I've just finished reading The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, author of the much feted No Logo.  It's one of those books that make you realise that despite years of learning world history, you actually knew shit all.  Read It.  Now.

The book takes a historical look at the spread of freidmanite free-market ideology, the assumption that a completely unfettered, unregulated economic system of free-markets will settle, through the powers of supply and demand, into calm equilibrium, maximising wealth and benefitting the world through a 'trickle-down' effect.  I first heard of the trickle-down effects in Geography, learning about how tourist markets in the developing world help generate wealth for the whole community.  This was apparantly a simple fact regarding human geography.  It is also, to a large effect, absolute bollocks.  Yes, people get jobs... but, since free-markets only work with no interference (so the theory goes), they also lose any semblance of minimum-wage, labour unions or labour regulation.  Such negative consequences were strangley lacking in my lessons.

Free-market ideology was the backbone of economics at Chicago University throughout the sixties, headed by the infamous Milton Friedman.  At the time, America was fighting a war against communist isdeology (read: facist ideology) in Russia and as such saw the emerging leftist governments in South America as a significant threat.  With their militant workers unions, state owned companies and controlled markets, they represented an independant and economically strengthening bloc somewhat too close to home.  One by one, America funded coup attempts:  Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Guatamala... each time a new regime came to power, there they were: Chicago trained friedmanites dominated economic policy having received a free education at the expense of the U.S tax payer. 

In each case, the new ruling Junta accepted the washington consensus: that to be a part of the globalising community one had to privatise, privatise, privatise.  State onership was socialist.  In the wake of each of these radical reforms, hundreds of thousands of state employees were laid-off, unions were beaten, kidnapped and murdered into submission, prices soared as caps were lifted and cheap, foreign (often american) imports flooded the market, causing widespread hardship.  It is a little stated fact that switching to a free-market can only occur in a repressive dictatorship (though Poland and South Africa would prove that other ways would be found).  It is not hard to see why.

In every country, the effect of this 'shock therapy' was the same: mass unemployment, skyrocketing prices, repression and an ever increasing wealth gap.  As the poor got more numerous, the rich got obscenely rich.  Government ministers joined foriegn investors in buying up state companies and natural resources for a fraction of their worth on long-term contracts.  Within a few years, this economic elite toasted the ingernuity of chicago and the logistical support of washington, benefitting all the while from the exploitation and repression of the indiginous community. 

The IMF have, for decades now, ignored their original function of being a shoulder to lean on and instead reverted to a much more profitable (for america anyhow, who essential control this 'multi-national' institution) role of black-mailing enforcer.  If a country goes tits up, it's there... dangling a huge loan on the condition that the country undergo radical free-market reform.  If it meets these demands of opening up there resources and unregulated labour to foriegn investment, only then will they help. 

IMF:  I see your economy is in a rather bad way after all the civil wars youve been through

Ruling Junta:  Yes, We need billions of dollars to help our people...

IMF staffer with conscience standing at back (under breath):  What, the people you use the cattle prods on?  the ones with 'made in the USA' on?

IMF:  OK, but first you must lower public spending, scrap healthcare, privatise all your companies, lay-off thousands of people, scrap price caps, allow cheap imports to devestate your agriculture industry and what little manufacturing you have and persuade those pesky workers unions to see fair will ya?

Ruling Junta: er... OK, we can do that... so... um... am I right in thinking we can just claim shares in these privatised companies and make loads of cash? 

IMF: what? sorry? did you say something?  No?  well, ok, see ya then.


This happened time and time again.  Wonder no more how the american economy has grown despite the primary and secondary industries declining...

I'll leave the rest for you to read.  It's shocking stuff..  Ford actually had a torture room in their factory (argentina.. or chile possibly) ready for when the bosses picked out the union members to the secret policy.  And thats not the half of it.

In short, it is the much ignored history of the second wave of colonial exploitation and domination.  Instead of using our own resources, we bank-roll whichever brutal elite takes charge and, under the shadow of a shocked population, unleash the 'freedom' of free markets.  The death toll is, by now, in the millions. 

Yet will anyone be held to account?  It will truely be a measure of mankinds advancement when it is at least agreed that there is a case to be answered.