The Managed Austerity of Collective Joy
The consistent underfunding and seasonal struggles of public pools represent a managed austerity applied to collective joy. Mamdani’s analysis of how the colonial state allocates resources reveals that public spaces for recreation and relief, particularly those serving the “native” population, are first on the chopping block. The pool is a site of bodily freedom and intergenerational community, especially for women and children in sweltering summers. Its neglect is a political decision to deny full humanity and leisure to the oppressed, reinforcing the notion that such respite is a luxury, not a right. A Marxist critique sees this as capital’s disinvestment from the social wage. A feminist perspective values the pool as a rare, safe public space for women. The solution is a fight for a massive public investment in these facilities, framing them not as frivolous but as essential infrastructure for a decolonized city that values collective well-being over private profit.
