“Equal Access For All”: A Dying Truth
The world we live in is and has been losing its public realms. The lands of equal opportunities and equal access to goods are deteriorating. As natural disasters occur, companies and private owners can try to take away parts of society that some certain individuals may need, but may lose or be limited to at his/her own expense. This can be known as Disaster Capitalism of which is where a person, or company seeks to profit from a disaster.
Milton Friedman, as discussed in Naomi Kleins, Shock Doctrine, can be held responsible for this. Milton Friedman was a economist who changed the world through his ideas of privatizing the public sphere. When you privatize something that was once public, your taking responsibility and care from the government and putting it in the hands of a private owner, as well as taking away its public status which allows it to be open to everyone through payment of taxes. Once something is privatized, its now up to that private owner to decide how they want to rebuild, what exactly they want to do, and how much they want to charge. This can be seen all over the United States, especially with situations where hurricanes wipe out entire parts of cities.
New Orleans for example, had some of the biggest changes to the public sphere that this country had seen thanks to Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast of the United States on August 29th 2005, leaving many displaced and trapped, and destroying much of the poorer areas of the city. Much of these areas were sold off to private owners. Among the most of these areas were the schools. Once public schools became privatized and turned into Charter Schools, many teachers were fired, those who remained on staff saw salary cut backs. Regarding to the kids, not all were treated fairly. To go to a charter school one must be accepted, and sometimes demographics will prioritize one student above another.
According to Mike Ludwig on TruthOut.org
“Before Katrina, New Orleans schools were heavily segregated by wealth and income, and a recent Tulane University study found that the demographic breakdown of the city’s elementary schools has not changed. There have been some changes in high schools, with segregation increasing for low-income students but decreasing for those with special needs. In New Orleans, students are not assigned to a school based on where they live. Instead, parents submit applications with a list of schools ranked from their top choice on down, aware that their child may not be admitted to the school they like best. Black students and activists criticize some charters for enrollment schemes and zero- tolerance disciplinary policies that favor white, abled and wealthier students while keeping — or kicking — others out.”(Ludwig 20).
Thus creating a sort of segregation. However it doesn’t end in New Orleans.
On October 29th, 2012, Hurricane Sandy struck New York City, damaging buildings, freeways, bridges and other kinds of infrastructure. Frank Rapoport, a lawyer in New York City, soon brought up the idea of privatizing a part of the public sphere. This is of no surprise due to his associations with billion dollar construction companies.
According to Naomi Klein (the author of Shock Doctrine) on TheGuardian.com
“That means roads, bridges and tunnels being rebuilt by private companies, which, for instance, could install tolls and keep the profits. These deals aren’t legal in New York or New Jersey, but Rapoport believes that can change. “There were some bridges that were washed out in New Jersey that need structural replacement, and it’s going to be very expensive,” he told the Nation. “And so the government may well not have the money to build it the right way. And that’s when you turn to a P3.”(Klein 2).
Not all forms privatization is necessarily bad for the public. Fixing roads, bridges and other infrastructure isn’t necessarily bad, however it does limit access to the public. Once again, companies mainly act quickly and sometimes unjustly in an effort to make more money. These companies will quickly take advantage of disasters like these because it is a now or never type of situation. You either act now for the chance of making money on things that the public might need, or you hesitate and lose that opportunity along with thousands and potentially millions of dollars.
This type of situation is sort of similar to whats happening in Puerto Rico.
On September 20th 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, of which destroyed most of the islands access to electricity. It was announced that the Puerto Rican Governor, Ricardo Rossello, has decided to disband PREPA (Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority) and sell off the power grid to private companies of whom (according to PBS.org ) say that they plan to keep the power grips up to date and provide proper maintenance to them.
Once again this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but by privatizing a once public domain in society, the ability for some of the public to gain access to this “good” can eventually become more difficult to receive.
By privatizing the public sphere, there is a small chance that these private owners plan to work in favor for and put people as a priority above their own check books.
Is privatization, overall, a bad thing?
In my opinion, no. To update necessities and take care of infrastructures aren’t bad ideas, however its important to keep in mind that these private companies aren’t working for your interest or to serve you. These companies see you more as opportunities, more as money signs. Privatizing the public sphere is going to make getting equal access for all extremely difficult.
Works Cited
Klein, Naomi. The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Vintage Canada, 2008.
Giusti, Carlos, and Michael Weissenstein. “Army Corps of Engineers to Leave Puerto Rico with Hurricane Recovery Unfinished.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 18 May 2018, www.pbs.org
Klein, Naomi. “Hurricane Sandy: Beware of America’s Disaster Capitalists | Naomi Klein.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 6 Nov. 2012, www.theguardian.com
Furtado, Merula. “How the Large-Scale Privatization of New Orleans’ Schools Upholds Inequality.” Truthout, Truthout, 29 Aug. 2017, truthout.org
