News
Page 4
Street Roots • June 23-29, 2017
On bracing for Trump ’s shock politics while daring to dream big
Portland MAX attack on
Memorial Day weekend
and why progressive
causes should unite to
demand a leap forward.
BY EMILY GREEN
S T A F F W R IT E R
aomi Klein’s latest
book offers a
strong dose of
clarity to counteract the
chaos plaguing the country
since Donald Trump won
the election.
Klein draws from her
unique areas of expertise
- almost clairvoyantly - to
decipher what the hell is
going on at this moment in
history.
The Canadian author
and award-winning
journalist spent much of
her career researching and
writing about trends that,
if personified, look a lot
like our current president.
Her first international
best seller, “No Logo,”
dove into the rise of super
brands, corporate
marketing and
globalization. She
described how companies
that once made products
were morphing into
multinational brands based
on image. They would sell
their name by slapping it
on products increasingly
manufactured under
exploitative working
conditions overseas.
In 2007, “The Shock
Doctrine” detailed how
pro-corporate-agenda
pushers exploit the
public’s disorientation following a collective
shock, such as a coup, terrorist attack or
natural disaster, by implementing destructive
and anti-democratic policies - think 9/11 and
The Patriot Act that followed.
Klein also sits on the board of the climate
action group 350.org, which spans 188
countries.
While Klein usually spends years compiling
research and conducting interviews for each
book, she felt a sense of urgency after Trump
won the election. She wanted to issue the
world a warning before brand Trump had a
collective shock to exploit.
Written in a matter of months, “No Is Not
Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and
Winning the World We Need” is a quickly
digestible read compared with Klein’s previous
books, but it is no less provocative.
Klein is also featured in a nine-minute
YouTube video via The Intercept that offers
viewers a concise version of how to resist
Trump’s shock politics in five simple steps.
In “No Is Not Enough,” Klein exposes the
man behind the Trump-brand façade, dissects
his administration with precision and offers a
N
E m ily Green: In your
book, you suggest Trump
may be well aware his anti-
M uslim rhetoric could be
inciting an attack on U.S.
soil, and that (policy
makers are unconcerned
that) the repeal of Dodd-
Frank could lead to another
economic crash. These
shocks are just what the
White House will need to
disorient the public and
rationalize checking off
unpopular items on their
corporate wish list. But
everyday, it seems like there
is some sort of shock. How
will we recognize the big
one?
N aom i Klein: They are
dystopian glimpse of what we might be in for -
it could get a lot worse, she warns.
But Klein doesn’t leave readers without
hope. She lays out a path forward that requires
not only bold action, but even bolder
expectations. She argues that in the face of
forces pushing systems backward, people must
demand the opposite - a giant leap forward.
In Canada, that leap took the form of the
Leap Manifesto, created as a platform with no
party affiliation. A broad array of social
movements came together and agreed on 15
demands, including a shift to 100 percent
renewable energy, but ensuring that those on
the front lines of pollution, such as Indigenous
peoples, are first in line for their own clean
energy projects. The Leap Manifesto
represents an idea that can be embraced across
different sectors of society or levels of
government anywhere. In Canada, more than
46,000 people have signed the manifesto.
On June 19, Klein stopped in Portland for a
book reading and signing at Powell’s Books at
Cedar Hills Crossing in Beaverton. Before the
event, she sat down with Street Roots in the
bookstore’s Green Room to discuss her new
book, what she calls the “Trump show,” the
dismantling Dodd-Frank
because there is money to
be made - and they’re just
not concerned. They’re
not concerned about the
bubbles that will burst
because the profits are
too tempting in the
meantime, and they are
making sure the public is
going to foot the bill again
for the bailout.
I think Trump has
already shown his
willingness to exploit terrorist attacks for his
own political gain. He made that clear with the
Manchester attack when he immediately said
that this is happening because of immigrants
streaming across our borders, when in fact it
was a British-born bomber. After the London
Bridge attack he said: This is why we need the
Muslim ban.
In terms of how will we know? These shocks
that Trump generates himself are pretty minor
compared to what 2008 looked like or Katrina
looked like or Sandy or 9/11. We will know.
And part of the reason we will know is because
we will see a side of this administration that we
haven’t seen before when that happens.
E.G.: And when that does happen, the masses
will likely be fearful and inclined to support
drastic anti-democratic measures in the name of
safety and security. There will be a tendency to
drink the Kool Aide in that respect. How should
the progressive movement persist without
alienating people who are having the emotional
reactions that the Trump administration will be
exploiting?
See KLEIN, page 5