imperialism

The following is a translation of a piece by our Italian comrades, a follow-up to the two articles we have recently published about the situation in Belarus. Since it was written, a number of developments have occurred.

Today the sea which the caesars of ancient Rome called Mare Nostrum has again become the focal point of the clash between the imperialist powers who overlook the Mediterranean as well as those who cannot see it from their windows. They all ply it in search of military ports, control of shipping routes and maritime trade, as well as to give them a military presence between three continents (Europe, Africa and Asia). Last but not least, they seek to exploit Libyan oil resources as well as those off Cyprus.

By any rational measure you might assume that a dominant sentient species when faced with global threats would pull together, pool resources and information and search for a mutual solution to the problem. But the coronavirus pandemic has confirmed what the climate change crisis already told us: that capitalism, even in its “globalised” form, is fundamentally unsuited to producing a coordinated response to tackle anything.

Capitalism – the current social system based on private property, wage labour and production for profit – is at a turning point. Day by day it becomes clearer that the existing relations of production have become fetters preventing humanity from addressing the urgent problems facing the whole planet. Unable to resolve its own contradictions, capitalism is instead hurtling us towards barbarism.