Imperialism reaps what it has sown

Vanguard March 2011 p.
Bill F.

US imperialism is nervously watching the Middle East as its favoured puppet regimes face the wrath of the people.

It is not just political and social repression and the corruption of the puppet regimes which has aroused the people in their hundreds of thousands to face the tear gas and rubber bullets; it is also the intolerable conditions of life with scarce jobs and the rapidly rising cost of food. According to the World Bank, falling production leading to acute shortages has seen global food prices rise 27% in a year.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick admitted that “Global food prices are rising to dangerous levels and threaten tens of millions of poor people around the world.” The danger he spoke of was the danger that the poor and oppressed masses would rebel against the imperialist interests of the USA and take back control of their countries and lives. Of course, he gave no reason for the rising price of food, but there are two key factors that can be laid at the feet of modern imperialism and its chief pillar, US imperialism.

Neo-liberal economic policies
So-called ‘globalisation’ has led to the dismantling of local industries, harsh labour laws, and single cash-crop economies. Countries which used to grow their own food now rely on imported foods. Obscenely rich oligarchies have amassed great wealth and power, propped up by the cash loans and weapons of imperialism, while millions of workers and small farmers face a daily battle for existence.

A good example of the profound effects of this ‘globalisation’ has been pointed out by Fidel Castro in his latest Reflection. “In the United States, which harvested 416 million tons of grain in 2009, 119 million tons went to ethanol distilleries to produce fuel for cars. That’s enough to feed 350 million people for a year. The massive US investment in ethanol distilleries sets the stage for direct competition between cars and people for the world grain harvest. In Europe, where much of the auto fleet runs on diesel fuel, there is growing demand for plant-based diesel oil, principally from rapeseed and palm oil. This demand for oil-bearing crops is not only reducing the land available to produce food crops in Europe, it is also driving the clearing of rainforests in Indonesia and Malaysia for palm oil plantations.” The price of corn has increased 73%, putting it beyond the reach of many.

Climate warming hits food production
Severe weather events have caused much damage to food production and become much more frequent across the world; heatwave in Russia, drought in China, floods in Europe and Australia, lack of rain in Brazil, blizzards in America. Research just published in the journal Nature points to a link between growing greenhouse emissions and extreme rainfall in Britain. In spite of all the evidence, US imperialism refuses to deal seriously with climate warming, unwilling and unable to jeopardize the profits of the fossil fuel barons. This is why imperialism must be destroyed – before it destroys all of us.

Back in Australia
Government climate advisor Professor Ross Garnaut has updated his 2008 review and is now saying that global greenhouse gas emissions are rising at such a rate that they will double by 2030 and will increase due to rapidly growing volumes from the developing world.

As for Australia, Professor Garnaut expects emissions to rise due to the demand for fossil fuel exports such as coal and gas. Unless there is a radical change of policy, Australia’s emissions will be 24% higher by 2020 and Australia will not even meet its modest 5% target.

The big foreign monopoly polluters and their financial backers are threatening a scare campaign similar to the mining tax beat-up that finished off Kevin Rudd. They say they are concerned about jobs, but what they really want is massive compensation. Garnaut, to his credit, doesn’t think they deserve it, and the Australian people will be alert to any government cave-in.