Almost thirteen years ago, the Canadian activist and author Naomi Klein wrote a book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, which was, at once, admired and criticised. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Klein’s thesis stands vindicated. Going by how things are playing out in India, her thesis seems prophetic.
The Thesis
Klein argues that any disaster – manmade or natural – serves as a smokescreen, a perfect excuse, to push unpopular free market policies (read privatisation, dilution of labour laws, changing land use policy, increasing surveillance etc.). Under normal circumstances, implementing these unpopular policies would prove to be difficult and would attract significant opposition. But when a society experiences a major ‘shock’ (like war, natural calamity or political disruption, etc.) the desire for a decisive, unequivocal and rapid response to the ‘shock’ becomes prevalent among the people.
This desire for a bold and immediate action in the wake of a crisis is exploited by unscrupulous free-market advocates to carry out policy reforms which go far beyond a legitimate response to crisis/disaster. The urgency of action makes it possible that the delicate nuances will be overlooked and the concerned policy reforms will go unscrutinised. Thus, chaos becomes a ladder to implement unpopular policies in a hurried manner.
Klein also argues that these ‘shocks,’ which can be natural or manufactured, can be extended. She calls these “orchestrated raids on the public sphere in the wake of catastrophic events (read shocks), combined with the treatment of disasters as exciting market opportunities.” In simple terms, she calls the nexus that impel such free market policies – State-Politicians-Corporates-Media-Free Market radicals/Economists – as disaster capitalism complex.
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