After Hitler’s armies, the most destructive and lethal blight to hit the peoples of the former Eastern Bloc was not some “communist crime”. It was the forced restoration of capitalism which led to a neoliberal Holocaust that claimed nearly 17 million lives.
Liberalism holds the rights of private property as inviolable, thereby placing them beyond public debate. It’s a system that establishes an economic structure where the critical decisions over resources and labor are made by the few who own the means of production. Such an arrangement is irreconcilable with any meaningful definition of democracy.
Private property being framed as a key part of individual freedom provides the foundational justification for the rich to keep their wealth while ignoring the needs of everyone else.
Thus, the Liberal state is forced to reveal that it represents the interests of the rich in times of crisis.
Why do Western democracies falter in a crisis?
While promising flexibility, their core mechanics, including short election cycles and the influence of wealth, create a rigid system that protects the status quo.
These procedural democracies are tragically ill-equipped for the transformative change needed to solve complex problems, from climate to economic instability.
https://dialecticaldispatches.substack.com/p/the-status-quo-machine
hamish campbell
boosted
⁂ Article
Composting the #techshit, planting the future
We are stripped naked by the last 40 years of the #deatcult. Every assumption that we lived in a tolerant, “good” world. The class war was balanced to stop the possibility of a soviet takeover, as liberals see this, two accidents: a temporary ecosystemic surplus and a temporary post-WWII settlement. Both have been steadily dismantled. And when the foundations are gone, the liberal illusions fall with them.
In the USA, Trump, neoliberalism’s golem, is dismantling his creators’ […]
⁂ Article
Composting the #techshit, planting the future
We are stripped naked by the last 40 years of the #deatcult. Every assumption that we lived in a tolerant, “good” world. The class war was balanced to stop the possibility of a soviet takeover, as liberals see this, two accidents: a temporary ecosystemic surplus and a temporary post-WWII settlement. Both have been steadily dismantled. And when the foundations are gone, the liberal illusions fall with them.
In the USA, Trump, neoliberalism’s golem, is dismantling his creators’ […]
Dan Gillmor
boosted
After centuries of total dominance of academic spaces and government spaces, liberalism isn't aware that it lost touch with the public.
In an era of anti-reason running amok, the pollyanish proceduralism of John Rawls must be put down. It cannot make the case to people who don't believe in reason.
Liberalism must argue for itself rather than be a referee: https://newrepublic.com/article/199273/john-rawls-liberals-philosopher-bus-neutrality
After centuries of total dominance of academic spaces and government spaces, liberalism isn't aware that it lost touch with the public.
In an era of anti-reason running amok, the pollyanish proceduralism of John Rawls must be put down. It cannot make the case to people who don't believe in reason.
Liberalism must argue for itself rather than be a referee: https://newrepublic.com/article/199273/john-rawls-liberals-philosopher-bus-neutrality
It’s very revealing how casually liberals spit out populist as an insult. The derogatory use of the word unmasks their real conviction that majority rule is only admirable when the majority thinks like them. Strip away the varnish and their ideal is not democracy at all, but a stewardship by the enlightened elites who keep the unwashed masses at bay.
A deep dive into the crisis of liberalism.
https://dialecticaldispatches.substack.com/p/when-beliefs-die
![statement: Everything is possible! If you fail you just didn't try hard enough!
counter point by Byung-Chul Han:
People who fail in the neoliberal achievement-society see themselves as responsible for their lot and feel shame instead of questioning society or the system. [...] under the neoliberal regime of auto-exploitation, people are turning their aggression against themselves. This auto-aggressivity means that the exploited are not inclined to revolution so much as depression.](https://cdn.masto.host/socialmarxistnetwork/media_attachments/files/114/790/791/493/591/798/original/2cac17726abf58e8.jpg)