in 2002, after 'no logo' was released, klein went on to
publish a collection of articles and speeches entitled,
'fences and windows'. she later moved into video,
producing a documentary titled, 'the take' with her
husband in 2004. she has also covered the iraq war
for a number of publications including harper's magazine,
for which she won the 'james aronson award for social
justice journalism'. in the article klein argues, contrary to
popular criticism, that the bush administration did have a
plan for post-invasion iraq: creating an unrestricted
free-market economy. this article laid the ground work for
her new book, 'the shock doctrine'.

'no logo' was ironically released only a few months
after the 1999 WTO meeting in seattle, where one
of the largest anti-globalization protests in history took
place. 'no logo' articulated the feelings of this movement
and provided a voice. the book attacks branding and
consumer culture, dealing with issues such as
sweatshops, advertising and culture jamming. it focuses
on the negative effects of branding and corporate culture,
while later detailing existing and emerging forms of
resistance to these. as the creators of corporate
communication and consumer goods, the design world
is implicitly involved in the activities klein denounces.

in her new book, klein examines the rise of free-market
capitalism throughout the world. arguing that it was
not achieved democratically, but rather through the
exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries,
in what she calls 'the shock doctrine'.
klein theorizes that disaster capitalism exploits public
disorientation following traumatic shocks, reengineering
societies before the public recovers. by implementing
dramatic change in rapid-fire succession, the free-market
system slips under the radar of the shocked masses.
this system implements economist milton friedman's
theory that 'only a crisis real or perceived produces real
change'. klein examines the history and the application of
these and other economic theories throughout the last
fifty years. in this recap, she chronicles, traumatic events
such as; pinochet’s coup in chile, the tiananmen square
massacre, the collapse of the soviet union and
september 11, 2001, that all demonstrate the hallmarks
of 'the shock doctrine'.

although the ideas in 'the shock doctrine' don't
immediately connect with design, the link is still there.
'no logo' made us question the impact of our actions as
designers, laying the ground-work for more socially aware
design; while 'the shock doctrine' provides a new forum to
think about how and where design can have impact.
as we search for more meaningful ways to apply our skills,
the grim picture painted by the book opens up new
opportunities to rewrite the wrongs of the past, improving
the lives of suffering people and creating ethically sound
businesses.

'information is shock resistance'.

naomi klein visited milan on october 22 as part of her
international book launch tour. she signed copies of 'the
shock doctrine' at the feltrinelli bookshop and later spoke
at 'il cantiere', a social center for youth. the audience in
the social center was visibly passionate about klein's
ideas as she launched the italian translation of the book.
the audience reacted strongly to the discussion of carlo
giuliani, a protester killed at the G8 summit in genoa, italy
in 2001. she further discussed writing 'the shock doctrine'
and gave examples of the book's theories in practice. the
lecture concluded with a series of questions from the
crowd, consisting mainly of university students from milan.

watch designboom's footage of klein speaking at the event
below