key: cord-0044968-ktl1x03p authors: Szwabowski, Oskar; Wiecław, Marek title: The Covid-Shock Doctrine: Under the Tutorship of CoV-2, the Voice(s) From Poland date: 2020-06-05 journal: Cult Stud Crit Methodol DOI: 10.1177/1532708620931144 sha: 13fb87bfa7e78f5a2dba06e791fb23b69780c2ba doc_id: 44968 cord_uid: ktl1x03p These are two autoethnographic voices. We speak in a strange time: democracy dies, social justice dies. A lot of people have died of the virus, many die of fear. We write to protest against new neoliberal and neoconservative “shock doctrine.” We write together to protest against destructive self-absorption, isolation, and fear. It is protest-text. But we are not sure what we can do now. It is a strange time. I do not know what will be tomorrow. I have to stay at home. I do not know how much I will earn and what is happening around. I feel that there is the opportunity to change our social reality for a better place. But it can be changed also to the rebirth of the neoliberalism regime-make it crueler. What we can do? How we can survive? I try to speak. I have a lot of time, but it is not a good time for research. For thinking also. So I write such not a scientific paper. It is a note from epidemics. I write because I feel alone. I feel helpless. I feel like a felt before. And I write for the same reasons. As Ronald J. Pelias wrote-to be here, still, to be part of conversation (Pelias, 2017) . And because "I write so the darkness cannot win" (Poulos, 2017, p. 38) . So I am writing to be alive-somehow-and try to make a difference. In my country, now the situation is not so bad. We are still waiting. But the virus of neoliberalism spreads faster and intensely. It can bring more damage to our society than Coronavirus. How we can react to that when we have to stay at home? How we can protect and promote social justice and the poor? Could we use this Coronavirus as a partner in making the world a better place?" What are we taught now? And how can we win with isolation . . . with our dark lonely thoughts. To struggle with our destructive self-absorption, fear, and isolation, what makes us vulnerable? We are immersed in our own sad self. We are overcome by discouragement. We don't have the strength to protest. For what if the world will end soon. The doctrine of shock works (Klein, 2008) . I send this text to my friend. He joins me. Marek: Writing in Time of Plaque? What a concept. Oskar: Not sure what we can do more. Marek: How can I think to have Anything Original to tell you in time-like-this? And why do I need to be original anyway? Oskar: We do not have to be original. I know that being original is of some value for "normal science". But now "world is out of joint". We write to protest. Not to be original. Not to be a super academic researcher. I think this time is the end for humanities and social science. 931144C SCXXX10.1177/1532708620931144Cultural Studies ↔ Critical MethodologiesSzwabowski and Wiecław (Gounari, 2014 (Gounari, , 2016 Mendoza, 2015) social Darwinism disdain for the weakness junk contracts-junk works-junks workers just-all time all well know anti-public pedagogy (Giroux, 2011; Morris, 2012) junk-peoples Few days ago, I read "Letter from your Future" by Italian novelist. She lives in our future-in the world that is probably one month ahead of us. So she sends us the message. This voice of her-the voice from the City of Plaque, from the Future-has been following me since then. "As we watch you from here, from your future, we know that many of you, as you were told to lock yourselves up into your homes, quoted Orwell, some even Hobbes. But soon you'll be too busy for that" (Melandri, 2020) "You'll find dozens of social networking groups with tutorials on how to spend your free time in fruitful ways. You will join them all, then ignore them completely after a few days." (Melandri, 2020) What matters now? IV I know I am lucky I am white, I am man, I am low middle classes academic workers I can work from home and still have my job and my home I am quite young and quite healthy so I should not be worried and it taught me that disease is a social class problems it is political and economic problems "The black week is coming. Even 3 million Poles may lose their jobs" (Ceglarz, 2020) "employees and employees will pay for the crisis (again)" (OZZIP, 2020) Your own thoughts can be annoying. Haven't you noticed this before? Obsessed And I became tired even of my own favorite dark sarcasm. "The government wants to change Poland into a labor camp" (Urbański, 2020) "Democracy is dead, long live the pandemiocracy" (Bendyk, 2020) 2 On facebook words flows. . . You watch silly movies. You try to murder Goethe and Wittgenstein. You don't even look at Finnegan's Wake (ok, you don't even know where it is now. And you don't care). "You'll pull apocalyptic literature out of your bookshelves, but will soon find you don't really feel like reading any of it" (Melandri, 2020) We cannot leave home if we do not have good reasons Read: go to work, go to shop work-consume-die I cannot speak with homeless with alone old people the pedagogy of street is not possible anymore (Lewis, 2012; Szwabowski, 2019) VII I have tried to search for some rational scientific explanation the other day. What the hell is happening to the world anyway? Who did this? Why? Anyone? I spent two days at the computer surfing network. Articles, films, diagrams, tables, statements, declarations. Doubts, questions. It is just us. "You will not sleep well. You will ask yourselves what is happening to democracy." (Melandri, 2020) as humanists and social scientists we can cure our social disease perhaps we will beat Coronavirus but social death remain with us unless we beat capitalism and this permanent state of exception (Agamben, 1998) and fascists governments the anti-public pedagogy (Giroux, 2011; Morris, 2012) and the pedagogy of disdain (see. Szkudlarek, 2018) . in this shadow of death and pathological neoliberalism social Darwinism fascist (Giroux, 2011 (Giroux, , 2018 we have to dream radically normality will not be back it is our new normality we have to find the way to be together to make our dreams publics The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Homo sacer: Sovereign power and bare life Demokracja nie żyje, niech żyje pandemikracja Nadchodzi czarny tydzień. Pracę mogą stracić nawet 3 mln Polaków [The black week is coming. Even 3 million Poles may lose their jobs Zombie politics and culture in the age of casino capitalism American nightmare: Facing the challenge of fascism Neoliberalism as social necrophilia: Erich Fromm and the politics of hopelessness in Greece The necropolitics of austerity: Discursive constructions and material consequences in the Greek context. Fast Capitalism The shock doctrine Exopedagogy: On pirates, shorelines, and the educational commonwealth A letter to the UK from Italy: This is what we know about your future. The Guardian Austerity: The demolition of the walfare state and the rise of the zombie economy Pedagogy in Catastrophic Times: Giroux and the tasks of critical public intellectuals Tarcza Antykryzysowa-za kryzys zapłacą (znowu) pracownicy i pracownice Still here, writing, trying to be a part of the conversation Autoethnography: A Manife story Dyrektor szpitala: Brakuje nam wszystkiego! To jest katastrofa. Gazeta Wrocławska Pedagogika wstydu i bezwstydna polityka [The pedagogy of shame and the shameless politics Dramatyczne apele wz. z koronawirusem. W szpitalach brakuje m.in. sprzętu i odzieży ochronnej [Dramatic appeals in connection with the coronavirus. The hospitals lack, among others protective equipment and clothing]. dziennik Ulice, place, piwnice. O nomadycznych maszynach edukacyjnych [Streets, squares, basements. About nomadic educational machines Rząd chce zmienić Polskę w obóz pracy [The government wants to change Poland into a labor camp The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Oskar Szwabowski https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7464-0081