British Columbia Obstructs the Shock Doctrine: Struggle, Solidarity, and Popular Resistance

Main Article Content

Tobey Steeves

Abstract

The 2014/2015 school year had a rocky start in British Columbia, Canada, where teachers finished the 2013/2014 school year locked out and on strike. Naomi Klein’s notion of shock doctrines provides a lens for understanding this struggle over public services. In this paper I analyze the contexts that drove BC's teachers to reject shock therapy and highlight the tactics used to cultivate shock resistance in BC. This clash of private and public values can be extended and adapted to other contexts to cultivate broad popular support for public education.

Article Details

Section
Field Reports
Author Biography

Tobey Steeves, Independent scholar

Tobey Steeves is a secondary teacher, education policy analyst, and advocate for a more equitable otherwise.