Puerto Ricans Battle Disaster Capitalism to Achieve Self-Determination
NOVANEWS
Mother Isamar holds her baby Saniel, 9 months, as husband Samuel mixes cement at their makeshift home, under reconstruction, after being mostly destroyed by Hurricane Maria, on December 23, 2017, in San Isidro, Puerto Rico.MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES
BY: Mark Karlin
Truthout
Progressive Picks
In 2007, Naomi Klein challenged the neoliberal notion of competitive economic growth in her book Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. In that book, she documents the economic forces that take advantage of catastrophes to institute corporate economies with the most minimal of regulations. “Disaster capitalism” is premised on radical laissez-faire goals that are essentially two-fold: 1) to achieve corporate privatization and windfall profits; and 2) to diminish the ...