August 13, 2004
Another quote from an article. This time it is to an article on neo-liberalism written by Henry Giroux. He says:
"As the laws of the market take precedence over the laws of the state as guardians of the public good, the government increasingly offers little help in mediating the interface between the advance of capital and its rapacious commercial interests. Neither does it aid non-commodified interests and non-market spheres that create the political, economic, and social spaces and discursive conditions vital for critical citizenship and democratic public life. Within the discourse of neoliberalism, it becomes difficult for the average citizen to speak about political or social transformation, or to even challenge, outside of a grudging nod toward rampant corruption, the ruthless downsizing, the ongoing liquidation of job security, or the elimination of benefits for people now hired on part-time."
That decline of democracy and citizenship is pretty much what has happened in Australia.
However, there has been political resistance to this decline of public life and neo-liberalism from One Nation nationalists and environmentalists. It was most evident in the resistance to the Free Trade Agreement with the US, which was seen as slicing off a piece of Australian sovereignty.
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