Latest Podcast: Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine" in the Israeli Context

On Thursday, the 26th of June, 2008, Shir Hever, economist with the Alternative Information Center (AIC) spoke with Canadian journalist, author and activist, Naomi Klein. Naomi is the author of No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies and Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate and a frequent contributor to The Nation, In These Times, The Globe and Mail, and The Guardian.

Her most recent work is, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (September 2007). In this book, she undertakes to show how "disaster capitalism," which she defines as "orchestrated raids on the public sphere in the wake of catastrophic events, combined with the treatment of disasters as exciting market opportunities," did not begin in the wake of September 11, 2001. Instead, its origins can be traced back fifty years, to the University of Chicago under Milton Friedman, which produced many of the leading neoconservative and neoliberal thinkers, whose influence is still profound in Washington today.

Shir spoke with Naomi about Israel's role in the disaster capitalism phenomenon, the contradictions in Israeli society, which both profits and suffers from the burdens of being a fortress state in constant conflict, and on the discourse among Israeli economists about the role of peace vs. war in the Israeli economy. 

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The City of David Visitor’s Center is ranked among the top five tourist attractions in Israel, growing from 25,000 visitors in 2001 to 350,000 visitors in 2008. Like other Palestinian neighborhoods, the barbed wire, security guards, and Israeli flags hanging from houses speak the true story, a story that archaeology is being used to cover up.

The Ir David settlement, which is being built alongside the archaeological sites, is located in the Palestinian village of Silwan.

Unlike most archaeological sites in Israel, which are funded and managed by the Israeli government, the City of David excavations in Silwan are the exclusive property of the ultra-right wing settler organization, the Elad Group.