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August 15, 2004
In contrast to the forgetting of the democratic tradition by Hardt & Negri in Empire Henry Giroux both highlights that tradition and says how it is being undermined by neo-liberalism. The title of his paper is Neo-liberalism and the demise of democracy.
Giroux says:
"In its capacity to dehistoricize and depoliticize society, as well as in its aggressive attempts to destroy all of the public spheres necessary for the defense of a genuine democracy, neoliberalism reproduces the conditions for unleashing the most brutalizing forces of capitalism. Social Darwinism has been resurrected from the ashes of the 19th century sweatshops and can now be seen in full bloom in most reality TV programs and in the unfettered self-interests that now drives popular culture. As narcissism is replaced by unadulterated materialism, public concerns collapse into utterly private considerations and where public space does exist it is mainly used as a confessional for private woes, a cut throat game of winner take all, or a advertisement for consumerism."
Giroux goes on to say that within the discourse of neoliberalism, the notion of the public good is devalued and, where possible, eliminated as part of a wider rationale for a handful of private interests to control as much of social life as possible in order to maximize their personal profit. He says that free-market fundamentalists and right wing politicians view government as the enemy of freedom (except when it aids big business) and discount it as a guardian of the public interest.
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