Category Archives: Economics

Economics

Zimbabwe’s Gold Mafia, and Sanctions Enriching the Corrupt

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It seems that when the US and Europe impose sanctions on a government, such as Zimbabwe, it punishes the ordinary people who lose the stability that their government should be able to provide. Countries always have resources of various kinds that they need to sell, so if a government is blocked from selling those resources because sanctions have been imposed, this just opens up opportunity for crafty individuals to make money out of finding ways around the sanctions to help with the sale of those resources. That which would normally be done through official channels is done by the back door, enriching those involved but depriving the ordinary citizens of a country revenue that the government should be able to share more widely among its people.

Cobalt Mining

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Some time ago, we had a moral conflict about “Conflict Diamonds” Sadly, it seems whenever we enjoy luxuries and “progress” in one form or another, there is always someone else paying the price. We’ve been sold in glowing terms, the “green revolution” which will save the planet from the excesses of fossil fuels, and while that is great marketing, it is far from reality.

In places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, people work long shifts in very unsafe conditions to mine dangerous minerals like Cobalt (which itself causes cancer), that are key to our “green revolution” as these minerals help to make batteries and other essential components.

People die doing this work and it is often the only type of work they can do, they are virtually forced into it, and even children play their part and are dying too. These mining activities affect the wider community, and even the mining dust affects children who live nearby the mines.

You would think that the companies that take the Cobalt from these miners would pay them a decent wage, so that perhaps they could invest in decent infrastructure to make mining safe, not only for those that mine, but for the wider community. But no, Glencore who claim their “responsibly [is to] source the commodities that advance everyday life”, pays very little for this material before it is processed and sold for a whole lot more. Middle men who act as brokers often make the situation worse by using rigged scales and undervaluing what has been mined.

So before the developed world starts to congratulate itself for it’s green revolution, we should make sure that our progress is not yet again on the backs of those who are already suffering from environmental damage and disadvantage as a result of our last revolution (the industrial), have been kicked in the teeth by developed nations not paying attention to the self evident effects of climate change, and are having yet another burden placed on them, which will further deepen their suffering and the inequity that exists between them and us.

See more on this: https://www.thewrap.com/apple-microsoft-child-labor-cobalt-accused/

Maybe Africa needs a different kind of aid?

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Ok, the United Kingdom is cutting its aid budget to Africa, and the media in England is going on all day about the harm this will do. But I’m thinking, if the UK and other foreign powers made companies who exploit resources from Africa pay a fair price for people’s labour and the resources they take, if they ensured the companies paid the relevant levels of overseas tax, if they put in place measures to stop “capital flight”, then African nations could have a better chance of standing for themselves and not needing aid.

That’s not to deny Africa has its own problems with corruption. However, sometimes another person’s charity, is just a way of keeping you down. There are those who keep you crawling because they are too afraid to see you stand.

This whole situation feeds into the narrative of Britain being successful and benevolent, while hiding their historical roots in violence and ongoing greed and oppression.

See this article in The Guardian for more details.

Hitler, Nazi Occultism, Eugenics, Population Control and the Creation of Race

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I had no idea that Hitler took his ideologies about race from a British man, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, and fused this with German mythology, occult practices, population control and Eugenics (another British idea courtesy of Sir Francis Galton), to create the Nazi movement.

It seems we are still battling today over many of the same issues in the Western world.

British Colonialism v2.0 (The Spiders Web)

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It’s strange that every country seems to be in debt, and at a time when we are in a health crisis that the stock market is allegedly booming in some sectors, while the poor get poorer, big companies are bailed out by the taxpayer, and then some even sue the government for loss of profits, while the same said government has to be forced into an embarrassing u-turn on feeding poor children over the school holidays. Where does all our wealth go as UK citizens? Why are we caught out by a pandemic and seemingly having to falsify our death rate not to appear in the top 2 countries affected by Covid-19? Doesn’t this just reveal how poor our investment in our own infrastructure and essential services is, while at the drop of a hat we can bail out big business. What hypocrisy!

It’s made worse when you realise that the empire Britain built in its heyday is still effectively in place, and than money from large companies, illicit arms and drug deals all filter through some former (and existing) colonial territories and dependent territories, some of which are even linked to where The Queen stashes some of her wealth as revealed in The Panama Papers.  The video below, “The Spiders Web”, is a really good insight into how physical colonialism has morphed into a financial colonialism, perhaps a more respectable arm of The British Empire, while it remains hidden!

 

The United Kingdom is by no means a true friend to Africa and the “Commonwealth Nations” within it, it makes big companies based abroad pay as little tax as possible to African nations, so there is less wealth kept in Africa to help build it up. Then it shouts about how much aid it sends to Africa like it is making a big sacrifice!  Some additional reading is provided below, which goes to show what a sham the British establishments claims on transparency and good governance or co-operation with its Commonwealth members really is.

Tulsa (USA) vs Oriana (South Africa)

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Compare what happened in Tulsa (a wealthy black community being destroyed during the race riots of 1921) with what is happening in Oriana, South Africa, where white people have a thriving community.

Black people in Tulsa were the descendants of former slaves, taken from their homelands by force, they didn’t choose to be where they were, but tried to make the best of their situation. White people in South Africa are invaders who took what they have by force and held onto power for years despite much of the world being disgusted at their oppressive regime.

White people will not let black people live in peace, yet black people will let White people live in peace and flourish! Which of us is really more civilised and why does the white race continually show a narcissistic attitude of hate toward black people in every way possible?

See this article: ‘An indictment of South Africa’: whites-only town Orania is booming

Ethiopia Grand Renaissance Dam

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What a magnificent achievement. Ethiopia who has most of its people living on less than $2 a day has managed to raise $4bn dollars to build the Africa’s largest hydro-electric dam, with no help from foreign donors.

It seems like this could cause some regional instability though as water resources in the region are in a delicate balance.