Roma and the politics of double discourse in contemporary Europe

ABSTRACT

The article analyses the politics of ‘double discourse’ in relation to Roma that has evolved in contemporary neoliberal Europe. On the one hand, the double discourse promotes the integration, rights and equal opportunities of Roma, on the other, it denies recognition of, and ways to address, enduring structural violence and rising social insecurity. The article argues that the politics of ‘double discourse’, as a neoliberal approach towards Roma, is structured by two contradictory discourses that speak to different audiences, using duplicitous approaches to create anti-Roma consensus and maintain the critical difference and subordinated position of the racialised Romani populations in Europe. By studying the representation of Roma in the cases of so-called 'child theft' in Greece and Ireland, and in the recent ‘refugee crisis’, the paper identifies and discusses three dimensions of contemporary neoliberal double discourse: racialised de-Europeanisation, neoliberal undeservingness and (dis)articulation of citizenship.     

Mighty Crime Victims: Victims' Rights and Neoliberalism in the American Conjuncture

Over the last 30 years, the victims' rights movement has expanded the role of victims in the American criminal justice system. As a result of this movement, judges, prosecutors and parole boards must now hear victims' views at all stages of the criminal justice process, including plea bargains, and sentencing and parole decisions. Legislative efforts have been spearheaded by victims' families, and legislation has been named after deceased victims. Also, victims' families can now view executions in states across the country. The victims' right movement assumes that the criminal justice system should privilege victims' interests over those of society. In so doing, it denies society as a consideration, which is tantamount to a denial of society itself. This article positions victims' rights' denial of society within the current conjuncture, marked as it is by the contradiction between neoliberalism and American liberalism. Victims' rights' denial of society is an expression of the denial of society implicit in American neoliberalism, which seeks to privilege individual interests over those of society. This paper argues that victims' rights is a powerful element of the neoliberal project for three reasons. First, victims' rights imputes the authority of legal discourse to neoliberalism's denial of society. Second, important actors in the rise of neoliberalism have also worked to establish victims' rights. Finally, victims' rights comprehensively circulates throughout America and offers powerful points of identification that incorporate Americans into the victims' rights formation. I explore the denial of society in three victims' rights practices: naming criminal legislation after crime victims and passing such laws in honour of victims; allowing victims' families to view executions; and prosecutors, judges and police personnel making legal decisions according to victims' wishes. I examine the consonant denial of society in three neoliberal practices – monetarism, supply-side economics and welfare reform – and demonstrate how neoliberal advocates like Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Paul Gann worked to advance victims' rights. I also describe the production, consumption and comprehensive circulation of victims' rights texts. Finally, I consider Cultural Studies' unique contribution to legal studies.     

‘Us’ and ‘them’: the limits and possibilities of a ‘politics of neurodiversity’ in neoliberal times

The neurodiversity movement claims that there are neurological differences in the human population, and that autism is a natural variation among humans – not a disease or a disorder, just ‘a difference’. A ‘politics of neurodiversity’ is based on the claim that the ‘neurodiverse’ population constitutes a political grouping comparable with those of class, gender, sexuality or race. This paper considers the limits and possibilities of neurodiverse political activism, and concludes by calling for a politics of identity that does not depend on a politics of ‘us’ and ‘them’.     

绿色贸易壁垒与我国纺织品出口对策

在纺织品服装领域存在四种绿色贸易壁垒——国际环境管理体系系列标准、生态纺织品认证标准、绿色标志制度、绿色法规，对我国入世后纺织品、服装出口具有重要影响，我国政府和企业应采取的对策是提高环保意识、发展企业的绿色生产、加强环保法规和标准建设、加强绿色纺织品的科研与开展等。     

绿色奥运、科技奥运、人文奥运三大理念是奥运非物质遗产

奥运遗产与奥运会的水平、特色有紧密的关系。北京奥运会的特色是通过绿色奥运、科技奥运、人文奥运三大理念和目标的实现来体现的,它的重要影响是打造了2008年北京奥运会的人文特色。2008年北京奥运三大理念所带来的"后奥运"效应,将凸显北京奥运的特色和亮点,将充分证明"绿色奥运、科技奥运、人文奥运"是2008年北京奥运会奉献给奥林匹克运动的独一无二的宝贵遗产。     

伊藤诚的资本主义批判理论及其启示

随着苏联模式的失败,社会主义陷入低潮时期,而资本主义大有一统天下的趋势。但是日本学者伊藤诚仍坚信社会主义终将代替资本主义,他指出了当今资本主义世界体系三重幻想的破灭,并着重批判了当代资本主义国家实行的新自由主义,以使人们对资本主义的希望彻底破灭。最后,他认为中国的社会主义市场经济是当前的希望所在。他的资本主义批判理论对于人们正确认识当前的资本主义新变化,重新树立起对社会主义的信心意义深远。当然,我们也应看到其理论的不足之处。     

当前世界危机在《资本论》（1868）和《帝国主义论》（1917）中的阐释

关于本次世界经济危机,马克思主义经济学家认为原因有二：一是认为这场危机是＂新自由主义的失败＂;二是将其当作由生产过剩引发的资本主义循环性危机去理解。但是,观点二并没有解释这场经济危机为何成为了＂百年不遇＂的事件;而观点一也没有解释自由主义的失败是资本主义的失败。笔者认为,新自由主义是资本主义衰落的必然结果,所以,新自由主义的失败就是资本主义的失败。为此,对上述两种观点进行了否定,认为这次危机的本质是发达资本主义国家不想适应＂零增长＂的新的经济社会制度。另外,反对金融资本主义,认为应该重视马克思的生产性劳动理论。     

Toward a teacher solidarity lens: former teachers of color (re)envisioning educational research

Based on a two-year self-study by a group of early-career scholars of color, we explore and purposefully name our role, within the contemporary context of neoliberal reform, as educational researchers of color who are former K-12 teachers. We capture the insights that emerged from our self-study through a close reading of dominant neoliberal educational reform discourses, particularly through an examination of the writings of Michelle Rhee and Wendy Kopp. Along three dimensions of: (1) experience as teachers; (2) solidarity with teachers; and (3) analyses of racism in schooling, we characterize prominent discourses through which educators, researchers, and the public describe teachers and teaching. We name these discursive frames to make explicit the assumptions that are embedded in each and the intentional or inadvertent consequences of each. Finally, we propose a teacher solidarity lens through which we strive to approach our research and work with teachers.     

社群主义公共利益观和国家观辨析

社群主义是西方政治哲学的一个重要流派,它是在对抗新自由主义的过程中逐步形成的。祉群主义力图把社群利益置于政治话语的中心,强调“公共的善”优于“个人的权利”;主张“强国家”,反对“小政府”。这种思想对纠正新自由主义的理论偏颇有一定的理论和现实意义,但是这一以对抗性形式出现的理论不可避免地又走向了另一个极端。