policy. It is especially known for publishing an alternative...
.
Her paternal grandparents were communists who began to turn against the Soviet Union after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
and had abandoned communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
by 1956. In 1942 her grandfather Phil Klein, an animator at Disney, was fired after the Disney animators' strike
Disney animators' strike
The Disney animators' strike was a labor strike by the animators of Walt Disney Studios in 1941.-History:The 1930s led to a rise of labor unions in motion pictures as in other industries such as The Screen Actors Guild which was formed in 1933. Animators of Fleischer Studios went on strike in 1937...
, and went to work at a shipyard instead. Klein's father grew up surrounded by ideas of social justice
Social justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
and racial equality
Racial equality
Racial equality means different things in different contexts. It mostly deals with an equal regard to all races.It can refer to a belief in biological equality of all human races....
, but found it "difficult and frightening to be the child of Communists", a so-called red diaper baby
Red diaper baby
Red diaper baby describes a child of parents who were members of the United States Communist Party or were close to the party or sympathetic to its aims.-History:...
.
Klein's husband, Avi Lewis
Avi Lewis
Avram David "Avi" Lewis is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, host of the Al Jazeera English show , and former host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation current-affairs program On the Map.-Family:...
, works as a TV journalist and documentary filmmaker. His parents are the writer and activist Michele Landsberg
Michele Landsberg
Michele Landsberg, OC is an award-winning Canadian writer, social activist and feminist who wrote a column for the Toronto Star newspaper.-Life and career:...
and politician and diplomat Stephen Lewis
Stephen Lewis
Stephen Henry Lewis, is a Canadian politician, broadcaster and diplomat. He was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democratic Party for most of the 1970s. During many of the those years as leader, his father David Lewis was simultaneously the leader of the Federal New Democratic Party...
, son of David Lewis
David Lewis (politician)
David Lewis, CC was a Russian-born Canadian labour lawyer and social democratic politician. He was national secretary of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation from 1936 to 1950, and one of the key architects of the New Democratic Party in 1961...
, one of the founders of the Canadian New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...
, son in turn of Moishe Lewis
Moishe Lewis
Moishe Lewis was a Jewish labour activist in eastern Europe and Canada. A tanner by trade, he was born and raised in the Svisloch shtetl in the Russian Empire...
, born Losz, a Jewish labour activist of "the Bund" who left Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
for Canada in 1921.
Klein and her husband live in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
Early life
Klein spent much of her teenage years in shopping mallShopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
s, obsessed with designer label
Designer label
The term designer label refers to clothing and other personal accessory items sold under an often prestigious marque which is commonly named after a designer. The term is most often only applied to luxury items...
s. As a child and teenager, she found it "very oppressive to have a very public feminist mother" and she rejected politics, instead embracing "full-on consumerism
Consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen...
."
She has attributed her change in worldview to two events. One was when she was 17 and preparing for the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, her mother had a stroke and became severely disabled. Naomi, her father and brother took care of Bonnie through the period in hospital and at home, making educational sacrifices to do so. That year off prevented her "from being such a brat." The next year, after beginning her studies at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, the second event occurred: the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre
École Polytechnique massacre
The École Polytechnique Massacre, also known as the Montreal Massacre, was a hate crime perpetrated on December 6, 1989 at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Twenty-five-year-old Gamil Rodrigue Liass Gharbi, who had changed his name to Marc Lépine, armed with a legally obtained...
of female engineering students, which proved to be a wake-up call to feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
.
Klein's writing career started with contributions to The Varsity
The Varsity (newspaper)
The Varsity is one of the main student newspapers of the University of Toronto. In publication since 1880, it is the second-oldest student newspaper in Canada....
, a student newspaper, where she served as editor-in-chief. After her third year at the University of Toronto, she dropped out of university to take a job at the Toronto Globe and Mail, followed by an editorship at This Magazine
This Magazine
This Magazine is an independent alternative Canadian political magazine. It was launched "by a gang of school activists" in 1966 as This Magazine is About Schools, a journal covering political issues in the education system...
. In 1995, she returned to the University of Toronto to finish her degree but left the university for a journalism internship before acquiring the final credits required to complete her degree.
No Logo
In 2000, Klein published the book No LogoNo Logo
No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies is a book by Canadian author Naomi Klein. First published by Knopf Canada in January 2000, shortly after the 1999 WTO Ministerial Conference protests in Seattle had generated media attention around such issues, it became one of the most influential books...
, which for many became a manifesto
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
of the anti-corporate globalization movement
Anti-globalization
Criticism of globalization is skepticism of the claimed benefits of the globalization of capitalism. Many of these views are held by the anti-globalization movement however other groups also are critical of the policies of globalization....
. In it, she attacks brand-oriented consumer culture and the operations of large corporation
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
s. She also accuses several such corporations of unethically exploiting workers in the world's poorest countries in pursuit of greater profits. In this book, Klein criticized Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
so severely that Nike published a point-by-point response. No Logo became an international bestseller, selling over one million copies in over 28 languages.
Fences and Windows
In 2002 Klein published Fences and WindowsFences and Windows
Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate is a 2002 book by Canadian journalist Naomi Klein and editor Debra Ann Levy. The book is a collection of newspaper articles, mostly from The Globe and Mail, with a few magazine articles from The Nation and speech...
, a collection of her articles and speeches written on behalf of the anti-globalization movement
Anti-globalization movement
The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalisation movement, is critical of the globalization of corporate capitalism. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist movement, anti-corporate globalization movement, or...
(all proceeds from the book go to benefit activist organizations through The Fences and Windows Fund).
The Take
In 2004, Klein and her husband, Avi LewisAvi Lewis
Avram David "Avi" Lewis is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, host of the Al Jazeera English show , and former host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation current-affairs program On the Map.-Family:...
, released a documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
called The Take about factory workers in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
who took over a closed plant and resumed production, operating as a collective
Collective
A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together on a specific project to achieve a common objective...
. The first African screening was in the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the South African city of Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
, where the Abahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali baseMjondolo , also known as AbM or the red shirts is a shack-dwellers' movement in South Africa which is well known for its campaigning for public housing. The movement grew out of a road blockade organized from the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the city of Durban in early 2005 and now...
movement began.
At least one article in Z Communications
Z Communications
Z Communications is a radical left-wing media group founded in 1986 by Michael Albert and Lydia Sargent. It advocates participatory socialism as a replacement for capitalism. Its publications include Z Magazine, ZNet, Z Media, and Z Video.Z Communications is based outside Woods Hole, Massachusetts...
criticized The Take for its portrayal of the Argentine General and politician Juan Domingo Perón, which they felt portrayed him as a social democrat.
The Shock Doctrine
Klein's third book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, was published on September 4, 2007, becoming an international and New York Times bestseller translated into 28 languages. The book argues that the free market policies of Nobel Laureate Milton FriedmanMilton Friedman
Milton Friedman was an American economist, statistician, academic, and author who taught at the University of Chicago for more than three decades...
and the Chicago School of Economics
Chicago school (economics)
The Chicago school of economics describes a neoclassical school of thought within the academic community of economists, with a strong focus around the faculty of The University of Chicago, some of whom have constructed and popularized its principles...
have risen to prominence in countries such as Chile under Pinochet
Chile under Pinochet
Chile was ruled by a military dictatorship headed by Augusto Pinochet from 1973 when Salvador Allende was overthrown in a coup d'etat until 1990 when the Chilean transition to democracy began. The authoritarian military government was characterized by systematic suppression of political parties and...
, Russia under Yeltsin
Economy of Russia
The economy of Russia is the eleventh largest economy in the world by nominal value and the sixth largest by purchasing power parity . Russia has an abundance of natural gas, oil, coal, and precious metals...
, and the United States (for example, the privatization of the New Orleans Public Schools
New Orleans Public Schools
New Orleans Public Schools is a public school system that serves all of New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Schools within the system are governed by a multitude of entities, including the Orleans Parish School Board , which directly administers 4 schools and has granted charters to another 12,...
after Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
). The book also argues that policy initiatives (for instance, the privatization of Iraq's economy under the Coalition Provisional Authority
Coalition Provisional Authority
The Coalition Provisional Authority was established as a transitional government following the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies, members of the Multi-National Force – Iraq which was formed to oust the government of Saddam Hussein in 2003...
) were rushed through while the citizens of these countries were in shock from disasters, upheavals or invasion.
Central to the book's thesis is the contention that those who wish to implement unpopular free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
policies now routinely do so by taking advantage of certain features of the aftermath of major disasters, be they economic, political, military or natural in nature. The suggestion is that when a society experiences a major 'shock' there is a widespread desire for a rapid and decisive response to correct the situation; this desire for bold and immediate action provides an opportunity for unscrupulous actors to implement policies which go far beyond a legitimate response to disaster. The book suggests that when the rush to act means the specifics of a response will go unscrutinized, that is the moment when unpopular and unrelated policies will intentionally be rushed into effect. The book appears to claim that these shocks are in some cases, such as the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
, intentionally encouraged or even manufactured.
Klein identifies the "shock doctrine", elaborating on Joseph Schumpeter
Joseph Schumpeter
Joseph Alois Schumpeter was an Austrian-Hungarian-American economist and political scientist. He popularized the term "creative destruction" in economics.-Life:...
, as the latest in capitalism's phases of "creative destruction".
The Shock Doctrine was adapted into a short film of the same name, released onto YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. The film was directed by Jonás Cuarón, produced and co-written by his father Alfonso Cuarón
Alfonso Cuarón
Alfonso Cuarón Orozco is a Mexican film director, screenwriter and film producer, best known for his films Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Y tu mamá también, and A Little Princess.- Early life :...
. The video has been viewed over one million times.
The publication of The Shock Doctrine increased Klein's prominence, with the New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
judging her "the most visible and influential figure on the American left—what Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
and Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
were thirty years ago." On February 24, 2009, the book was awarded the inaugural Warwick Prize for Writing
Warwick Prize for Writing
The Warwick Prize for Writing is an international cross-disciplinary prize, worth £50,000, that will be given biennially for an excellent and substantial piece of writing in the English language, in any genre or form, on a theme that will change with every award. It was launched and sponsored by...
from the University of Warwick
University of Warwick
The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
in England. The prize carried a cash award of £50,000.
Iraq war criticism
Klein has written on various current issues, such as the Iraq War. In a September 2004 article for Harper's MagazineHarper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, she argues that, contrary to popular belief, the Bush administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
did have a clear plan for post-invasion Iraq, which was to build a completely unconstrained free market economy. She describes plans to allow foreigners to extract wealth from Iraq, and the methods used to achieve those goals. The 2008 film War, Inc.
War, Inc.
War, Inc. is a 2008 American political satire film starring John Cusack and directed by Joshua Seftel. Cusack also co-wrote and produced the film.- Plot :...
was partially inspired by her article, Baghdad Year Zero.
Klein's August 2004 "Bring Najaf to New York", published in The Nation, argued that Muqtada Al Sadr's Mahdi Army
Mahdi Army
The Mahdi Army, also known as the Mahdi Militia or Jaish al-Mahdi , was an Iraqi paramilitary force created by the Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in June 2003....
"represents the overwhelmingly mainstream sentiment in Iraq." She went on to say "Yes, if elected Sadr would try to turn Iraq into a theocracy like Iran, but for now his demands are for direct elections and an end to foreign occupation". Marc Cooper
Marc Cooper
Marc Cooper is an American journalist, author, journalism professor and blogger. He is currently a contributing editor to The Nation. He wrote the popular "Dissonance" column for LA Weekly from 2001 until November 2008...
, a former Nation columnist, attacked the assertion that Al Sadr represented mainstream Iraqi sentiment and that American forces had brought the fight to the holy city of Najaf. Cooper wrote that "Klein should know better. All enemies of the U.S. occupation she opposes are not her friends. Or ours. Or those of the Iraqi people. I don’t think that Mullah Al Sadr, in any case, is much desirous of support issuing from secular Jewish feminist-socialists."
Criticism of Israeli policies
In March 2008, Klein was the keynote speaker at the first national conference of the Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians. In January 2009, during the Gaza War, Klein supported the Boycott, Divestment and SanctionsBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....
(BDS) campaign against Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, arguing that "the best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa."
In summer 2009, on the occasion of the publication of the Hebrew translation of her book The Shock Doctrine, Klein visited Israel, the West Bank
West Bank
The West Bank ) of the Jordan River is the landlocked geographical eastern part of the Palestinian territories located in Western Asia. To the west, north, and south, the West Bank shares borders with the state of Israel. To the east, across the Jordan River, lies the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan...
, and Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
, combining the promotion of her book and the BDS campaign. In an interview to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz she emphasized that it is important to her "not to boycott Israelis but rather to boycott the normalization of Israel and the conflict." In a speech in Ramallah
Ramallah
Ramallah is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank located 10 kilometers north of Jerusalem, adjacent to al-Bireh. It currently serves as the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority...
on the 27th of June, she apologized to the Palestinians for not joining the BDS campaign earlier. Her remarks, particularly that "[Some Jews] even think we get one get-away-with-genocide-free-card" were characterized by an op-ed columnist in the Jerusalem Post as "violent" and "unethical", and as the "most perverse of aspersions on Jews, an age-old stereotype of Jews as intrinsically evil and malicious."
Klein was also a spokesperson for the protest against the spotlight on Tel Aviv at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
2009 Toronto International Film Festival
The 34th annual Toronto International Film Festival, was held held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 10 and September 19, 2009. The opening night gala presented the Charles Darwin biography Creation...
, a spotlight that Klein said was a very selective and misleading portrait of Israel.
Other activities
Klein contributes to The Nation, In These TimesIn These Times
In These Times is a politically progressive monthly magazine of news and opinion published by the Institute for Public Affairs in Chicago...
, The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
, This Magazine
This Magazine
This Magazine is an independent alternative Canadian political magazine. It was launched "by a gang of school activists" in 1966 as This Magazine is About Schools, a journal covering political issues in the education system...
, Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
, and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
.
Klein once lectured as a Miliband Fellow at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
as an award-winning journalist, writer on the anti-globalisation movement.
Klein ranked 11th in an internet poll of the top global intellectuals of 2005
The 2005 Global Intellectuals Poll
The Top 100 Public Intellectuals Poll was conducted in November 2005 and June 2008 by Prospect Magazine and Foreign Policy on the basis of responding readers' ballot...
, a list of the world's top 100 public intellectuals compiled by the Prospect
Prospect (magazine)
Prospect is a monthly British general interest magazine, specialising in politics and current affairs. Frequent topics include British, European, and US politics, social issues, art, literature, cinema, science, the media, history, philosophy, and psychology...
magazine in conjunction with Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy is a bimonthly American magazine founded in 1970 by Samuel P. Huntington and Warren Demian Manshel.Originally, the magazine was a quarterly...
magazine.
Klein was involved in a protest condemning police action during the G20 summit in Toronto, ON. She spoke to a rally seeking the release of protesters in front of police headquarters on June 28, 2010.
In May 2011, Klein received an honourary degree from Saint Thomas University
St. Thomas University (New Brunswick)
St. Thomas University is jointly a public and Roman Catholic liberal arts university located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It offers degrees exclusively at the undergraduate level for approximately 3,000 students in the liberal arts, humanities, journalism, education, and social work....
.
On October 6, 2011, Klein visited Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters which began September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district...
and gave a speech declaring the protest movement "The most important thing in the world."
On November 10, 2011, Klein participated in a panel discussion about the future of Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters which began September 17, 2011 in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district...
with three other panelists, including Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
and William Greider
William Greider
William Greider is an American journalist and author who writes primarily about economics.His most recent book is . Before that he published The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy, which explores the basis and history of the corporation and how people can influence further...
, in which she stressed the crucial nature of the evolving movement.
Books and contributed chapters
- 2000. No LogoNo LogoNo Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies is a book by Canadian author Naomi Klein. First published by Knopf Canada in January 2000, shortly after the 1999 WTO Ministerial Conference protests in Seattle had generated media attention around such issues, it became one of the most influential books...
: No Space, No Choice, No Jobs. ISBN 0312421435 - 2002. Fences and WindowsFences and WindowsFences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate is a 2002 book by Canadian journalist Naomi Klein and editor Debra Ann Levy. The book is a collection of newspaper articles, mostly from The Globe and Mail, with a few magazine articles from The Nation and speech...
: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate. ISBN 0312307993 - 2003. Contributor Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
- 2007. The Shock DoctrineThe Shock DoctrineThe Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is a 2007 book by Canadian author Naomi Klein, and is the basis of a 2009 documentary by the same name....
: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. ISBN 0805079831 - winner of the Warwick Prize for WritingWarwick Prize for WritingThe Warwick Prize for Writing is an international cross-disciplinary prize, worth £50,000, that will be given biennially for an excellent and substantial piece of writing in the English language, in any genre or form, on a theme that will change with every award. It was launched and sponsored by...
(2009) - 2009. Contributor Going Rouge: Sarah Palin An American Nightmare ISBN 0061939897
- 2011. Capitalism vs. the Climate; What the right gets - and the left doesn't - about the revolutionary power of climate change. November 9, 2011, The NationThe NationThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
Filmography
- The Corporation (interview)
- The Take
- The Shock DoctrineThe Shock DoctrineThe Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is a 2007 book by Canadian author Naomi Klein, and is the basis of a 2009 documentary by the same name....
External links
- Naomi Klein official website
- The Shock Doctrine at Macmillan PublishersMacmillan PublishersMacmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
- Column archive at The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Column archive at The NationThe NationThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
Video
- Video: An Introduction to Naomi Klein's No Logo
- Naomi Klein: "Minority Death Match: Jews, Blacks and the ‘Post-Racial’ Presidency" - video report by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
- Klein interview Q&A C-SPAN - Nov 29, 2009, transcript and video of 1 hr interview
- Naomi Klein on Climate Debt: Why Rich Countries Should Pay Reparations To Poor Countries - video report by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
- Naomi Klein: The Real Crime Scene Was Inside the G20 Summit