by Naomi Klein
These facts are all the more jarring because they depart so dramatically from our stated values: respect for Indigenous rights, internationalism, human rights, diversity, and environmental stewardship.
Canada is not this place today—but it could be.
We could live in a country powered entirely by renewable energy, woven together by accessible public transit, in which the jobs and opportunities of this transition are designed to systematically eliminate racial and gender inequality. Caring for one another and caring for the planet could be the economy’s fastest-growing sectors. Many more people could have higher-wage jobs with fewer work hours, leaving us ample time to enjoy our loved ones and flourish in our communities.
We know that the time for this great transition is short. Climate scientists have told us that this is the decade to take decisive action to prevent catastrophic global warming. That means small steps will no longer get us where we need to go.
This leap must begin by respecting the inherent rights and title of the original caretakers of this land. Indigenous communities have been at the forefront of protecting rivers, coasts, forests and lands from out-of-control industrial activity. We can bolster this role, and reset our relationship, by fully implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Moved by the treaties that form the legal basis of this country and bind us to share the land “for as long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and the rivers flow,” we want energy sources that will last for time immemorial and never run out or poison the land. Technological breakthroughs have brought this dream within reach. The latest research shows it is feasible for Canada to get 100 percent of its electricity from renewable resources within two decades; by 2050 we could have a 100 percent clean economy.
We demand that this shift begin now.
There is no longer an excuse for building new infrastructure projects that lock us into increased extraction decades into the future. The new iron law of energy development must be: if you wouldn’t want it in your backyard, then it doesn’t belong in anyone’s backyard. That applies equally to oil and gas pipelines; fracking in New Brunswick, Quebec, and British Columbia; increased tanker traffic off our coasts; and to Canadian-owned mining projects the world over.
The time for energy democracy has come: we believe not just in changes to our energy sources, but that wherever possible communities should collectively control these new energy systems.
As an alternative to the profit-gouging of private companies and the remote bureaucracy of some centralized state ones, we can create innovative ownership structures: democratically run, paying living wages, and keeping much-needed revenue in communities. And Indigenous Peoples should be first to receive public support for their own clean energy projects. So should communities currently dealing with heavy health impacts of polluting industrial activity.
Power generated this way will not merely light our homes but redistribute wealth, deepen our democracy, strengthen our economy, and start to heal the wounds that date back to this country’s founding.
A leap to a non-polluting economy creates countless openings for similar multiple “wins.” We want a universal program to build energy-efficient homes, and retrofit existing housing, ensuring that the lowest-income communities and neighbourhoods will benefit first and receive job training and opportunities that reduce poverty over the long term. We want training and other resources for workers in carbon-intensive jobs, ensuring they are fully able to take part in the clean energy economy. This transition should involve the democratic participation of workers themselves. High-speed rail powered by renewables and affordable public transit can unite every community in this country—in place of more cars, pipelines, and exploding trains that endanger and divide us.
And since we know this leap is beginning late, we need to invest in our decaying public infrastructure so that it can withstand increasingly frequent extreme weather events.
Moving to a far more localized and ecologically based agricultural system would reduce reliance on fossil fuels, capture carbon in the soil, and absorb sudden shocks in the global supply—as well as produce healthier and more affordable food for everyone.
We call for an end to all trade deals that interfere with our attempts to rebuild local economies, regulate corporations, and stop damaging extractive projects. Rebalancing the scales of justice, we should ensure immigration status and full protection for all workers. Recognizing Canada’s contributions to military conflicts and climate change—primary drivers of the global refugee crisis—we must welcome refugees and migrants seeking safety and a better life.
Shifting to an economy in balance with the earth’s limits also means expanding the sectors of our economy that are already low-carbon: caregiving, teaching, social work, the arts, and public-interest media. Following on Quebec’s lead, a national childcare program is long past due. All this work, much of it performed by women, is the glue that builds humane, resilient communities—and we will need our communities to be as strong as possible in the face of the rocky future we have already locked in.
Since so much of the labour of caretaking—whether of people or the planet—is currently unpaid, we call for a vigorous debate about the introduction of a universal basic annual income. Pioneered in Manitoba in the 1970s, this sturdy safety net could help ensure that no one is forced to take work that threatens their children’s tomorrow, just to feed those children today.
We declare that “austerity”—which has systematically attacked low-carbon sectors like education and healthcare, while starving public transit and forcing reckless energy privatizations—is a fossilized form of thinking that has become a threat to life on earth.
The money we need to pay for this great transformation is available—we just need the right policies to release it. Like an end to fossil fuel subsidies. Financial transaction taxes. Increased resource royalties. Higher income taxes on corporations and wealthy people. A progressive carbon tax. Cuts to military spending. All of these are based on a simple “polluter pays” principle and hold enormous promise.
One thing is clear: public scarcity in times of unprecedented private wealth is a manufactured crisis, designed to extinguish our dreams before they have a chance to be born.
Those dreams go well beyond this document. We call on all those seeking political office to seize this opportunity and embrace the urgent need for transformation. We call for town hall meetings across the country where residents can gather to democratically define what a genuine leap to the next economy means in their communities.
Inevitably, this bottom-up revival will lead to a renewal of democracy at every level of government, working swiftly toward a system in which every vote counts and corporate money is removed from political campaigns.
This is a great deal to take on all at once, but such are the times in which we live.
The drop in oil prices has temporarily relieved the pressure to dig up fossil fuels as rapidly as high-risk technologies will allow. This pause in frenetic expansion should not be viewed as a crisis, but as a gift.
It has given us a rare moment to look at what we have become—and decide to change.
And so we call on all those seeking political office to seize this opportunity and embrace the urgent need for transformation. This is our sacred duty to those this country harmed in the past, to those suffering needlessly in the present, and to all who have a right to a bright and safe future.
Now is the time for boldness.
Now is the time to leap.
NOTES
N.B. Any quotes not otherwise sourced are from the author’s own reporting.
Epigraph
John Trudell: “I’m not looking to overthrow…”
Independent Television Service, “Trudell,” press release for documentary Trudell, ITVS.org, accessed April 24, 2017, https://itvs.org/about/pressroom/press-release/trudell.
Introduction
Kellyanne Conway: “shock to the sy
stem”
Kellyanne Conway, tweet, posted by @KellyannePolls, January 27, 2017, https://twitter.com/KellyannePolls/status/825358733945475073.
Halina Bortnowska: “the difference between dog years and human years…”
Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2007), 217.
Donald Trump: “torture works”
Arlette Saenz, “President Trump Tells ABC News’ David Muir He ‘Absolutely’ Thinks Waterboarding Works,” ABC News online, January 25, 2017, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-trump-tells-abc-news-david-muir-absolutely/story?id=45045055.
Steve Bannon: “deconstruction of the administrative state…”
Philip Rucker, “Bannon: Trump Administration Is in Unending Battle for ‘Deconstruction of the Administrative State,’ ” WashingtonPost.com, Februrary 23, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/23/bannon-trump-administration-is-in-unending-battle-for-deconstruction-of-the-administrative-state/?postshare=161487879490400&tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.7e3812cfb71c.
Lawsuit alleging “emolument” from foreign governments
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), “CREW Sues Trump Over Emoluments,” press release, January 22, 2017, https://www.citizensforethics.org/press-release/crew-sues-trump-emoluments/.
Donald Trump: “the feds” in Chicago
Donald Trump, tweet, posted by @realDonaldTrump, January 25, 2017, https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/824080766288228352?lang=en.
César Aira: “Any change is a change in the topic”
Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2007).
UK’s Conservative government: become a tax haven for all of Europe
Adam Bienkov, “Theresa May ‘Stands Ready’ to Turn Britain into a Tax Haven after Brexit,” Business Insider, January 16, 2017, http://uk.businessinsider.com/theresa-may-stands-ready-to-turn-britain-into-a-tax-haven-after-brexit-2017-1.
“Von Olaf Gersemann and Ileana Grabitz. FULL INTERVIEW: Philip Hammond Suggests Britain Could Become a ‘Tax Haven’ after Brexit,” Welt via Business Insider, January 16, 2017, http://uk.businessinsider.com/philip-hammond-suggests-britain-could-become-a-tax-haven-after-brexit-2017-1.
“Brexit: George Osborne Says Tax Rises and Spending Cuts Needed,” BBC.com, June 23, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36647006.
Donald Rumsfeld: “Milton is the embodiment…”
Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2007), 138.
PART I – HOW WE GOT HERE: RISE OF THE SUPERBRANDS
Martin Luther King, Jr.: “We must rapidly begin…”
Martin Luther King, Jr., “Beyond Vietnam” (speech), April 4, 1967, transcript accessed at Stanford: The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute website, accessed April 10, 2017, http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_beyond_vietnam/.
CHAPTER 1
How Trump Won by Becoming the Ultimate Brand
Hillary Clinton: nearly 2.9 million more votes than Trump
Gregory Krieg, “It’s Official: Clinton Swamps Trump in Popular Vote,” CNN.com, February 22, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/21/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-popular-vote-final-count/.
“2016 Presidential General Election Results,” U.S. Election Atlas, accessed April 10, 2017, http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/.
Poll: hypothetical global votes in American election
WIN/Gallup International Association, “WIN/Gallup International’s Global Poll on the American Election,” WIN/Gallup online, September 4, 2016, http://www.wingia.com/web/files/richeditor/filemanager/WINGIA_Global_Poll_on_US_Election_-_FINALIZED_Revised_Global_Press_Release.pdf.
Not A Transition, A Corporate Coup
Oxfam: eight men are worth as much as half the world
Oxfam International, “Just 8 Men Own Same Wealth as Half the World,” press release, January 16, 2017, https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2017-01-16/just-8-men-own-same-wealth-half-world.
NBC News: Trump’s cabinet appointments combined net worth of $14.5 billion
Ben Popken, “Trump’s Cabinet Picks Have a Combined Wealth of $14.5B. How Did They All Make Their Money?” NBCNews.com, December 7, 2016, http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/trump-s-cabinet-picks-have-combined-wealth-11b-how-did-n692681.
Carl Icahn: worth more than $15 billion
“Carl Icahn Profile,” Forbes.com, last modified April 12, 2017, https://www.forbes.com/profile/carl-icahn/.
Steve Mnuchin and foreclosures
Sean Coffey, California Reinvestment Coalition, personal correspondence with author or her research assistants, April 24, 2017: “tens of thousands of people were foreclosed on (or kicked out of their homes), with more than 15,000 of those foreclosures happening due to a reverse mortgage, a type of loan that can only be originated to seniors.”
Paul Kiel and Jesse Eisinger, “Trump’s Treasury Pick Excelled at Kicking Elderly People Out of Their Homes,” ProPublica.org, December 27, 2016, https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-treasury-pick-excelled-at-kicking-elderly-out-of-their-homes?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletter.
Rex Tillerson and ExxonMobil career
ExxonMobil, “Rex Tillerson to Retire, Darren Woods Elected Chairman, CEO of ExxonMobil Corporation,” press release, December 14, 2016, http://news.exxonmobil.com/press-release/rex-tillerson-retire-darren-woods-elected-chairman-ceo-exxon-mobil-corporation.
Exxon and hiding climate science
Amy Lieberman and Susanne Rust, “Big Oil Braced for Global Warming While It Fought Regulations,” LATimes.com, December 31, 2015, http://graphics.latimes.com/oil-operations/.
Trump’s appointees: military and surveillance contractors and paid lobbyists
Lee Fang, “Donald Trump Is Filling Top Pentagon and Homeland Security Positions with Defense Contractors,” Intercept.com, March 21, 2017, https://theintercept.com/2017/03/21/revolving-door-military/.
Roger Ailes and harassment allegations
Manuel Roig-Franzia, Scott Higham, Paul Farhi, and Krissah Thompson, “The Fall of Roger Ailes: He Made Fox News His ‘Locker Room’—and Now Women Are Telling Their Stories,” Washington Post, July 22, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-fall-of-roger-ailes-he-made-fox-his-locker-room–and-now-women-are-telling-their-stories/2016/07/22/5eff9024-5014-11e6-aa14-e0c1087f7583_story.html?utm_term=.02913c0561b2.
Granting the Corporate Wish List
Trump and plans for a tax cut and slashing regulations
Bob Bryan, “TRUMP: We’re Going to ‘Cut Regulations by 75%’ and Impose a ‘Very Major Border Tax,’ ” Business Insider, January 23, 2017, http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-cut-regulation-border-tax-imports-2017-1.
White House Office of the Press Secretary, “Remarks by President Trump at the Conservative Political Action Conference,” press release, February 24, 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/02/24/remarks-president-trump-conservative-political-action-conference.
Trump tax plan: breaks and loopholes for very wealthy people
Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Patricia Cohen, “Trump Tax Plan Would Shift Trillions from U.S. Coffers to the Richest,” New York Times, April 27, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/us/politics/individual-business-tax-wealth.html.
Jared Kushner: “Swat team,” “run like a great American business”
Philip Bump, “Trump’s Idea to Run the Government Like a Business Is an Old One in American Politics,” Washington Post, March 27, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/03/27/trumps-idea-to-run-the-government-like-a-
business-is-an-old-one-in-american-politics/?utm_term=.c9d5e5bd7d0b.
Ashley Parker and Philip Rucker, “Trump Taps Kushner to Lead a SWAT Team to Fix Government with Business Ideas,” Washington Post, March 26, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-taps-kushner-to-lead-a-swat-team-to-fix-government-with-business-ideas/2017/03/26/9714a8b6-1254-11e7-ada0-1489b735b3a3_story.html?utm_term=.0c5b0edb5d8f
Public Citizen: Trump met with at least 190 corporate executives
Rick Claypool, “Corporate Executives Swamp the White House,” Citizenvox.com (website of Public Citizen), April 14, 2017, http://www.citizenvox.org/2017/04/17/corporate-executives-swamp-white-house/.
Mick Mulvaney: “Most of these are laws and regulations…”
White House Office of the Press Secretary, “Top Highlights from Sunday’s Shows,” press release, April 23, 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/23/top-highlights-sundays-shows.
Trump: ending programs that protect children from environmental toxins; companies no longer need to report greenhouse gases emissions
Chris Mooney and Juliet Eilperin, “Trump’s EPA Moves to Dismantle Programs That Protect Kids from Lead Paint,” Washington Post, April 5, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/04/05/trumps-epa-moves-to-defund-programs-that-protect-children-from-lead/?utm_term=.943aabc37a8d.
Environmental Protection Agency, “Background on the Information Request for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry,” EPA.gov, March 2, 2017, https://www.epa.gov/controlling-air-pollution-oil-and-natural-gas-industry/background-information-request-oil-and.