Resistance to financialization cannot succeed in isolation from broader systemic struggle

Evidence

Of course, I could well be accused of making too fine a point. The examples of resistance outlined here can, of course, be contrasted with more effective and hopeful forms of resistance, notably the (quasi-)socialist developments of state and civil society power in Latin America under the banner of the Bolivarian Revolution over the last decade, or the growth of populist far-left parties in Europe, or the rise of the Occupy Movement and the Movement of the Squares. I am not among those who delight in the perpetual discovery of how all that we believe is resistance is actually merely a function of the system. My hope here, however, is to caution against a simplistic understanding of financialization as something that can be resisted easily or in isolation. Today’s financial sector is an elemental and inseparable part of a highly complex and contradictory capitalist system. If we are to conceive of and practise a form of resistance adequate to the challenges we now face, it cannot be based on the celebration of resistance for its own sake, a tendency common to both cultural criticism and protest culture. — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 551

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to deWaard’s cultural argument about finance colonizing everyday life — resistance must engage the cultural-political totality rather than isolate finance as a single enemy. — connects to: Solutions to financialization require abolishing capitalism, not just re-regulating finance — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 34; Commodified resistance reinforces the individualization that finance depends on — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 532; Financialization is integral to capitalism, not a product of deregulatory excess — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 34 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Financialization is integral to capitalism, not a product of deregulatory excess #expands (0.72) — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 34