The forces of free-market fundamentalism are on the march
ushering in a terrifying horizon of what Hannah Arendt once called “dark
times.”
Across the globe, the tension between democratic values and market
fundamentalism has reached a breaking point. The social contract is under assault,
neo-Nazism is on the rise, right wing populism is propelling extremist
political candidates and social movements into the forefront of political life,
anti-immigrant sentiment is now wrapped in the poisonous logic of nationalism
and exceptionalism, racism has become a mark of celebrated audacity, and a
politics of disposability comes dangerously close to its endgame of
extermination for those considered excess.
Under such circumstances, it becomes
frightfully clear that the conditions for totalitarianism and state violence
are still with us smothering critical thought, social responsibility, the
ethical imagination, and politics itself.
Across the globe, the tension between democratic values and market
fundamentalism has reached a breaking point. The social contract is under assault,
neo-Nazism is on the rise, right wing populism is propelling extremist
political candidates and social movements into the forefront of political life,
anti-immigrant sentiment is now wrapped in the poisonous logic of nationalism
and exceptionalism, racism has become a mark of celebrated audacity, and a
politics of disposability comes dangerously close to its endgame of
extermination for those considered excess. 