I saw in the Daily Pennsylvanian that the court ruled for the Penn demolition of 40th and Pine. I'm sorry for the folks getting smacked by the true goals of neoliberalism, as reality can no longer be ignored here in our crime free paradise.
While most Americans are still befuddled at the differences between plutocracy and representative democracy, between totalitarianism and citizen rights; I hope some of the litigants are connecting the various aspects of the new reality. Quite frankly, the new society is just beginning in Philadelphia.
Since the late 1990's, "business power" and "business efficiency" have been celebrated as the only value for American society. Brutality in all its forms was championed to stop "interference" with the wealth and power of the ruling class. Transparency, citizen participation, verifiable information, and democratic processes were all labeled as a criminal pathology. No one knows this truism better than crazy Glenn, who deserved the "death ray" many years ago when fighting the privatization of public parks.
Structurally, the Clark Park Partnership and the fake democracy to secure the new zoning process shows the reality of the new institutions. And the censored local communications, such as the Penn created UCNeighbors, shows how the free press and citizen participation have been replaced with marketing/self help forums.
We were sold the lie that all of the fundamental concepts of citizenship were horrible inefficiencies and embraced a future of "succinct" marketing slogans, and closed back room meetings. "Cleaner and safer" riches were going to trickle down from our rulers, if we helped them brutalize all of those, just below us on the economic ladder.
Well, I hope the litigants, at least, will begin to connect the lies, and recognize that all "individual" issues have been a unified system of power known as neoliberal economics. From feudalism, colonialism, and fascism; neoliberalism is just the new wave for the oligarchs, toward their goal of global totalitarianism. And yes, the true goals do come home to roost for the populations which support these systems!
We don't have systems and institutions for citizen participation any longer. We sealed this development many years ago by turning a deaf ear to those fundamental concepts absolutely necessary to avoid enslavement by the oligarchs. We never had a great democracy at any point, but we had some functioning institutions that brought some incremental advances for the people, and some level of security for the middle classes. (I didn't come from the middle class, and so I understand brutality and enslavement viscerally. I also understand how the middle class first enabled neoliberalism decades ago, when it decided that the lives of my people and the poor of the world had no value.)
Everything that consumers took for granted in the past must no longer be expected. Until the fundamental concepts of citizenship and the processes of democracy are revitalized, there is no hope against the power of our insane ruling class with their god-complex. The new realities around zoning topics are the least important dimension of the destruction of community, and enslavement of the masses, but hopefully the new zoning realities will awaken some of the befuddled members of the middle class! The privatization of all parks and the militarization of society is the much bigger problem that we face locally, but I hope the reality of the new zoning power opens some eyes!
Sincerely,
Glenn, Je me souviens
