What’s at stake right now is whether there is going to be anything at all to politics beyond backroom deals among oligarchs. Nobody is naive here. I’m not running a blog for naive, wide-eyed little bunnies. Everybody here knows that backroom deals are an unavoidable feature of politics in all societies called democratic. Such deals are not necessary in totalitarian regimes because there is no need to hide in the backroom, of course.
But there has always been something beside backroom dealing. The will of the people has never been an entirely empty sound. There have been efforts, struggles, victories and achievements, and they – as opposed to the formality of holding elections – are what constitute a democracy. Today everybody has elections, so what? Does Russia have a democracy just because there are all formal characteristics of one? The answer is obvious.
When theorists of neoliberalism say that the greatest danger of neoliberalism is that it destroys democracy, they don’t mean that elections will be canceled. The danger is that demos – meaning people, us, all of us – will step out of the political process. And the saddest, saddest thing is that they won’t do it saying, “Hey, I just don’t give a toss. All I care about is making money, spending money, and having fun.” Oh no, they’ll disengage by believing they are the most engaged people in history.
Clarissa's Blog 
Hi Clarissa, when you get time can you write about the differences between neoliberalism and plain ol’ capitalism? I feel these terms could be interchanged these days in a lot of writing, without any significant change in meaning.
LikeLike
Gladly. It’s currently my favorite topic.
LikeLike
Do you have any reading suggestions (in English or Spanish) that sketch out what a fluid age left politics would look like, please? So many people diagnosing problems and indulging in futile anti-capitalism rather than trying to actually change things
LikeLike
I’m looking very hard. But for now all I’m finding is naive ramblings over how we all need to become”truly cosmopolitan” and remember that the only real enemy is climate change. I promise to write the moment I find anything a bit more useful. I’ll probably throw a party, too.
LikeLike
I really appreciate it)) It is so frustrating once you start reading about fluidity and post-fordism and the market state and no one even has any kind of vision for the road ahead.
https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.js
LikeLike