The veil of new exploitation
Canadians often like to think of themselves as part of a peaceful and helpful multicultural nation, globally reputed for its benevolence and general passivity. These comforting narratives tend to underpin our understanding of the Canadian national identity. Reality is less comforting. In actuality, Canada is a colonial project, built on the subjugation, displacement, and blood of Indigenous peoples across its landscape.
Some may consider this colonial history to be a closed chapter, despite its continuing presence, such as the lack of Indigenous representation in the governmental process to this day. We are beginning, however reluctantly at times, to acknowledge and address this internal colonialism. The colonial period lives on, perhaps not as strongly at home, rather through the global practices of exploitation which have built the world we live in today. From phones to electric cars and microwaves – the materials used to create these everyday items must come from somewhere, and this is often from underdeveloped (or, in other words, overexploited) nations in the global south. This insidious reality underpins Neo-Colonialism or ‘new’ colonialism, a chapter far from closed in history. The scramble for global resources often goes on behind the scenes and outside of our privileged view, and frequently goes unaddressed by those in power, but make no mistake, it is central to our way of life in the current age of modern globalization. It is important for us as responsible global citizens to educate ourselves and understand three key things, which I will shed light on here: what Neo-Colonialism is, how we participate in it, and what we can do to change this disturbing reality.
Essentially, neocolonialism is colonialism dressed in a business suit. The term was officially coined by Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, describing how powerful nations maintain control over developing countries not through direct colonial rule, rather through new economic pressures and extraction driven by globalization. Instead of direct military rule, there is an international debt system enforced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank with trade agreements unequally favouring rich nations, coupled with resource extraction, and labour exploitation.
These aforementioned organizations (of which Canada has a voice in) used the 1980s debt crisis (the tightening of monetary policies in many wealthy nations, and the subsequent inability of poor nations in the global south to repay their debts to the West, such as loan debts to western banks), as an opportunity to deploy Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs). These programs made financial assistance to these nations conditional on implementing a standard package of reforms. These include drastic cuts to government spending, the elimination of protections for domestic industries, wholesale privatization of state assets, and the opening of markets to foreign competition. These sorts of reforms have led to the domination of these nations by multinational corporations and have propelled many African, Latin American, and Caribbean countries down a slippery slope towards exploitation. In one instance in 2002, a five-member United Nations panel accused 29 companies (eight of them Canadian) and 85 multinational corporations of contributing to illegal exploitation practices, as well as environmental and human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Exploitation occurs in many countries in the global south where Canadian mining companies are a dominant force. Economies of many rich nations are founded and maintained by the extraction of profitable resources and the exploitation of cheap labour abroad. Valuable minerals such as cobalt, copper, gold, and even diamonds are extracted with little economic benefit to the local communities and the workers. As of 2023, 47 per cent of the world’s public mining companies are listed on Canadian stock exchanges, and over 1300 Canadian mining and exploration companies exist.
So, what exactly can we do about it? There are a few things. The first is to simply inform and educate ourselves. The more we know about how the world works and how we are accountable for the well-being of others outside of our borders, the easier it will be for us to take meaningful action to change these oppressive structures. This key variable allows us to have the knowledge to demand accountability from these companies and firms, to lobby our government to change the way it operates abroad, and to demand these harmful actions not take place in the name of all Canadians. Another thing we can do is use this awareness to call for our institutions to divest these exploitative projects and adopt ethical modes of operation. Finally, and most pragmatically, we can simply consume more consciously. Due to our position in this global economic landscape, our everyday purchases matter greatly. Moving away from purchasing products produced by large amounts of exploitative labour can make all the difference, especially if it becomes an active trend amongst many people. Who says you need the brand new iPhone, especially if yours works perfectly well? In this regard, we hold a lot more power and influence than we might realize. It is time for Canadians to prove we deserve the titles of benevolence and kindness we so frequently grant to ourselves, and to act responsibly in this light by using our privileged positions to make a real difference in the world going forward. We must use our voices where they count.