Amherst College

Amherst College in de Verenigde Staten staat bekend als het opleidingsinstituut van 'the best and the brightest,' waar de meest talentvollen voorbereid worden op leidinggevende posities. Tijdens de opening van het academisch jaar hield de rector magnificus van Amherst, de politieke wetenschapper Anthony W. Marx, een opmerkelijke rede. Marx die internationaal geprezen wordt voor zijn drie boeken over 'nation building,' zei naar aanleiding van de verwoestingen van de orkaan Katrina het volgende: ‘America’s Gulf Coast has been reduced to a third-world disaster: nature’s fury has been unleashed upon those who are most vulnerable and least able to flee—the poor, the aged and the infirm, overwhelmingly black. Before our eyes, our first world becomes the third world. We awaken to how the growing inequalities in these United States leave entire portions of our nation exposed to terrible conditions… The flood waters have laid bare a feeble understructure to much of civic life. When American society was more homogeneous, or at least more restricted in its dictates as to who belonged in it, the common protections, the levees, were built strong and maintained, at least for that privileged portion of society. Storms struck then–and even less predictably. But there was less tolerance for that false economy we have lately adopted: letting the protections deteriorate in the delusion that when a crisis occurs all can fend for themselves... Left defenseless are those who did not ignore the warnings, but who lacked any means to escape, remaining to watch as the awful storm fell upon them. The more fortunate took to higher ground. It is perhaps too much or too awful to contemplate about ourselves, but did we invest less in the levees and emergency preparations knowing that the vulnerable had less voice in our communal halls of power? Even to ask the question draws us deeper into this fundamental challenge to our beliefs about our communal identity and purpose…We live in a society focused on immediate gains, socializing all to look out for themselves and to take privileges for granted. Witness, for example, our energy consumption with little heed to future implications. We consume conspicuously, on many fronts, rather than save—gambling against catastrophe—and are accustomed to investing for quick returns. But, my friends, social investment by its very nature can never be short-term, and it is in that investment that we have failed… Our insufficient and diminished commitment to the public commons—to our infrastructure, environment, health, educational systems—particularly affects the less fortunate. The public need has not been met. In New Orleans, the levees were not adequate, allowed to weaken over many years, and were breached. Relief efforts faltered. And when the structures that serve to protect our society are weak, it is the weakest among us who suffer most… A true community meets the needs of all, appreciating the strengths and weaknesses of all.’ Opmerkelijk is dat terwijl de Amerikaanse intellectuele elite waarschuwt voor het vernietigende effect van het neoliberalisme, deze ideologie in Nederland nog alom wordt gepropageerd, door zowel politici als academici. De hele rede van Marx kunt u hier lezen en beluisteren: http://www.amherst.edu/news/convocation05/index.html