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site/garden/imperialism/index.md

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+---
+alias: "Imperialist"
+public: "true"
+slug: "imperialism"
+title: "Imperialism"
+prev: false
+next: false
+---
+<script setup>
+import { data } from '../../git.data.ts';
+import { useData } from 'vitepress';
+const pageData = useData();
+</script>
+<h1 class="p-name">Imperialism</h1>
+<p>770 words, ~4 minute read. <span v-html="data[`site/${pageData.page.value.relativePath}`]" /></p>
+<hr/>
+
+<details><summary>Referenced by:</summary><a href="/garden/leftism/index.md">Leftism</a><a href="/garden/my-political-beliefs/index.md">My Political Beliefs</a></details>
+
+Imperialism refers to how, after all the survivable land in the world was claimed by various countries (as part of colonialism), a country - or empire - must spread its influence over new territory at cost of existing influences over that territory. Typically this has meant land being transferred, either militarily or diplomatically.
+
+## Imperialism and Capitalism
+
+Lenin wrote an influential pamphlet over his interpretation of imperialism, called "[Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism](https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/)". He argued imperialism was inextricably linked with capitalism, and that the driving force of imperialism was corporations gaining control over natural resources to use for profit, and to improve their position relative to opposing powers. An imperialist war, such as the ones the US has fought in the Middle East, serve both the interests of US oil companies as well as the US itself for its position relative to other imperialist powers. This view has been supported by modern leftist scholars like Michael Parenti in his book [Face of Imperialism: Responsibility-Taking in the Political World](https://www.michael-parenti.org/book-the-face-of-imperialism).
+
+In effect, imperialism has been used to delay resolving the contradiction between the need to expand and the physical limits of the globe. This contradiction cannot be fully resolved under a capitalist system, which requires the need to expand infinitely. Therefore, fighting imperialism means fighting capitalism. Removing power from corporations and banks largely nullifies the reasons for imperialism and is the best path towards global peace.
+
+## US Imperialism
+
+The size of the US empire is not obvious just by looking at a map of the world, due to its reliance on economic influence and soft power. The US also imperializes through its remaining colonies, proxy wars, and foreign military bases. Second thought has a good introductory video on how significant some of those influences are in [How The US Took Over The World](https://youtu.be/NpjDyhGyjNk).
+
+A lot of these conflicts abroad are done in the open, such as the conflicts part of the war on terror. In this case the government needs to justify to its citizens going to war, which you'll typically see happen regardless of who's in charge. This is a process called manufactured consent, as described by Herman and Chomsky in [Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media](https://www.amazon.com/Manufacturing-Consent-Political-Economy-Media/dp/0375714499), although it is not perfect and the US has a history of anti-war protest movements. The vietnam war was our first televised war and had anti war protests even escalate into [riots](https://www.whitehousehistory.org/anti-war-protests-of-the-1960s-70s). Today through social media the impact of war is more accessible than ever before, and the Israel-Palestine conflict has had one of the largest anti-war movements yet, although still [not as large as Vietnam](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/gaza-war-vietnam-protests.html).
+
+While there are several imperialist powers in the world, the US is a particularly influential one that I, as an American citizen, have the most personal interest in stopping. I believe if the US moved towards socialism the overall influence of capitalism in the world would diminish so thoroughly that it would only further decline into non-existence. This would affect not only the prosperity of the world but save many lives as well: Western imperialism has caused 50-55 million deaths since WW2 as claimed by Andre Vltchek in [On western terror](https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt183p6wv), and US-backed conflicts show no sign of stopping so long as capitalist interests remain.
+
+## Impact of Imperialism on the Development of the Global South
+
+The global south refers to a collection of countries that are under-developed compared to the "global north", and have historically been victims of colonialism and imperialism. Today, the global south makes up 90% of global labor but only receives 21% of globally produced value, according to Jason Hickel et al in [Unequal exchange of labour in the world economy](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49687-y). Jason has previously calculated that the global north extracted $242 trillion in value from the global south between 1990 and 2015 alone, despite only returning 1/30th of that in the form of foreign aid, in [Imperialist appropriation in the world economy: Drain from the global South through unequal exchange, 1990–2015](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095937802200005X).
+
+It's worth noting that Hickel is discussing all of the global north, not just the US, but US corporations make heavy use of exploitation by underpaying workers without any form of representation for the exploited or assistance in modernizing these countries ("catching up" developmentally). They allow corporations to act with essentially impunity, not enforcing any form of ethics or ensuring the development of the countries they're getting labor and resources from isn't stagnant. Earth Rights International [reported](https://earthrights.org/media_release/scotus-rules-that-u-s-corporations-can-profit-from-child-slavery-abroad/) on how Nestle and Cargill were sued for using child slavery in West Africa and after 15 years of legal process finally decided the US-based corporations were not liable for these human rights violations.
+
+In contrast to the US, China has the Belt and Road Initiative started in 2013 where the state itself will lend money to improve the infrastructure development of these countries (and some in the global north as well), and allow for fully free trade (no tariffs) from the particularly underdeveloped. It faced initial backlash, which China responded to by improving their reporting standards and transparency with the countries they've signed contracts with, as described in [China’s response to Belt and Road backlash](https://eastasiaforum.org/2018/12/15/chinas-response-to-belt-and-road-backlash/). The initiative has continued to expand since then, and now has contracts with around 150 countries as listed by the Green Finance & Development Center in [Countries of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)](https://greenfdc.org/countries-of-the-belt-and-road-initiative-bri/), and accounts for around 20 trillion USD of trade, as reported by China in 2023 in a document called [Vision and Actions for High-Quality Belt and Road Cooperation: Brighter Prospects for the Next Decade](https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202311/24/content_WS65600f67c6d0868f4e8e1936.html) (cited via an English summary). The BRI has remained controversial within the west, but sentiment seems negative overall. Since 2020 various western publications have labeled the program "debt-trap diplomacy". There are some genuine concerns - China's reluctance to forgive debt and a lack of oversight on how the lent funds are used top amongst them -  but I believe they're being exaggerated due to western's biases towards capitalist interests and general sinophobia. I'd link a specific article but there are so many that I'll actually just recommend looking through the wikipedia article for the [Belt and Road Initiative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belt_and_Road_Initiative) which includes various articles from a lot of sources both in favor of and in opposition to the initiative. It has literally hundreds of citations, one of the most well-cited articles I've seen. I get the overall impression that the BRI is arguably more cooperative than exploitative in nature compared to the US strategy, and the countries themselves seem to view the initiative favorably, considering 3/4 of all UN recognized countries are already part of the initiative, with very few choosing not to renew contracts.
+
+## Further Reading
+
+Jason Hickel made a very digestible explanation over the importance of liberating Palestine in the fight against imperialism, which was clipped into [Why a Liberated Palestine Threatens Global Capitalism](https://youtu.be/6dBy4-6pn1M).

site/garden/leftism/index.md

@@ -12,10 +12,10 @@ import { useData } from 'vitepress';
 const pageData = useData();
 </script>
 <h1 class="p-name">Leftism</h1>
-<p>1796 words, ~10 minute read. <span v-html="data[`site/${pageData.page.value.relativePath}`]" /></p>
+<p>1794 words, ~10 minute read. <span v-html="data[`site/${pageData.page.value.relativePath}`]" /></p>
 <hr/>
 
-<details><summary>Referenced by:</summary><a href="/garden/my-political-beliefs/index.md">My Political Beliefs</a></details>
+<details><summary>Referenced by:</summary><a href="/garden/my-political-beliefs/index.md">My Political Beliefs</a><a href="/garden/my-political-journey/index.md">My Political Journey</a></details>
 
 [My Political Journey](/garden/my-political-journey/index.md) has brought me to the broad label of being a leftist. Leftism encompasses many ideologies, each with unique visions for an egalitarian society and strategies to achieve it. These pages are my tool to test my understanding by articulating these ideas in my own terms. I don't care to label myself any further than leftist, as in my mind I'm still a student of leftist ideologies and have personally been finding insight across the spectrum of leftist ideologies. As a reminder, this digital garden is a perpetual work in progress and only reflects my understanding of a topic at time of writing.
 
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ Anarchism and communism are interesting in that they both describe a classless,
 
 ### Communism Strategy
 
-Communists argue for a transitionary state - the "dictatorship of the proletariat" - as necessary for defending the revolution from both internal and external counter-revolutionary forces, as well as reorganizing the economy along socialist and eventually communism lines. This is a very long process, as they ultimately believe they need to abolish the material basis for class society, perhaps on a global scale due to [Imperialism](undefined), before the process is complete. Nevertheless, the state is still seen as a temporary mechanism that will eventually become obsolete and naturally "wither away", as described by Lenin in [State and Revolution](https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch05.htm):
+Communists argue for a transitionary state - the "dictatorship of the proletariat" - as necessary for defending the revolution from both internal and external counter-revolutionary forces, as well as reorganizing the economy along socialist and eventually communism lines. This is a very long process, as they ultimately believe they need to abolish the material basis for class society, perhaps on a global scale due to [Imperialism](/garden/imperialism/index.md) , before the process is complete. Nevertheless, the state is still seen as a temporary mechanism that will eventually become obsolete and naturally "wither away", as described by Lenin in [State and Revolution](https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/ch05.htm):
 > And so in capitalist society we have a democracy that is curtailed, wretched, false, a democracy only for the rich, for the minority.  The dictatorship of the proletariat, the period of transition to communism, will for the first time create democracy for the people, for the majority, along with the necessary suppression of the exploiters, of the minority. Communism alone is capable of providing really complete democracy, and the more complete it is, the sooner it will become unnecessary and wither away of its own accord.
 
 In the same document, Lenin describes a talk by Engels to anarchists where he exasperatedly points out they share a common vision for ideal society, and they just disagree on the justifications for a transitionary state. Engels believed not installing the transitionary state would mean not being able to "crush the resistance of the bourgeoisie". That the immediate abolition of the state is impractical in the face of the immense power of capitalist and other reactionary forces.
@@ -69,9 +69,11 @@ In the same document, Lenin describes a talk by Engels to anarchists where he ex
 Anarchists, on the other hand, refute the concept of a transitionary state as a necessary construct; they see installing a state of any kind as a reactionary obstacle to achieving their ideal society. Anarchists see the state as an inherently oppressive institution that cannot be reformed nor repurposed for liberation. As put by Kropotkin in [The State: Its Historic Role](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/petr-kropotkin-the-state-its-historic-role):
 > There are those, on the one hand, who hope to achieve the social revolution through the State by preserving and even extending most of its powers to be used for the revolution. And there are those like ourselves who see the State, both in its present form, in its very essence, and in whatever guise it might appear, an obstacle to the social revolution, the greatest hindrance to the birth of a society based on equality and liberty, as well as the historic means designed to prevent this blossoming. The latter work to abolish the State and not to reform it.
 
-They argue that regardless of intent, states are structurally designed to centralize power and perpetuate hierarchy. They believe a state will intrinsically lead to a new ruling class and undermining the revolutionary aims of equality and freedom. And most importantly, they do not accept that a state could "wither away of its own accord", but rather would forever justify its continued existence. As Kropotkin put it:
+They argue that regardless of intent, states are structurally designed to centralize power and perpetuate hierarchy. They believe a state will intrinsically lead to a new ruling class and undermining the revolutionary aims of equality and freedom. And most importantly, they do not accept that a state could "wither away of its own accord", but rather would forever justify its continued existence. As Bakunin put in [Statism and Anarchy](https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/works/1873/statism-anarchy.htm):
 > The differences between revolutionary dictatorship and statism are superficial. Fundamentally they both represent the same principle of minority rule over the majority in the name of the alleged “stupidity” of the latter and the alleged “intelligence” of the former. Therefore they are both equally reactionary since both directly and inevitably must preserve and perpetuate the political and economic privileges of the ruling minority and the political and economic subjugation of the masses of the people.
 
+It should be noted that Marx [responded](https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1874/04/bakunin-notes.htm) to this text, reaffirming that the state would go away due to resource distribution becoming apolitical once abundance is achieved.
+
 Naturally, anarchists also do not believe the economic role of the transitionary state is necessary either, but that a society, even pre-revolution, can work towards meeting the needs of everyone at the local community level through mutual aid and a focus on sustainable living.
 
 ### Differences in their Visions

site/garden/my-political-beliefs/index.md

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 # Government
 
-I'm definitely a [Leftist](/garden/leftism/index.md), and believe our end goal should be a classless, stateless, moneyless society, but acknowledge the role of the state in defending against, at the very least, [Imperialist](undefined) forces abroad, so long as they exist.
+I'm definitely a [Leftist](/garden/leftism/index.md), and believe our end goal should be a classless, stateless, moneyless society, but acknowledge the role of the state in defending against, at the very least, [Imperialist](/garden/imperialism/index.md) forces abroad, so long as they exist.
 
 I want to eventually reach a society structured as decentralized local communities that operate through [Consensus Democracy](/garden/consensus-democracy/index.md) , and freely associate with other communities for larger scale organizing, such as building and maintaining a rail line.
 

site/garden/my-political-journey/index.md

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ const pageData = useData();
 <p>714 words, ~4 minute read. <span v-html="data[`site/${pageData.page.value.relativePath}`]" /></p>
 <hr/>
 
-<details><summary>Referenced by:</summary><a href="/garden/political-quizzes/index.md">Political Quizzes</a></details>
+<details><summary>Referenced by:</summary><a href="/garden/leftism/index.md">Leftism</a><a href="/garden/political-quizzes/index.md">Political Quizzes</a></details>
 
 [My Political Beliefs](/garden/my-political-beliefs/index.md) have changed over time, although I believe it mostly stems from me becoming increasingly informed. Since this website contains content from as far back as 2006, when I was only 10 years old, I'd like to make it extremely clear that I have changed as a person, as we all have, and disavow a lot of my older opinions, roughly everything before 2020 or so but to be safe let's just give a dynamic (current date - 2 years). It's likely you are on this page from viewing a timeline post from that range and clicking the banner. There are bits in that period I may still agree with, but perhaps it would be best to just assume I don't have a stance on it unless there's something more recent about it. Pages in the garden section of this site are evergreen though, meaning I'll keep them up to date as my views change. Feel completely free to judge me for my opinions in there.
 
@@ -34,4 +34,4 @@ I migrated a LOT of posts to this website for the sake of having them all in one
 
 I believe a lot of things contributed to my radicalization, which happened sometime in the early 2020s. Ultimately I think I was just aware that I didn't really like the views I was being exposed to, the direction that media was trying to to pull me, and slowly over time just engaged less and less with that kind of content. I'd always been very economically leftist, so just needed to get over my edgy/cringe phase. I think what put the nail in the coffin was watching through the [alt right playbook](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJA_jUddXvY7v0VkYRbANnTnzkA_HMFtQ), a great series I highly recommend. I also started really enjoying a lot of leftist creators, like [hasanabi](https://twitch.tv/hasanabi), [philosophy tube](https://youtube.com/@philosophytube), and others. The people around me also affect my views, and after leaving college I think I interacted with nicer people on average. Of particular note here is my wife, who had their own political journey which has similarly culminated in us sort of having a positive feedback loop further and further left. Certain events like the BLM protests following George Floyd similarly cemented our position further and further left.
 
-I actually want to also point out I've found a lot of people in this space to be very accepting of people who previously held problematic beliefs. It's largely why I feel comfortable (enough) having a lot of my history public both on this page and the site in general, and being able to describe how my political journey got me to where I am today, a very radical leftist.
+I actually want to also point out I've found a lot of people in this space to be very accepting of people who previously held problematic beliefs. It's largely why I feel comfortable (enough) having a lot of my history public both on this page and the site in general, and being able to describe how my political journey got me to where I am today, a very radical [Leftist](/garden/leftism/index.md).