Naomi Klein facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Naomi Klein
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Klein in 2017
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| Born | May 8, 1970 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Occupation | Author, activist, professor, filmmaker |
| Alma mater | University of Toronto (withdrew) |
| Period | 1999–present |
| Genre | Nonfiction |
| Subject | Alter-globalization, anti-war, anti-globalization, anti-capitalism, organized labour, environmentalism, feminism, anti-Zionism |
| Notable works | This Changes Everything, No Logo, The Shock Doctrine, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World |
| Spouse | Avi Lewis |
| Children | 1 |
| Parents | Bonnie Sherr Klein, Michael Klein |
Naomi Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a Canadian author, activist, and filmmaker. She is known for her ideas about how big companies and governments affect people and the planet. She supports ecofeminism, which connects environmental issues with women's rights. Klein also supports organized labour, which means workers' rights. She often criticizes how large corporations operate around the world.
In 2021, Klein became a professor at the University of British Columbia. She teaches about climate justice and is a co-director of the Centre for Climate Justice.
Klein first became known for her book No Logo (1999). This book was about the alter-globalization movement. This movement questions how big companies and global trade affect local communities and the environment. She also wrote and helped direct a film called The Take (2004). This film was about workers in Argentina who took over factories. Her book The Shock Doctrine (2007) looked at how big changes happen during times of crisis. Her book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate (2014) was a bestseller. It won the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
In 2016, Klein received the Sydney Peace Prize for her work on climate justice. She is often named as one of the world's most influential thinkers.
Contents
Family and Early Life
Klein's Family Background
Naomi Klein was born in Montreal, Quebec. Her family is Jewish and has a history of working for peace. Her parents were peace activists who moved from the United States to Canada in 1967. They did this to avoid the Vietnam War. Her father, Michael Klein, is a doctor. He is part of a group called Physicians for Social Responsibility. Her brother, Seth Klein, is an author. He used to lead the British Columbia office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Before World War II, her grandparents were Communists. But they changed their views after 1939. In 1942, her grandfather was fired from his job as an animator at Disney. This happened after a strike. He then had to work in a shipyard. By 1956, they no longer supported communism. Klein's father grew up learning about social justice and equality.
Her Husband's Family
Klein's husband, Avi Lewis, comes from a family involved in politics and journalism. His grandfather, David Lewis, was a leader of the federal New Democratic Party. His father, Stephen Lewis, led the Ontario New Democratic Party. Avi Lewis is a TV journalist and documentary filmmaker. He is also a professor at the University of British Columbia. Naomi and Avi have one son named Toma.
Teenage Years and Education
As a teenager, Naomi Klein spent a lot of time in shopping malls. She was very interested in designer labels. She found it hard to have a mother who was a very public feminist. So, she chose to focus on shopping instead of politics.
Two things changed her way of thinking. First, when she was 17, her mother had a stroke. Her mother became very ill. Naomi, her father, and her brother took care of her. This year off helped Naomi to change her perspective. The second event happened when she started at the University of Toronto. This was the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre. This event, where female engineering students were killed, made her realize the importance of feminism.
Klein started her writing career at The Varsity, a student newspaper. She became its editor-in-chief. After her third year at the University of Toronto, she left to work at The Globe and Mail. Then she became an editor at This Magazine. She went back to university in 1995 but left again for a journalism internship. She did not finish her degree.
Naomi Klein's Books and Films
No Logo
In 1999, Klein published No Logo. This book became very important for the anti-globalization movement. In it, she criticizes how companies use brands to sell products. She also points out how large corporations might use workers unfairly in poorer countries to make more money. Klein criticized Nike so much that the company wrote a detailed response. No Logo became a huge international bestseller. It sold over one million copies and was translated into more than 28 languages.
Fences and Windows
Klein's book Fences and Windows (2002) is a collection of her articles and speeches. These writings were about the anti-globalization movement. All the money from this book goes to help activist groups through The Fences and Windows Fund.
The Take
The Take (2004) is a documentary film by Klein and her husband, Avi Lewis. It tells the story of factory workers in Argentina. These workers took over a closed factory and started making products again. They ran the factory as a team. The film was first shown in Africa in a shack settlement in Durban, South Africa.
The Shock Doctrine
Klein's third book, The Shock Doctrine, came out in 2007. The book argues that certain economic ideas became popular during times of crisis. These ideas were promoted by people like Milton Friedman. Klein suggests that these policies were often put in place when people were still recovering from disasters or big changes. This made it harder for citizens to question them. The book became a bestseller and was translated into 28 languages.
A main idea in the book is that people who want to make unpopular changes often do so after big disasters. When a society is in shock, people want quick solutions. This gives a chance for some to push through policies that might not be helpful. The book suggests that sometimes these "shocks" are even encouraged.
The Shock Doctrine was made into a short film. It was directed by Jonás Cuarón and produced by his father Alfonso Cuarón. A longer documentary based on the book was also made by Michael Winterbottom. The book made Klein even more well-known. In 2009, it won the first Warwick Prize for Writing.
This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate
Klein's fourth book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, was published in 2014. The book argues that current economic systems make it hard to stop climate change. It suggests that our way of life needs big changes to protect the environment. The book won the 2014 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
No Is Not Enough
Klein's fifth book, No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump's Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need, was published in 2017. This book argues for big changes and bold policies. It suggests these are needed to offer a real alternative to the ideas of the Trump White House. It also talks about how to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
The Battle for Paradise
The Battle for Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists came out in 2018. It talks about what happened in Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and María. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz called it "a fight for our lives."
Klein uses ideas from her book The Shock Doctrine to explain the situation in Puerto Rico. She criticizes how the government handled the recovery. She says officials focused on attracting foreign investors. Meanwhile, many Puerto Ricans were left to struggle or move to the U.S. mainland. She notes that less than a year after the hurricane, the governor said Maria created a "blank canvas." This meant Puerto Rico would be open to "disaster capitalists" who wanted to profit from the damage.
On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal
Klein's seventh book, On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal, was published in 2019. This book is a collection of essays about climate change. It talks about the urgent actions needed to protect the world. Klein writes about meeting Greta Thunberg and how young people are speaking up for climate action. She supports the Green New Deal.
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World
Released in 2023, Doppelganger is a book that mixes memoir with social criticism. Klein talks about how she is often confused with another writer, Naomi Wolf. She explains that she has been mistaken for the "other Naomi" for over ten years. Because of this, she started to follow Wolf's new connections with "dangerous men." Klein wrote the book to use her experience of being mistaken for someone else. She uses it to explore what she calls our "doppelganger culture."
Klein suggests that the Western world is very divided by politics and ideas. Each side feels the other lives in a "mirror world." The book received mostly good reviews. In June 2024, Doppelganger won Klein the first Women's Prize for Non-Fiction.
Naomi Klein's Views
Views on the Iraq War
Klein has written about the Iraq War. In an article called "Baghdad Year Zero" (2004), she argued that the George W. Bush administration had a clear plan for Iraq after the invasion. This plan was to create a completely free market economy. She described how they planned to let foreigners take wealth from Iraq. Her article helped inspire the 2008 film War, Inc.
Views on Venezuela
In 2004, Klein signed a petition supporting Hugo Chávez, the leader of Venezuela. In 2007, she described Venezuela under Chávez as a country where people believed in democracy again. She said Chávez's policies protected Venezuela from economic problems caused by capitalism.
Views on Israel
In 2009, during the Gaza War, Klein supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. She argued that boycotting Israel could help end the conflict. In 2009, Klein visited Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. She promoted her book and the BDS campaign. She said it was important not to boycott Israelis, but to boycott the "normalization of Israel and the conflict."
Views on Environmentalism
By 2009, Klein started focusing on environmental issues, especially climate change. This became the topic of her book This Changes Everything (2014). Her website says the book and its film are about how the climate crisis can lead to economic and political changes.
She was on the board of directors for the group 350.org. She also took part in their "Do the Math" tour in 2013. This tour encouraged people to stop investing in fossil fuel companies. Klein believes that the financial crisis and the climate crisis both come from too much corporate greed. She gave a speech at Occupy Wall Street. She said the world was "upside down." We act as if fossil fuels are endless, but they are not. We also act as if money is limited, but it is not.
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She has strongly criticized the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada. She called it a form of "terrestrial skinning" in a TED talk. In 2011, she was arrested at a protest against the Keystone XL pipeline outside the White House. Klein celebrated when President Obama decided to delay the pipeline decision.
She attended the Copenhagen Climate Summit of 2009. She blamed President Barack Obama for its failure. She also called her own country, Canada, a "climate criminal."
After Hurricane Sandy, she warned that the climate crisis could be a chance for companies to profit from disaster. But she also said it could be a chance for big progressive change. In 2016, after Donald Trump was elected president, Klein called for countries to put economic sanctions on the United States if his government did not follow the Paris Agreement.
In 2022, Klein wrote about the COP27 meeting in Egypt. She said the Egyptian government was repressive. She argued that the climate movement should not ignore this. She called it "greenwashing." She also asked for the release of activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah.
Other Activities and Recognition
Klein writes for many publications, including The Nation, The Globe and Mail, and The Guardian. She is also a senior writer for The Intercept. She has lectured at the London School of Economics. In 2018, she became the first Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.
In 2005, Klein was ranked 11th in an online poll of the top global thinkers. She was involved in the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests. She spoke out against police force and brutality. In 2011, she visited Occupy Wall Street. She called the protest movement "the most important thing in the world."
Klein helped create the Leap Manifesto. This is a political plan from 2015 that focuses on climate change. It suggests changing the Canadian economy and dealing with issues like inequality and racism. The manifesto influenced the development of the Green New Deal.
In 2019, Klein signed a letter supporting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. She called him "a beacon of hope" against far-right nationalism and racism.
Awards and Honors
- 2009: Warwick Prize for Writing, for The Shock Doctrine
- 2011: Honorary doctorate, Saint Thomas University
- 2011: Time magazine's list of Top 100 Non-Fiction books published since 1923, No Logo
- 2014: Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction for This Changes Everything
- 2014: The Observer 'Book of the Year', This Changes Everything
- 2014: The Guardian Readers' 10 best books of 2014, for This Changes Everything
- 2016: Sydney Peace Prize
- 2017: No Logo – Number 3 on The Guardian's list of the Top 100 Non Fiction books of all-time
- 2019: Honorary doctorate, University of Amsterdam
- 2021: The Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity, Media Ecology Association
- 2023: The Guardian's Best Ideas Books of 2023, Doppelganger
- 2024: Women's Prize for Non-Fiction, for Doppelganger
Filmography
- The Corporation (2003) (interviewee)
- The Take (2004) (writer)
- The Shock Doctrine (2009) (writer)
- Catastroika (2012) (appearance)
- This Changes Everything (2015)
See also
In Spanish: Naomi Klein para niños
- Alter-globalization
- Leap Manifesto
- Green New Deal
