Neoliberalism makes us think that we're at fault for social problems. By creating that artificial concept of causality, it internalizes the deflection of blame that corporate capital for so long was able to avoid, simply by having government laws that explicitly restricted people's mobility, and people from understanding the world around them, and from exercising basic freedoms. Since it's no longer cool to do that in our liberal, Western discourse - we've turned to subtler ways of of oppression.

Journalist Michelle Chen explains why calls to not politicize the Grenfell Tower fire ignore the power dynamics around the situation, and across capitalism at large, and makes the case that the neoliberal agenda of deregulation and corporate power over public space is building a new, urban apartheid in our cities and our minds.

Michelle wrote the article The Economic System That Made the Grenfell Tragedy Possible for The Nation.