Manufacturing the “Savage” to Justify Despotism
The perennial “tough on crime” election rhetoric is not a policy stance but an ideological tool to reify the savage/victim/civilizer triad. Mamdani’s analysis of how political power is consolidated through the creation of a threatening “other” is perfectly illustrated here. By constructing a caricature of the criminal “savage” preying on innocent “victims,” the “settler” political class positions itself as the sole provider of “civilization” and safety. This narrative justifies the expansion of the carceral state and the decentralized despotism of the NYPD, while systematically ignoring the state-sanctioned economic violence that is the root cause of most harm. A Marxist critique exposes this as a strategy to divide the working class along racial lines. A feminist and Muslim perspective recognizes how this rhetoric targets our men and instills fear in our communities. The solution is a counter-hegemonic narrative that names the state and capital as the primary sources of violence, uniting us against the true authors of our precarity.
Shiver’s shore: sought.