Neoliberalism Archives

March 19, 2023

Ready to Strike at Rutgers! Interview with Rutgers University union leaders

Faculty at Rutgers University in New Jersey, one of the oldest public universities in the United States, are preparing to strike. Last week two faculty bargaining units, one comprised of full-time faculty and one of part-time, both voted by overwhelming majority in favor of a strike to create a living wage across campus for all teachers; to bring all faculty into the same bargaining unit; to undermine racism and sexism in the University labor hierarchy; and to push back against the University’s corporate, neoliberal agenda: https://rutgersaaup.org/our-members-h…

The two Rutgers Unions, AAUP-AFT, and the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union, are also practicing what the Union calls “fighting for the common good.” Their demands against the University include a call for a freeze on housing rates on all Rutgers-owned properties, a call for student debt forgiveness, and attention to creation of a “beloved community” in and around Rutgers campuses in the multiracial, working-class cities of New Brunswick, Camden and Newark: https://rutgersaaup.org/take-the-pled…

July 19, 2022

by Justin Akers Chacón

The Making of a System in Crisis: the ungovernability of 21st century capitalism

As Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels explained in their foundational exposition of historical materialism and the dialectics of social transformation, a mode of production in crisis does not collapse under the weight of its own malfunction; it has to dismantled and replaced through the self-conscious action of a rising revolutionary class.
The multiplying crises of capitalism have led to internal dysfunction and debilitations that render its operations increasingly out of sync with the needs and basic sustenance of the vast majority of humanity and the rest of the natural world. It is rapidly reaching the limits of its own capacity for self-reproduction, and cannot seem to persist without inducing even greater calamity and instability. As the capitalist system trudges on in this linear trajectory, a cumulative transformation is well underway: where more will have to be sacrificed so that capitalism may live on.

October 1, 2021

by Puntorojo Editorial Collective

Serious about Systemic Change: an interview with Marco Amaral

Marco Amaral is a progressive candidate running as an Independent for the position of California Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2022. He is Chicano educator and long-time activist who teaches high school Special Education in a low-income area. Amaral lives and works in a community near the US-Mexico border in San Diego, a largely working-class Mexican community and is currently a Board of Trustees member at the South Bay Union School District. He spoke to Puntorojo about activism, education, politics and his campaign.

May 13, 2021

by Zack Frailey Escobar

The Colombian Working Class Against Neoliberalism and Imperialism

In the aftermath of the pandemic, Colombians are striking and demonstrating against austerity and police repression in a historic rebellion. The uprising highlights the power workers hold – and if the rising is successful, it could spell the end of decades of right-wing rule.

April 14, 2020

by Justin Akers Chacón

COVID-19 and Imperialism: the coming disaster and revolt

As the coronavirus spreads across the globe, the impact is winding its way through the hierarchical channels of the global capitalist system. As the richer nations approach the apex of the first wave of the infection, the pandemic is just hitting the poorer nations. The combined catastrophe of mass-infection and economic collapse is going to be more destructive and the effects longer-lasting in societies historically under-developed by imperialism. This refers to the internationalization of the capitalist system by the dominant economic powers, who then divide (and re-divide) and economically exploit other nations through the institutions of neoliberal capitalism.

March 26, 2020

by Justin Akers Chacón

Bailouts are class warfare

The global capitalist economy has quickly stumbled into recession, a process already unfolding before the COVID-19 pandemic came into full view. The effects of the spreading virus have led to rolling closures and shutdowns to large swathes of different international economies, inducing a full-blown crisis that is now breathlessly impacting people across the world.