NAOMI KLEIN WRITES ANOTHER INSIGHTFUL BOOK

"No is not Enough" was written relatively quickly, but Naomi had a lot of material on hand to build it.  Unfortunately it became outdated probably before it was actually published.   As any regular reader of my blogs would know I detest Trump and think those who voted for him were pathetically ignorant and Naomi provides lots of ammunition.  Her book published in late 2017, but Trump continued to offend most clear thinking people.

But she does not focus on Trump so much as on the system that has made him possible.  De regulations, tax reductions, privatizing government functions, corporate media control--all designed to enrich the already rich by attacking the vulnerabilities of the poor.  Corporations now have legal standing as people and have used their monetary power to steer election campaigns using technical expertise.  Trump epitomizes the merging of business and government.  He used his wealth to get elected and is using his new found power to enrich himself further.

America (and to a lesser degree Canada as well) is based on stolen land and slave labour.  Both these factors indicate a racial bias that puts European whites above all others.  Although these attitudes have mellowed there is still an element in power.  Those who seek power know how to exploit the fears and prejudices

Workers who voted for him should start to realize his priorities are to cut regulations that protect them and funnel more of their money to his 1% friends, including himself.  One good example was that he stated his new tax package would hurt him, but in the end would increase his after tax income by millions and his estate theoretically by billions (if you believe his claims of how rich he is).

Naomi thinks a problem is that people forget.  She quotes a Czech novelist, Milan Kundera, "the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."  The right wing is following a strategy from decades ago.  They have tied their economic policies to popular but bigoted social policies.

In a previous book she focused on shock therapy.  Many of the neoliberal ideas would not be voted for, but when fear has been created many measures can be enacted.  Iraq under Paul Bremmer  forced many non democratic policies on the people.  After Katrina, New Orleans found most of their schools converted to charter schools.  Today Puerto Rico currently is being restructured after two massive hurricanes that devastated their infrastructure.  

Naomi participated in the Standing Rock protests.  I didn't realize the original route of the pipeline was through Bismark, a mostly white town that rejected it.  The Sioux tribe saw themselves as water protectors.  Corporate entities are only focused on profit.

Climate change in her mind is tied to democracy.  Al Gore has said we need to deal with our problems with democracy first.  Naomi thinks we need to deal with both simultaneiously.  Read my blog on an earlier book:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/02/this-changes-everything-deserves-major.html

What is the solution?  She agrees that some political parties and some political policies are better than others, but she feels that they don't really get to the basic needs.  What is needed is for people involved in various progressive issues to co-ordinate together and realize where their interests overlap.  She feels it is not good enough to make progress sequentially which often means good people working at cross purposes.  Those concerned with the environment, minority rights, workers rights, gender equality could work together and force solutions that benefit everyone.

Check out her website.  She has many well articulated ideas:  http://www.naomiklein.org/main/