A Response to Austerity Measures Requires Audacity Not Timidity

The current capitalist system has had a devastating impact on working people across the globe. The crisis in the Eurozone has been clear with the massive cuts in social services all over Europe, especially in Greece, Spain, and Portugal. These cuts have been enacted under the banner of austerity in order to restore the economic health of these societies. The United States has hovered between the draconian austerity in Europe and the new assertiveness of the working peoples and their representatives. For a short moment, the neo-conservatives wanted to roll back the rights of workers and diminish the rights to collective bargaining. These struggles came to a head in the 2012 elections when the people voted decisively against the candidate of the one percent. In the wake of the massive statement of the electorate, the scare of the debt ceiling is being used to enact strict austerity measures in the United States. The article stresses the need for progressive people to organize to oppose militarization, defend livelihoods and social security protection, and chart the path towards alternatives. This organization will demand a level of literacy on the role of the dollar in the international political system and the need for new relations to bring about a multipolar world devoid of military or economic hegemons. The article will argue that austerity has already been enacted on the oppressed workers, especially the black and brown workers and that a new awareness of the nature of the capitalist system is necessary at this conjuncture

Austerity · Political science · Sociology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies

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