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moreICCS WPS 29 The Logistics of Neoliberal Slavery: Legal Production of Illegality
Author/Speaker｜Joyce C. H. Liu
Publication Date｜2020-07
Keywords｜Logistics, Neoliberal Slavery, Internal Colonialism, Unequal Citizens, Border Politics, Citizenship Politics, Civic Exclusion, Migrant Workers
Abstract
Abstract
Ambalavaner Sivanandan, the Sri Lankan writer and activist, observed several decades ago that the technological revolution in the 20th century had created a new global assembly line and a new hierarchy of production. Sivanandan challenged the ambiguous label of “illegal” that people put on the temporary workers in the service industries. To him, the migrants and asylum seekers are the casualties of the new imperium. ‘There is no such thing as illegal immigrants, only illegal governments.’ This paper wants to push further Sivanandan’s contention and argue that the logistical chain of the neoliberal slavery system supports the global production-supply-consumption line. At the same time, the legal implementation of local governments concerning the “guest worker program” further reinforces the neoliberal slavery system. This paper challenges the paradox of citizenship and the legitimized internal colonization. Ultimately this paper aims to urge the reconceptualization of the concept of “citizens” — “city-dwellers”—who live and work in the same city should belong to the place and enjoy equal access to the social space.
Author's Bio:
Joyce C.H. Liu is Professor of Critical Theory, Comparative Literature, Visual Studies and Cultural Studies in the Institute of Social Research and Cultural Studies, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. It is the program that she founded in 2002, the first graduate program of cultural studies in Taiwan, an inter-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary postgraduate program that addresses contemporary critical issues. She is currently the director of the cross-universities research center, International Center for Cultural Studies of the University System of Taiwan, a network system connecting four distinguished research-oriented universities in Taiwan, together with an international graduate program in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies supported by these four universities. Her research covers the critique of East-Asian modernity, Chinese political thoughts in the 20th century, focusing on issues related to the questions of bio-politics, border politics, unequal citizenship, civic exclusion, and internal coloniality.
