The TYT Community Book Chat!
Next week, we’re talking about Chapters 11-13 of Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine.
On Thursdays, I usual post about a good progressive show, cause, or charity that I want to recommend to people.
This week’s a little different — it’s not its own organization, but it is an interesting opportunity to talk politics in a relaxed environment with other progressives.
The TYT Community’s Book Chat meets once every two weeks, focusing on reading a few chapters of an interesting politics-related book and discussing it informally together. (Don’t tell, but even if you haven’t read that week’s reading, you can still participate. 😀)
I’ve attended two of the meetings so far and I’m really enjoying it! Right now, we’re talking about Naomi Klein’s pivotal work The Shock Doctrine. I read it 15 years ago or so, and it’s surprising just how much of it still applies today.
Klein gives a history of capitalists trying to take advantage of national emergencies around the world — a natural disaster, a coup, a revolution — and use it to make as much money as possible by getting the government of that country to adopt policies that they or the people would never support in normal times — when there’s a “shock” to the system, and neolibs work quickly, they can get a foothold quickly. Some examples are Poland, China (it turns out the Communist Party really isn’t communist anymore!), several countries in Latin America…
Klein also makes a direct link to modern-day domestic and international policies. For anyone who’s a progressive, or further left, it’s really eye-opening. Even if you’ve read it before (which I have, but I’ve since forgotten lots of it), it’s still interesting because we get to talk about our take-aways and also just other “random” stuff as we’re hanging out.
Sound interesting? Come check it out! There’s even a way to read the book for free if you don’t have a copy. Here are the deets, you can click on the image below and it will take you to the TYT community page. Hope to see you there on Sept. 3!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
🚨 Before you go, don’t forget to vote in August’s poll for which progressive org or cause will get a $50 donation from eclecticmisc.org! If you like this post, please explore the rest of the site, share it on social media, and/or comment below. Thanks!
