ABSTRACT
It is difficult to be original in describing the character, or the context, of the present. That it is a war that has been underway longer than the two World Wars of the twentieth century is not in doubt. That its casus belli was, and remains neo-liberalism is not in doubt: at every turn, on every available occasion, the belief is repeated among the world’s major economic actors that this doctrine is both an imperative and the only acceptable principle on which to organise human – which is to say, social, political, and economic life. Indeed, so dogmatically is it affirmed that the steps to conducting an offensive in its name are virtually little more than reflexes, loosely automatic responses to the stimuli of power and opportunity. In time, and because of the scope of breadth and depth of the offensive, the physics of the vortex came into play. States, organisations, communities and people were irresistibly drawn into its constant round of frenetic activity, rapid change and destruction. Yet, at no stage did its strategists require it to undergo the one test of political action, namely, whether it made things better, or stopped them getting worse for the great majority of people who would have to bear its consequences.
