The Nature of the Beast

There’s no clearer evidence of the differences between the nation-state and the neoliberal state than stories like this one:

You are mistaken if you think that high-ranking officials do not volunteer for the front. Meet Ivan Mishchenko. Not only is he a judge of the Supreme Court, but he also heads the body that selects members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine.

In 2022, Ivan Serhiiovych, whom not every employee dared to speak to in the corridors of the Supreme Court, became one of the fellows in the trenches, where guys sometimes curse.

https://hromadske.ua/en/war/224463-everyone-is-equal-in-the-trenches-how-a-supreme-court-judge-became-a-platoon-commander

Supreme Court justices, owners of multimillion-dollar businesses, movie stars, famous opera singers, and college professors are fighting on Ukraine’s side. They are fighting for their country. On Russia’s side, the lumpenized masses fight for a chance to pay out their high-interest loans.

It’s impossible to explain to a fully neoliberalized person why a very successful person who isn’t struggling to make a living would swap a high-ranking civilian position for life in the trenches. The belief in “we, the people” whom you never met but who are worth fighting for is a nation-state thing. In neoliberalism, there’s no we. Everybody exists in the intersection of many different identities and quirks that make the “we” impossible.

Most people lose at the neoliberal game. The state can then use them for medical experiments or military adventures. And they’ll agree because they don’t have a choice.

When we talk about mass migration, housing prices, COVID lockdowns, the ongoing military conflicts, freedom of speech crackdowns, etc, we are palpating one large elephant from different sides. We see our tiny little patch of the animal but the beast itself remains obscured from view.

Thank you, reader Avi, for the link.