Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Imperialism: The Global South’s Pre-Existing Condition

The coronavirus pandemic presents an unprecedented crisis that has already had damaging effects on the global working class. It will hit countries already ravaged by imperialism even harder. We must demand an end to imperialist austerity measures in order for these countries to effectively combat the crisis.

Carmin Maffea

March 24, 2020
Facebook Twitter Share
Lagos, Nigeria [George Osodi/Bloomberg]

In the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the contradictions of capitalism within healthcare are on full display. Scarcity is becoming a clear reality for many working class and oppressed people. The stock market has seen record plummets. In addition, there are massive shortages of medical supplies (such as test kits and ventilators), sick people are being turned away from hospitals, and employers continue to withhold sick leave and fail to provide proper safety equipment for workers in dangerous positions. If bold action isn’t taken by the working class, the results can soon become catastrophic. 

The conditions look even more dire for imperialized nations. For example, in Ghana imperialist tools like the IMF have had damaging effects. As one Ghanian resident says, “We won’t go to the IMF again; Ghana will no longer be troubled by the conditionalities of the IMF.” High interest rates on national debt have kept Ghana’s economy strictly under the IMF’s thumb. 

Similarly to other countries burdened with IMF loans, Ghana implemented large-scale austerity measures and redirected national funds to pay off the debt, leading to the privatization of social services. This economic burden has played a major role in Ghana’s economic depreciation. Ghana experienced little relief when payments were renegotiated. As a result, the country isn’t nearly equipped to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, especially while imperialist presence is still very much extant. 

The coronavirus is rapidly spreading across Latin America and extreme measures are already being taken. With 301 cases in Argentina as I write this, the country has completely closed its borders as of March 15th and imposed a nationwide lockdown enforced by the police as of March 20th. But measures like these won’t stop the spread of the virus alone. Even now, during the state-imposed quarantine, many sectors of the working class (such as call center workers) are forced to continue working. In order to effectively contain the pandemic, the government must expand medical infrastructure, give workers paid time off so as to limit social interactions, and place a moratorium on rents, mortgages, credit card payments, and other expenses.  

However, decades of neoliberal austerity measures have torn apart the economies of Latin America and inhibit these countries from responding effectively. Countries like Argentina are crippled by the debt to the IMF and private contractors. Austerity measures that target the working working class are put in place to pay off the debt. For example, there was an increase on the retirement age for public sector workers and a tripling in the cost of bus fares. These austerity measures are being implemented in order to redirect funds to imperialist centers like the U.S. making it impossible to coordinate a response to fight the outbreak. 

Scarcity of medical supplies and infrastructure in Latin American countries will only become more evident as the virus spreads in the region. Although Argentina has a public healthcare system, the hospitals are already strained. Stairs are filled with bags of biohazardous waste and sections of hospitals are already at capacity. 

Furthermore, U.S. sanctions are severely hurting countries such as Venezuela, Iran, and Cuba. These sanctions implement blockades that bar vital medical supplies and food from entering these countries. Scarcity of food and medical supplies as a result of sanctions and imperialist austerity measures are only making this daunting health crisis even more deadly. 

In a most recent case, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro requested an IMF loan of $5 billion to fight the coronavirus. Long-standing sanctions imposed by the U.S. have decimated Venezuela’s health sector over the past five years, most notably leading to inadequate infrastructure and medical supply shortages. Unsurprisingly, the U.S.-dominated IMF rejected the request as a political maneuver –  the U.S. and its allies recognize Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela and want to install him as its leader. 

Moreover, the U.S. even continues to bomb Iraq during this time! At a time where a coordinated international response is necessary, the U.S., the center of capital, still prioritizes imperialist plunder.

Neoliberal imperialism has severely under-equipped the international working class to face the health crisis. As the pandemic worsens for the precarious U.S. working class due to capitalist exploitation, the situation will become even worse in countries facing imperialist austerity. In these unprecedented times, international solidarity of the working class is of utmost importance. All movements against the state to face the crisis from here on out must have an internationalist perspective.

We must demand that the IMF immediately cancel all debt repayments, for the U.S. to end all military occupations, and for all sanctions to be lifted in order for these countries to redirect all national funds towards facing the healthcare crisis and obtain the medical supplies needed to effectively combat the pandemic.

Facebook Twitter Share

Carmin Maffea

Carmin is a revolutionary socialist from New York.

Latin America

Alfredo Cisneros, Mexican land defender from Michoacán, stands in a forest. He is the fifth land defender to be murdered in the country in 2023.

Alfredo Cisneros: Fifth Mexican Environmentalist Assassinated in 2023

Alfredo Cisneros Madrigal, indigenous leader and forest defender in Michoacán, Mexico was murdered on February 23. He is the fifth environmental defender to be murdered in the country so far this year.

Axomalli Villanueva

March 13, 2023

Lula Visits Biden to Repair Relations with U.S. Imperialism

Brazilian President Lula's U.S. visit shows that he's focused on maintaining the interests of Brazilian capital while aligning with U.S. imperialism and being careful not to alienate Beijing.

Caio Reis

February 16, 2023

SOUTHCOM Chief Aims to Increase Imperialist Plunder of Latin America’s Resources

U.S. Southern Command Chief Laura Richardson has expressed interest in lithium and other natural resources in South America. It shows the country’s commitment to corporate profits at the expense of workers, Indigenous people, and the environment.

Luigi Morris

January 26, 2023

The Peruvian Uprising: Massive Protests Demand the Fall of the Coup Regime and a Constituent Assembly

Peru has erupted in a massive uprising demanding that President Dina Boluarte resign, that the current Congress be shut down, and that a new constitution be established. The protests are the culmination of years of political oppression of the country’s indigenous communities, drastic poverty rates and precarity for Peru’s workers and poor, and a political regime that continues the legacy of Alberto Fujimori’s dictatorship.

MOST RECENT

Despite Threats of Arrest, Refinery Workers in France Refuse to Break Strike

As energy strikes continue, France is faced with a kerosene shortage that’s creating an urgent situation at the country’s airports. With capitalist profits on the line, the government has attempted to force Normandy refinery workers back to work through an anti-strike legal weapon called requisitions. In their first victory, refinery workers forced the police to withdraw in an incredible demonstration of solidarity.

Nathan Erderof

March 24, 2023

“We Need Action Committees Everywhere”: Building the General Strike in France

Workers across France are organizing action committees to build a general strike to take down the Macron government and the Fifth Republic.

Arthur Nicola

March 24, 2023

What’s Behind Xi Jinping’s Visit to Moscow?

Chinese president Xi Jinping has visited Moscow for the first time since the beginning of the Ukraine war, in an effort to strengthen trade relations between the two countries.

Madeleine Freeman

March 23, 2023
Protesters gather during a demonstration on Place de la Concorde in Paris on March 17, 2023, the day after the French government pushed a pensions reform using the article 49.3 of the constitution. - French President's government on March 17, 2023 faced no-confidence motions in parliament and intensified protests after imposing a contentious pension reform without a vote in the lower house. Across France, fresh protests erupted in the latest show of popular opposition to the bill since mid-January.

Battle of the Pensions: Toward a Pre-Revolutionary Moment in France

President Macron's use of article 49.3 to push through an unpopular pension reform bill has opened up an enormous political crisis that has changed the character of the mobilizations against the French government. We are entering a "pre-revolutionary moment" that can change the balance of power between the classes in France.

Juan Chingo

March 21, 2023