Individualism and Violence| The myth of individual salvation

El-Mansy, a gripping Egyptian drama starring Adel Imam, follows the journey of Youssef El-Mansy, a man caught in the crosshairs of corruption and class elitism. From refusing to be complicit, to trying to protect Ghada (Yousra) from powerful men, he realizes that isolation and individual resistance alone are not enough.

So, at the first light of dawn, El-Mansy leaves the train station he’d been living in and walks out to the people, to stand among them so they can protect him from being killed.

The effects of today’s socioeconomic system go beyond material and lived disparities. They reshape consciousness and social relations. Privileged groups  with access to education, cultural platforms, or even social movements themselves, tend to retreat into bubbles, reproducing their worldviews and interests in isolation from broader society.

This retreat leaves them less capable of understanding or connecting with others, while marginalized people who see no self-representation in discourses or policies, experience alienation, which causes them to lose faith in the possibility of change from within the system.

The necessity of collective solutions

In “Liquid Modernity,” Zygmunt Bauman responds to former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s infamous claim—mentioned in the first article of this series—that “there is no such thing as society,” only individuals who might form families. He exposes the fallacy of this view, arguing that the individual is a product of a network of social relations, and that dismantling society leads to isolation and psychological crises. 

Reclaiming collective action and social organization is, therefore, not a luxury but a necessity. Isolated individualism—no matter how glamorous or aligned with ideals of “personal success”—is utterly incapable of addressing the systemic crises we face, from deteriorating education and healthcare to environmental disasters and rampant inequality.

The answer is not nostalgia for some idealized past of solidarity, but the development of practical alternatives that rebuild the public sphere as a space for connection rather than division.

This requires, first, overcoming individualist tendencies by reopening spaces for dialogue and civic engagement, where people can meet, disagree, and collectively negotiate shared solutions. Robust public service policies—such as expanded investment in education and public health—not only create safety nets, but also help restore a sense of collective belonging.

Similarly, policies that reduce class and geographic inequality don’t just promote justice; they re-establish solidarity as a part of daily life.

In urban planning, this means embracing inclusive design—cities built on integration rather than separation, and the creation of shared spaces instead of gated compounds.

Lastly, promoting cultures of cooperation and teamwork through media, schools, and institutions can shape a civic identity capable of both dreaming and acting.

This is how we respond not just to disaster, but to its root causes. Here, it becomes vital to dismantle the models this ideology promotes as individual solutions for success—like entrepreneurship, which has become the mantra of media, funders, and even developing states. These states now see it as a path out of economic crisis, focusing on small- and micro-enterprise initiatives that have repeatedly failed to revive their economies.

This model, which portrays success as a solitary personal achievement, ignores the complexities of social and economic reality and perpetuates illusions of individual salvation.

Where social justice is absent, entrepreneurship becomes little more than a neoliberal cover-up for collective failure to create fair opportunities. This isn’t just idle talk.

In Latin America, for instance—as noted in the fourth article of this series—Lula da Silva, during his first presidential term (2003–2010), achieved significant socioeconomic transformation in Brazil.

Lula implemented redistributive policies, raising the corporate tax rate from 16% to 27.5%, which helped fund social programs. Chief among them was “Bolsa Família,” which reduced the poverty rate from 35% to 15% and lowered the Gini index (a measure of wealth inequality) from 58% to 53%.

These policies also improved public safety, with homicide rates in poor states like Bahia dropping by 22% between 2003 and 2010—an effect linked by a UNODC report to social inclusion programs.

One southern bloc

Under capitalism, even human emotions are reduced to commodities, Theodor Adorno wrote in “Dialectic of Enlightenment.” The individuality sold to us is merely a mask for exploitation, he continued.

In the Arab region, where formal social safety nets are fragile or nonexistent, capitalism places individuals in competition with one another without offering any avenues for true cooperation or solidarity.

In this vacuum, grassroots solidarity and informal community networks become the primary guarantors of stability.

Such a spirit of solidarity stands in stark contrast to the values of individualism, which destroy the few remaining foundations of social cohesion.

At a broader level, the ongoing assault on Gaza reinforces this truth. Despite attempts to promote isolationism and retreat behind walls or national borders, the genocide in Gaza has reverberated across the region, exposing the impossibility of isolation in a politically, economically, and socially interconnected world.

Even states not directly involved in the conflict have suffered economically and politically.

In Egypt, the border with Rafah has been a site of popular and international tension, and of increasing internal pressure on the state to contribute to humanitarian aid delivery or political engagement regarding the aggression. Hostilities have also disrupted trade in Sinai and reduced tourism in South Sinai due to security fears.

In Jordan or Morocco, for example, public reactions included large-scale protests and economic boycott campaigns—proof that public opinion is no longer constrained by narrow geographies. These movements demonstrate the failure of “individual salvation” narratives or nationalist isolationism, as political actions and systemic violence cross borders.

If we zoom out even further, we see that this crisis is not merely local or regional, but a reflection of structural flaws in global capitalism itself. The same system that builds luxury compounds in Cairo creates “gated communities” in Mexico City and “safe neighborhoods” in Johannesburg. This is no coincidence—it’s the inevitable outcome of decades of capitalist policies.

Thus, what we’re facing is not just a local or regional issue but a global one—evidence of a deep crisis in the world economic order. Economic and social disparities between the Global North and South are expanding rapidly.

We are witnessing a model of capitalist domination that concentrates wealth in the hands of a few while forcing Southern populations to bear the consequences of unjust policies that ignore human rights and social justice. This moment demands the formation of a united Global South bloc capable of resisting capitalist domination and defending our peoples’ rights to development and economic justice.

In the end, the towering structures of individualism that some are building will inevitably become prisons, making the fall all the more painful when social earthquakes strike.

There is no such thing as individual salvation. Just as marginalization is produced by systems, liberation will only come through a conscious collective.