The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism

by Naomi Klein

The about-turn may well have had something to do with a poll, conducted in this period by the Washington-based International Republican Institute. It asked Iraqis what kind of politicians they would vote for if they had the chance. The results were a wake-up call for the Green Zone corporatists: 49 percent of Iraqi respondents said they would vote for a party promising to create “more government jobs.” Asked if they would vote for a party promising to create “more private sector jobs,” only 4.6 percent said yes. Asked if they would vote for a party promising to “keep coalition forces until security is good,” only 4.2 percent said they would.9 Put simply, if Iraqis were allowed to freely elect the next government, and if that government had real power, Washington would have to give up on two of the war’s main goals: access to Iraq for U.S. military bases and full access to Iraq for U.S. multinationals.

Democracy doesn't work with corporatism...