Naomi Klein: No Is Not Enough (Bristol Festival of Ideas) 

The list of Western leftists who once sang the Venezuelan government’s praises is long, and Naomi Klein figures near the top. In 2004, she signed a petition headlined, “We would vote for Hugo Chavez.” Three years later, she lauded Venezuela as a place where “citizens had renewed their faith in the power of democracy to improve their lives.” In her 2007 book, “The Shock Doctrine,” she portrayed capitalism as a sort of global conspiracy that instigates financial crises and exploits poor countries in the wake of natural disasters. But Klein declared that Venezuela had been rendered immune to the “shocks” administered by free market fundamentalists thanks to Chavez’s “21st Century Socialism,” which had created “a zone of relative economic calm and predictability.” Chavez’s untimely death from cancer in 2013 saw an outpouring of grief from the global left. The caudillo “demonstrated that it is possible to resist the neo-liberal dogma that holds sway over much of humanity,” wrote British journalist Owen Jones. “I mourn a great hero to the majority of his people,” said Oliver Stone, who would go on to replace Chavez with Vladimir Putin as the object of his twisted affection. Most of Chavismo’s earlier adherents have maintained a conspicuous silence in the face of the Venezuelan calamity. Those who do speak up, rather than apologize for getting things so wrong, blame collapsing oil prices for the country’s fate. Yet the decline in the value of petroleum has not led to rioting on the streets of Oslo. The tragedy of Venezuela is the predictable result of what happens when a strongman wages, in Chavez’s own words, “economic war on the bourgeoisie owners,” cracks down on media, prints money with reckless abandon and implements all manner of harebrained socialist schemes. Socialist economic policies - price controls, factory nationalizations, government takeovers of food distribution and the like - have real human costs. Eighty percent of Venezuelan bakeries don’t have flour. Eleven percent of children under 5 are malnourished, infant mortality has increased by 30% and maternal mortality is up 66%. The Maduro regime has met protests against its misrule with violence. More than 100 people have died in anti-government demonstrations and thousands have been arrested. Loyal police officers are rewarded with rolls of toilet paper. www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-kirchick-venezuela-pundits-20170802-story,amp.html

My mother has just had new carpets put down. The strip of metal that makes the join through doorways is for the most part free of lettering. Except between the kitchen and hallway. Upon that strip is the companies insignia. I asked my mother what she thought about this free advertising within her home. She said that it did not matter. I told her that she was not paid for this advertising within her home and yet she still did not care. Her apathy to marketing is the norm as people don't want to make a fuss about something which would take too much emotional effort to change and might "annoy" ( the man-metaphor ) the system. Does anyone know the law on such marketing within the home?..UK.

Bristol Parkway station!!!!!!!!! I feel genuinely sorry for her. Nobody should have to use that dirt hole monstrosity. Apologies Naomi, from a Brit person...

And who wouldn't welcome just a lovely creature

Pablem

Klein's weakness is on growth as it appears a couple of times in this conference, where she seems to be incapable of explaining the contradiction between pro-regulation and anti-growth "in the long run"-- how much is ok to sacrifice?

Naomi is full of criticisms but empty of ideas...