Global Dialogues

I am writing these words in the ruins of the world in which I grew up. In that world—even if I idealize it somewhat—we were encouraged to look beyond our horizons; to engage with individuals, groups, and societies in a spirit of lively curiosity that was not anthropological but empathetic. In that world, it was understood that our planet was not meant to be viewed through a monochromatic lens, but to be embraced as a kaleidoscope that would challenge us with surprises and epiphanies.

The political experiment unfolding in Argentina today has interrelated global and local dimensions. At first glance Javier Milei, the country’s recently elected anarcho-capitalist president, is just one more right-wing politician sprouting like mushrooms out of social discontent around the world; his particular eccentricities are colorful data points in an international pattern. I want to push beyond this perspective. The Milei phenomenon has unique and unsettling characteristics both anchored in local circumstances and relevant to the wider world. His ultra-neoliberal program for Argentina is an example of what I call plunder neoliberalism—a strategic war against social reproduction, a form of counterinsurgency.