Neocolonialism the Thread between the Crime

against Humanity in Two Nations: A Marxist Point

of View
Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the
defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none
at all.
Adam Smith
THE neo-colonialism of today represents imperialism in its final and perhaps its most dangerous
stage. In the past it was possible to convert a country upon which a neo-colonial regime had been
imposed into a colonial territory. Today this process is no longer feasible. Old-fashioned
colonialism is by no means entirely abolished. It still constitutes an African problem, but it is
everywhere on the retreat. Post WWII colonialism is much different with the same kind of
colonial exploitation. According to Marxist thinking capital is the constant ingredients for any
kind of production where as mineral resources and labour comes from the state. The overriding
over the state is necessary to implement a successful capitalism. Once a territory has become
nominally independent it is no longer possible, as it was in the last century, to reverse the
process. The conscience of independence is difficult to curb in twenty first century than it was
before. Existing colonies may linger on, but no new colonies will be created. In place of
colonialism as the main instrument of imperialism we have today neo-colonialism.
This kind of Neocolonialism may take different steps. Primarily the so called worldwide
development institutions development institutions like IMF and World Bank extend development
loan in the exchange of state sovereignty. They become sure in the hand of dictator or semi-
dictator leaders of the loan availing nation the real benefit of the loan will never be materialized.
In an extreme case the troops of the imperial power may garrison the territory of the neo-colonial
State and control the government of it. More often, however, neo-colonialist control is exercised
through economic or monetary means explained above. The neo-colonial State may be obliged to
take the manufactured products of the imperialist power to the exclusion of competing products
from elsewhere. Control over government policy in the neo-colonial State may be secured by
payments towards the cost of running the State, by the provision of civil servants in positions
where they can dictate policy, and by monetary control over foreign exchange through the
imposition of a banking system controlled by the imperial power.
The loss of sovereignty can take two shapes into the first the business organization set up
business in the neocolonial nation. They use the cheap labour or cheap mineral resources to
produce goods (Here good means anything which fulfill some need) which are neither necessary
nor sufficient for the development goal of the producing nation. These goods are then sold at
high price in the colonial nation or outside. Into the second such loss of sovereignty loss the
entire system of Free State is abolished and independence sustain in name.
In the light of above mentioned discussion we will analyse the massacres happened in two
nations which will further let us understand the above two exploitation models. In Congo we will
find out the extreme measures of military colonialism taken by neocolonialists while in
Bangladesh the economic neocolonialism is proven to be successful.
The Truth behind Congo
The documentary The truth behind Congo emphasizes the socio-political history of Congo
from post Patrice Lumumba to recent time namely the civil war at Congo. I will discuss the
history from Post Belgian era to present time.
The crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, has many layers. Since the late
19th century, Congos vast natural resources have continually attracted violent intervention from
abroad and stoked internal conflicts. Congos government has never effectively represented or
protected its people, and all too often has served as a source of unchecked power and personal
enrichment for select individuals. The ongoing crisis in eastern Congo is rooted both in this
history of predation and corruption, and the continuing aftermath of the 1994 genocide in
neighboring Rwanda. Today, Congo continues to struggle with an explosive combination of
conflicts at the local, regional and national levels.
Colonialism and Independence
Congo experienced a brutal colonial history. Beginning in the 1880s, King Leopold II of
Belgium took personal control of the territory, ruthlessly exploiting Congos vast natural
resources through harsh autocratic rule which included widespread slave labor. Under massive
pressure following an international outcry against these practices, Leopold transferred control of
the "Congo Free State" to the Belgian government in 1908.
Following an upsurge in nationalist sentiment and growing demands for independence, Belgium
accepted Congo's independence in June 1960. Patrice Lumumba became Prime Minister and
Joseph Kasavubu President. Within two weeks of independence, however, Congo's new
government faced a national mutiny from the army and threats from a variety of secessionist
movements.
Cold War tensions increasingly played into Congos leadership struggle, with the U.S. fearing
that the charismatic Lumumba and his supporters would allow the break-up of Congo and Soviet
domination of central Africa. With the backing of both the U.S. and Belgium, Kasavubu
dismissed Lumumba, who was later arrested and, with active U.S. and Belgian complicity,
handed over to his enemies. Lumumba was assassinated in 1961.
Dictatorship
Mobutu Sese Seko began his 32-year rule in 1965 when he ousted President Kasavubu in a coup
with support from both the United States and Belgium. Mobutu brutally quelled new rebellions
and personally dominated Congo. In 1971, Mobutu changed the name of the country to Zaire. He
systematically used the countrys mineral wealth to co-opt potential rivals, and to enrich himself
and his allies through a patronage system so wildly corrupt that many came to view Zaire as a
kleptocracy a country with a government whose principal aim was to loot public goods.
Mobutu is conservatively estimated to have stolen at least $5 billion from his country, much of it
moved to international banks and investments. With the end of the Cold War, his health failing,
the suspension of international economic aid to Congo, and the global collapse of raw
commodity prices, Mobutu began to loose his grip on power. Following the Rwandan genocide
in 1994, Mobutu provided shelter and protection not only to the two million Rwandan refugees
who had fled to eastern Congo, but also to the Rwandan Hutu army and militias that directed the
genocide. This provoked Rwanda and Uganda to invade Congo in July 1996 in pursuit of Hutu
military forces. The ailing Mobutu was finally ousted from Kinshasa in May 1997, and
Congolese rebel leader Laurent-Dsir Kabila took over the country.
Regional Warfare
War broke out again in August 1998 when President Kabila attempted to gain independence
from his regional backers and moved to purge Rwandan elements from his government. Rwanda
and Uganda re-invaded Congo, supporting rebel proxies against Kabila. While Rwandan forces
had previously focused primarily on pursuing the Hutus who committed the genocide, both
Rwandan and Ugandan forces increasingly became interested in controlling and exploiting the
mineral-rich eastern provinces of Congo. Kabila called on Zimbabwe, Angola, and Namibia for
help, and, with their military support, managed to stop the invasion. During this period, Congo
was home to military forces from across the continent, almost all of which brutalized civilians
while using their deployment as a pretext to loot vast natural resources and terrorize civilians. By
mid-1999, a front line was stabilized and Congo was effectively cut into two.
A ceasefire agreement was reached and signed in Lusaka in July 1999. Although a UN
peacekeeping force, known by its French acronym MONUC, was authorized to monitor the
agreement, the conflict continued as all sides violated the accord. President Kabila was
assassinated in January 2001 and his son, Joseph Kabila, assumed the presidency.
In 2002 peace negotiations were re-launched, and in December of that year all Congolese
belligerents, civil society groups, and unarmed opposition movements signed an agreement in
South Africa. By the end of 2002, Angolan, Zimbabwean, Rwandan, and Ugandan troops had
fully withdrawn from Congo. Rapid progress was made on paper, but the situation for civilians
on the ground, especially women, remained dire. Although open fighting between the
government and rebels became rare, both sides continued to use sexual violence as a military
tactic against civilians, using its trauma to terrorize, control, and, in some cases, ethnically
cleanse targeted populations.
Continued Conflict and Elections
Rebel groups, including dissident members of former rebel movements and untamed militias,
continued to fight the government and local enemies, often seeking to maintain or establish
control of mineral wealth. MONUCs efforts to protect civilians were reinvigorated in September
2004 with the expansion of its force from 10,800 to 16,700 troops, and the granting of a more
aggressive mandate which allowed for more robust civilian protection. However, the sustained
level of violence throughout 2004 combined with the large number of people who continued to
flee their homes to avoid violence, led the UN in March 2005 to describe the situation in eastern
Congo as the "world's worst humanitarian crisis."
Following a national election conducted with substantial international support, Joseph Kabila
was sworn in as the first democratically elected president since Congolese independence on
December 6, 2006. While this landmark election was largely free of major violence and serious
irregularities, the country still has many challenges to surmount. The new government is weak
and barely functioning in many respects, and faces persistent political and security challenges.
Predatory armed groups, including Rwandan rebels and the Congolese army, continue to prowl
eastern Congo with impunity. Congolese women and girls in particular bear the vicious brunt of
this crisis.
Humanitarian Crisis
The International Rescue Committee reports that since the end of the first war in the Congo in
1998, 5.4 million people have died (more than 8 percent of the Congos population of 66
million). Every month, 45,000 more Congolesehalf of them childrendie from hunger,
preventable disease, and other consequences of violence and displacement. Over one million
people have fled their homes within Congo as a result of the ongoing conflict. Eastern Congo
right now is perhaps the worst place in the world to be a woman. Used as a weapon of war, rape
in Congo exists on a scale seen nowhere else in the world. Often successful in its intent to
destroy and exterminate, rape as a weapon of war is causing the near total destruction of women,
their families, and their communities.
Recent Events
Rebel forces under the command of Laurent Nkunda, known as the National Congress for the
Defense of People, or CNDP, have taken control of a swathe of territory in eastern Congo that
remains beyond the control of the Congolese government and even the UN peacekeeping force.
Nkunda claims to be acting to protect his fellow ethnic Tutsis from Rwandan Hutu militias, and
he has received substantial support from neighboring Rwanda, but he has political ambitions of
his own in Congo and has threatened to take the fight all the way to the capital, Kinshasa. A
peace agreement between the Congolese government, the CNDP, and more than 20 other armed
groups effectively collapsed late in 2008.
The Congo Crisis and Historiography
The Congo Crisis is the story of international intrigue at the height of the Cold War. A country in
the middle of central Africa became the focal point of diplomatic energy, money and military
effort of the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Nations and many other nations during
the early 1960s. The years between the end of WWII and the Congo Crisis represent a relatively
stable period in the Belgian Congo as well as in relations between the United States and
Belgium. The Congo was born an independent nation in 1960 when Belgium relinquished its
control of its premier colony. Commonly referred to as the African Year of Independence,
1960 witnessed the birth of seventeen new African nations as the process of decolonization
reached its apogee.
The British and French began African decolonization after it was forced upon them as a result of
previous violent struggles in their empires. The Belgian government did not share this experience
of violent struggle in the Belgian Congo and therefore was able to ignore calls for independence
for a much longer time. Belgian belief that colonial control would last for decades made changes
to their system unreal; it was only after popular uprisings in the last years of the 1950s that
Belgian resolve was shaken. The Belgian departure was never planned as thoroughly as some
other metropolitan powers departures; the result was an abrupt and unorganized retreat that
sowed the seeds of future political conflict.

Many scholars and journalists have explored the events and causes of the Congo Crisis of the
early 1960s. The reasons and motivations assigned to the United States by these authors cover a
wide expanse. Some offer explanations based on national security interests: the United States
acted in the Congo to contain communism from spreading to another Third World country after
the disaster of Castros takeover in Cuba. Others offer more sinister and diabolical reasons: the
United States acted to replace Belgium as the Congos neocolonial master with the intention of
profiting from Congolese mineral wealth.

Scholars propose many reasons for why the U.S. involved itself so deeply with the Congo.
National security concerns play a central role in the historiography of the topic. Among others,
Madeleine Kalb, Lawrence Kaplan and David Dickson have claimed that U.S. actions were
based on the need to maintain stability in order to stem Soviet expansion. The necessity of
preventing Soviet intervention is also accepted by Stephen R. Weissman, but he contends the
United States misperceived the Soviet threat to the Congo and thus their actions were misplaced
and unnecessary. While these views of national security as the motivation behind U.S. actions
are generally understanding of the United States; much more critical interpretations exist. One
such interpretation, neocolonialism, is based on economic motivations surrounding copper and
minerals; David Gibbs argues that tensions increased between Belgium and the United States
because the latter wanted to replace the Belgian mining company of Union Miniere with an
American company. Gibbs is joined by work from Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, a Congolese-born
political scientist, who agrees the United States was motivated by a quest to institute
neocolonialism in the Congo. In his work about the death of Lumumba, Ludo de Witte outlines
his case that Belgium was attempting to kill Congolese nationalism in order to establish a
neocolonial regime controlled by Brussels. In the literature both the United States and Belgium
share blame for neocolonial intentions, but these intentions are always motivated by profits from
Congolese mineral wealth. These scholars ignore the profit component of the western capitalist
system. If a western government instituted neocolonial control for national security reasons, its
corporations would still gain profits from their investments in the industries of the controlled
nation. The existence of corporate profits does not automatically define the motivation for
western nations actions. Minerals play an integral role in other scholars views on the topic.
While Weissman agrees with aspects of the mineral motivation, he does not include the full
spectrum of the Congolese mineral wealth. Thomas Borstelmann briefly explains how uranium
was one of the most important Congolese minerals concerning U.S. interests in his book about
U.S. motivations in its relations with the racist South African regime during the Cold War.
Borstelmann argues that uranium was so essential to the foreign policy of the United States that
it drove the United States to acquiesce to South Africas apartheid policies in order to secure a
reliable and stable source of the mineral. Borstelmanns argument in relation to South Africa
explains unattractive U.S actions that were driven by its national security interests. A similar
argument for U.S actions and motivations in the Congo will be advanced in this paper to expand
Borstelmanns argument to Congolese uranium and cobalt. The value of Congolese minerals to
U.S. national security will support the expanded argument. Congolese minerals, along with its
geostrategic location and the need to contain communism justified U.S. actions taken to establish
pseudocolonial control in the Congo.

The historiography of U.S. involvement in the Congo Crisis of the early 1960s is focused largely
on the questions surrounding motivation. This scholarly debate is essentially between two
motivations: national security and neocolonialism. The national security school is normally
softer in their criticism of the United States while the neocolonialism school tends to be critical
and unsympathetic of U.S. action in the Congo Crisis.

Fault Lines in Bangladesh
Opened in 2009, the Tazreen Fashion factory, part of the Tuba group, employed 1,630 workers,
who produced US fashion products. The factory produced clothes for various companies,
including the US Marines, Dutch company C&A, American company Walmart and Hong Kong
company Li & Fung. The Tuba group is a major exporter of garments from Bangladesh to the
U.S., Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, whose clients include Walmart, Carrefour and
IKEA. However these kind of retail sellers outsource products from third party businesses mostly
from third world nations like Bangladesh.
On 24 November 2012, apparently by short circuit the Tazreen Fashion factory caught fire. At
least 117 people were confirmed dead in the fire, and at least 200 were injured.
However on 25 November, a Walmart spokesman said he was "so far unable to confirm neither
that Tazreen is a supplier to Walmart nor if the document referenced in the article is in fact from
Walmart". In the documentary however the tag on a pant shows Walmart tag on it. Company
subsequently terminated its relationship with Tazreen, stating that "The Tazreen factory was not
authorized to produce merchandise for Walmart. A supplier subcontracted work to this factory
without authorization and in direct violation of our policies."

Walmart critics claim that the
company knew about unsafe conditions and blocked efforts to improve them. According to The
New York Times, Walmart played a significant role in blocking reforms to have retailers pay
more for apparel in order to help Bangladesh factories improve safety standards. Walmart
director of ethical sourcing, Sridevi Kalavakolanu, asserted that the company would not agree to
pay the higher cost, as such improvements in electrical and fire safety would be a "very extensive
and costly modification" and that "it is not financially feasible for the brands to make such
investments."


History after 1974 and Historiography
To analyse the above incidence you have to start from the beginning. In 1974 MFA act was
implemented in USA and other developed nations to compete the low cost import from
developing nations. Since Textile product is a labour intensive product so developing countries
had a comparative advantage to produce. However MFA was not totally negative for all
countries for example EU imposed no quota on Bangladesh causing the thriving of the industry
in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh was one such country with a history of artisans hand tailored textile product. After
its independence the socialist govt. took the power of the sector in its hand. However after,
Brhamputra Flood in 1974 and consequent famine due to loss of crop, Bangladesh Govt.
stressedcon liberalization of this industry. Since then the industry goes to the Private hand. In
private hand the nature of the industry change from Import substitution regime to export oriented
industry.
Entrepreneurs from quota-restricted countries like South Korea began "quota hopping" seeking
quota-free countries that could become quota-free manufacturing sites. The export-oriented
readymade garment (RMG) industry emerged at this time. Daewoo of South Korea was an early
entrant in Bangladesh, when it established a joint venture in December 27, 1977 with Desh
Garments Ltd. making it the first export oriented ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh.
After only one year in which 130 Desh supervisors and managers received free training from
Daiwoo in production and marketing at Daiwoo's state-of-the-art ready-made garment (RMG)
plant in Korea, 115 of the 130 left Desh Garments Ltd. and set up separate private garment
export firms or began working for other newly formed export-oriented RMG companies with
new garment factories in Bangladesh for much higher salaries than Desh Garments Ltd offered.
Bangladesh's export trade is dominated by the ready-made garments (RMG) industry.
Bangladesh exports garment mainly to the US and Europe make up nearly 80% of the
countrys export income. Exports of textiles, clothing, and ready-made garments (RMG)
accounted for 77% of Bangladeshs total merchandise exports in 2002.
Over the years in Bangladesh, the number of employed workers in the textile industry increased
by 400 000 in 1990 to 2 million in 2004, and the number of enterprises from 800 to 4000. Nine
out of ten people employed in the industry are women. In general, the state of the textile
industry depends on well-being of 10-12 million people in Bangladesh.
From this time onward safety measures are grossly violated in Bangladesh. The edge of
Bangladesh in Textile industry is mainly stand on the cost cutting from labour cost and cost
cutting from compliance measures.
Five deadly incidents from November 2012 through May 2013 brought worker safety and labor
violations in Bangladesh to world attention putting pressure on big global clothing brands such
as Primark, Loblaw, Joe Fresh, Gap, Walmart, Nike, Tchibo, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger,
and retailers to respond by using their economic weight to enact change. No factory owner has
ever been prosecuted over the deaths of workers. Other major fires 1990 and 2012, resulting in
hundreds of accidental deaths, included those at Thats It Sportswear Limited and the fire at
Tazreen Fashions Ltd. Spectrum Sweater Industries, Phoenix Garments, Smart Export Garments,
Garib and Garib, Matrix Sweater, KTS Composite Textile Mills and Sun Knitting. The life is
vulnerable at this part of the globe. Since the comparative advantage of this country in world
market is in terms of cheap labour so to protect citizen from hunger is to let them get burnt time
to time. Economics of fire death is so much more complex than it thought to be.

Death for Debt
The debate between Public Debt and Foreign aid or Production for export oriented industry
always attracts scholars in the context of Bangladesh. The ministry of finance and the
Bangladesh Bank data showed that total outstanding debt by the government agencies and
entities swelled to $21.45 billion and that by the private sector to $1.35 billion until 2009-10
fiscal but if we compare it with 1974 data then we can find out it is only 41% of the past. The
credit for this goes to the private sector that generates so many employments in Bangladesh.
However the most intriguing question remains in the fact that textile industry contributes 5% of
the GDP employing 45% of all industrial employees. The work condition is easily imaginable. In
the paper External public debt and economic growth: empirical evidence from Bangladesh,
1974 to 2010 by Shah, Md. Mahmud Hasan and Pervin, Shahida (2012) it is shown that in Long
run significant negative effect of external public debt service and positive effect of external
public debt stock on GDP growth have been found from this investigation. In short run, only
external debt service has negative effect but the debt stock does not have any significant effect.
Thus the investigation did not find any evidence of debt overhang provided that there is no
significant adverse effect of debt stock on GDP growth. But crowding out effect was originated
from the fact that there is evidence of adverse effect of debt service payment on economic
growth for the period. As more debt stock means more service payment, the study shows a
dichotomy in obtained results. So the reconciliation of debt should be prudent to optimize the
growth of Bangladesh. Short run disequilibrium in the path of long run is corrected at a good
speed. Probably that can explain why the state is less bothered about to ask the organizations to
comply with fire safety measures.


Conclusion
The above two cases study is a small fraction of what happening all over the globe. The
globalization of capitalism has tremendous reparation. The Marxist theory as originally
developed by Karl Marx(1887) in his celebrated book The Capital and later by Fredrick Engles
is not probably sufficient for explaining the socio political picture at present time but the basic
exploitation remains same only the change comes from colonial empire and colonial state kind of
exploitation to the so called development organizations. The shift also shows us a change from
direct military intervention to the new economic political machinery.