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What do imperialism and colonialism look like today? John Smith’s Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century argues that core capitalist nations are no longer reliant on military force and direct political control of other countries. Instead, they maintain a financial grip on the Southern Hemisphere in particular, exploiting labor in these countries to increase their own profits.

Death under capitalism as a result of capitalism is not discussed much. No one is going to say, “Why do you support capitalism? It killed [amount of people]”. Or if they do, someone will say those deaths are unrelated to capitalism. So here is some research counting the death toll of capitalism in similar ways communism would be. 

What do I mean by “as a result of capitalism”?

Preventable death specifically made possible or enforced due to conditions capitalism, and thus corporations and capitalist governments, rely on. 

Global Poverty and Misleading Statistics

The global poverty line is only $1.90 a day.

Who is not Poor? Proposing a Higher International Standard for Poverty - Poverty reduction is now, and quite properly should remain, the primary objective of the World Bank. But, when the World Bank dreams of a world free of poverty—what should it be dreaming?

Exposing the Great Poverty Reduction Lie - Poverty is not disappearing as quickly as they say. In fact, according to some measures, poverty has been getting significantly worse. If we are to be serious about eradicating poverty, we need to cut through the sugarcoating and face up to some hard facts.

The True Extent of Global Poverty and Hunger: Questioning the Good News Narrative of the Millennium Development Goals - Closer inspection reveals that the UN’s claims about poverty and hunger are misleading, and even intentionally inaccurate.

The Contradictions in Global Poverty Numbers - Analysis on the World Bank’s report.

World Hunger Again on the Rise - After steadily declining for over a decade, global hunger is on the rise again, affecting 815 million people in 2016, or 11 per cent of the global population, says a new edition of the annual United Nations report on world food security and nutrition released today. At the same time, multiple forms of malnutrition are threatening the health of millions worldwide.

Capitalism and Crimes Against Humanity

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (1), the hunger-ending organizations RESULTS (2), and Bread for the World (3) estimate that 15 million people die each year from preventable poverty, of whom 11 million are children under the age of five.

Every 3.6 seconds one person dies of starvation. Usually it is a child under the age of 5.

Poverty hits children hardest. While a severe lack of goods and services hurts every human, it is most threatening to children’s rights: survival, health and nutrition, education, participation, and protection from harm and exploitation. It creates an environment that is damaging to children’s development in every way – mental, physical, emotional and spiritual.

One than 1 billion children are severely deprived of at least one of the essential goods and services they require to survive, grow and develop. Some regions of the world have more dire situations than others, but even within one country there can be broad disparities – between city and rural children, for example, or between boys and girls. An influx or tourism in one area may improve a country’s poverty statistics overall, while the majority remains poor and disenfranchised.

Each deprivation heightens the effect of the others. So when two or more coincide, the effects on children can be catastrophic. For example, women who must walk long distances to fetch household water may not be able to fully attend to their children, which may affect their health and development. And children who themselves must walk long distances to fetch water have less time to attend school – a problem that particularly affects girls. Children who are not immunized or who are malnourished are much more susceptible to the diseases that are spread through poor sanitation.

“Developed” nations promised a mere 0.7% of their income to end all aspects of global poverty. The US typically underfunds this promise by ~400% (providing just ¼th the promise).

The American public believe we give 25% of our budget to foreign aid, and are willing to give 10% (~$380 billion for 2015). The amount invested is actually ~$30 billion/year. The US spends over $600 billion/year on the military. The total amount to end poverty is ~$100 billion combined from all the developed nations a year for ten years. In contrast to the policy we receive, the .01% oligarchs “legally” hide $20 to $30 trillion in offshore tax havens in a rigged-casino economy designed for “peak inequality.” This .01% parasitic loot is twenty to thirty times the amount to end global poverty forever.

Preventable Mass Industrial Slaughter

Mass industrial slaughter occurs when corporations and/or governments willingly let people die in unsafe workplaces because it’s cheaper and more profitable than enforcing safety standards. This is very common in poorly maintained factories used by wealthy companies overseas for cheap labor. An example of mass industrial slaughter would be the collapse of Rana Plaza, an eight-story building housing several textile factories, a bank, and some shops in an industrial district north of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, on 24th April 2013 killing 1,133 garment workers and wounding 2,500, was one of the worst workplace disasters in recorded history.

Mass industrial slaughter is difficult to calculate, because unlike global poverty statistics, many of these reports are not made public, or if they are, don’t reach the mainstream media whatsoever. When it does get attention, corporations often claim they had no idea about the conditions people were working in. In fact, many of these cases are pushed aside as “accidents”. An example of an industrial disaster pushed aside as an accident was the deadly Bhopal disaster, which killed around 25,000 people and left half a million suffering from the aftermath.

Alongside the devastation of the gas leak, another — more hidden — danger damaged the residents of the area further. For 15 years before the disaster, the Union Carbide plant had been dumping toxic chemicals in the soil beside the factory. This resulted in a second round of poisoning, as 40,000 people from 18 townships continued to unknowingly drink contaminated water for decades. Though officials from the US chemical company became aware of this, they didn’t warn local communities of the risk. (Source)

Another example of mass industrial slaughter you’re more familiar with would be the collapse of the Grenfell tower.

It is very, very rare anyone goes to jail over these incidents. If anything, corporations or individuals involved pay a fine that doesn’t put a dent in their profits. 

Dictatorships and Terrorism

Capitalist countries and corporations have funded terrorist groups and deadly dictatorships in the name of profit, as well as overthrown or helped overthrow democratically elected leaders that went against their economic interests. They have also murdered, captured, or intimidated civil rights activists. 

IBM and Nazi Germany 

PepsiCo and Pinochet

Chiquita and the AUC

USA and Iran

USA and Pinochet

COINTELPRO

The FBI’s War on Civil Rights Leaders

Conclusion

There is a lot more to include here, but again, a lot of things are difficult to find in mainstream media, or not calculated.

Yes, capitalism kills. Quite a lot. The most daunting thing about this is that it is all preventable. There is no excuse. It does not “have to be this way”, and you do not need to be a communist to acknowledge basic factual evidence. Profit is key. Follow the money.

Here is how capitalist ideology contributes to these actions and motives.

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The Ottawa Journal, Ontario, December 23, 1893

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gonna delete this blue hellscape app for awhile see ya 👋🏻

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*falls behind in life* haha the lag

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Everyone who calls Moonlight a “PoC film” owes EACH black person $1000 bucks. Because solidarity would be acknowledging Moonlight as a BLACK film and letting black people have this moment. Yall did the same thing at the Tonys last year when all BLACK people won the actor/actress categories. This shit ain’t funny.

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Untitled (Rejoice!), from Inflammatory Essays Jenny Holzer, 1979

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Exploring LGBTQ histories at the British Museum

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I just love how nobody talks about this movie and this epic scene.  

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muslims have come together to raise $20,000 to repair the damaged headstones in the jewish st. louis cemetery. #solidarity

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wear shoes you've had for a long time is the best feeling, ya kno?

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yet another abandoned object // 2.23.17

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what if at the end of all this milo comes out and says he was 'deep under cover' to 'prove a point' or serve as some ideological performative symbol. like in the same way that that teen went pretended to be pregnant in high school but for much much more problematic reasons

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fraiser is weird there simply cannot be someone like him irl it's impossible

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an affect is within what? it constitutes everything, it is therefore the context for a Happening , emotional or otherwise