The axle of evil: SUVing through the slums of globalizing neoliberalism

Exposing one of the latest manifestations of anti-urbanism today, Eduardo Mendieta dissects in this essay the production, dissemination, and consumption of a new discourse of urban fear. He takes as his starting point the SUV, or Sport Utility Vehichle, which simultaneously represents and replicates the main tropes of this discourse. In the image of the gas-guzzling, martial-like SUV, Mendieta sees a 'double negation of the urban.' Insofar as the SUV, like a tank, runs roughshod over the urban environment while it simultaneously displays its own conspicuous consummation of scare resources, it encapsulates the inherently anti-urban sentiment of the new American imperialism. Whether on the streets of the wealthiest American cities and suburbs or the beleaguered streets of Baghdad, were it is thevehicle of choice for private and public occupation forces alike, the SUV represents the excesses of neoliberalism at work.