Sunday, December 11, 2011

Zombie economics — neoliberalism alive and well in Tunisia


On the verge of officially forming a coalition government to run the country and rewrite the nation’s pre-revolution constitution, Tunisia’s dominant, Islamist political party Ennahda has come under fire for its economic neo-liberalism, both from opponents and from coalition partners.
After an election noted for its transparency, the major Tunisian parties are busy putting the finishing touches on the first democratic government in the nation’s history. The Islamist party Hizb Ennahda will get the most important positions, including the coveted post of prime minister. 
A major reason for Ennahda’s popularity is its history of resistance against the old dictatorship. Its supporters see it as both the party of Islam and the party of revolution and change. However, when it comes to issues concerning economics and international finance, it generally advocates continuing the generally neo-liberal policies of the former dictatorship.
Read the rest at IPS
TUNISIA — Neo-Liberalism the Issue, Not Islam
By Jake Lippincott

A revolution that wasn't. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

8 comments:

Matt Franko said...

Tom,

If you look at the comments to the story I posted yesterday about the tragic situation here last week where that woman committed suicide.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/214353.html

That link was to an Arab-Muslim website looks like, hence the awkwardly worded title. I dont know if it's a propaganda site or what... but anyway the one commenter posted:

"This is heart breaking!!!!!This is not much different than what Assize of Tunisia did, that caused all the uproar in the Arab world.!!!! Our prayers are with the family, hope the kids survive this tragedy.....Spending BILLION in unjust wars weekly......While denying to provide the basics for the PEOPLE in the RICHEST country in the world!!! Shocking!!!!"

So this is being picked up over there and this person apparently sees equivalency between the Tunisian who set himself on fire and this Texas woman who shot herself and children.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Bouazizi

Folks over there apparently were so outraged/motivated over this fellah setting himself on fire it led to a national rebellion.

Here, nobody even knows what this woman did or perhaps why.

What does that say about east vs west.

But then to beat all, after all of that in Tunisia it looks like it's straight back to the economic status quo.... like you say same-o same-o.

Resp,

Matt Franko said...

To continue this thought, this from the Wiki article:

"While standing in the middle of traffic, he shouted "how do you expect me to make a living?"[20] He then doused and set himself alight with a match at 11:30 a.m. local time, less than an hour after the altercation.[14]"

Separating a human from their means of subsistence is at the core of both of these tragic events....

The forced unemployment of millions of our fellow US citizens and looks like indeed the other millions outside of the US is a very diabolical practice. Very dark.

Resp,

Tom Hickey said...

@ Matt,

When asked for a nominee for Time's Man of the Year Glen Beck answered, "That guy that burned himself in Tunisia."

You read that right — Glen Beck, one of the most conservative people on the planet.

Talk about something that is blindly obvious.

The difference between Tunisia and the US in this regard. The incident in Tunisia was the "butterfly beating its wings" that tips the scales into a catastrophic chain of events as described by chaos theory.

The butterfly hasn't yet beat its wings in the US. But conditions seem ripe for a catalyst, whatever it may turn out to be.

Mario said...

very interesting parallel matt.

The butterfly hasn't yet beat its wings in the US. But conditions seem ripe for a catalyst, whatever it may turn out to be.

yeah agreed....and whatever it is, it will likely need to be big enough to get through the media firewall AND have enough impact to convert the hearts of a large group of people that are on "the sidelines" as it were AND obvious enough such that the government can't spin it (like 9/11 for example). It's coming without a doubt. The only question becomes when and how intense will the ripples be. Personally I'm cynically optimistic.

Mario said...

John Lennon knew how to really revolt in an effective way. That's why (imho) they knocked him like they did...just before Reagan came into power of course. ;)

http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=472

like he says...try to find one militant revolution that fulfilled what it promised....the US seems to hold the title for longest sustaining promise fulfilled but relatively speaking, as we all know, it really never accomplished it then and it appears (for now at least) to only be getting worse. However I do like to look at our political and social civilizations on "higher time frames" than what we usually do (which is like a day or a week at most), b/c it seems to me that on those higher time-frames, we are making higher highs and lower lows (our depression today is nowhere near as bad as the depression in the 30's in terms of overall standard of living for those in need for example).

Mario said...

you might also really like this...it's all about corporate personhood...a bit old info but this kind of stuff really NEVER gets old.

http://www.reaganmsova.com/2011/10/separation-of-corporation-and-state.html

Anonymous said...

Matt, setting oneself on fire as an act of political protest and defiance can be a heroically selfless and sacrificial act.

Setting other innocent people on fire as an act of political protest and defiance is a sick and selfish act of murder. There is no comparison between the two. It is a slur on the memory of Mohamad Boazizi to suggest that the act of a child-killer is analogous to his act.

Tom Hickey said...

@ Dan K.

It's called "going postal." Pushed beyond the breaking point, people snap. Let's not excuse the action, but let's not blame victims of a sick system either.