Thread by @BueRubner

Nothing whitewashes neoliberalism as much as saying people vote for the populist far right to protest neoliberalism.

Here’s why. >

Saying far-right voters are ”protesting neoliberalism” presents neoliberalism as cosmopolitan, border-less, and invested in progressive social values. But these values are merely ideological coating for actually existing neoliberalism. >

Government neoliberals have always believed firmly in borders and immigration control, incl keeping most migrants ”in place” on the lowest wage scale. People turning to the far right are not protesting actually existing neoliberalism as much as it‘s whitewashed representation >

Most of the new far right voters have a history of voting for neoliberal parties, including third way social democrats. The voting records of the far right parties they now support reveal consistent support for neoliberal economic and social policies. >

In voting for the far right, ”protest voters” are _continuing_ to vote for key futures of neoliberalism: punitive contempt of the poor, possessive individualism, belief in competition and scarcity, and a discourse of security as a product of borders and policing, not solidarity.>

The growth of far-right populism is not a reaction against neoliberalism, but a reaction within the social base of neoliberalism itself.

So, when people vote for parties rejecting cosmopolitanism, immigration and progressive social values, they are rejecting theoretical rather than real neoliberalism.

They only real thing they reject are the historical values of the left.

The left cannot cater to these "protest voters" (as opposed to work to radically change some of their minds) without whitewashing neoliberalism and without adopting anti-left politics. >

The most astonishing thing is how many leftists are staying warm and hopeful by pants-piss-catering to politics corrosive to working class solidarity: dividing folks between deserving and underserving poor and according to race and citizenship status. Et-f*****g-cetera

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