Review of The Battle for Paradise

This short book gives us an essential overview of what was happening in Puerto Rico almost a year after Hurricane Maria laid the island to waste. The picture is one of inadequate response, but of resilient local communities coming together to solve the problems caused by the storm — and in a few cases to prosper.

When the author visited for a week in January 2018, those problems remained formidable.

The residents of Puerto Rico face another problem too. That, the author tells us, is the plan some call "Puertopia." In essence, it proposes to turn the island into a playground and tax haven for the wealthy. But, as she points out, efforts to tailor Puerto Rico's economy to favor imported Norteamericanos over natives, a vestige of colonial attitudes, have a long history. Only one aspect of "Puertopia" is novel: the call to make the island a center for cryptocurrency generation. Generating (or "mining," to use the term in vogue) cryptocurrency consumes a lot of electricity. Doing it where electricity rates are high makes little sense. And doing it mostly with fossil-fuel electricity, which is at least the default assumption for Puerto Rico, contributes to global warming.

This neocolonial scheme is opposed by the approach Naomi Klein favors. That involves redesigning the island for the benefit of its native majority by fostering renewable energy rather than fossil fuels, indigenous plants for local consumption rather than mono-crops for export, and overall autonomy. Details are sketchy, since the book was written in a hurry. But a crucial point is that Puertopia is also in a hurry, and hell-for-leather development with political support and lots of capital behind it can move fast indeed.2

At eighty numbered pages, the book is a quick read. It is well written, with only a few typos. I found no factual misstatement.3 A Foreword written jointly by five professors briefly explains the need for pro-resident reform in Puerto Rico, the nature of Naomi Klein's visit, and the organization that resulted. That organization, JuntaGente, gets all the royalties from sales of The Battle for Paradise. I recommend the book.

1 Wikipedia lists 21 Superfund sites on the island, including one at the former Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Area on Vieques.

2 It can be argued that Naomi Klein overstates the problem. Perhaps. But Puerto Rico's history still gives reason for concern. A Web site favorable to Puertopia includes this statement: "Hurricane Maria devastated the territory and destroyed much of the local infrastructure, leaving locals without power for months, and many still affected. The disaster resulted in cheap property in need of refurbishment hitting the market as locals were displaced by the storm, and corresponded with a huge increase in the value of cryptocurrencies as well.." More extensive coverage in the New York Times notes that the Puertopians themselves intend to move fast. And a post on The Crusty Crackpot includes some interesting bits.

3 Writing about Casa Pueblo, a solar-powered community center in the mountain city of Adjuntas, Klein writes on page 2 that "Somehow, those panels (upgraded over the years) managed to survive Maria's hurricane-force winds and falling debris. Which meant that in a sea of post-storm darkness, Casa Pueblo had the only sustained power for miles around." Obviously, solar cells alone cannot provide power during the hours of darkness. The building must have storage batteries too. The engineer in me wants to quibble with the fact that they aren't mentioned. But as a basic description, Mrs. Klein's somewhat poetic language is acceptable.

THE BATTLE FOR PARADISE Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists Naomi Klein Chicago: Haymarket Books, 5 June 2018				Rating: 5.0 High
ISBN-13 978-1-60846-357-2
ISBN-10 1-60846-357-5	80pp.	SC	$9.95

THE BATTLE FOR PARADISE

Reviewed 7/22/2018