Cultural critic Henry Giroux explains how the harsh, arbitrary nature of life in the US is actually a feature of our political and social setting, what distinguishes neoliberalism from classical liberalism and capitalism, and why Donald Trump’s unlikely political success represents a fundamental poison in our society.
Giroux is author of the new City Lights Press book Disposable Futures: The Seduction of Violence in the Age of Spectacle. He holds the Global Television Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies.
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We’ve borne witness to a chaotic first few months in Trump’s presidency.
Over the last months, each executive order has delivered shock and bewilderment — a core part of a strategy to make the right-wing turn feel inevitable and overwhelming. But, as organizer Sandra Avalos implored us to remember in Truthout last November, “Together, we are more powerful than Trump.”
Indeed, the Trump administration is pushing through executive orders, but — as we’ve reported at Truthout — many are in legal limbo and face court challenges from unions and civil rights groups. Efforts to quash anti-racist teaching and DEI programs are stalled by education faculty, staff, and students refusing to comply. And communities across the country are coming together to raise the alarm on ICE raids, inform neighbors of their civil rights, and protect each other in moving shows of solidarity.
It will be a long fight ahead. And as nonprofit movement media, Truthout plans to be there documenting and uplifting resistance.
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