Capitalism Redux

The Global South must learn from the West Asian crisis that the persistence of neoliberalism alongside hyper-nationalism leads to brutality and genocidal war

- By Tanvir Aeijaz

TEACHES POLITICS AND PUBLIC POLICY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DELHI AND IS HONORARY VICE-CHAIRMAN AT THE CENTRE FOR MULTILEVEL FEDERALISM, INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, NEW DELHI

IN philosopher Bertrand Russell’s analysis of power and forms of government, war and wealth are the two major forces that have worked against democracy in the past.

And war, he says, involves a violent psychology—a kind of devilish impulse—and an escalation of an impending fear where people start looking for a leader who would rescue them from the brutalities of war and lead them to victory. During war, people entrust the leader with supreme power, find him indispensable, and his promised victory entrenches him firmly in the political arena, not to be easily removed. It is with this motivation that the American and Israeli leaders—Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu—have plunged their nations into a unilateral war against Iran.