The Ehtisham Review-Neo-Imperialism-3-Occupation
The two world wars, especially the second one,
weakened the grip of colonial powers. Britain sought an honorable way out
and managed it to some extent. The Dutch tried to hang on to Indonesia,
but were driven away. The French, unable to hang on to Vietnam, let the
Domino theory oriented U.S. to fight and end up in a humiliating defeat.
The French struggled in Algeria too, but De Gaulle came to rescue. Most
of the rest of the colonies went the same way.Â
Colonialism has been replaced by occupation of abstract space, under which
International Financial Institutions (IFI) and
MNCs function. The Third World countries have been granted sovereignty on
paper. The West controls over 80% of the resources of the world.  (39).
        The US initiated the process in Cuba in the late
nineteenth century when it drove Spain out of Cuba. Though the country had
its own flag, constitution, currency and an army, all major foreign policy
decisions were made by the U.S. The US also kept in its hands sugar,
tobacco, tourism and nearly all foreign trade. (40).      Â
 The newly sovereign states did enjoy legitimacy among its people. But
the governments which tried to wrest control of its resources were
subjected to military coups-Iran, Indonesia and many other countries.
South Africa was able to overthrow the dictatorship of the minority, but
had to let the minority have continued control of business, finance and
industry.(41).       The leaders were allowed revolutionary
slogans as long as they did not act on them and collaborated with
Neo-imperialism.        The leaders of the new nations may
voice revolutionary slogans, yet they find themselves locked into the
Global Capitalist Orbit, cooperating perforce with the First World nations
for investment, trade, and aid. So we witnessed the curious phenomenon of
leaders of newly independent Third World nations denouncing imperialism as
the source of their countries' ills, while dissidents in these countries
denounced these same leaders as collaborators of imperialism.
Independence was allowed in most instances when a comprador
class had been created, which would collaborate with the colonial power in
turning the country into a client state.
Most of the Third World consists of client states in which Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) is permitted on terms favorable to investors.
Corporations get cheap labor, subsidies and raw material. In a client
state, corporate investors enjoy direct subsidies and land grants, access
to raw materials and cheap labor, low, if any taxes, and subservient labor
unions, no occupational safety measures, no minimum wage, no restriction
on child labor and no consumer or environmental safety measures. Â (42).Â
The Third World offers the life to capitalists what
colonies did to rulers in the nineteenth century. The collaborators enjoy
opportunities to line their pockets with the foreign aid sent by the West.
Security forces are armed and trained by the United States in the latest
technologies of terror and repression. But independence even though only
on paper, kindles the aspiration to real independence. Once in a while
emerges a national leader, as in Venezuela or Bolivia, who manages to
extract power from corporate rulers. But more often, they lose their life
viz Allende of Chile. (43).
 Bibliography and
References:1.      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-wallechinsky/what-is-the-real-reason-g_b_11116.html .2.     Porter, Donald
Clayton   “The Sachem (The Colonization of America, Book IV)†(New
York, NY: Bantam, 1981).3.   Abernethy, David. "The Dynamics of Global
Dominance, European Overseas Empires 1415–1980". (New Haven, CT :Yale
University Press,
2000).4.   http://foreigndispatches.typepad.com/dispatches/2004/10/slav_an_etymolo.html  5.   Davies,
Norman – “Europe : A History†(New York, NY, Oxford University
Press, 1996)6.    Mazower, Mark- "Hitler's Empire: Nazi Rule in
Occupied Europe". (London: Allen Lane,2008).7.    Frieden, Jeffry
A. “The Modern Capitalist World Economy: A Historical Overviewâ€
“http://www.academia.edu/3081847/THE_MODERN_CAPITALIST_WORLD_ECONOMY_A_HISTORICAL_OVERVIEW8.     Lens,
Sidney; Zinn, Howard: “The Forging of the American Empire.†(London:
Pluto Press. 2003)  9.  Hudson, Michael:â€Super Imperialism: The
Origin And Fundamentals of U.S. World Dominance†(London, UK. Pluto
Press, 2003).10.  Obrinsky, Mark. "Profit Theory and Capitalism".
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,
1983).11. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm 12.   https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2004/02/wome-f25.html13. http://www.clickrally.com/deforestation-in-borneo-its-impact-on-indigenous-societies-and-implications-for-development/14. http://www.michaelparenti.org/Imperialism101.html15.
Parenti, Michael – “Against Empire†San Francisco, CA, City Lights
       Publishing, 1998.16.
Ibid17. http://www.odsg.org/Said_Edward(1977)_Orientalism.pdf18. Ferro,
Marc-“Colonization: A Global History†(Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis,
1997).  19. Murray Gordon, "Slavery in the Arab World", (New York ,
USA New Amsterdam Press, 1989.).  20. ibid 17 21. Backman,
Clifford R. “The Worlds of Medieval Europeâ€. (Oxford, UK: Oxford
University Press, 2003).   22.  Romila Thapar, “A History of
India “,( New York , USA. Penguin Books. 1966).    23. Robinson,
Chase “Islamic Historiography.†(New York: Cambridge University Press
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Population Puzzle†published in the magazine “Caring For Familiesâ€
(IC #21) published in Spring 1989. 25. Rorabacher, John Albert –
“Hunger and Poverty in South Asia†(New Delhi, India. Gyan Publishing
House, 2010). Page 486, featuring “Albertini, Rudolph von, and Wirz,
Albert. European Colonial Rule, 1880-1914: The Impact of the West on
India, South East Asia and Africa   26.  Fanon, Frantz, "The
Wretched of the Earth," Maspero Publishing house, Pref. by Jean-Paul
Sartre. Translated by Constance Farrington. (London : Penguin Book,
2001). 27. Marx & Engels on Ireland and the Irish
Question. Progress Press Transcribed: Einde O’Callaghan and Andy
Blunden. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/subject/ireland/ 28. Henderson,
John S. “The World of the Ancient Mayaâ€.  (Ithaca,  N.Y. Cornell
University Press. 1981). 29. Miller, Jonathan D. “Infrastructure 2013:
Global Priorities, Global Insightsâ€. Washington, D.C . Urban Land
Institute and Ernst & Young,
2013.30. http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Parenti/Imperialism101_AE.html 31. http://www.globalexchange.org/resources/wto/agriculture 32. statisticbrain.co/world-poverty-statistics/  33. ibid
15 34. http://www.unicef.org/pon95/chil0016.html 35. ibid 15 36. ibid
15 37. Easterly, William “The White Man's Burden: Why the West's
Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Goodâ€Â (New
York, NY. Oxford University Press,
2007). 38. http://www.globalissues.org/article/57/corporations-and-workers-rights39. Stiglitz,
Joseph E, "Globalization and Its Discontents," (New York: W.W. Norton and
Co Inc, 2002).40. Moruzzi, Peter “Havana Before Castro: When Cuba was a
Tropical Playground†(Layton, UT. Publisher Gibbs Smith,
2008).41. http://thinkafricapress.com/south-africa/white-elite-dog-doesnt-bark-bee-who-rules-south-africa.42. http://www.independent.org/publications/working_papers/article.asp?id=1369
43. Harmer, Tanya “ Allende's Chile and the Inter-American Cold
War†(Greensboro, NC. University of North Carolina Press, 2011).
Dr. S. Akhtar Ehtisham
Blog syedehtisham.blogspot.com
All religions try to take over the establishment and if they fail, they
collaborate with it, be it feudal or capitalist.
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The history of the so-called third world needs to include the role of
facilitators in supporting the colonial rule. Â India offers a telling
example. Â Treachery by locals was inherent in the failures of figures who
opposed the Raj. Â Post partition Pakistan the same cadre of landlords and
industrial families continue the old rule in conjunction with the army.
 Since Zia religious extremism was yet another distortion to the national
character. Â Even the most informed people explain the messy national
state as a legacy of colonial rule and not the incompetent policies and
agendas of the leaders that continue to rely on and facilitate outside
intervention. Â Saudi and gulf Arab nations today have more US bases than
ever in their sordid history. Â Most of the effort is directed at
annihilating local opposition at any cost. Â It is defining the legacy for
the next generation as one of violence, religious and social intolerance.
Nasik Elahi
FAYYAZ SHEIKH wrote:
Don’t these third world countries share some of the the blame? They blame
all their ills on the foreign interference and do not want to take the
responsibility for their own corruption and ineptness. Blame game cannot
go on for ever!Â
The end of colonial rule had brought a serious vacuum of economic stability, industrial development, political system, educational and moral directions within the freed nations. Moreover, the European rulers, while leaving had divided the regions under their control with un-natural boundaries. They also scattered ethnic groups in different countries. It is not the blame game of the ills of third world countries, as remarked by Dr. Fayyaz Sahib, rather the well-planned game of the former rulers. Basically the European rulers had extracted all the juice out of the regions under their rule and left them barren to take a restart. Best example is of Pakistan, which had only one industry–the Sutlej Cotton Mill which was also not in working condition. In order to take a restart, the countries of third world were still at the mercy of the Western financial organizations. In fact the third world countries were left as “beggar states” with freedom to beg for money. Today’s IT era is changing the situation. The spectrum of power is slipping out of the hands of Western nations and their monopoly is being loosened. The future in sight is that the power will be in the hands of those nations–even from the third world countries–who would smartly master the IT to their best interest. MIRZA ASHRAF