Thursday 28 November 2019

 

Faeces and the politics of cultural resistance


When inequality gets unbridgeable, aspiration impossible and enclosure shrinks urban spaces ever tighter, the excluded strike back. And let there be no doubt, exclusion is the key, whether physical, social or psychological.  Recent events in Toronto, where an immigrant is reported to have thrown fecal matter at educated targets in university libraries has drawn horror and disgust in the mainstream media. But the real story is not about faeces, which many homeless on the street live with 24/7/365. No, the real stories are the excluded thrower's resentment at societal “winners” and the reasons for it. Understanding these reasons has no place in most mainstream coverage to date, but a growing sense of exclusion is probably at the root of it. Better get used to it, as class warfare explodes in our continuingly neoliberal times. The faeces serve as a fitting symbol. If neglect continues who knows who may be the next target of the resented?


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