We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, January 3, 2011

Neo-Colonialism, Imperialism and Resistance in the 21st Century

by Devon DB from Global Research. (Devon DB is 19 years old and studying political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.)

This is a good, brief essay which explains the reality behind the history of the "liberation" of the former colonies by their European masters. However, he seem to miss the distinction between neo-colonialism and neoliberalism.

If you have been wide awake and aware of developments in the last 20 years, you already know that neoliberalism is the application of many of the same methods, especially the use of debt financing, but now used everywhere in the world against working people. Welcome to the world of globalized capitalism!