Capitalism devours all that stands in its way!

Written by: Alec L. on 27 July 2020

Across the world today we are seeing the effects that capitalism has left on the world with the BLM movement in the United States and here in Australia. Capitalism has without doubt played the major role in the racism that plagues postcolonial societies. It was the bourgeoisie’s need for resources to support their rising capitalism that drove the ships to new lands. Be it gold, spices or cotton, they came to take the resources in order to make a profit. The lives of the Indigenous peoples weren’t considered, nor the lives of the slaves taken to work. Profit and wealth were all that mattered.

The aftermath of this is evident in the struggles that face the victims of capitalism and colonialism such as the African-Americans, native peoples of the Americas and First Peoples of Australia. But capitalism hasn’t stopped, it hasn’t lost its appetite nor its heartless disregard for lives and culture. Today we see it in the quest for oil and natural resources across the globe. 

In Australia this is clear in the actions of the large mining and energy companies such as Rio Tinto, BHP and Shenhua. In May , news reached our ears that Rio Tinto had destroyed 46,000-year-old sacred sites (above) in Western Australia .Despite widespread anger and dismay over this cultural vandalism and destruction, it was reported that the company was allegedly not sorry for this action . BHP has announced due to the backlash over Rio Tinto’s actions that it will put similar plans on hold for the time being . Seems like a matter of when, not if, they will take it off hold and commit similar vandalism. In New South Wales, Shenhua Energy plans to build an open-cut mine near Gunnedah on the Liverpool Plains . This would put in danger cultural sites of the Gomeroi people such as scarred trees, sacred sites and grinding grooves . 

For centuries, capitalism through trade, colonialism and imperialism has taken natural resources for its gain without any care for the environment, the slaves and indentured workers forced to work or the Indigenous peoples who owned the land along with their cultural connection to it. This is clear in Australia with how mining and energy companies are willing to destroy sacred sites in order to further exploit natural resources for their gain and those of their shareholders. Lenin wrote about “exceptionally rich and powerful states which plunder the whole world simply by ‘clipping coupons’” and this is as clear today as it was in 1920 . Nation states and large corporations have treated the world like this since the days of the Spanish Empire and British East India Company. Same story with similar characters today. 

Nothing will change until socialism wins. The peoples of the world must unite to save their cultures.