The Goddess Neo-Liberalism

Incorrigible rich white b******s

pray to their goddess

Neo-Liberalism

each time they swipe their debit cards.

Her name is French;

it means New Freedom,

but it’s the kind we’ve seen before.

 

Neo-Liberalism was born

when the Earth was raped

by Her own child

The God of Capital.

 

Back when Euro monarchs

colonized “undiscovered land”

the goddess was called Imperialism.

She lulled to sleep

while her father & uncles

fought global wars;

capitalism vs. communism,

anarchism vs. dictatorship.

 

The 70’s, a “green revolution”

& Imperialism renaissanced

under the name Neo-Liberalism

& in the hand’s of a global few.

More specifically, the World Bank,

a collection of debtors & creditors

as established by the imperial nations.

They receive extra votes if

they give more money to the bank,

so it’s clear who controls the game.

Especially since World Bank Law

supercedes that of any nation.

 

 

 

 

Legalized war crimes

specifically targeting

the poorest on our globe.

Each person in a “developing” country

owes about $500 dollars

to the World Bank at birth.

These are the people

whom the worshippers of Neo-Liberalism

evict from their land.

 

The World Bank keeps it civil at first,

they send one representative

to an established village

who offers $200 in exchange

for moving to a shanty town

right next to the newest sweatshop.

These villages have customary land rights

recognized by the government

& they rotate their crops

& fields from farmed to fallow,

producing the richest soils

the kind Neo Liberals seek out.

We’re talking about Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, Uzbekistan, Russia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Cambodia, Philippines, Australia, Brazil, Honduras, Paraguay, Mexico;

Too many to name,

It’s all up for grabs.

 

The next time the representative shows up

Neo-Liberalism unleashes her army

of soulless consumers

“just doing their jobs”

for their own poor wages.

Villages are torched,

pastures & marketplaces bulldozed

activists assassinated,

protesters shot

by the same police force

advertised as protectors.

It’s pretty clear at this point

the system has been bought out.

Now it’s working double time,

ever since Neo-Liberalism’s mother,

the Earth, murmured, “food shortages,

water wars” in the ears of humanity.

Frantically vengeful & chaotic

She holds voodoo dolls

of the corporate elite

a*s over fire.

 

& so we see,

no acreage can go unowned,

no more communal land,

no more public work systems,

no more catching rainfall.

All the World Bank does

is invent laws to further constrain us

within the lines & colors

on our maps & globes,

while they invent free trade agreements

that allow cash & goods,

the blood, meat & marrow of the planet,

to be ripped right out of people’s hands.

 

At night,

when cities sparkle

like sequins on Neo-Liberalism’s

industrial gown,

she finds new crannies to dig

her painted nails into.

 

Here in Seattle,

she’s privatized the sea & air ports--

putting them in the hands of multinationals

that have outraged the unions

by cutting back pay &

appropriate working conditions.

With her stiletto steps

Neo-Liberalism crushes

the world’s remaining

indigenous cultures--

ours is running theirs to “extinction”.

 

In the parts of the world

least accessible to industrialized people--

thorny forests with ancient biodiversity

that suffers the most varied weather extremes

& tropical rainforests in Southeast Asia--

have only known integrated human presence.

They’re being torn apart

slashed & burned

to be replaced by monocultures of

GMO corn, soy, palm, wheat & rice;

that’s all we need to eat, right?

 

Even in some places,

in the name of Ecotourism,

well-hearted Neo-Liberals

turn Savannah into land reserves,

maybe with a golf resort.

Stealing the land from the Massai.

Presenting their culture as

consequential & subjugated,

they are always kept on the outskirts

of the land Neo-Liberals claim to protect.

& what of the killing?

The profits from the Midwest-style

mega-farming &

hydrofracking &

cyanide mining &

the iPhones & refrigerators,

the profits made from

selling water systems

to those they stole it from.

Companies will boast of their investments.

New schools, new roads, new hospitals;

their conditions are deteriorating

& always require tuitions & tolls.

Health care systems disintegrate

into “pay or die” mandates.

In short, the people receive nothing

from Neo-Liberalism’s resource plunder.

 

In my country, Neo-Liberalism

paints herself palatable.

She might have a brown president

& support gay marriage.

She might sell organic, local, green buzzwords

& train the workforce in schools

adopting alternative education strategies

but her dollar�"still based on our slavery

�"still operates on genocide.

 

We have other goddesses to worship,

the Earth, mutual aid,

creativity, compassion &

the gods & the goddesses

from countless stories around the world...

Instead we participate in

Neo-Liberalism’s cult of consumption,

an act I must refuse from now on.