More than 1000 people have died and almost 3 million people have been impacted by floods, storms, and other severe weather-related disasters since the start of the monsoon season in mid-June. Additionally, there has been a loss of 702,100 livestock while 130 bridges and more than 3,000 kilometers of roadways have been destroyed.
The humanitarian situation in Pakistan has deteriorated over the past two weeks as intense rains caused flash flooding and storms that resulted in widespread destruction and displacement across the country. Amid this catastrophe, Pakistan is witnessing a sharp rise in the prices of essential commodities. Living up to their rationale, capitalists are once against feeding off the miseries of others. They are infamous for their vicious and heartless art of turning a crisis into a strategic advantage for further accumulation of wealth. bytefence key 2017
“Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. “
Natural catastrophes no longer occur naturally. They are accelerated by climate change, which is the ultimate result of human activities. Moreover, big corporations and proponents of free-market policies prey on the survivors of these disasters which is caused by their greed and negligence in the first place. So, today I’ll go into this by looking for answers as to how and why capitalism takes advantage of such catastrophes. What is disaster capitalism, and why is it relevant today?
“Only a crisis—actual or perceived—produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. ” This passage from ‘Capitalism and Freedom’ by Milton Friedman, the founder of neoliberalism, represents the root of disaster capitalism. According to Friedman, crises bring about change, but the kind of change depends on the beliefs that are popular now. Making free-market capitalism the prevalent notion was his life’s work. From 1962, when the quotation was originally published, up until the present, Friedman and his supporters have been extraordinarily effective in that endeavour. In fact, this profit-driven catastrophe was not fully realized until after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
“After a shocking event—a war, coup, terrorist attack, market crash, or natural disaster—they exploit the public’s disorientation, suspend democracy, and push through radical free-market policies that enrich the 1% at the expense of the poor and middle class.”
After witnessing the horrors of Iraq, journalist Naomi Klein set out to investigate how and why neoliberal capitalism, also known as privatization, deregulation, and the free market, tends to arise immediately after disasters. In her 2007 book, The Shock Doctrine, she summarizes her research and exposes the schemes of right-wing governments and free-market advocates.“After a shocking event—a war, coup, terrorist attack, market crash, or natural disaster—they exploit the public’s disorientation, suspend democracy, and push through radical free-market policies that enrich the 1% at the expense of the poor and middle class.” To summarize, capitalists use the shock of disasters—natural or man-made—to push through austerity and privatization policies, acquire real estate at a discount, and profit off marginalized communities. bytefence key 2017
One of the leading examples of this is Phil Heilberg, a former Wall Street financier, who was going around South Sudan some thirteen years ago and purchasing land. He didn’t buy millions of acres of South Sudanese farmland because he wanted to relocate there or because he wanted to become a farmer. Phil Heilberg placed a bet on the disaster. According to McKenzie Funk’s article in Rolling Stone Magazine, Heilberg allegedly tried to capitalize on an impending food crisis. When food prices throughout the world were doubling and tripling at the time, Heilberg saw this catastrophe as a chance to strike it rich. He could possibly make a fortune by renting or selling vast swaths of fertile land to farmers who were in dire need of fertile soil to cultivate their crops. This is what a future with climate change holds for us. In fact, billionaires have already started acquiring thousands of acres of property in land grabs like Heilberg’s. While the rest will suffer, the capitalists will have garnered the rewards.
This also happened in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, another calamity set in motion by climate change and worsened by decades of austerity policies imposed on Puerto Rico in return for freedom from the shackles of illicit debt. Following the destruction of Puerto Rico’s electric infrastructure by Hurricane Maria, the government gave a contract to a private firm, Luma, to help repair it, and maintained its history of austerity practices by closing over 300 schools, all in the guise of balancing the budget and freeing up funds for rehabilitation. avast premier 2018 license key
The world will continue to see calamities brought on by climate change and if we keep doing nothing, without a question, disaster capitalism will attempt to shape the lives of those on the front lines in accordance with its ideals. However, if we fight for something bigger, we might have a shot. We need to acknowledge that neoliberalism and capitalism, more generally, are impeding any attempts to progress in terms of human condition, and must build resilience in the face of climatic calamity. To create a society where resilience and communal healinserial number dan authorization code sketchup pro 2018g are prioritized, it is imperative that we put laws, concepts, and networks of care in place before a tragedy occurs. Maybe calamity would not entail catastrophe in that universe. One such universe that I have imagined is a socialist universe. Something that we have forgotten. We must revisit our socialist tendencies. As Faiz believed, so do I, that this land is fertile for socialism to grow.
