Globalisation, Resistance and Trump: contesting the political economy of global restructuring

Voting for Donald Trump did not require civil disobedience, there were no strikes against other businesses and there was no significant violent protest. Trump’s electoral victory was however the result of a fundamental resistance to globalisation. More than that, and to the chagrin of his voters, Trump’s election demonstrates the beginnings of Marxist theory on capitalism. America, considered the bastion of global capitalism, had forsaken its proletariat in favour of allowing market forces to profit. The political elite had succumbed to the powers of multinational lobbyists and no longer sought to benefit ‘real Americans’. Such was the view of Trump voters, and whether or not it was true, their demand for a candidate outside of the political elite was fundamentally a rejection of globalisation. It was the culmination of a want for a return to isolationism and a revision of America’s relationship with the global economy.

Photo by LeoLondon

One Thousand Definitions of Freedom: what Occupy teaches us about resistance

Occupy Wall Street began with an image. In July 2011, the Canadian organisation Adbusters came up with a striking poster of a ballerina,serenely perched atop the Wall St statue of a bull. It stated the date of the protest – September 17^th – and the hashtag that gave the movement its name - #occupywallstreet. But more importantly, it asked the participants a very important question: What is our one demand? Ironically, this is also what other commentators have been asking ever since, but that does not mean that Occupy should have – or could have – given one such demand.

Photo by Michael Fleshman