Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The Militarization of Racism and Neoliberal Violence

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, August 21, 2014

The Militarization of Racism and Neoliberal Violence

Click here to access article by Henry A. Giroux from Uncommon Thought Journal.

I have long complained about liberal takes on current issues like Giroux's articles. While left-liberals frequently complain about the numerous current problems of wars, poverty, the lack of social justice, etc, they always stop short of blaming the system. One frequent method of accomplishing this is evident again in this article where Giroux points his finger at "neoliberalism" or "casino capitalism" as something like a recent creation, something very different than what we had before in which democracy existed. I have attacked this view for so long (look under my tag "liberal") that I am frankly tired of doing so. Thus, if you have doubts, I'm only going to refer you to one very excellent article entitled "The 'Ralph Nader' Illusion" explaining the fakery of this liberal view.

Still, Giroux, especially in this article, seems to come the closest that liberals ever come to revealing the real nature of capitalism. He just hides it behind terms like "neoliberalism" (a current stage of capitalism) and "casino capitalism". The strongest targets of his criticism of this current stage of capitalism are very characteristic of elements of fascism, but he never uses that word. To do so might reveal the hard core nature of earlier capitalism which hid behind a curtain with pictures of "democracy" all over it.