No flag; no country! You can’t have one! That’s the rules I’ve just made up.
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 2.25 pm
Q. “Could you clarify what you mean by imperialism and expansionism? Do you mean military imperialism or just economic interconnection? ”
Well, when I say imperialism, I’m referring to taking over a country’s land and exploiting the indigenous (similar to what we did to the Native Americans but then leaving after taking enough resources and using the land up).
“Also, I’m not terrifically familiar with the history or economy of Indonesia (can’t know everything XD), so could you explain what you’re referring to there?”
I’m just using Indonesia as an example. You can refer to almost any country in South or Southeast Asia and find some evidence of past imperialism. But to answer your question, I’m referring to the mid 19th century when the Dutch East Indies Company exploited present Indonesia to reap profits by forcing the people there to devote at least 60 days of farming cash crops, which would then be export to Europe. This caused a shortage of many food supply (particularly rice) and killed many people in the process.
This is why I’m against the ‘free market’, because it’s never free. It comes at the price of a person, a group and even a country. — pitusim, from tumblr.
A. (I wanted to quote your original question as well, so that my questions within your current question made more sense, but for some reason I’m having trouble finding it. Failure. But anyway…)
Well, when I say imperialism, I’m referring to taking over a country’s land and exploiting the indigenous (similar to what we did to the Native Americans but then leaving after taking enough resources and using the land up).
Ah, yeah, I’m not ok with that. The fact that people in another culture may not have your technological advancement or skin tone or whatever does not give you the right to just take their stuff, no matter who you are or what government or business you represent.
I’m referring to the mid 19th century when the Dutch East Indies Company exploited present Indonesia to reap profits by forcing the people there to devote at least 60 days of farming cash crops, which would then be export to Europe. This caused a shortage of many food supply (particularly rice) and killed many people in the process.
As examples of imperialism go, that’s a pretty good (bad? You know what I mean) one. I don’t really have words for it other than “disgusting” and “totally immoral.”
This is why I’m against the ‘free market’, because it’s never free. It comes at the price of a person, a group and even a country.
If I thought that what we’ve been discussing was the free market, I’d be totally against it too. But it simply isn’t. In fact, it’s really, really far from it.
Let’s take the specific example of Indonesia and the Dutch East India Company to discuss. From (the omniscient) Wikipedia:
The Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC in Dutch, literally “United East Indian Company”) was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia. It was the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock. It was also arguably the world’s first megacorporation, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonies.
So here’s a company which
- got government permission to run
- was granted a monopoly by the state, precluding free competition
- was given permission by the government to aggress with war, imprisonment, and execution against anyone it pleased to turn a profit without legal consequences
- was given permission by the government to take land from native peoples to use as it pleased, again without legal consequences
There’s just absolutely nothing of the free market in this situation at all. On the contrary, it’s mercantilism and corporatism and corruption and exploitation and government and business all woven in together. Freedom and the kitchen sink may in fact be the only two things left out of the mix, and the latter is only absent because they didn’t have real plumbing back then.
As I said before, I’d be with you in condemning free markets if imperialism and free markets were the same thing. But looking at the historical record, that strikes me as an impossible case to make.
In conclusion, Eddie Izzard on imperialism:
In a free market, coercion is absent.