God is on sabbatical leave

Friends, here is the situation:

The Kings and all their ministers are gone for a box office love movie.
Our elected noble and wise lawmakers go on comparative studies abroad, comparing their books of laws, hi-tech accesories and salaries.
Our revolutionary middle class arguing for a revolution, sipping Starbuck's coffee, then races to malls for shopping spree .
. . . and God is on sabbatical leave
. . . and they are all leave us home alone.


Yes, we are all alone when those market worshipers sneak in through our backdoor, grining, laughing. like a gang of ghosts.
. . . and in no time unveiled faces of poverty appear all around the house.


. . . and with a single Midas touch, they turned us into commodities to be sold in a market we never made. (March 14, 2008)

Neoliberalism and Plastic Surgery

To look beautiful is a neoliberalism moral duty.
Girls, go get plastic surgery for your breasts, your noses, your tummies, and your asses!. You may find and would surprise that paying for plastic surgery by women, to look beautiful and to improve employability is a typical neoliberal phenomenon.

Because, you too exist for the market, not the other way around. Accordingly, and you shall also compete each other. Neoliberalism thus see competitiveness — or specifically employability, for women and those who do not own capital — is their moral duty. They have a moral duty to arrange their lives to maximize their advantage on the labor market. As a consequence, it is not a surprise to find that plastic surgery by women – to look more beautiful -- is a common phenomenon in neoliberal economies. For them, to look beautiful is a way to improve employability (in this context is a new synonim for exploitability); the chance to get employed in several industries, especially in entertainment, media, public relations, airline industries, would be greater if you're look beautiful. Such a phenomenon helps explain the cooptation of patriarchy by neoliberal ideology, or the hierarchical co-existence between the two ideologies.

Neoliberalism and social fatigue

Enough is enough. No more development . . . please. I have had enough developments . . . I am full of developments . . . I am too tired of development. Gimme a break. Your developments have nothing t do with me . . .

Neoliberalism and the disappearance of the"public"

The extent to which neoliberal ideology penetrate our society has a direct and linear relationship with the disappearance of noncommodified or un-marketable spheres of life. As the logic of neoliberalism dictates efficiency, maximum profits and capital accumulation, maximum production and consumption, public spheres and public enterprises are increasingly either commodified (privatized) or abandoned (liquidated). It's just a question of time before we say goodbye to nearly all form of public spheres and enterprises ; educational sector will gradually become an open sector for profit-seeking investment, institutions such as public schools and universities will be pushed into service industry. The same is also true for broadcasting sector. Non-commercials public or community broadcasting stations, will be considered as unproductive spheres, and hence their airspace frequencies should be reallocated for profit-seeking broadcasting companies. In a parallel move, the State, on one hand, increasingly abandons its social investment in health, and social welfare, but, on the other hand, increasingly strengthening its policing function, to control and to punish rather than to serve the poor, intensifying the use of repressive state apparatuses to clean up streets from beggars, vendors, and other "penyakit masyarakat" (a term uses by bureaucrats for "society's diseases", such as street prostitutes, petty criminals, etc.)
Such phenomena also applies in political spheres as votes and political authorities can be bought and sold in the market, and as the State becomes more closely aligned with capital, as a new "mode of power production" (that include the circuit of money - power - more money - more power) becomes more common. Gone are the years when public could control political processes on issues affecting their life. Soros says, democracy will not survive neoliberal free market.

Neoliberalism and the death of a mother and son

Today, a seven-month pregnant mother and her 5-year old son, died of hunger
Today, a seven-month pregnant mother and her 5-year old son, died of hunger, in Makassar, the capital city of South Sulawesi. A television station aired the tragedy, seconds before continued its attack on public with a series of luxurious products commercials, before the audience switched to yellow programs that sell dreams and creams, and before everybody slipped back into their own personal businesses. Everything is back to normal by the time the nation started its Saturday evening routines. Because it's a personal tragedy of a pedicab drivers's family, not a tragedy for the nation; because it's a private matter, beyond State's responsibility and intervention; because it's simply a human tragedy, and has nothing to do with markets. That's what neoliberalism is all about.