Klein looks calm and curious as she delivers this message. She has a ready laugh. But then, she had the same unruffled, buoyant delivery when I interviewed her on stage in Manchester for Doppelgänger, her 2023 book in which she described how the digital world is destroying our connection to reality, and one another. In 1999, when her breakthrough work No Logo was published, she seemed exhilaratingly certain, at 29, that neoliberalism was bringing harm that we couldn’t yet even see the extent of, and nonetheless appeared centred and happy in the world. Somehow she manages to maintain this attitude, even though the news she delivers is always so convincingly, unbelievably bad.
End Times Fascism describes the world we’re in, where the components of authoritarianism are modelled everywhere you look: anarcho-libertarian economics in Argentina, the destruction of a free press in Russia, the erosion of democratic institutions in Hungary (until Viktor Orbán was deposed), “anti-immigrant neofascism” in Italy, the weaponisation of trans identity by Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Islamophobia in Modi’s India. But this is fascism with a difference. Its proponents are actively willing an apocalypse, or a wave of interconnected apocalypses brought forth by climate change and financial chaos, to hasten us towards a post-democratic world in which only a rich few survive to prosper.
This book started as an article in the Guardian, “which went totally viral,” Klein says. “Astra and I knew there was a lot more reporting to do, but on a personal level, did we want to spend the next year in the minds of these people, in these cultures? Then Astra said, ‘I’m down the rabbit hole, I’m gonna be listening to these guys anyway. So I may as well feel like I’m doing something about it.’ This is the reason it’s the first book I’ve co-written. When you go to dark, scary places, it’s nice to bring a friend.” Astra Taylor is also a writer, activist and documentary maker, and founded the Debt Collective, a fascinating experiment in building structured, quasi-unionised solidarity around personal debt, with the long term goals of abolishing student tuition fees, nationalising healthcare and building tenant power.
Naomi Klein is a badass
But, and she cannot stress this enough, as useful as it is to know the recent history of these trends, you should not take comfort from the idea that you’ve seen it all before. “I have found the image of a spiral really useful, in terms of how to make sense of the fact that our era is both familiar and different,” Klein says. “The thing about a spiral is that you’re going round, but you’re not going to the same place. If the spiral is pointing down, it’s deeper, it’s tighter, it’s carrying more velocity, it’s carrying more force, it’s carrying more heat, it’s carrying more violence.”
I don’t like that idea at all.
I don’t like that this is a precise, lucid description of the current state of things either but it is undeniable.
And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human.
our brains are not adapted to hold this much power.
Naomi Klein manages it somehow nonetheless.
I’m still convinced its not wealth corrupts but corrupt wealths
Liberal slop. Lists all this “fascism” (the author does not seem to understand the term) and “authoritarianism” (a horseshit self-own by liberals) but fails to mention the United States’ role as leader in the worldwide reactionary movement. Mentions all these horrible things but zero mention of capitalism’s role in societal decline.
Chauvinistic, useless writing. The people celebrating this book are pathetic.
Chauvinistic, useless writing. The people celebrating this book are pathetic.
Ahahahahahahahahahahaha
Damn, you are hilarious!
Educate yourself about who you are talking about before you condescend others for being “uninformed”.
I took your advice, looked at chloroken’s comment history, and it looks like they might be working out of St. Petersburg, or something similar. It’s almost all personal attacks instead of argument, and contempt.
Either that or an authoritarian centrist trying to astroturf crazy tankies opinions to validate centrist fear mongering about leftist crazy tankies it is hard to tell, either explanation makes sense for not really knowing who Naomi Klein is and conflating her with someone like Ezra Klein.
I live in Pennsylvania. I know it’s convenient for scratched liberals to believe everyone that criticizes your fucked-up worldview is some Russian Ork Bot, but what you’re actually doing is signaling your bigotry to the world and admitting you can’t handle ideas without resorting to fantasy.
It’s not bigotry, it’s pattern recognition. Should we review your 20 most recent comments so everyone can see what a shitgibbon you are?
We don’t even disagree ideologically, I think you just have a purity fetish and hateful affect.
What am I educating myself on? This is liberal slop. It is literal anticommunist bullshit. The author is a random inconsequential liberal uninterested in forming coherent criticisms of capitalism. Did I stutter?
Make an argument, not unfounded accusations and ad hominem attacks, if you want to be taken seriously. The proverbial spittle on your chin is distracting.
I made the argument in my original comment. I don’t need to repeat myself.
Liberal slop. Lists all this “fascism” (the author does not seem to understand the term) and “authoritarianism” (a horseshit self-own by liberals) but fails to mention the United States’ role as leader in the worldwide reactionary movement. Mentions all these horrible things but zero mention of capitalism’s role in societal decline. Chauvinistic, useless writing. The people celebrating this book are pathetic.
I fail to see the argument here, are you adresssing the contents of the book? It seems like you are, yet you give no evidence of having read it. Just venom and ambiguity.
Claiming that Klein is not addressing capitalism in her work isn’t doing your credibility any favours.
No you just emphasized your ignorance.
Naomi Klein is a liberal slop generator. Your heroes are pathetic. Read a book that criticizes capitalism written by a Marxist if you want a semblance of what actual leftists think about these topics. Not some progressive liberal clown.
Naomi Klein is a liberal slop generator.
Who do you think you are going to convince that Naomi Klein is liberal slop?
The demographic you are shooting to convince is absurdly narrow.
The fact that you cannot tell the difference between someone like Naomi Klein and someone like Ezra Klein that actually does what you say exposes that either you are pretending to hold a political position you don’t actually and are being sloppy with the details (ding ding ding ding!) or you cannot tell or understand the difference between coalitions of people with different ideologies and groups dominated by gatekeepers who police the window of acceptable debate.
You need to read the script closer if you are going to convincingly act the part, when it is obvious you are mixing up Ezra Klein with Naomi Klein the illusion you are actually a leftist is shattered for us.
