Naomi Klein (No Logo author, journalist, filmmaker) wants to warn us about what the tech billionaire edgelords are *really* up to. Her new book, End Times Fascism, cowritten with political organiser and author Astra Taylor, explains the seemingly bizarre (and chaotic) alliance between far-right Christians, the megalomanic tech bros, Israel and MAGA (and, increasingly, many other nation states). And why they are gunning for an apocalypse. The book, which became an instant bestseller in the US, Canada and UK when it came out two months ago, issues a wake-up call, but also serves as a guidebook to where the vulnerabilities lie in the mad, evil plot (so that we can exploit them, and flip the story).

I’ve been wanting to talk with Naomi… for most of my adult life! I’ve followed her work since No Logo came out in 2000. All of her books have identified dangerous shifts in the Zeitgeist, coined terms and served as portents. So, too, End Times Fascism. It covers the collapsing phenomenon I track in I Eat the Stars but coming at things through a specific lens, getting into the guts of what is motivating the Musks, Vances and Thiels of the world.

Naomi is also Professor of Climate Justice at the University of British Columbia and co-director of its Centre for Climate Justice. Her other books include The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (2007); This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate (2014); and the brilliant Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World (2023), which I reference in this conversation.

SHOW NOTES

Here’s the chapter on Israel and Palestine from Doppelgänger

I invite you to follow Aja Barker over on Patreon, Britt Wrey and Harrison Gardener on Subtack.

Here’s the book trailer video that Naomi mentions…it sets up the thesis super well by showing what the main players themselves are actually saying.

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