The Violent Culture of Neoliberal Fascism and the Way Forward

I. Brutal Politics and Culture

一、残酷的政治和文化

Cruelty has always occupied a special place in fascist politics. It not only embodies a discourse of hatred, prejudice, and censorship, but also incites brutal practices of power. For example, in Germany under Hitler’s rule, Italy under Mussolini’s rule, and other countries, the legacy of fascism mixed a language of fear, dread, and contempt with widespread acts of repression and state coercive forces, in order to eliminate all political concepts related to justice.

残酷在法西斯主义政治中一直占有着特殊的地位。它不仅体现了仇恨、偏见和审查制度的话语，还引发了残酷的权力实践。例如，在希特勒统治下的德国、墨索里尼统治下的意大利等国，法西斯主义的遗产将恐惧、忌惮和蔑视的语言与广泛的镇压行为和国家镇压力量混合在一起，以消除所有与公正相关的政治概念。

Under fascist regimes, cruelty and its transformation into extreme violence occupied the core of daily life. As a form of extreme violence, cruelty is constructed within relations of domination and trades in fear, insecurity, corruption, forced instability, and what French philosopher Étienne Balibar calls “death-zones.” [1]1 Étienne Balibar (born 1942) is a French Marxist philosopher; “death-zones” refers to spaces where populations are subjected to extreme violence and treated as disposable. In this situation, politics and violence interpenetrate each other, and the result is the transformation of a power-guaranteeing society into a punitive society. Fascist politics opposes not only democracy, but also the social contract, public goods, and all social bonds rooted in “liberation movements aimed at changing the structures of domination.” [2]2 This phrase is a paraphrase of Balibar’s concept of liberation movements aimed at transforming structures of domination.

在法西斯主义政权下，残酷及其向极端暴力的转变占据了日常生活的核心。作为一种极端暴力形式，残酷被构建在统治关系中，并在恐惧、不安全、腐败、被迫的不稳定和法国哲学家艾蒂安·巴利巴尔（Etienne Balibar）所谓的“死亡地带”进行交易。在此情形下，政治与暴力相互渗透，其结果是将权力保障型社会变成了惩罚型社会。法西斯主义政治不仅反对民主，还反对社会契约、公共产品和所有植根于“旨在改变统治结构的解放运动”的社会纽带。

Fascist regimes not only strip politics of any substantive meaning, but also push it toward self-destruction, reducing it to a form of barbarism.

法西斯主义政权不仅使政治失去了任何实质性意义，还将其推向了自我毁灭，使其沦为一种野蛮的形式。

Fascist regimes place a culture of coldness and cruelty at the core of their politics. This kind of politics threatens every aspect of society, functioning as a disillusioning machine that destroys civic culture, inclusive citizenship consciousness, and critical thinking. Taking pleasure in the misfortune and suffering of others has been normalized, creating the necessary conditions for ignorance, irrationality, and the legitimation of what is called the politics of disposability. The fusion of violence and politics not only tests the limits of democracy and social justice, but also breaks through the limits of the unthinkable and the unimaginable. As the threshold of popular tolerance and social justice disappears, a form of totalitarian terror emerges. In this form, certain groups are treated as objects of ultimate exclusion, social abandonment, or, in worse cases, extermination. One consequence of fascist regimes’ acceptance of a culture of cruelty is what Balibar calls “production for elimination.” His view is worth sharing here:

法西斯主义政权将冷酷和残酷的文化作为其政治的核心。这种政治威胁到社会的方方面面，起着摧毁公民文化、包容性公民意识和批判性思维的幻灭机器的作用。以他人的不幸和苦难为乐被常态化了，这为无知、非理性和所谓的人口处理政治学（politics of disposability）的合法化创造了必要的条件。暴力与政治的融合不仅考验了民主和社会正义的极限，也突破了不可思议和难以想象的极限。随着民众的宽容和社会正义门槛的消失，一种极权主义的恐怖形式随之出现。在这种形式中，一些群体被视为遭到最终排斥、社会遗弃的对象，甚至在更糟糕的情况下，被灭绝。法西斯主义政权接受残酷文化的后果之一，就是巴利巴尔所说的“为了消除而生产”。他的观点值得在此分享：

Faced with the cumulative effects of different forms of extreme violence or cruelty that I call human “death-zones,” we have to admit that the current mode of production and reproduction has become a mode of production for elimination. Population reproduction is less likely to be used for productive utilization or exploitation, so the population is always relatively surplus, and can only be eliminated through “political” or “natural” means—some Latin American sociologists provocatively call these populations “trash humans” (poblacion chatarra) that should be “thrown out” of global cities. If this is the case, then the question arises again: what is the rationality for doing this? Or are we facing the absolute triumph of irrationality? [3]3 This passage is a direct quotation from Balibar’s work on extreme violence and the production of surplus populations.

在面对我称之为人类“死亡地带”的不同形式的极端暴力或残酷的累积影响时，我们不得不承认，当前的生产和再生产方式已经成为一种消除式的生产方式。人口再生产不太可能被用来进行生产利用或剥削，因此人口总是相对过剩，只能通过“政治”或“自然”的手段来消除——一些拉丁美洲的社会学家挑衅地将这些人口称为应该被“扔”出全球城市的“垃圾人类”（poblacion chatarra）。如果是这样的话，那么问题就会再次出现：这样做的合理性是什么？或者我们面对的是非理性的绝对胜利？

The culture of cruelty has a long history in the United States. An article by Adam Serwer in *The Atlantic* reminds us of the atrocities displayed at the Museum of African American History and Culture. [4]4 Adam Serwer is an American journalist; the article discusses exhibits at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Serwer mentions some inhumane exhibits, including slave shackles worn by children, the mutilated remains of Black men lynched, and photographs of white people grinning beside them, who took pleasure in torturing the bodies of those considered worthless and despised racial groups. The cruelty of the United States in dealing with immigrants, people of color, and other issues has a traceable pattern. The most recent unbridled cruelty in the United States comes from some Republican governors, who are launching attacks on transgender children, using immigrants as political pawns, and restoring and taking pride in an open white supremacist culture.

残酷文化在美国由来已久。亚当·塞尔维尔（Adam Serwer）在《大西洋月刊》（The Atlantic）上的文章，让我们想起了非裔美国人历史和文化博物馆（Museum of African American History and Culture）展出的暴行。塞尔维尔提到了一些毫无人性的展品，包括儿童戴的奴隶镣铐、被私刑杀害的黑人男子残躯，以及在旁边咧嘴笑的白人照片，这些人以折磨那些被认为毫无价值、被蔑视的种族人群的身体为乐。美国在处理移民、有色人种等问题时，其残酷行为有迹可循。美国最近的一次肆无忌惮的残酷行为来自一些共和党州长，他们正在发动对跨性别儿童的攻击，利用移民作为政治棋子，恢复公开的白人至上文化，并以此为荣。

The U.S. government has also formulated a series of policies that derive pleasure from the suffering of others. These policies are embodied in cuts to the safety net and reductions in spending on programs including: Habitat for Humanity, programs to aid the homeless, Meals on Wheels, energy assistance for the poor, legal aid, and other anti-poverty programs. [5]5 Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit building homes for the poor; Meals on Wheels delivers food to the elderly and disabled; these are examples of U.S. social safety net programs. These policies have driven America’s descent into a state of barbarism. Today, violence is deeply rooted in American culture and seems to have been normalized. Since 2020, the United States has experienced approximately over 600 mass shootings each year. [6]6 Mass shootings are defined as incidents with four or more victims shot; the figure of over 600 annually since 2020 is based on data from the Gun Violence Archive. Now, mass shootings occur almost daily and are barely known; even if noticed, the focus is only on the personal lives of the perpetrators and victims, with no analysis of the systemic causes behind the violence. Violence has become so arbitrary and reckless that it no longer seems to require sober reflection on its causes or consequences. This is especially true for the symbolic and physical violence carried out in the name of white supremacy by the Republican Party, which is deeply tinged with racism and authoritarianism. As Jonathan Schell once pointed out: “As the belief that force can solve almost any problem, both domestically and internationally, has grown, violent incidents have steadily increased. The passion for killing is a stark manifestation of cruelty.” [7]7 Jonathan Schell (1943–2014) was an American author and journalist known for his writings on war and violence.

美国政府还制定了一系列将快乐建立在他人痛苦之上的政策，这些政策体现在削减安全网，以及削减以下项目的支出上，包括：人道家园项目，救助无家可归者项目，上门送餐计划，向穷人提供能源援助、法律援助及其他一些反贫困的项目。这些政策推动了美国向野蛮状态的堕落。如今，暴力深深植根于美国文化，且似乎已经常态化。2020年以来，美国每年发生大约600多起大规模枪击事件。如今，大规模枪击事件更是每天都在发生，而且几乎不为人所知，即便有人关注到，也只是对肇事者和受害者个人生活的探究，没有人去分析暴力背后的系统性原因。暴力已经变得如此武断和轻率，以至于似乎不再需要对其原因或后果进行清醒的反思。共和党的种族主义和独裁主义色彩浓厚，对其以白人至上的名义发动的象征性的和实实在在的暴力行为来说，情况尤其如此。正如乔纳森·谢尔（Jonathan Schell）曾经指出的那样：“随着人们越来越相信武力几乎可以解决任何问题，无论是在国内还是国外，暴力事件都在稳步上升。杀戮的热情是残酷的鲜明表现。”

At present, this degradation of the culture of cruelty is rarely linked to the legacy of fascism, or what I call “neoliberal fascism.” What is new is the visibility and normalization of extreme violence and cruelty—a visibility produced by social media, news reporting, and all aspects of the entertainment industry. Violence has become part of a mode of theatrical performance and political spectacle, reminiscent of fascism’s integration of aesthetics into mesmerizing scenes of violence, intense atmospheres, and cruel displays. Violence has turned the world into an apocalyptic scene. The staging of cruelty and violence serves to consolidate power, break bonds of solidarity, and create a culture of white supremacy and Christian extremism.

目前，这种残酷文化的堕落很少与法西斯主义的遗产，或者我所说的“新自由主义的法西斯主义”相联系。当前出现的新情况是极端暴力和残酷行为的可见性和常态化——这种可见性产生于社交媒体、新闻报道以及娱乐行业的各个方面。暴力已经成为舞台表演和政治戏剧模式的一部分，这让人回想起法西斯主义将美学融入迷惑人心的暴力场景、强烈的气氛和残酷的展示之中。暴力已经使世界呈现出一副世界末日的景象。残酷和暴力的舞台起到了巩固权力、打破团结纽带、创造白人至上和基督教极端主义文化的作用。

II. The Specter of Fascism Returns

二、法西斯主义的幽灵回来了

With the re-emergence of fascism, democracy has become as dark as a specter, and Americans face the threat of a hate-filled political plague, accompanied by a deadly and expanding politics of population management—a politics in which certain individuals and groups are treated as non-human, surplus human waste, presented as hidden, redundant, symbols of fear, disease, moral incorrigibility, and unworthy of human rights and dignity. When the attributes of fascism are isolated and removed from history, there is no analysis of the broader systemic power relations, nor an understanding of how the emerging fascist politics becomes a new political form that permeates every aspect of the social order. Currently, there is no holistic mode of inquiry—that is, no foundational analysis that transcends attention to specialized issues, isolated problems, and individual events, nor any comprehensive analysis that links this violence to an indictment of gangster capitalism. What we have now are only isolated and incoherent expressions of oppression, unrelated social movements, and narrow analytical models trapped in paralyzed and restrictive modes of inquiry. This disjointed, fragmented approach typically ignores the place of the current historical moment in the long arc of history. Therefore, we need a broader systemic politics and must propose the necessary theoretical and political tools to resist and destroy the threat from fascism. The current disaster is increasingly normalized because intellectuals, experts, scholars, and various media platforms refuse to provide any comprehensive explanation that forms a critical analysis, thereby understanding how major social problems are interconnected, how they manifest relationships with other forms of oppression, how they intersect and reinforce each other, and what this totalized form of terror means for the present and the future respectively.

随着法西斯主义的再次出现，民主变得如幽灵般黑暗，美国人面临着充满仇恨的政治瘟疫的威胁，且伴随着致命的和不断扩大的人口处理政治——在这种政治中，一些个人和团体被视为非人类、过剩的人类废物，呈现为隐匿的、多余的，是恐惧、疾病、道德上不可救药和不值得享有人权和尊严的象征。当法西斯主义的属性被孤立并从历史中移除时，人们并没有对更广泛的系统化权力关系进行分析，也不了解新兴的法西斯主义政治如何成为一种渗透到社会秩序方方面面的新的政治形态。当前，并没有整体性的探究模式，也就是说，没有任何一种基础性的分析能够超越对专门问题、孤立问题和个别事件的关注，也没有将这种暴力与对黑帮资本主义（gangster capitalism）的控诉联系起来的综合分析。目前，我们仅有的就是孤立的和不连贯的压迫表达、无关的社会运动，以及陷入瘫痪和限制性探究模式的狭隘的分析模式。这种脱节的、支离破碎的方法通常会无视当前的历史时刻在历史长河中的地位。因此，我们需要更广泛的系统政治，并且提出必要的理论和政治工具，以抵抗和摧毁来自法西斯的威胁。当前的灾难日益常态化，原因在于知识分子、专家学者以及各类媒体平台拒绝提供任何全面的解释，以形成一种批判性的分析，进而了解重大社会问题是如何相互关联的，如何表现出与其他形式的压迫的关系，如何相互交叉和加强，以及这种整体化的恐怖形式对现在和未来分别意味着什么。

III. Neoliberalism Is a Stage of Gangster Capitalism

三、新自由主义是黑帮资本主义的一个阶段

Currently, the United States has entered an apocalyptic, dystopian historical period. This is a period marked by a new stage of economic barbarism—since the 1970s, people have accepted an ideology that all social life should be shaped by the forces of the market, and that any political, social, or economic system that restricts business and private interests, unregulated markets, the accumulation of personal wealth, and unrestricted individual and property rights is an enemy of freedom. Under this economic tyranny, social needs, social responsibility, the welfare state, the public interest, and society itself are all held in contempt. This is echoed in Margaret Thatcher’s policy assertion that “there is no such thing as society. There are only individual men and women, and their families.” It is this regressive concept of the individual self, along with its unconstrained individual interests, power, and freedom, that defines neoliberalism. Now, social problems, instability, alienation, despair, pain, and suffering “are individualized and treated as normal and inevitable.” [8]8 Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, “The Mystic of Mar-a-Lago,” *The New York Review of Books*, 2020. Furthermore, in the neoliberal conception, the collapse of morality is complete: any concern for social costs is an enemy of the market.

当前，美国进入了一个世界末日般的反乌托邦的历史时期。这是一个以经济野蛮新阶段为标志的时期——自1970年代以来，人们接受了这样一种意识形态，即所有的社会生活都应该由市场的力量来塑造，任何限制企业和私人利益、不受监管的市场、个人财富的累积以及不受限制的有关个人和财产权利的政治、社会或经济制度，都是自由的敌人。在这种经济暴政下，社会需求、社会责任、福利国家、公共利益和社会本身都遭到蔑视。这在玛格丽特·撒切尔（Margaret Thatcher）的政策主张中得到了回应，即“没有社会这种东西。只有个人和他的家庭”。正是这种倒退的个人自我概念及其不受约束的个人利益、权力和自由定义了新自由主义。现在，社会问题、不稳定、异化、绝望、痛苦和苦难“被个体化，并被视为正常和不可避免的”。此外，在新自由主义的观念中，道德的崩溃是彻底的，即任何对社会成本的关注都是市场的敌人。

Language has been hollowed out, turned into advertising aimed at consumers, combined with the spectacle of game shows, silenced by celebrity culture, weaponized as part of a war on social responsibility, and censored in schools by right-wing propagandists who use violence as a means to achieve political goals. Political language is written in the language of capital—not in the language of ethics, justice, and compassion—making it easier to link violence with the most deadly operations of power. Now, violence is fueled by manufactured ignorance, and the degradation of language accelerates the development of violence. In an era of diminishing attention spans, language submits to a culture of instant mediation, Twitter, and a degrading commercial culture that restricts imagination, politics, civic life, and democracy itself. In the age of rebranded fascism, political culture is no longer a critical culture; its role is to destroy the critical institutions and spaces of citizenship that could develop anti-capitalist consciousness.

语言已经被掏空，变成了针对消费者的广告宣传，与游戏节目的壮观场面结合在一起，被名人文化弄得哑口无言，甚至作为社会责任战争的一部分被武器化，并在学校里被右翼宣传者审查，这些人将使用暴力作为实现政治目标的手段。政治语言是用资本的语言——而非伦理、正义和同情心——来写就的，这使得人们更容易将暴力与最致命的权力运作联系起来。现在，暴力因人为的无知而被助长，语言的退化又加速了暴力的发展。在注意力持续时间不断减少的时代，语言屈从于一种即时性的中介文化、推特以及一种限制想象力、政治、公民生活和民主本身的有辱人格的商业文化。在法西斯主义改头换面的时代，政治文化不再是一种批判性的文化，它的作用是破坏那些能够发展反资本主义意识的公民批判性机构和空间。

Under the emerging fascist politics, violence is no longer hidden behind the scenes but is worn like a badge of honor by the far-right extremists of the Republican Party and their supporters. In the United States, learned helplessness has evolved into learned cruelty, detached from compassion, care, and truthful discourse. In a neoliberal world of reduced interconnectedness, atomized subjects, fragmented communities, suppressed historical memory, and disintegrated civil society, social bonds disappear. The ongoing right-wing assault on historical memory and the increasing disappearance of these memories leave people isolated in facing the various problems that arise in life. Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah writes in her passionate commentary “The Mystic of Mar-a-Lago”:

在新兴的法西斯主义政治下，暴力不再隐藏在背后，而是被共和党的极右翼极端分子及其支持者当作荣誉徽章一样佩戴着。在美国，习得性无助已经演变成习得性残酷，脱离同情、关怀和真实的话语。在一个相互联系减少、主体原子化、社区分裂、历史记忆受到压制、公民社会解体的新自由主义世界中，社会纽带消失了。右翼对历史记忆的持续攻击以及这些历史记忆的日益消失，导致人们孤独地面对生活中出现的各种问题。蕾切尔·卡兹·甘萨（Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah）在《海湖庄园的神秘主义者》这一充满激情的评论中写道：

We had to face a pandemic alone, with the most vulnerable left to fend for themselves. We are becoming a country that remains unmoved even upon hearing someone say, “I fear for my life.” The conflict among us demands that we not stop to ask “Why are you afraid?” but instead exercise our right to be ruthless and move on. Mr. Trump gave people something to unite around, a shared expression of contempt, but it meant nothing.

我们不得不独自面对一场大流行病，最脆弱的群体只能依靠自己的力量。我们正在成为一个即使听到有人说“我担心自己的生命安全”也无动于衷的国家。彼此之间的冲突要求我们不要停下来问“你为什么害怕”，而是行使我们冷酷无情、继续前进的权利。特朗普先生给了人们一些东西，让他们团结起来，共同表达蔑视，但这没有任何意义。

Since the global economic crisis, neoliberalism has fallen victim to a crisis of legitimacy. But American society has experienced not just a crisis; it has entered what Stuart Hall called a new historical conjuncture. That is, various social, political, economic, and ideological forces converge in society, giving it a specific and distinctive form. To resist neoliberal fascism, naming and analyzing this new conjuncture is particularly important. As a rebranded political form, neoliberalism not only allows financial capital to move freely on a global scale but also unleashes the general elements of old fascism, including ethnic cleansing, virulent misogyny, mass violence, and the politics of population management. This new historical moment or conjuncture represents the end of one period and the rise of another, which I call neoliberal fascism. This new conceptual identity, carrying a brutal ideological and economic baggage, represents a new and ruthless departure from democracy. The social welfare state, the social contract, and the emphasis on constitutional rights that marked the old period are no longer the political features of American society. In fact, the current struggle of white supremacists aims to eliminate the influence of these older liberal periods in American history and politics. The Trumpist slogan “Make America Great Again” aptly captures this new historical moment.

自全球经济危机发生以来，新自由主义成为了合法性危机的牺牲品。但美国社会经历的不仅仅是一场危机，它已经进入了斯图亚特·霍尔（Stuart Hall）所说的新的历史转折点。也就是说，各种社会的、政治的、经济的和意识形态的力量在社会中汇聚在一起，赋予社会一种特定而独特的形态。为了抵抗新自由主义的法西斯主义，对这个新的转折点进行命名和分析就显得尤为重要。作为一种被重新命名的政治形式，新自由主义不仅让金融资本在全球范围内自由支配，还释放了旧法西斯的一般元素，包括种族清洗、狂热的厌女症、大规模暴力和人口处理政治。这个新的历史时刻或结合点代表着一个时期的结束与另一个时期的兴起，我将其称之为新自由主义的法西斯主义。这种带有残酷的意识形态和经济包袱的新概念认同，代表了对民主的新的、无情的背离。标志着旧时期的社会福利国家、社会契约以及对宪法权利的强调不再是美国社会的政治特征。事实上，目前白人至上主义者的斗争目标是消除美国历史和政治中的这些古老的自由主义时期的影响。特朗普主义者“让美国再次伟大”的口号恰如其分地抓住了这一新的历史时刻。

Neoliberalism no longer uses private wealth creation and trickle-down economics to justify economic inequality or signs of social mobility. It cannot solve massive poverty, the underfunding of basic public goods like schools, the crisis in social services, the deteriorating situation in public health, runaway drug prices, or the astonishing levels of inequality in wealth and power. Whatever economic growth is achieved, financial elites benefit from it. The conversion of economic power into political power further erodes the foundations of the democratic state and governance.

新自由主义不再利用私人财富创造和涓滴经济学来证明经济不平等或社会流动性的迹象是合理的。它无法解决大规模贫困、学校等基本公共产品的资金不足、社会服务危机、公共卫生部门形势恶化、药品价格失控或财富和权力的不平等程度惊人等问题。无论实现什么样的经济增长，金融精英都会从中受益。经济实力向政治权力的转化进一步侵蚀了民主国家和治理的基础。

Neoliberalism turns a blind eye to poverty and inequality, no longer defending its deadly ideology. As Pankaj Mishra has pointed out, neoliberalism is unable to “improve material conditions and achieve a certain degree of social and economic equality.” Neoliberalism is powerless and unwilling to defend the suffering it has imposed on the American people; it now resorts to open racism and extreme nationalism, claiming that liberal democracy should be held responsible for the ongoing economic and political crises, which amount to a “failed social abyss.” Neoliberal fascism presents itself as an illiberal democracy. Immersed in “power pornography,” mass-produced suffering, and irresponsible false fantasies, it unashamedly aligns with anti-democratic forces around the world. Dehumanization, ethnic cleansing, and repression are the new legitimizing tools of this new form of neoliberal fascism. Paul Mason has noted this alliance between neoliberalism and fascism, writing:

新自由主义对贫困和不平等问题视而不见，不再为其致命的意识形态辩护。正如潘卡伊·米什拉（Pankaj Mishra）所指出的那样，新自由主义无法“改善物质条件并实现一定程度的社会和经济平等”。新自由主义无力、也不愿意为其强加给美国民众的苦难做辩护，它现在诉诸公开的种族主义和极端民族主义，声称自由民主应该对持续的经济和政治危机负责，这些危机相当于“失败的社会性深渊”。新自由主义的法西斯主义把自己标榜为一种非自由民主。新自由主义沉浸在“权力色情”、大规模制造的苦难和不负责任的虚假幻想中，毫不掩饰地与全球各地的反民主力量结盟。非人化（dehumanization）、种族清洗和镇压是这种新自由主义的法西斯主义新形式的新合法化工具。保罗·梅森（Paul Mason）注意到了这种新自由主义与法西斯主义的联盟，他写道：

The collapse of neoliberalism has stripped the current capitalist model of all meaning and legitimacy… This vacuum is being filled by an ideology hostile to human rights, universalism, gender and racial equality. This ideology worships power, regards democracy as a fraud, and desires a catastrophic reset of the global order. Worse still, the number-one weapon of the American right wing is its so-called “18th-century philosophy,” which [supposedly] insulates Americans from totalitarian rule.

新自由主义的崩溃剥夺了当前资本主义模式的所有意义和正当性……这一真空正在被一种敌视人权、普世主义、性别和种族平等的意识形态所填补。这种意识形态崇拜权力，将民主视为骗局，并希望对全球秩序进行灾难性的重置。更糟糕的是，美国右翼的头号武器是其所谓的“18世纪哲学”，这种哲学[据称]使美国人免受极权主义的统治。

Freedom in America has become ugly. Michael Tomasky observes how freedom in right-wing rhetoric has been divorced from social responsibility. He illustrates this with an example: a measure of freedom separated from social responsibility might be the shameful argument of right-wing conservatives at the epicenter of a pandemic, such as “freedom includes the right to cough on strangers in a grocery store.”

美国的自由已经变得丑陋。迈克尔·托马斯基（Michael Tomasky）观察到了右翼言论中的自由是如何脱离社会责任感的。他举例说明了这一点，即自由与社会责任相分离的一种衡量标准可能是处在大流行病中心的右翼保守派的可耻论点，如“自由包括在杂货店里冲陌生人咳嗽的权利”。

It is worth noting some early ideological concepts of freedom within neoliberalism and how they have been exploited by extremist elements of the Republican Party. For example, as early as the 1960s, the economist and one of the representative figures of neoliberal theory, Friedrich Hayek, pointed out that individual freedom can only be equated with market freedom. The concept of freedom in this statement reproduces the notion that social justice and morality are irrelevant, if not a threat, to market freedom. Freedom is removed from concepts of social responsibility or solidarity. Collective freedom either disappears or is deemed pathological or dangerous. These early neoliberal concepts of freedom degenerated into radical individualism and the interests of financial elites, waging war against any collective notion of political and social institutions and the institutions that make them possible. Associated with this view is the firm neoliberal position that no activity should consider social and economic costs. As Milton Friedman, one of the American advocates of neoliberalism, once stated without remorse, appealing to social responsibility is tantamount to “preaching pure socialism, [and] using the cloak of social responsibility. Influential and prestigious businessmen talking nonsense in the name of social responsibility clearly undermines the foundations of a free society.” In this context, the crisis of social responsibility is closely linked to a crisis of agency and a political crisis.

值得注意的是新自由主义关于自由的一些早期意识形态概念，以及它们是如何被共和党的极端主义分子所利用的。例如，早在1960年代早期，经济学家、新自由主义理论的代表人物之一弗里德里希·哈耶克（Friedrich Hayek）就指出，个人的自由只能等同于市场自由。这句话中的自由再现了这样一种观念，即社会正义和道德即使不会对市场自由构成威胁，也是无关紧要的。自由被从关于社会责任或团结的概念中移除。集体自由要么消失，要么被认为是病态的或危险的。这些早期的新自由主义的自由概念沦为激进的个人主义和金融精英的利益，与任何政治和社会机构的集体观念以及使它们成为可能的机构开战。与这一观点相关的是坚定的新自由主义观点，即任何活动都不应该考虑社会和经济成本。正如美国新自由主义的倡导者之一米尔顿·弗里德曼（Milton Friedman）曾经毫无悔意地指出的那样，呼吁社会责任无异于“宣扬纯粹的社会主义，[并且]使用社会责任的外衣。有影响力和有声望的商人以社会责任的名义胡说八道，这显然损害了自由社会的基础”。在这种背景下，社会责任危机与代理危机和政治危机密切相关。

In the neoliberal conception, human capital combined with unchecked corporate interests is what matters most. As Caleb Crain points out, drawing on Karl Polanyi, neoliberalism has evolved into a form of fascism that “strips democratic politics from human society to the point that ‘only economic life remains,’ becoming a skeleton without flesh.” With the capitalist crisis and the rise of fascist politics in the United States, moral, social, and ethical considerations have become objects of intense contempt among the leaders of the Republican Party, and a culture of cruelty and violence has been elevated to unimaginable heights, serving as a political tool and organizing principle.

在新自由主义的理念中，人力资本与不受约束的企业利益相结合才是最重要的。正如迦勒·克雷恩（Caleb Crain）所指出的那样，根据卡尔·波兰尼（Karl Polanyi）的观点，新自由主义已经演变为一种法西斯主义的形式，“将民主政治从人类社会中剥离出来，以至于‘只剩下经济生活’，成为一具没有血肉的骨架”。随着资本主义危机以及法西斯主义政治在美国的兴起，在共和党的领导人中，道德、社会和伦理的考量已经成为被强烈蔑视的对象，残酷和暴力文化被提升到了无法想象的高度，成为政治工具和组织原则。

At the core of the violence sweeping the United States is a contempt for human rights, equality, and justice. In this logic, compassion for others disappears, the bonds that connect human beings are held in contempt, and the institutions that uphold a just society are eliminated. Now, identity and desire are defined through the market logic of self-interest, survival of the fittest, and unbridled individualism. In the neoliberal conception, the consumption of life and endless competition are core concepts defining human relationships, if not freedom itself. In a society of winners and losers, behavior ranging from hostility toward others to violence against them is easily normalized. This type of neoliberalism is not only deeply rooted in fascist forms or irrationality but also contains totalitarian impulses that are legitimized and produce large-scale violence.

席卷美国的暴力行为的核心是对人权、平等和正义的蔑视。在这种逻辑中，对他人的同情消失了，将人类联系在一起的纽带受到蔑视，维护公正社会的制度也被淘汰了。现在，身份和欲望通过有利于自身利益、适者生存和不受约束的个人主义的市场逻辑来定义。在新自由主义的理念中，耗费生命和无休止的竞争即使不是自由本身，也是定义人际关系的核心概念。在一个由赢家和输家组成的社会中，从仇视他人到对他人施暴的行为很容易被正常化。这种类型的新自由主义不仅深深植根于法西斯主义形式或非理性之中，还包含了极权主义冲动，这些冲动被合法化，并产生了大规模暴力行为。

In an era of rampant neoliberal fascism, violence appears to have no limits, appearing not only in high-profile, brutal mass shootings but also infiltrating every aspect of daily life. This not only generates immense fear, insecurity, and aggression but also, due to its ubiquity and often conspicuous appearance, diverts attention from the conditions that produce it. Consistent with a permanent culture of war, neoliberal fascism currently merges entertainment with the political stage, thereby broadening the traditional political field and further expanding the boundaries of its white supremacist and extreme nationalist ideology and its hatred of democracy. Now, selfishness and greed fuse with militaristic patterns of violence, in which the suffering and death of those deemed redundant and disposable become a source of entertainment and pleasure—a putrid source of entertainment that masks a naked policy of contempt. In the neoliberal fascist conception, the aestheticization of politics is complete.

在新自由主义的法西斯主义日益猖獗的时代，暴力似乎没有限制，不仅出现在引人注目的、残忍的大规模枪击事件中，还侵入日常生活的方方面面。这不仅产生了巨大的恐惧、不安全感和攻击性，还因其无处不在和经常引人注目的出现方式，而转移了人们对其产生条件的注意力。与永久的战争文化保持一致的是，当前，新自由主义的法西斯主义将娱乐与政治舞台相结合，从而拓宽了传统的政治领域，进一步扩展了其白人至上主义和极端民族主义意识形态以及民主仇恨的界限。现在，自私和贪婪与军国主义暴力模式融合在一起，在这种模式下，那些被认为是多余的、可抛弃的人的痛苦和死亡成为了娱乐和快乐的源泉——一种腐臭的娱乐来源，它掩盖了赤裸裸的蔑视政策。在新自由主义的法西斯主义理念中，政治的审美化已经完成。

This mass production of image-based hate politics provides the conditions for the accelerated turn of right-wing extremists toward militarized violence. A distinctive feature of neoliberal fascist violence is the use of old and new media as dramatic forms to manipulate people’s feelings, emotions, fears, and anxieties. Right-wing media become a stage that fuels and normalizes the increasing political violence, mass shootings, and militarization in American society. As the social sphere fragments, American politics undergoes its own destruction, accompanied by the rise of extremist groups, and the public is captivated by racist and xenophobic words and deeds. In this situation, violence is increasingly linked to a politics of cultural and ethnic cleansing. As violence is disconnected from critical thinking, moral sentiments become neutralized, making it easier for right-wing extremists to resort to moral nihilism, lawlessness, and the so-called excitement and experiential sensations offered by the abyss of power operations serving mass aggression.

这种基于形象的仇恨政治的大规模生产，为右翼极端分子向军事化暴力的加速转向提供了条件。新自由主义的法西斯暴力的一个显著特征是利用新旧媒体作为戏剧形式，操纵人们的感受、情绪及其恐惧和焦虑。右翼媒体成为助长美国社会日益增加的政治暴力、大规模枪击事件和军事化的舞台，并使其看起来正常化。随着社会领域的分裂，美国政治经历了自身的毁灭，其间也伴随着极端主义团体的崛起，公众被种族主义和仇外的言行所吸引。在这种情况下，暴力日益与文化和种族净化的政治联系在一起。由于暴力与批判性思维的脱节，道德情感变得中立，这使得右翼极端分子更容易诉诸道德虚无主义、不受法律约束以及为大规模侵略服务的权力运作的深渊所提供的所谓兴奋感和体验感。

IV. The Militarization of American Society

四、美国社会的军事化

The militarization of American society is nearly complete, representing a special form of collective madness as described by William J. Astore. Far from causing panic, this has become a source of pride, as force has become the main source of U.S. overseas influence and has been normalized as the organizing principle of American society. There is no longer any distinction between militarization at home and abroad; a culture of weapons has replaced a culture of shared democratic values. Security is closely tied to personal safety, the surveillance industry, and unrestricted gun rights. Prisons and their lockdown procedures now provide the model for public schools, social services, airports, and increasingly for shopping malls, churches, supermarkets, and more. Right-wing Republicans despise the U.S. Social Security Administration and its programs, while simultaneously extolling nativist borders and homeland security.

美国社会的军事化几乎已经完成，它代表了威廉·J.阿斯托尔（William J.Astore）所说的特殊形式的集体疯狂。这不仅没有引起恐慌，反而成为一种自豪的源泉，因为武力成为美国海外影响力的主要来源，还被规范化为美国社会的组织原则。国内外的军事化之间不再有任何区别，武器文化已经取代了共享民主价值观的文化。安全与个人安全、监控行业和不受约束的持枪权密切相关。现在，监狱及其封锁流程为公立学校、社会服务、机场以及越来越多的商场、教堂、超市等提供了典范。右翼共和党人蔑视美国社会安全局及其项目计划，同时又颂扬本土主义的边界和国土安全。

The United States has left no protective space for its people. The foreign terrorists it has fought abroad have now returned home. As the Anti-Defamation League has pointed out, “in the past 10 years… political extremists have committed approximately 450 murders in the United States. Of these killings, right-wing extremists committed about 75% of them, and Islamic extremists committed about 20%… nearly half of the murders were linked to white supremacists.” [10]10 Anti-Defamation League: a U.S.-based non-governmental organization focused on combating antisemitism and extremism. Currently, domestic extremists pose the greatest violent threat to the American people. An American with a militarized and violent disposition portrays himself as a pure white supremacist, a radical Christian nationalist, and a bigot.

美国没有为其民众留下任何的保护空间。美国在国外打击过的外国恐怖分子现在已经回国。正如反诽谤联盟所指出的那样，“在过去的10年中……政治极端分子在美国犯下了大约450起谋杀案。在这些杀戮事件中，右翼极端分子犯下了其中大概75%的罪行，伊斯兰极端分子犯下了其中大约20%的罪行……近一半的谋杀案都与白人至上主义者有关”。当前，美国本土极端分子成为美国民众最大的暴力威胁。一个有军事化和暴力倾向的美国人将自己描绘成纯粹的白人至上主义者、激进的基督教民族主义者和偏执狂。

A permanent war culture has broken the boundary between domestic terrorism in the United States and the atrocities committed abroad in the name of the war on terror. Today, U.S. military weapons are in the hands of the police, because the greatest violent threat to the United States comes from domestic rather than foreign terrorists. The threat of world war and nuclear war is inseparable from a permanent war mentality that currently influences U.S. domestic and foreign policy. The frenzy of war dominates the public imagination and renders it fearless. This is reflected not only in the discourse of right-wing extremist nationalism, but also in the authoritarian nationalism embraced by far-right neo-Nazis, Republican leadership, white supremacists, and white Christian fundamentalists.

一种永久的战争文化已经打破了美国国内的恐怖主义与以反恐战争的名义在国外制造的暴行之间的界线。当前，美国的军用武器掌握在警察的手中，因为美国最大的暴力威胁来自国内而非国外的恐怖分子。世界大战和核战争的威胁与一种永久的战争心态分不开，这种心态目前正影响着美国的国内外政策。战争的狂热主宰了公众的想象，并使其变得无所畏惧。这不仅体现在右翼极端民族主义的话语中，还体现在极右翼新纳粹分子、共和党领导层、白人至上主义者和白人基督教原教旨主义者所信奉的威权民族主义中。

V. Conclusion

五、结论

Neoliberalism has expanded the war machine and strengthened the consciousness that supports it. In the escalated politics of fascism, new types of nuclear stealth bombers have been developed, such as the B-21 “Raider” bomber, which threatens human security and costs nearly $750 million per aircraft. The 2023 U.S. military budget, passed at the end of 2022, reached $858 billion, a symbol of both political madness and a psychological addiction to the machinery of death. The latter is an element of the war machine that ignores shocking levels of poverty, homelessness, a crumbling healthcare system, and a collapsing ecosystem. Far from stopping there, neoliberalism also poisons daily life by banning abortion, restricting books, undermining social security and social services, expanding excessively militarized police forces, and cutting funding for public schools while increasing the number of prisons. Under the influence of neoliberal policies, women’s rights, environmental protection, union rights, and civil rights are also in jeopardy.

新自由主义扩充了战争机器并强化了支持战争机器的意识。在升级了的法西斯主义政治中，新型核隐形轰炸机被研发出来，例如威胁人类安全的B-21“突袭者”轰炸机，该飞机每架耗资近7.5亿美元。2022年底通过的2023年美国军事预算高达8580亿美元，这既是政治疯狂的象征，也是对死亡机器心理成瘾的象征。后者是战争机器的一个要素，它忽视了令人震惊的贫困水平、无家可归者、摇摇欲坠的医疗保健系统以及崩溃的生态系统等问题。事实远不止于此，新自由主义还通过禁止堕胎、限制书籍、破坏社会保障和社会服务、扩充过度军事化的警察部队，以及在增加监狱数量的同时削减对公立学校的资金投入等手段来毒害人们的日常生活。在新自由主义政策的影响下，妇女权利、环境保护、工会权利和公民权利也同样陷入危险之中。

The moment to overthrow fascism has arrived, not only through the ballot box, but also through large-scale collective resistance and uprising to halt this deadly politics and the gangster capitalism that supports it. In an era when socialist ideals are being distorted, this call for a comprehensive offensive against fascist politics is especially important. Calls for a universal basic income, defunding the police, universal healthcare, a renewed understanding of the structural nature of racism, and state violence and staggering inequality—all of these indicate that socialist consciousness in the United States is growing. Capitalism is the laboratory of fascism, and any viable model of resistance must begin with a call for elimination rather than reform. But as Barbara Epstein has pointed out, to achieve this, it is crucial for any viable resistance movement to transcend “the fragmented left, which is united by vague promises of a more just, equal, and sustainable world… lacking common concerns or a foundation.” [11]11 Barbara Epstein: an American historian and social critic known for her work on social movements and the American left. The starting point for combating neo-fascism lies in rebuilding critical mass consciousness and a progressive multiracial movement, so as to dismantle the oppressive ideology and structural institutions of neoliberal fascism.

当前，推翻法西斯主义的时刻已经到来，除了通过投票箱，我们还可以通过大规模的集体抗争和起义使这种致命的政治以及支持它的黑帮资本主义停止运转。在社会主义理想正在被篡改的时代，这种对法西斯主义政治发起全面进攻的呼吁尤为重要。呼吁提高全民收入、取消对警察的拨款、全民享有医疗保健、重新认识种族主义的结构性以及国家暴力和惊人的不平等程度——所有这些都表明美国的社会主义意识正日益增强。资本主义是法西斯主义的实验室，任何可行的抵抗模式都必须从呼吁消除而非改革开始。但正如芭芭拉·爱泼斯坦（Barbara Epstein）所指出的那样，要做到这一点，对于任何可行的抵抗运动来说，至关重要的是要超越“支离破碎的左翼，这些左翼通过对一个更公正、更平等和可持续发展的世界的模糊承诺而团结在一起……缺乏共同的关切点或基础”。与新法西斯主义作斗争的起点在于重建批判性的群众意识和进步的多种族运动，这样才能瓦解新自由主义的法西斯主义的压迫性意识形态和结构性制度。

As David Harvey has emphasized, the fundamental problems of capitalism today “are so profound that without a very powerful anti-capitalist movement, we will not be able to make any progress.” [12]12 David Harvey: a British Marxist geographer and social theorist known for his critiques of global capitalism. The time has come to eliminate neoliberal fascism, not to try to soften its policies. This contradicts the concept of compassionate capitalism promoted by Robert B. Reich. The moment has arrived to launch a powerful anti-capitalist movement capable of reimagining how society should be organized according to socialist democratic principles, and what this means for ourselves and future generations. The United States needs a large-scale, sustained uprising driven by mass collective resistance and direct action strategies to achieve fundamental social change. It requires a radical vision and what C. Wright Mills called “big ideas” to form a unified revolutionary movement. It also needs to draw new fighting spirit from past struggles in order to forge the appropriate weapons needed to combat the scourge of neo-fascism.

正如大卫·哈维（David Harvey）所强调的那样，当前，资本主义的根本问题“是如此深刻，如果没有一场非常强大的反资本主义运动，我们将无法取得任何发展”。现在是消灭新自由主义的法西斯主义、而非试图淡化其政策的时候了。这与罗伯特·B.赖希（Robert B. Reich）所宣扬的富有同情心的资本主义的概念是矛盾的。发动一场强大的反资本主义运动的时机已经到来，这场运动能够重新构想应该如何按照社会主义的民主原则将社会组织起来，以及这对我们自身及后代的意义。美国需要发动一场由群众的集体抵抗和直接行动的战略推动的大规模、持续的起义，以实现根本性的社会变革。它需要一个激进的愿景以及赖特·米尔斯（C. Wright Mills）所说的“大思想”，以便形成一场统一的革命运动。它还需要从过去的斗争中汲取新的战斗精神，以便锻造出与新法西斯主义祸害作斗争所需要的适当武器。

With the atrophy of civic culture and political imagination, fascism is rising globally. Without radical political education and political movements to combat it, the deadly virus of fascism will prevail. By then, democracy, even in its most tepid form, will cease to exist. A source of hope comes from a line written by James Baldwin in another time of crisis: “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” [13]13 James Baldwin: an American writer and social critic active in the mid-20th century, known for his works on race and identity. Faced with the imminent threat of fascism, the urgency of the times demands that we remove our blinders early. The pressing question of “what kind of world do we want to live in” is no longer rhetorical, but urgently calls for action. Collective resistance is imminent.

随着公民文化和政治想象力的萎缩，法西斯主义正在全球范围内抬头。如果没有激进的政治教育和政治运动与之抗争，致命的法西斯主义病毒将会取得胜利。到那时，民主，即使是最不温不火的民主，也将不复存在。一个希望的源泉来自詹姆斯·鲍德温（James Baldwin）在另一个危机时期所写的一句话：“并非我们面临的一切都可以被改变；但在面对它之前，什么都无法改变。”面对迫在眉睫的法西斯主义威胁，时代的紧迫性要求我们及早摘掉眼罩。“我们想要生活在一个什么样的世界中”这一紧迫的问题不再是口头的，而是需要紧急呼吁采取行动。集体抵抗迫在眉睫。

(Author: Henry Giroux, Public Interest Research Centre, Department of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster University, Canada; Translator: Wang Ke, School of Marxism, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

（作者：亨利·吉鲁（Henry Giroux），加拿大麦克马斯特大学英语和文化研究系公共利益研究中心；译者：王珂，中国社会科学院大学马克思主义学院）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心