Rethinking neoliberal fascism, racist violence, and the plague of inequality

• Published in: Communication teacher Vol. 35; no. 3; pp. 171 - 177
• Main Author: Giroux, Henry A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Annandale Routledge 03.07.2021; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Authoritarianism; COVID-19; Criticism; Democracy; Futures (of Society); Neoliberalism; Pandemics; Politics of Education; Racial Bias; Social Change; Social Justice; Social Systems; Violence
• ISSN: 1740-4622; 1740-4630; 1740-4622
• DOI: 10.1080/17404622.2021.1923772

After decades of a savage global capitalist nightmare both in the United States and around the globe, the mobilizing passions of fascism have been unleashed unlike anything we have seen since the 1930s. The denial of the most basic elements of neoliberal fascism appears more difficult in the age of mass pandemics. Neoliberal violence now takes place under the assumption that it has escaped all control. How else to explain the collapse of public health systems underfunded for years as a result of neoliberal rule; the language of hate and violence aimed at people of color, especially under the former Trump administration; and the staggering increase in inequality in American society and its shameless counterpoint in massive increases in wealth among the ruling financial elite in an era of growing unemployment, and humans suffering in the age of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Immediate solutions such as defunding the police and improving community services are important, but they do not deal with the larger issue of eliminating a market-driven economic system structured in massive racial and economic inequalities. The renowned educator David Harvey is right in arguing that the "immediate task is nothing more nor less than the self-conscious construction of a new political framework for approaching the question of inequality [and racism], through a deep and profound critique of our economic and social system" (Harvey, 2020). This is a crisis in which different threads of oppression must be understood as part of the general crisis of capitalism. The various protests now evolving internationally at the popular level offer the promise of new global movements for the struggle for popular sovereignty and economic, racial, and social justice. Central to this struggle is the challenge of destroying the neoliberal global order. In the current moment, democracy may be under severe threat and appear frighteningly vulnerable, but with young people and others engaged in uprisings across the globe--inspired, energized, and marching in the streets--the future of a radical democracy is waiting to breathe again.