"Those who have survived have learned that their sense of self, worth and humanity depends upon a feeling of connection to others. The solidarity of a group provides the strongest protection against terror and despair... a sense of belonging... [the ability to bear witness and affirm]... and restores her humanity,"
Regarding the importance of a healing relationship:
"The core experiences of psychological trauma are disempowerment and disconnection from others. Recovery, therefore, is based upon the empowerment of the survivor and the creation of new connections... She must be the author... of her own recovery. Others may offer advice, affection and care, but not cure." Psychotherapy, mutual support groups and medication, when necessary, can however, provide invaluable assistance.
**
Let us now take a moment to return to a larger context: the times in which we live.
In her
groundbreaking reporting, Naomi Klein introduced the term "disaster
capitalism." Whether covering Baghdad after the U.S. occupation, Sri
Lanka in the wake of the tsunami, or New Orleans post-Katrina, she witnessed
something remarkably similar. People still reeling from catastrophe were being
hit again, this time with economic "shock treatment," losing their
land and homes to rapid-fire corporate makeovers.
The Shock Doctrine retells the
story of a prevalent pattern showing how powerful and privileged forces have
exploited moments of shock and extreme violence in order to implement its
economic policies in so many parts of the world from Latin America and Eastern
Europe to South Africa, Russia, and Iraq.
At the core of what she has labeled "disaster capitalism" is the use of cataclysmic
events to advance radical privatization combined with the privatization of the
disaster response itself. Klein argues that by capitalizing on crises, created
by nature, war, or human design, the disaster capitalism complex now
exists as a booming new economy, and is the violent culmination of a radical
economic project that has been incubating for over fifty years.
We can evaluate evidence such as that offered by Snopes.com:
"In the month prior to the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, unusual trading activity involving American and United Airlines stock was noted by market analysts who at the time had no idea what to make of it. Wildly unusual discrepancies in the put and call ratio -- 25 to 100 times normal -- were reportedly observed in stock options of the two airlines. In one case, Bloomberg's Trade Book electronic trading system identified option volume in UAL (parent of United Airlines) on 16 August 2001 that was 36 times higher than usual.
"(Options are wagers that the price of a 100-share block of a particular stock will rise or fall by a certain date. 'Puts' are 'shorts,' or bets the stock price will fall. 'Calls' are bets the price will rise. Thus, one who has reason to believe a particular company is about to suffer a terrible reversal of fortune would purchase 'puts' against that entity's stock.)
"But it was during the final few trading days (the market closes on weekends) that the most unusual variances in activity occurred. Bloomberg data showed that on 6 September 2001, the Thursday before that black Tuesday, put-option volume in UAL stock was nearly 100 times higher than normal: 2,000 options versus 27 on the previous day."
**
However, let us imagine that the moral and actual crimes being committed today are only the beginning of a much larger scenario of collapse that is brewing. As David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World and The Great Turning - From Empire to Earth Community, has written:
"It's too late to think we can make incremental tweaks to our current systems and be OK. Corporations and the ultra-wealthy will not share their wealth, and if we continue current practices of extraction and pollution, all life will be threatened."
He goes on to say:
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