NAOMI KLEIN: Warning: "it starts with the school boards, and then it’s whole towns, whole cities"

[kpete]

Naomi Klein on Anti-Union Bills and Shock Doctrine American-Style:
"This is a Frontal Assault on Democracy, a Corporate Coup D’Etat
(A recent bill has been passed already in Michigan in the House)

.....................


NAOMI KLEIN: Well, I just found out about this last night, and like I said, there’s so much going on that these extraordinary measures are just getting lost in the shuffle. But in Michigan, there is a bill that’s already passed the House. It’s on the verge of passing the Senate. And I’ll just read you some excerpts from it. It says that in the case of an economic crisis, that the governor has the authority to authorize the emergency manager—this is somebody who would be appointed—to reject, modify or terminate the terms of an existing contract or collective bargaining agreement, authorize the emergency manager for a municipal government—OK, so we’re not—we’re talking about towns, municipalities across the state—to disincorporate. So, an appointed official with the ability to dissolve an elected body, when they want to.

AMY GOODMAN: A municipal government.

NAOMI KLEIN: A municipal government. And it says specifically, “or dissolve the municipal government.” So we’ve seen this happening with school boards, saying, “OK, this is a failing school board. We’re taking over. We’re dissolving it. We’re canceling the contracts.” You know, what this reminds me of is New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when the teachers were fired en masse and then it became a laboratory for charter schools. You know, people in New Orleans—and you know this, Amy—warned us. They said, “What’s happening to us is going to happen to you.” And I included in the book a quote saying, “Every city has their Lower Ninth Ward.” And what we’re seeing with the pretext of the flood is going to be used with the pretext of an economic crisis. And this is precisely what’s happening. So it starts with the school boards, and then it’s whole towns, whole cities, that could be subject to just being dissolved because there’s an economic crisis breaking collective bargaining agreements. It also specifies that—this bill specifies that an emergency manager can be an individual or a firm. Or a firm. So, the person who would be put in charge of this so-called failing town or municipality could actually be a corporation.

AMY GOODMAN: Whose government they dissolve, a company takes over.

NAOMI KLEIN: A company takes over. So, they have created, if this passes, the possibility for privatization of a whole town by fiat. And this is actually a trend in the contracting out of public services, where you do now have whole towns, like Sandy Springs in Georgia, run by private companies. It’s very lucrative. Why not? You start with just the water contract or the electricity contract, but eventually, why not privatize the whole town? So—

AMY GOODMAN: And what happens then? Where does democracy fit into that picture?

NAOMI KLEIN: Well, this is an assault on democracy. It’s a frontal assault on democracy. It’s a kind of a corporate coup d’état at the municipal level.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/9/naomi_klein_on_anti_union_bills

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[Burma Jones]

2. This is why there's a Second Amendment

[abqmufc]

15. That is why they created the Patriot Act....

to label you as a terrorist and send you far far away.....

[CoffeeCat]

25. "enemy combatant"...

I remember reeling at the definition of an enemy combatant. It can be anyone--US citizen or not--who
essentially is against the government or speaks out against the government.

According to Bush's definition of "enemy combatant" anyone protesting or speaking out against the government
can be arrested.

[abqmufc]

28. Exactly

In 2001, I was writing my Masters Thesis in political science. Two of the main books I was using for my thesis were "Field Guide to Monkey-wrenching" & Ed Abbey's Masters Thesis "Anarchy and the Morality of Violence". I realized by the letter of the law I was an enemy combatant b/c of the books I owned.

[Enthusiast]

41. If the government 'claims'

you are an enemy combatant or terrorist, you are one. It is as simple as that.

[Enthusiast]

40. Exactly nt

The Patriot Act was just a piece of a long term strategy. All the little pieces are falling into place. Think back to the 2000 election, the wars, the stock market crash and now the attacks on Democracy itself.

[shanti]

71. not so far away actually

there are hundreds of detainment camps here in the U.S. at the ready.

[ironrooster]

16. yes indeedy.

[n2doc]

43. Yeah, because armed revolution has worked so well!

Ask any member of the Confederate States of America! Or For that matter, ask the Libyans!

[Atypical Liberal]

47. Ask the Libyans indeed!

They are standing up to rockets, tanks, and aircraft.

[n2doc]

48. Top U.S. Intelligence Official Tells Congress Gaddafi 'Will Prevail' In Libya

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government's top intelligence official fumbled the Obama administration's message Thursday about embattled Muammar Gaddafi's fate, telling Congress that the Libyan leader will prevail in his fight with rebel forces there. It was the latest in a series of public gaffes for James Clapper, the director of national intelligence.

Hours later, the White House distanced President Barack Obama from Clapper's remarks. Obama does not think Gaddafi will prevail, a senior administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss Obama's position on Clapper's comments. The official reiterated Obama's stand that Gaddafi has lost legitimacy and should leave power.

Speaking to senators, Clapper said the Libyan government's military might was stronger than had been described. Clapper said there was no indication that Gaddafi will step down and offer a speedy resolution to the crisis.

"I just think from a standpoint of attrition, that over time, I mean – this is kind of a stalemate back and forth, but I think over the longer term that the (Gaddafi) regime will prevail," Clapper said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/10/top-us-intelligence-official-gaddafi-prevail_n_834334.html

[Atypical Liberal]

52. They'd be less even less likely to win with stones.

They'd be even less likely to win with stones instead of rifles.

[jacquelope]

57. How do I K&R this 20 times??? n/t

.

[n2doc]

60. Tell that to the Egyptians, or the Tunisians... n/t

[Atypical Liberal]

70. Nonviolence is always preferable.

Hey, there's no doubt that nonviolent change is always preferable to violent change. And it seems that with global instant communications, it is getting harder for governments to violently oppress their people, as it shows up instantly on the world stage. I'm very hopeful about this.

But as Libya shows, sometimes the people you are up against just don't care about public opinion.

[Alameda]

78. It only works IF your opponent is afraid to commit massacre

in full public view. Qaddafi has shown he is not afraid to use any means to win.

[jacquelope]

58. Tell that to the USSR

Or Tunisia
Or Egypt

Seems to me like they also fought back quite a bit against violence.

Heck, America itself was formed by violent rebellion.

[KansDem]

67. Precisely, but we were lead to believe it would be used against "the government"

...not the corporation that owns "the government."

The Fascists had better think again...

[Uncle Joe]

68. This is why the First Amendment was first, to empower you, your family, friends, neighbors and

co-workers from allowing such corrupted powers; from coming into being or to carry out their nefarious plans, thereby preventing many of your loved ones and associates from dying should they be so tempted to rely on the Second Amendment for their recourse.

[polichick]

3. K&R

[Newest Reality]

4. It seems that the metaphor of

Corporate Occupation seems relevant these days as they flex their mighty money muscles, those artificial persons that are tools for wealthy tyrants.

The fight is not an option here. Left unchecked this is an invitation to a horrific dystopia where democracy becomes a joke word used only to soften the image of corporate rule in every aspect of our lives. Everything we have as a nation will be sold to the highest bidder if we are forced to continue on this new and ominous branch of their road of dismantling.

We really have to stop this. Solidarity is important now.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Ah yes company stores all over

[nashville_brook]

6. this was an amazing segment!

[leftstreet]

K&R

[Fire Walk With Me]

7. And yes, Republicans created this economic crisis as a power grab.

[snappyturtle]

8. I didn't see Democracy Now..drats! However, when I heard of this last

night all I could think of (and it's been up here today on DU) that organizing at the grassroots level, which the President did so well, is being destroyed! I responded on a thread a few moments ago that we do not have the luxury of time to build for the grassroots not only because of what Naomi Klein is warning about but because of the damage we are incurring in the meantime at higher levels of government (the governors) would take years to overcome through the election process. I do see recalls helping some but.............If only we had done 'something' when Naomi Klein first warned us in The Shock Doctrine. I am very troubled. How do we win? What methods are best? I do not advocate violence but I fear peaceful protests is just what tptb want.


edit: the link is excellent....thnak you.

[SoCalDem]

9. Republicans know this.. That;s why for DECADES, no political race was beneath them

They have a 'farm-team' approach to politics.. They work to get people into school boards, town councils, mayoral politics, then to statehouse politics and then the "big-time"....DC..

The dem method has been off-kilter for a while now, since our side leans more toward only really getting behind races for national office, and the locals are left to fend for themselves against the well-funded republicans...or to just not even run a dem at all for many races/.

What this does is twofold:

It leaves local & state offices in the hands of republicans, so they get to control the levers of the electoral process (thus enhancing their perpetual control)

It leaves eager young dems without money, also without hope of ever winning races

The longterm effect is that there is a non-stop supply of movers & shakers being pushed forward by republicans, and on our side we have to keep hoping the ones we have can hang on forever, or we then frantically look for someone to "bring back" (Loutenberg), or for a governor somewhere to step out & run for something else because we have no other options (Webb, Manchin , Napolitano , Locke,....probably others).

When the dining room light bulb burns out, we run to the living room & remove the bulb to replace the dining room bulb..republicans go to the pantry & pull out a fresh bulb from the boxes they have stored there..

Eventually we end up in the dark everywhere, as more bulbs burn out..

[dadzilla]

63. Dead on

This is one of the best concise writing of why small elections matter as much if not more than who your senator is I have seen in a long time. Bravo and well done.

[bluestateguy]

10. This is not constitutional

Some appointed corporate bureaucrat can't just come in and shove aside elected officials without an election.

[Sniper]

12. As Dub once said...

It's just a fucking piece of paper.;(

[glinda]

33. Breaks many rules in the Constitution.

[Enthusiast]

42. Since the moment of

"We must look forward." these laws no longer have weight.

[Ikonoklast]

77. And they can't enforce taxpayers to give them funds.

No representation?

Fine.

No taxes, either.

[ArcticFox]

81. Yet they will

Constitutional or not, they will.

[SpiralHawk]

11. Shock & Awe (R - Billionaires)

Supported, of course, by all the Fox-watching, Rush-listening SUCKERS who are merrily participating in their own economic enslavement to RepubliCorp eeeleeetes.

[myrna minx]

13. K&R n/t

[Kurovski]

14. K&R. (nt)

[lovuian]

17. there isn't enough prisons to hold millions

and the police aren't going to participate as well as the military


just like Mubarek...they will have to step down

[cliffordu]

18. With Blackwater illumni as enforcers.

You don't think that 100,000 assholes are going to go away......

[bertman]

26. No, they're not going to go away, for sure. But that should make us more

determined than ever. Just the fact that they exist should be considered one of the greatest threats to our democracy.

If we're too scared of Xe to stand up for democracy, then we lose that democracy.


Blackwater/Xe=Egyptian secret police



Join me and thousands of other veterans in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, March 19 to demonstrate our opposition to the wars that are sucking the life out of our nation.

It is time for the people to stand up and be counted. Not just at the ballot box, but at the seats of power in our nation, our states, and our cities.

[Lorien]

19. K & R. Stand with the unions!

and vote anyone who does not out of office!

[abqmufc]

20. See the entire interview...covers climate change/carbon offsets.

Her comments on Global Carbon Offset programs (cap and trade) made me shiver as I realized the comparison to the land grab of Tribal lands in the West. Once oil, uranium, gold and other resources where found on Tribal lands the US government opened up the reservations to private land ownership. As a result you have some reservations, like the Nez Perce in Idaho, whose Tribal land is 90% owned by non-tribal members.

Offsets, as Klein explains allows the USA to pollute while stating we are offsetting the pollution with agriculture in Africa. In reality we are privatizing Africa, displacing the indigenous population and growing bio fuels on mass industrial farms and calling it progress.

"Award-winning journalist Naomi Klein has been reporting on global warming and the climate justice movement for years. “My fear is that climate change is the biggest crisis of all,” Klein says. “If we don’t come up with a positive vision of how climate change can make our economies and our world more just, more livable, cleaner, fairer, then this crisis will be exploited to militarize our economies, to create fortress continents. And we’re really facing a choice. What we really need now is for the people fighting for economic justice and environmental justice to come together.” "

The final segment of the interview can be found @
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/3/9/my_fear_is_that_climate_change

[highplainsdem]

21. K&R

[Overseas]

22. K&R! //nt

[Kievan Rus]

23. At the whim of the ultra-rich, serfdom is returning

[MaeScott]

24. K and R. nt

[knitter4democracy]

27. It's already passed. I'm just sick.

Damn Republicans.

[JDPriestly]

34. It can be repealed.

[amborin]

29. K&R

[HCE SuiGeneris]

30. She nails it.

It's going to be take more than vocal disenchantment, and GOTV, to win the war being waged upon us.

[Major Hogwash]

31. Return of the company town, the company store, robber barons, circa 1915.

"I owe my soul to the company store."
I never thought in my lifetime corporations, monopolies, and robber barons would come back en vogue.

[paparush]

51. I actually own several script money vouchers from the Olga Coal Company, Coalwood,WV

We were in this junk furniture store near Coalwood and I opened a drawer on this old desk and there was a script pad (like a prescription pad). I tore two off and stuck them in my pocket.

I showed them to my son and explained how big coal companies used to control their workers. How they didn't pay them in real money, but with script, that they could only use at the company-owned stores. He has a soft spot in his heart for coal miners.

[Tripod]

32. K&R, n/t

[Capitalocracy]

35. I told my wife about this and said it was unbelievable. She said no,

it's not unbelievable, it's not even surprising. She's right, I guess it's not. We could agree on the term "horrifying", however.

[deacon]

36. Apathy is the enemy. You have to be as driven as they are. n/t

[indimuse]

37. tis all a part of a grand scheme...

i agree with Amy...she's been warning us for while ~ as have others..time to wake up...take a step away from the day to day and look at the MUCH larger picture as a whole that is staring you in the face...hidden in plain site...


thanks kpete! ;)


knr!

[L. Coyote]

53. dissolve the USA and steal all the public land and minerals, 50% of the country

That is the prize for destroying the country, half of the USA is public land atop vast mineral wealth. This is a battle to break up the Union and privatize the wealth of the nation.

[sulphurdunn]

38. The dissolution of legislative bodies

by fiat. Sounds like something from 1776. Will they be quartering mercenaries in peoples homes next?

[Enthusiast]

39. "It’s a frontal assault on democracy."

These are fascists, people. This is no longer a wild eyed claim. It is right in front of your face.

[zeemike]

44. Yes, perhaps but they have the H card.

Any one that mentions anything about Hitler is automatically goes directly to jail and cannot pass go or collect....
And so they have no reason to hide it.

[Evolve_Already]

45. Mr. Burns is quite happy.

Watching Rachel last night, she had this sinister laugh that I do not know how to spell. "Wha Wha Wha Wha Wha" That is the best I can do unfortunately.

THIS is exactly what the cons have been planning all along, it is going swimmingly well for them. They know their idea of a small government will not fly in the face of the majority, so they prevaricate. The end justify the means.

They have just stopped the pretense of representing their constituents. The jury is rigged because they are the riggers.

[Enthusiast]

46. Welcome to the DU! nt

[Casandia]

49. This is what the Michigan governor is doing

And there are not enough democrats in the house and senate to stop this - they have the numbers for a quorum.

[xchrom]

50. Recommend

[JJW]

54. Be scared

Be very scared, when the Brownshirt mercenaries come for you, while you're watching dancing with the stars. it will be too late.

[Turbineguy]

55. World War Two was fought for nothing then.

That's a shame.

[florida08]

56. privatizing government

Isn't that government usurped? Can't believe working republicans support this. Believable maybe but not acceptable.
A video I watched recently explained that we've been under corporate rule for some time..it's just now in our face because there's no need to be coy anymore. Craig Hulet explains what's been going on for 15 years. Says the marines would have no compunction about turning guns on us. Our money supply is the lowest it's been since the depression.

They are defunding us. The finance reform was directed at small banks..not large ones.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n41PBqfF0JQ&playnext=1&list=PL03C429A2BA81A9A1 audio

Thanks kpete for the info.

[MrScorpio]

59. ...and some people thought that "RoboCop" was a fantasy. nt

[JokerAllstar]

66. Some people thought 1984 was just fiction...how about now?

[JokerAllstar]

61. What's going on is clearly very dangerous and this is a very dangerous time

I need to dust off my copy of 'Shock Doctrine.' I think Naomi should release an updated version with events from Haiti's recent earthquake, Katrina, and now Wisconsin included. This happens so often now it's quite disturbing.

[raouldukelives]

62. K&R

[Uncle Joe]

64. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[Luciferous]

65. K&R

[colsohlibgal]

69. The Battle For The Soul Of The US Is On

All this and Peter King's apalling McCarthy like witch hunt hearings. Ain't we got fun now.

I just don't know what's wrong with people, how people so twisted get elected. People in office that do not represent the principles this country was founded on, where one of the strongest pillars was freedom of religion - and people are supposed to have inalienable rights.

This assault on our democracy is being funded by rich robber barons and enabled mightily by people who vote like they are as dumb as a box of rocks. People who are being used and are too clueless to realize it - who listen to modern day Goebbels like propoganda agents such as Rush and Beck and Savage (Weiner) and blindly believe their vile rantings.

The big hope is that a lot of people realize they were misled by these wolves in sheep's clothing and now wake up - that can maybe carry the day going forward.

Strap in and good luck to us all. Power to the people.

[Auggie]

72. And this is why we have an artificially created "economic disaster"

otherwise known as tax cuts for the wealthy.

[hifiguy]

79. Bingo! n/t

[Auggie]

82. Welcome to D.U...

and thanks, hifiguy

:hi:

[hifiguy]

85. Returning, actually

after a year plus over at HuffPo. New moniker, so I lose my 10k old posts. rats.

[Auggie]

86. So welcome back

[defendandprotect]

84. +1000% -- and the bail-out financial coup -- !!

[fishwax]

73. k/r

:kick:

[jp11]

74. So sorry you are bankrupt but we have an offer you should consider...

Omni Consumer Products

[louis-t]

75. What it amounts to is selling off municipal holdings to

who else? The Koch Bros. or highest bidders.

[defendandprotect]

76. All of these issues have been defeated before - this is simply corruption of government by rw --!!

The only way the right wing can rise is by political violence and we've had more

than 50+ years of that --

We have to look at his as organized crime and deal with it in the same way --

[defendandprotect]

80. I'd just add to this to say that it starts with exploitation -- capitalism's exploitation of nature

and animal-life, natural resources -- and even other human beings --

We have to go back to the beginning, folks --

We need an entirely new economic system --

Take a look at the HOME page and how we are exploiting animals and ask if

there can be anything moral about our society when we are treating anaimals

in this way --

Then we wonder how we come to treat other human beings so brutally???

Capitalism is suicidal exploitation of nature of which we are all a part.

Unregualted capitalism is merely organized crime.

[defendandprotect]

83. It begins with our agreement to support a people's government ... not corporate government ...

and it can end with our agreement to dissolve government --

they know that -- that's why they're trying to beat us to it -- !!

Ollie North was assigned to find ways to negate the Constitution -- !!

This has been going on since it was written!!

The elite knew they could attach themselves to the government teat to enrich

themsleves until they became strong enough to buy government -- !!

And, sadly, there are always dishonest men ready to be bought!!