Naomi Klein Strikes Again

Naomi Klein was responsible for my political awakening aged 17 with her book ‘No Logo‘. I read ‘The Shock Doctrine‘ while living in Berlin – it took me months to get through because it painfully peeled away layers of naïveté.

No surprise then that this six-page piece in The Nation hits the nail on the head. Read it.

The first problem with this strategy is that it doesn’t work. For years, big green groups have framed climate action as a way to assert “energy security,” while “free-market solutions” are virtually the only ones on the table in the United States. Meanwhile, denialism has soared. The more troubling problem with this approach, however, is that rather than challenging the warped values motivating denialism, it reinforces them. Nuclear power and geoengineering are not solutions to the ecological crisis; they are a doubling down on exactly the kind of short-term hubristic thinking that got us into this mess.

Link Loving 13.11.11

• Whatever happened to discipline and hard work? Why the move from values to pure wealth means that the #occupy protests resonate so strongly across the US. Tyler Cohen.
• A lovely way to meet the people of East London – follow One Portrait A Day.
• “When we say, “What do you do?” we really mean what do you learn?” Penelope Trunk on how to find a job you love.
• Mixed messages on climate vulnerability. Richard Black.
• When should movements or organisations die, and when do they merely need some help? Matthew Herbert.

Money Talks

Since September 29, at least 700,000 Americans have moved their money out of big banks and into credit unions. Those are serious numbers – and the banks are responding by going to any length to keep customers.

This video from St Louis:

Link Loving 11.11.11

• Democracy is sexy. At least if you vote for Putin.
• Uganda’s first electric car proves the potential of Africa’s universities. Richard M Kavuma.
• Great video from the Fawcett Society getting you ready for the march for women’s equality and against the cuts.