neocolonialism in underdeveloped nation

8/11/2019 Neocolonialism in Underdeveloped Nation

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Neocolonialism the Thread between the Crime

against Humanity in Two Nations: A Marxist Point

of View

Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the

defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none

at all.

Adam Smith

THE neo-colonialism of today represents imperialism in its final and perhaps its most dangerous

stage. In the past it was possible to convert a country upon which a neo-colonial regime had been

imposed into a colonial territory. Today this process is no longer feasible. Old-fashioned

colonialism is by no means entirely abolished. It still constitutes an African problem, but it is

everywhere on the retreat. Post WWII colonialism is much different with the same kind ofcolonial exploitation. According to Marxist thinking capital is the constant ingredients for any

kind of production where as mineral resources and labour comes from the state. The overriding

over the state is necessary to implement a successful capitalism. Once a territory has become

nominally independent it is no longer possible, as it was in the last century, to reverse the

process. The conscience of independence is difficult to curb in twenty first century than it was

before. Existing colonies may linger on, but no new colonies will be created. In place of

colonialism as the main instrument of imperialism we have today neo-colonialism.

This kind of Neocolonialism may take different steps. Primarily the so called worldwide

development institutions development institutions like IMF and World Bank extend developmentloan in the exchange of state sovereignty. They become sure in the hand of dictator or semi-

dictator leaders of the loan availing nation the real benefit of the loan will never be materialized.

In an extreme case the troops of the imperial power may garrison the territory of the neo-colonial

State and control the government of it. More often, however, neo-colonialist control is exercised

through economic or monetary means explained above. The neo-colonial State may be obliged to

take the manufactured products of the imperialist power to the exclusion of competing products

from elsewhere. Control over government policy in the neo-colonial State may be secured by

payments towards the cost of running the State, by the provision of civil servants in positions

where they can dictate policy, and by monetary control over foreign exchange through theimposition of a banking system controlled by the imperial power.

The loss of sovereignty can take two shapes into the first the business organization set up

business in the neocolonial nation. They use the cheap labour or cheap mineral resources to

produce goods (Here good means anything which fulfill some need) which are neither necessary

nor sufficient for the development goal of the producing nation. These goods are then sold at


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high price in the colonial nation or outside. Into the second such loss of sovereignty loss the

entire system of Free State is abolished and independence sustain in name.

In the light of above mentioned discussion we will analyse the massacres happened in two

nations which will further let us understand the above two exploitation models. In Congo we will

find out the extreme measures of military colonialism taken by neocolonialists while inBangladesh the economic neocolonialism is proven to be successful.

The Truth behind Congo

The documentary The truth behind Congo emphasizes the socio-political history of Congo

from post Patrice Lumumba to recent time namely the civil war at Congo. I will discuss the

history from Post Belgian era to present time.

The crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, has many layers. Since the late

19th century, Congos vast natural resources have continually attracted violent intervention fromabroad and stoked internal conflicts. Congos government has never effectively represented orprotected its people, and all too often has served as a source of unchecked power and personalenrichment for select individuals. The ongoing crisis in eastern Congo is rooted both in thishistory of predation and corruption, and the continuing aftermath of the 1994 genocide inneighboring Rwanda. Today, Congo continues to struggle with an explosive combination ofconflicts at the local, regional and national levels.

Colonialism and Independence

Congo experienced a brutal colonial history. Beginning in the 1880s, King Leopold II of

Belgium took personal control of the territory, ruthlessly exploiting Congos vast naturalresources through harsh autocratic rule which included widespread slave labor. Under massivepressure following an international outcry against these practices, Leopold transferred control ofthe "Congo Free State" to the Belgian government in 1908.

Following an upsurge in nationalist sentiment and growing demands for independence, Belgiumaccepted Congo's independence in June 1960. Patrice Lumumba became Prime Minister andJoseph Kasavubu President. Within two weeks of independence, however, Congo's newgovernment faced a national mutiny from the army and threats from a variety of secessionistmovements.

Cold War tensions increasingly played into Congos leadership struggle, with the U.S. fearingthat the charismatic Lumumba and his supporters would allow the break-up of Congo and Sovietdomination of central Africa. With the backing of both the U.S. and Belgium, Kasavubudismissed Lumumba, who was later arrested and, with active U.S. and Belgian complicity,handed over to his enemies. Lumumba was assassinated in 1961.

Dictatorship


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Mobutu Sese Seko began his 32-year rule in 1965 when he ousted President Kasavubu in a coupwith support from both the United States and Belgium. Mobutu brutally quelled new rebellionsand personally dominated Congo. In 1971, Mobutu changed the name of the country to Zaire. Hesystematically used the countrys mineral wealth to co-opt potential rivals, and to enrich himselfand his allies through a patronage system so wildly corrupt that many came to view Zaire as a

kleptocracy a country with a government whose principal aim was to loot public goods.Mobutu is conservatively estimated to have stolen at least $5 billion from his country, much of itmoved to international banks and investments. With the end of the Cold War, his health failing,the suspension of international economic aid to Congo, and the global collapse of rawcommodity prices, Mobutu began to loose his grip on power. Following the Rwandan genocidein 1994, Mobutu provided shelter and protection not only to the two million Rwandan refugeeswho had fled to eastern Congo, but also to the Rwandan Hutu army and militias that directed thegenocide. This provoked Rwanda and Uganda to invade Congo in July 1996 in pursuit of Hutumilitary forces. The ailing Mobutu was finally ousted from Kinshasa in May 1997, andCongolese rebel leader Laurent-Dsir Kabila took over the country.

Regional Warfare

War broke out again in August 1998 when President Kabila attempted to gain independencefrom his regional backers and moved to purge Rwandan elements from his government. Rwandaand Uganda re-invaded Congo, supporting rebel proxies against Kabila. While Rwandan forceshad previously focused primarily on pursuing the Hutus who committed the genocide, bothRwandan and Ugandan forces increasingly became interested in controlling and exploiting themineral-rich eastern provinces of Congo. Kabila called on Zimbabwe, Angola, and Namibia forhelp, and, with their military support, managed to stop the invasion. During this period, Congowas home to military forces from across the continent, almost all of which brutalized civilianswhile using their deployment as a pretext to loot vast natural resources and terrorize civilians. By

mid-1999, a front line was stabilized and Congo was effectively cut into two.

A ceasefire agreement was reached and signed in Lusaka in July 1999. Although a UNpeacekeeping force, known by its French acronym MONUC, was authorized to monitor theagreement, the conflict continued as all sides violated the accord. President Kabila wasassassinated in January 2001 and his son, Joseph Kabila, assumed the presidency.

In 2002 peace negotiations were re-launched, and in December of that year all Congolesebelligerents, civil society groups, and unarmed opposition movements signed an agreement inSouth Africa. By the end of 2002, Angolan, Zimbabwean, Rwandan, and Ugandan troops hadfully withdrawn from Congo. Rapid progress was made on paper, but the situation for civilians

on the ground, especially women, remained dire. Although open fighting between thegovernment and rebels became rare, both sides continued to use sexual violence as a militarytactic against civilians, using its trauma to terrorize, control, and, in some cases, ethnicallycleanse targeted populations.

Continued Conflict and Elections


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Rebel groups, including dissident members of former rebel movements and untamed militias,continued to fight the government and local enemies, often seeking to maintain or establishcontrol of mineral wealth. MONUCs efforts to protect civilians were reinvigorated in September2004 with the expansion of its force from 10,800 to 16,700 troops, and the granting of a moreaggressive mandate which allowed for more robust civilian protection. However, the sustained

level of violence throughout 2004 combined with the large number of people who continued toflee their homes to avoid violence, led the UN in March 2005 to describe the situation in easternCongo as the "world's worst humanitarian crisis."

Following a national election conducted with substantial international support, Joseph Kabilawas sworn in as the first democratically elected president since Congolese independence onDecember 6, 2006. While this landmark election was largely free of major violence and seriousirregularities, the country still has many challenges to surmount. The new government is weakand barely functioning in many respects, and faces persistent political and security challenges.Predatory armed groups, including Rwandan rebels and the Congolese army, continue to prowleastern Congo with impunity. Congolese women and girls in particular bear the vicious brunt of

this crisis.

Humanitarian Crisis

The International Rescue Committee reports that since the end of the first war in the Congo in1998, 5.4 million people have died (more than 8 percent of the Congos population of 66

million). Every month, 45,000 more Congolesehalf of them childrendie from hunger,preventable disease, and other consequences of violence and displacement. Over one millionpeople have fled their homes within Congo as a result of the ongoing conflict. Eastern Congoright now is perhaps the worst place in the world to be a woman. Used as a weapon of war, rapein Congo exists on a scale seen nowhere else in the world. Often successful in its intent to

destroy and exterminate, rape as a weapon of war is causing the near total destruction of women,their families, and their communities.

Recent Events

Rebel forces under the command of Laurent Nkunda, known as the National Congress for theDefense of People, or CNDP, have taken control of a swathe of territory in eastern Congo thatremains beyond the control of the Congolese government and even the UN peacekeeping force.Nkunda claims to be acting to protect his fellow ethnic Tutsis from Rwandan Hutu militias, andhe has received substantial support from neighboring Rwanda, but he has political ambitions ofhis own in Congo and has threatened to take the fight all the way to the capital, Kinshasa. A

peace agreement between the Congolese government, the CNDP, and more than 20 other armedgroups effectively collapsed late in 2008.

The Congo Crisis and HistoriographyThe Congo Crisis is the story of international intrigue at the height of the Cold War. A country inthe middle of central Africa became the focal point of diplomatic energy, money and militaryeffort of the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Nations and many other nations duringthe early 1960s. The years between the end of WWII and the Congo Crisis represent a relatively


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stable period in the Belgian Congo as well as in relations between the United States andBelgium. The Congo was born an independent nation in 1960 when Belgium relinquished itscontrol of its premier colony. Commonly referred to as the African Year of Independence,1960 witnessed the birth of seventeen new African nations as the process of decolonizationreached its apogee.

The British and French began African decolonization after it was forced upon them as a result ofprevious violent struggles in their empires. The Belgian government did not share this experienceof violent struggle in the Belgian Congo and therefore was able to ignore calls for independencefor a much longer time. Belgian belief that colonial control would last for decades made changesto their system unreal; it was only after popular uprisings in the last years of the 1950s thatBelgian resolve was shaken. The Belgian departure was never planned as thoroughly as someother metropolitan powers departures; the result was an abrupt and unorganized retreat that

sowed the seeds of future political conflict.

Many scholars and journalists have explored the events and causes of the Congo Crisis of theearly 1960s. The reasons and motivations assigned to the United States by these authors cover a

wide expanse. Some offer explanations based on national security interests: the United Statesacted in the Congo to contain communism from spreading to another Third World country afterthe disaster of Castros takeover in Cuba. Others offermore sinister and diabolical reasons: theUnited States acted to replace Belgium as the Congos neocolonial master with the intention ofprofiting from Congolese mineral wealth.

Scholars propose many reasons for why the U.S. involved itself so deeply with the Congo.National security concerns play a central role in the historiography of the topic. Among others,Madeleine Kalb, Lawrence Kaplan and David Dickson have claimed that U.S. actions werebased on the need to maintain stability in order to stem Soviet expansion. The necessity ofpreventing Soviet intervention is also accepted by Stephen R. Weissman, but he contends theUnited States misperceived the Soviet threat to the Congo and thus their actions were misplacedand unnecessary. While these views of national security as the motivation behind U.S. actionsare generally understanding of the United States; much more critical interpretations exist. Onesuch interpretation, neocolonialism, is based on economic motivations surrounding copper andminerals; David Gibbs argues that tensions increased between Belgium and the United Statesbecause the latter wanted to replace the Belgian mining company of Union Miniere with anAmerican company. Gibbs is joined by work from Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, a Congolese-bornpolitical scientist, who agrees the United States was motivated by a quest to instituteneocolonialism in the Congo. In his work about the death of Lumumba, Ludo de Witte outlineshis case that Belgium was attempting to kill Congolese nationalism in order to establish aneocolonial regime controlled by Brussels. In the literature both the United States and Belgiumshare blame for neocolonial intentions, but these intentions are always motivated by profits fromCongolese mineral wealth. These scholars ignore the profit component of the western capitalistsystem. If a western government instituted neocolonial control for national security reasons, itscorporations would still gain profits from their investments in the industries of the controllednation. The existence of corporate profits does not automatically define the motivation forwestern nations actions. Minerals play an integral role in other scholars views on the topic.

While Weissman agrees with aspects of the mineral motivation, he does not include the fullspectrum of the Congolese mineral wealth. Thomas Borstelmann briefly explains how uranium


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was one of the most important Congolese minerals concerning U.S. interests in his book aboutU.S. motivations in its relations with the racist South African regime during the Cold War.Borstelmann argues that uranium was so essential to the foreign policy of the United States thatit drove the United States to acquiesce to South Africas apartheid policies in order to secure areliable and stable source of the mineral. Borstelmanns argument in relation to South Africa

explains unattractive U.S actions that were driven by its national security interests. A similarargument for U.S actions and motivations in the Congo will be advanced in this paper to expandBorstelmanns argument to Congolese uranium and cobalt. The value of Congolese minerals to

U.S. national security will support the expanded argument. Congolese minerals, along with itsgeostrategic location and the need to contain communism justified U.S. actions taken to establishpseudocolonial control in the Congo.

The historiography of U.S. involvement in the Congo Crisis of the early 1960s is focused largelyon the questions surrounding motivation. This scholarly debate is essentially between twomotivations: national security and neocolonialism. The national security school is normallysofter in their criticism of the United States while the neocolonialism school tends to be critical

and unsympathetic of U.S. action in the Congo Crisis.

Fault Lines in Bangladesh

Opened in 2009, the Tazreen Fashion factory, part of the Tuba group, employed 1,630 workers,who produced US fashion products. The factory produced clothes for various companies,including the US Marines, Dutch company C&A, American companyWalmart and Hong Kongcompany Li & Fung. The Tuba group is a major exporter of garments from Bangladesh to theU.S., Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, whose clients include Walmart, Carrefour andIKEA. However these kind of retail sellers outsource products from third party businesses mostly

from third world nations like Bangladesh.

On 24 November 2012, apparently by short circuit the Tazreen Fashion factory caught fire. Atleast 117 people were confirmed dead in the fire, and at least 200 were injured.

However on 25 November, a Walmart spokesman said he was "so far unable to confirm neitherthat Tazreen is a supplier to Walmart nor if the document referenced in the article is in fact fromWalmart". In the documentary however the tag on a pant shows Walmart tag on it. Companysubsequently terminated its relationship with Tazreen, stating that "The Tazreen factory was notauthorized to produce merchandise for Walmart. A supplier subcontracted work to this factorywithout authorization and in direct violation of our policies." Walmart critics claim that the

company knew about unsafe conditions and blocked efforts to improve them. According to TheNew York Times, Walmart played a significant role in blocking reforms to have retailers paymore for apparel in order to help Bangladesh factories improve safety standards. Walmartdirector of ethical sourcing, Sridevi Kalavakolanu, asserted that the company would not agree topay the higher cost, as such improvements in electrical and fire safety would be a "very extensiveand costly modification" and that "it is not financially feasible for the brands to make suchinvestments."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmarthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart


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History after 1974 and Historiography

To analyse the above incidence you have to start from the beginning. In 1974 MFA act wasimplemented in USA and other developed nations to compete the low cost import fromdeveloping nations. Since Textile product is a labour intensive product so developing countrieshad a comparative advantage to produce. However MFA was not totally negative for allcountries for example EU imposed no quota on Bangladesh causing the thriving of the industryin Bangladesh.

Bangladesh was one such country with a history of artisans hand tailored textile product. Afterits independence the socialist govt. took the power of the sector in its hand. However after,Brhamputra Flood in 1974 and consequent famine due to loss of crop, Bangladesh Govt.

stressedcon liberalization of this industry. Since then the industry goes to the Private hand. Inprivate hand the nature of the industry change from Import substitution regime to export orientedindustry.

Entrepreneurs from quota-restricted countries like South Korea began "quota hopping" seekingquota-free countries that could become quota-free manufacturing sites. The export-orientedreadymade garment (RMG) industry emerged at this time. Daewoo of South Korea was an earlyentrant in Bangladesh, when it established a joint venture in December 27, 1977 with DeshGarments Ltd. making it the first export oriented ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh.After only one year in which 130 Desh supervisors and managers received free training fromDaiwoo in production and marketing at Daiwoo's state-of-the-art ready-made garment (RMG)

plant in Korea, 115 of the 130 left Desh Garments Ltd. and set up separate private garmentexport firms or began working for other newly formed export-oriented RMG companies withnew garment factories in Bangladesh for much higher salaries than Desh Garments Ltd offered.

Bangladesh's export trade is dominated by the ready-made garments (RMG) industry.Bangladesh exports garment mainly to the US and Europemake up nearly 80% of thecountrys export income. Exports of textiles, clothing, and ready-made garments (RMG)accounted for 77% of Bangladeshs total merchandise exports in 2002.

Over the years in Bangladesh, the number of employed workers in the textile industry increasedby 400 000 in 1990 to 2 million in 2004, and the number of enterprisesfrom 800 to 4000. Nine

out of ten people employed in the industryare women. In general, the state of the textileindustry depends on well-being of 10-12 million people in Bangladesh.

From this time onward safety measures are grossly violated in Bangladesh. The edge ofBangladesh in Textile industry is mainly stand on the cost cutting from labour cost and costcutting from compliance measures.


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Five deadly incidents from November 2012 through May 2013 brought worker safety and laborviolations in Bangladesh to world attention putting pressure on big global clothing brands suchas Primark, Loblaw, Joe Fresh, Gap,Walmart,Nike, Tchibo, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger,and retailers to respond by using their economic weight to enact change. No factory owner hasever been prosecuted over the deaths of workers. Other major fires 1990 and 2012, resulting in

hundreds of accidental deaths, included those at Thats It Sportswear Limited and the fire atTazreen Fashions Ltd. Spectrum Sweater Industries, Phoenix Garments, Smart Export Garments,Garib and Garib, Matrix Sweater, KTS Composite Textile Mills and Sun Knitting. The life isvulnerable at this part of the globe. Since the comparative advantage of this country in worldmarket is in terms of cheap labour so to protect citizen from hunger is to let them get burnt timeto time. Economics of fire death is so much more complex than it thought to be.

Death for Debt

The debate between Public Debt and Foreign aid or Production for export oriented industry

always attracts scholars in the context of Bangladesh. The ministry of finance and the

Bangladesh Bank data showed that total outstanding debt by the government agencies and

entities swelled to $21.45 billion and that by the private sector to $1.35 billion until 2009-10

fiscal but if we compare it with 1974 data then we can find out it is only 41% of the past. The

credit for this goes to the private sector that generates so many employments in Bangladesh.

However the most intriguing question remains in the fact that textile industry contributes 5% of

the GDP employing 45% of all industrial employees. The work condition is easily imaginable. In

the paper External public debt and economic growth: empirical evidence from Bangladesh,

1974 to 2010by Shah, Md. Mahmud Hasan and Pervin, Shahida (2012) it is shown that in Longrun significant negative effect of external public debt service and positive effect of external

public debt stock on GDP growth have been found from this investigation. In short run, only

external debt service has negative effect but the debt stock does not have any significant effect.

Thus the investigation did not find any evidence of debt overhang provided that there is no

significant adverse effect of debt stock on GDP growth. But crowding out effect was originated

from the fact that there is evidence of adverse effect of debt service payment on economic

growth for the period. As more debt stock means more service payment, the study shows a

dichotomy in obtained results. So the reconciliation of debt should be prudent to optimize the

growth of Bangladesh. Short run disequilibrium in the path of long run is corrected at a good

speed. Probably that can explain why the state is less bothered about to ask the organizations to

comply with fire safety measures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmarthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart


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Conclusion

The above two cases study is a small fraction of what happening all over the globe. Theglobalization of capitalism has tremendous reparation. The Marxist theory as originallydeveloped by Karl Marx(1887) in his celebrated book The Capital and later by Fredrick Engles

is not probably sufficient for explaining the socio political picture at present time but the basicexploitation remains same only the change comes from colonial empire and colonial state kind ofexploitation to the so called development organizations. The shift also shows us a change fromdirect military intervention to the new economic political machinery.

neocolonialism in underdeveloped nation

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