STWR - Share The World's Resources

As #OccupyWallStreet protesters continue to gather in the streets of New York and other cities across the country, a selection of commentators give their views on the United States' version of the uprisings occuring throughout the world. Are we witnessing the birth of a new commonwealth of economic equality?

Leaders at Toronto’s G20 summit failed to tackle the deep faults in the global financial architecture, instead prioritising an austerity agenda that will hit the poorest hardest. Already criticised for its democratic deficit, the G20 has now lost all credibility as a forum for global economic governance.

For the solution to the climate crisis to be effective, it must address questions of justice and equity at a systemic level. In recognising this, three prominent voices call for an agreement based on sharing economic power and the repayment of climate debt.

As the Copenhagen climate summit draws near, a growing movement is calling for rich countries to pay reparations to poor countries for the climate crisis. Settling the ‘climate debt’ could fund the transfer of green technology essential to saving the entire planet, says Naomi Klein.

The Wall Street bailout looks a lot like Iraq, a "free-fraud zone"  with no bid contracts, paltry oversight and a conveyor belt of taxpayers money to private business. This 'economic Green Zone' allows Wall Street to profit from a market meltdown that they created, argues Naomi Klein.

Unlike the police states of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, China has built a Police State 2.0, an entirely for-profit affair that is the latest frontier for the global Disaster Capitalism Complex - and a society defined by "McCommunism", argues Naomi Klein.

Disaster capitalism is now riding on the back of the serial crises in food and energy - and Iraq isn't the only country in the midst of an oil-related stickup, writes Naomi Klein.

Barack Obama has openly declared himself as a pro-growth, pro-free trade guy who "loves" the open market. But before Obama can purge Washington of the scourge of Friedmanism, he has some ideological housecleaning of his own to do, says Naomi Klein.

A film by director Avi Lewis and writer Naomi Klein, focusing on the struggle of workers in Argentina to take back their abandoned factories amidst economic collapse.

With the help of U.S. defense contractors, China is building the prototype for a high-tech police state. It is ready for export.

"Every crisis is an opportunity; someone will exploit it. The question we face is this: Will the current turmoil become an excuse to transfer yet more public wealth into private hands, to wipe out the last vestiges of the welfare state, all in the name of economic growth?"

Far from saving us from catastrophe, the market is developing fortresses to shield the haves from the victims of the future. 

The world saw a video last week of Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers using a Taser against a Polish man in the Vancouver International Airport in October. It turns out that the 40-year-old didn't just die after being shocked -- his life was marked by shock as well, by Naomi Klein.

In less than two years, the lease on the largest and most important US military base in Latin America will run out. The base is in Manta, Ecuador, and Rafael Correa, the country’s leftist president, has pronounced that he will renew the lease “on one condition: that they let us put a base in Miami–an Ecuadorean base.”

I used to worry that the United States was in the grip of extremists who sincerely believed that the Apocalypse was coming and that they and their friends would be airlifted to heavenly safety. I have since reconsidered.

On a recent visit to Calgary, Alberta, I was taken aback to see my book on disaster capitalism selling briskly at the airport. Calgary is ground zero of North America's oil and gas boom, where business suits and cowboy hats are the de facto uniform. I had a sudden sinking feeling: did Calgary's business class think The Shock Doctrine was a how-to guide - a manual for making millions from catastrophe? Were they hoping for tips on landing no-bid contracts if the US bombs Iran?

In a Democracy Now! exclusive debate, former federal reserve chairman Alan Greenspan and journalist Naomi Klein square off on the Iraq war, oil, President Bush tax cuts, social security, economic populism in Latin America, corruption and crony capitalism.

In Europe and Canada debate is raging about Naomi Klein's new book on disaster capitalism, The Shock Doctrine. This interview with Klein considers why U.S. public debate is unable to ask fundamental questions about our economic system, writes Jan Frel.

In the days after 9/11, America's firefighters, nurses and teachers were hailed as the country's heroes. But President Bush's embracing of the public sector didn't last long. As the dust settled on the twin towers, the White House launched an entirely new economy, based on security - with the belief that only private firms could meet the challenge. 

Her explosive new book exposes the lie that free markets thrive on freedom. In the Guardian's first exclusive extract, the No Logo author reveals the business of exploiting disaster.

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is a detailed analysis of how corporations manipulate natural and manmade disasters to line their pockets and further their privatizing agenda, writes Vit Wagner.

As protesters gathered recently outside the Security and Prosperity Partnership summit in Montebello, Quebec, to confront George Bush, Felipe Calderón, the Mexican president, and Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister, Associated Press reported this surreal detail: "Leaders were not able to see the protesters in person, but they could watch the protesters on TV monitors inside the hotel ... Cameramen hired to ensure that demonstrators would be able to pass along their messages to the three leaders sat idly in a tent full of audio and video equipment ... A sign on the outside of the tent said, 'Our cameras are here today providing your right to be seen and heard. Please let us help you get your message out. Thank You.'"

An interview with Naomi Klein by Amy Goodman from Democracy Now! under the theme 'Lost Worlds' - in reference to an aborted debate between Naomi Klein and Jeffrey Sachs.

It's not the act itself, it's the hypocrisy. That's the line on Paul Wolfowitz, coming from editorial pages around the world. It's neither: not the act (disregarding the rules to get his girlfriend a pay raise) nor the hypocrisy (the fact that Wolfowitz's mission as World Bank president is fighting for "good governance").