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Neoliberal Global Capitalism and Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century

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Critical Race Theory and Education

Part of the book series: Marxism and Education ((MAED))

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Abstract

In this chapter, I examine the issues of capitalism, globalization, neo-liberalism and global environmental destruction both conceptually and materially. I then relate these issues to twenty-first century imperialism, assessing some comments on globalization from two leading Critical Race Theorists, and from postmodernism and transmodernism, before outlining my preferred Marxist analysis. I conclude the chapter with some comments on the imperial occupation of Iraq five years on.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This section of the chapter draws on Cole (2008, pp. 101–103).

  2. 2.

    A blatant example of enantiomorphism within the public sphere occurred at the end of ‘Britain’s Best: 2008’, an award ceremony sponsored by The Sun, and broadcast on ITV1 on 23rd May, 2008. Attempts were made to enfrauden the viewers at the climax of the programme which featured Gordon Brown and ‘The British Armed Forces’ (the latter being the winner of The Sun global recognition award). We are told that the last twelve months has seen the largest number of British troops on active duty overseas since the Second World War. Why are these working class men and women overseas? They are there to ‘save the lives of others’. Over footage featuring troops interacting happily with local children, we are told that they are also there to ‘provide security, stability and hope to those whose lives have been devastated by the effects of war’. In case there was any doubt that they were peacemakers, the accompanying music was chosen carefully. It was Paul Weller’s You do something to me. Here are two of the lines of the song: ‘You do something to me—somewhere deep inside. I'm hoping to get close to- a peace I cannot find’. Crude propaganda of this kind, is, of course, likely to intensify Islamophobia.

  3. 3.

    I am aware that many postmodernists and poststructuralists would totally reject the following arguments. Perhaps it is in the nature of postmodernism that widely differing views can be contained within one school of thought.

  4. 4.

    It was Sigmund Freud (1914) [1991] who postulated an early stage of primal narcissism. During this time an infant is preoccupied with itself and with its own pleasure, while being oblivious of the needs of others.

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    Mike Cole

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Cole, M. (2017). Neoliberal Global Capitalism and Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century. In: Critical Race Theory and Education. Marxism and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95079-9_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95079-9_7

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