Page 73 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 73
p. mclaren ■ from a city on the hill to the dungheap of history
Santa Barbara, who invited me to speak at one of his conferences on glob-
al studies. I have followed Bill’s work since that time, and we have cor-
responded about how to resist and transform the capitalist system and I
believe that Robinson makes some important points, they make sense to
me. First, Robinson notes that there is a direct correlation between the es-
calation of global inequalities and the freeing up of global markets, de-
regulation, free trade, etc., since the 1980s and on. According to Robin-
son, this is an empirical fact that belies neo-liberal claims. Witness the
incredible escalation of worldwide inequalities, within and among coun-
tries—there is some pretty dramatic data from the Oxfam annual reports
on global inequalities, released each January the past few years to coin-
cide with the WEF meetings in Davos. Second, Robinson notes that the
countries worldwide in this neo-liberal age that have registered the high-
est growth rates and rising prosperity are precisely those that have not fol-
lowed the neo-liberal prescription of deregulation and a withdrawal of the
state, in particular, China. A third point argued by Robinson, is that, his-
torically, those countries that have become industrialized and developed
have never done so through free market policies, not the United States,
not Europe, not Japan, and now not China. All have followed heavy state
intervention to guide market forces, public sectors, protection of indus-
try and so on. There is, in other words, a historical correction between de-
velopment and rejection of the neoliberal policies, and no historical evi-
dence to support neoliberal policies. Fourth, Robinson makes the claim
that many other environmental activists have made, that we are on the
verge of an ecological holocaust, as confirmed by 97% of scientists and all
the evidence, and any salvation requires a massive intervention of states to
redirect (if not suppress) market forces, which is anathema to neoliberals
and free marketeers. Even if neoliberalism is shown to increase growth,
which is unlikely, the type of unregulated growth it generates is creating
ecological havoc. Using empirical data, Robinson argues that there is a
direct correlation between liberating capital and markets from state and
public control and regulation, on the one hand, and an actual increase in
green house gas emissions and in environmental destruction over the past
few decades of neoliberalism.
So I don’t think the rise of neoliberalism is connected in a linear his-
torical fashion to the concept of the American Dream. I think the idea or
the myth surrounding capitalism and the American Dream is still alive
today to a certain extent even though it clearly doesn’t exist as an objec-
tive reality that can be lived by more than a small percentage of the pop-
ulation. It is still very much present as an ideology, an ethos, and seen as
a natural condition of the world. Roland Barthes talked about myths as
71
Santa Barbara, who invited me to speak at one of his conferences on glob-
al studies. I have followed Bill’s work since that time, and we have cor-
responded about how to resist and transform the capitalist system and I
believe that Robinson makes some important points, they make sense to
me. First, Robinson notes that there is a direct correlation between the es-
calation of global inequalities and the freeing up of global markets, de-
regulation, free trade, etc., since the 1980s and on. According to Robin-
son, this is an empirical fact that belies neo-liberal claims. Witness the
incredible escalation of worldwide inequalities, within and among coun-
tries—there is some pretty dramatic data from the Oxfam annual reports
on global inequalities, released each January the past few years to coin-
cide with the WEF meetings in Davos. Second, Robinson notes that the
countries worldwide in this neo-liberal age that have registered the high-
est growth rates and rising prosperity are precisely those that have not fol-
lowed the neo-liberal prescription of deregulation and a withdrawal of the
state, in particular, China. A third point argued by Robinson, is that, his-
torically, those countries that have become industrialized and developed
have never done so through free market policies, not the United States,
not Europe, not Japan, and now not China. All have followed heavy state
intervention to guide market forces, public sectors, protection of indus-
try and so on. There is, in other words, a historical correction between de-
velopment and rejection of the neoliberal policies, and no historical evi-
dence to support neoliberal policies. Fourth, Robinson makes the claim
that many other environmental activists have made, that we are on the
verge of an ecological holocaust, as confirmed by 97% of scientists and all
the evidence, and any salvation requires a massive intervention of states to
redirect (if not suppress) market forces, which is anathema to neoliberals
and free marketeers. Even if neoliberalism is shown to increase growth,
which is unlikely, the type of unregulated growth it generates is creating
ecological havoc. Using empirical data, Robinson argues that there is a
direct correlation between liberating capital and markets from state and
public control and regulation, on the one hand, and an actual increase in
green house gas emissions and in environmental destruction over the past
few decades of neoliberalism.
So I don’t think the rise of neoliberalism is connected in a linear his-
torical fashion to the concept of the American Dream. I think the idea or
the myth surrounding capitalism and the American Dream is still alive
today to a certain extent even though it clearly doesn’t exist as an objec-
tive reality that can be lived by more than a small percentage of the pop-
ulation. It is still very much present as an ideology, an ethos, and seen as
a natural condition of the world. Roland Barthes talked about myths as
71
