Estado e violência em tempos de capitalismo neoliberal

Abstract

The theme of the research entitled ‘State and violence in times of neoliberal capitalism’ is limited to the tracing of violence inserted in the context of State actions, having the prerogative that 'the State is a violent fact' as its starting point. When designing violence in three dimensions: the symbolic, the objective (or systemic) and the subjective, the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek provides us theoretical-analytical support to problematize the use of force and/or coercion by the State as a fundamental element for its own foundation and existence. It is by analyzing the pairing of the tripod ‘capitalism - democracy - (neo)liberalism’, as legitimating structures of the State management of society, that the expressions of the violent State are addressed. On the other hand, besides the judicial system, the ideological apparatus at the service of the state is built as invisible forms which legitimize the social organization by the State. The theoretical line based on dialectical materialism leaded us to the conclusion that, yes, the State is a violent fact, more than that, the State is violence. The violent faces of the State are only visible to us through policies aimed at the exploitation of the wage labor force by the bourgeoisie, through the defense of private property by the accumulation of capital by the owners of the means of production. Those policies tend to result in more exploitation, misery, hunger, social inequality and exclusion, subordination and human suffering. We’ve come to the conclusion that, given the social, political and economic structures in which we are based, if we want to fight for a society without violence (systemic), that addresses the emergence of political acts of rupture with the systemic coordinates of capture of the politically disinterested subject and that can propel the class struggle is only possible not inside but outside the State.