‘Me, We.’ in a neoliberal world…

Muhammad Ali very famously said ‘Me? We.’ in 1975 during a speech at Harvard University when asked by a student to recite a poem. The poem clearly signifies the individual in relation to the community, and how we really are nothing without each other. From singularity to plurality. From selfishness to altruism.

What is interesting is that it is only a few years before neoliberalism entered the UK and Thatcher’s government. What is neoliberalism? It is an economic ideology that claims a society will be best served by free market ideology, which is essentially competition instead of democracy. It argues that all people should be consumers instead of citizens. It wants everyone to be in competition with one another.

It wants everyone to be ‘Me’ and the last thing it wants is ‘We’.

If ‘We’ existed, ‘We’ may want a better society and governments that truly do their job, to serve the public and not the interests of business.

‘We’ may want a more equitable tax system.

‘We’ may want a national infrastructure and not a privatised society where we pay an extra ‘toll’ charge on our services, so the shareholders get a profit.

‘We’, in essence, is a threat.

There’s a terrible and very telling term going around at the moment and that is ‘We are all our own brand now.’ This really shows the corporatisation of the citizen. We have been duped into thinking we are all businesses and not citizens who can work together for the greater good. Instead, we are all in competition with each other, sometimes fighting for something as pointless as ‘likes’ or ‘shares’ to prove to the world we are ‘someone’. We have been manipulated into behaving like this. Every one of us on social networks falls for it. It’s hard not to. Life has become very binary; it’s either ‘like’ or ‘don’t like’. That determines our existence; this is incredibly unhealthy and it’s the neoliberal way. Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, and no ‘We’.

Within 10 miles of where I live are 7 foodbanks. In the UK there are estimated to be 3,500. More than 3 million food parcels have been distributed in the past year. This is insanity. This is the result of having a society based on ‘Me’ and not ‘We’.

If we really want to change society, it’s imperative to understand this. It’s up to us to change this society from the bottom up, because it will never happen from the top down.

Muhammad Ali was a great entertainer, but he used his celebrity for the ‘We’, not the ‘Me’. ‘The artist’s duty is to reflect the world we live in’ is another quote, this time by Nina Simone.

She is right; it is our duty as artists to use our talents to create conversation, embrace dialogue and inspire people to think, for this is truly where the seeds of change begin.

My latest art show ‘Abstract Asemic Graffiti in the Neoliberal Age’ is currently showing until the 9th Novermber 2025 at:

The Beaney,
18 High Street,
Canterbury,
Kent,
CT1 2RA

Opening times:
Monday: Closed
Tuesday to Saturday: 10.00am to 5.00pm
Sunday: 11.00am to 4.00pm

I will be present Friday, Saturday and Sundays.