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Tag: Global Capitalism

Containers: Global Capitalism At Sea & Transforming The Planet

Posted in Creative Commons, Occupy Wall Street, and Radical Media

The objects around you right now, from your phone to the clothes you wear to the coffee in your mug, most likely traveled to America in a shipping container on a massive cargo ship.

This simple fact, both obvious and mostly overlooked, has radically transformed virtually every aspect of global capitalism over the past several decades. That prosaic shipping container, and the process called “containerization,” are the subject of a recent 8-part audio podcast documentary called “Containers.”

The podcast is sponsored by a shipping company, which stirred some controversy, but the show usually reads as if it’s most sympathetic toward the rank and file workers of the docks, and the people who live nearby, than toward the industry as a whole.. While “Containers” is hardly anti-capitalist, the series and its creator Alexis Madrigal are openly critical of the consequences of unchecked growth.

Democrat Or Republican, War Is Always Waged For Profit

Posted in Act Out!, Creative Commons, Journalism, and Video

A curious thing happened recently when Donald Trump fired Tomahawk missiles at an airbase in Syria in early April, then dropped a bomb of record-breaking size on Afghanistan soon thereafter.

After less than 90 days of so-called “resistance,” during which even the mainstream media became so worked up that the Washington Post changed its motto to “Democracy Dies In Darkness,” suddenly that heap of dung coated in spray tanner was deemed “presidential.”

A candidate who makes it a point of congratulating dictators that moonlight as ISIS suppliers was apparently moved by the appalling footage of suffering chemical weapons victims — or his daughter was and then ran to daddy, or something like that.

Capitalism’s Bad Seed: “Confronting Fascism” Urges Us To Re-Examine The Far Right’s Rise

Posted in Creative Commons, and Radical Media

“Fascism never appears in public as its secret parasitic self but alwais in some other grandioise guise.” — J. Sakai, “The Shock of Recognition” in “Confronting Fascism”

“Fascism” was the top word looked up last year in Merriam-Webster. The rise of Donald Trump and the violent, xenophobic nationalism he emboldens have provoked new fears among Americans, and among left-leaning white Americans in particular, many of whom are experiencing real anxiety about the direction of our country’s politics for the first time. One issue is simply definitional, with pundits and political analysts across the political spectrum seemingly unable to agree on what fascism is, and how we’ll know if and when our government turns in that direction.

Another segment of the population, including the growing numbers of black-clad radicals out in the streets confronting white supremacists and nationalists, are convinced this debate is coming decades late and that the current regime and the violent reactionaries attacking minorities in its name are self-evidently fascist. “Confronting Fascism: Discussion Documents For A Militant Movement” from Kersplebdeb and AK Press should appeal to people in both camps, and help those in the former make their way into the latter.

The REALLY Hateful 8: Global Inequality & The World’s 8 Richest Men (Fucked Fact)

Posted in Act Out!, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street

We are the 99 percent!

These words made famous by Occupy Wall Street helped bring new attention to the problem of systemic inequality. The chant isn’t just some hyperbole made up by hippies however: it’s backed by actual economic truth — you know, facts as opposed to alternative facts.

According to Credit Suisse in their 2015 Global Wealth Report, “the lower half of the global population collectively own less than 1% of global wealth, while the richest 10% of adults own 88% of all wealth and the top 1% account for half of all assets in the world.” HALF OF ALL ASSETS on planet earth. ——- And now, this latest report from Oxfam reveals that an already grim picture is actually even more dire. According to their research, the world’s 8 richest men collectively possess more wealth than the poorest 50 percent of the world. That’s right, 8 multi-billionaires have as much money as about 3 billion, 370 million of the world’s poor.

Welcome to this week’s Fucked Fact.

Private Corporate Armies Oppress From Colombia To Standing Rock (Black Tower Radio Interview)

Posted in Audio, Journalism, and MintPress News

During decades of civil war, U.S. and multinational companies used the right-wing paramilitaries of Colombia as their private armies. Though mining companies were major culprits, other corporate criminals include Coca-Cola and Chiquita. Only the peace process, which was tentatively finalized last week, might reduce the ability of foreign companies to oppress the indigenous people and Afro-Colombians.

Of course, the same corporate power is on display in North Dakota, where Energy Transfer Partners is using both the police and private security to brutalize the Native American water protectors and their allies. The recent decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to reject an important permit needed to complete construction is a setback for the Dakota Access Pipeline, but the struggle is far from over.

Massive Corporations From Chiquita To Coca-Cola Used Personal Armies To Uproot, Terrorize Colombians

Posted in Journalism, and MintPress News

On Thursday, Colombia’s Congress ratified a new peace accord that could end decades of civil war and weaken the ability of foreign corporations to turn a profit on unrest in the South American country.

Since the 1960s, communist rebel forces have fought right-wing paramilitary groups and their government allies in Colombia’s ongoing civil war. While the paramilitary groups ostensibly formed in opposition to communist groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, their targets were more often the civilian and indigenous population.

The Colombian government reported in November that more than half a century of armed conflict has left 7,011,027 people displaced, 267,000 murdered, and 46,000 “disappeared.”

Throughout the decades of conflict, massive international businesses have been eager to take advantage of the paramilitary groups’ skills to suit their own interests and move into land formerly occupied by displaced people. Some of the numerous foreign corporations accused of serious human rights abuses in Colombia include fruit companies Dole, Del Monte, and Chiquita, agribusiness giant Cargill, and other representatives of the fossil fuel industry like Texaco (formerly Texas Petroleum Company) and Exxon Mobil.