ABSTRACT

The current coronavirus pandemic is more than a medical crisis—it is also a political and ideological crisis. The coronavirus pandemic is deeply interconnected with the politicization of the natural order through its destructive assaults waged by neoliberal globalization on the ecosystem. Ravaged for decades by neoliberal policies, American society is plagued by a series of crises whose deeper roots have intensified the stark class and racial divides. The financial crisis of 2008 made visible the plague of neoliberalism that has for over 40 years ravaged the public good and imposed misery and suffering upon the poor and others considered excess, waste or dangerous. The brutality of the pandemic of neoliberalism is evident in Donald Trump's call on March 16, 2020 to “reopen the economy,” by Easter. Moreover, the plague of neoliberalism has waged a full-scale attack on the welfare state.