This column is not a plea to join the Marines, the hippies or any political party. This is, however, something like the alarm that you hit three times before getting out of bed. It is a wake-up call to blow away the dreamy daze, remove the sleep blinders and ask: do I know what is happening today?
For a year now, media headlines have sort of clued us in; they’ve reported a multi-billion dollar bail-out, more mortgage foreclosures, escalating unemployment (now 16 to 17 percent) and bleary job prospects (look out prospective grads). All of this can be attributed to neoliberalism, an unpleasant topic that does not fit into circles of casual conversation but inches along, ignored.
The alarm went off for me this summer when I read “A Brief History of Neoliberalism” in a neighborhood book group. Author David Harvey, a scholar in the fields of anthropology, political science, geography and urban economics, has taught at The City University of New York for 40 years, and his clear analysis educated and enlightened my knowledge of political-economic workings in our global society.
One facet is clear: The force of neoliberalism, which consists of organizations, people, jobs and/or land that transferred out of public or government control and into private ownership, is an active agent of capitalism that is at work today.
One example of neoliberalism at work is Monsanto, a multinational, agricultural corporation located in St Louis that decoded the DNA of seeds. The seed, a natural, free product for millennia, has been taken by Monsanto and branded, which Monsanto was able to do by removing it from the public, then patenting and commodifying it.
In order to grow sustainable food or valuable crops, farmers must pay for the seeds they traditionally grew or else be criminally charged for stealing private property. Neoliberalism supports this shift to private, commodified products and leaves the farmer, seeds and common-public resources in the dust bowl to shrivel.
Monsanto’s efforts are laudable, and a great discovery to some. Exemplifying neoliberalism as patriotic here in America, it sounds the bell of freedom. Neoliberalism’s free markets give us the freedom to own, specialize, expand and make the most profit, yet also the freedom to exploit in order to get the greatest gains. Neoliberalism plays on our common-sense ideas of freedom and democracy, and this myth helped keep our society together until the economic crisis hit in fall 2008.
Maybe we want to fuel a country and global society with more wealth, but with this we sacrifice our natural resources (people included), and we will have to go to school longer, accrue greater debt and then work harder until loans are paid off.
What can we do? We need to think hard about what we consume, because to everything we consume, we essentially give our financial support. We need to think critically about what headlines and articles are saying and also about what they are leaving out. We need to challenge the foundations of neoliberalism and consider human greed and self-interest as a cornerstone, and examine ourselves.
As citizens of the United States, one of the largest political-economical influences in the world, we owe it to ourselves to remove the blinders and break down the meaning and significance of a force that has major consequences.
This is about life-human, animal and plant-and the hope that this life will be free and not a commodity in a free market. The alarm sounds: Wake up, wake up, this is too important to snooze on. With knowledge we must act responsibly.
Rebecca Gorley is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences.
