Its All About The Money… Honey!
By Aditi Munot
09 January,
2009
Countercurrents.org
It is impossible to understand how people can think of making money in the face of any calamity. But that sure is how the world works. Any disaster, natural or man-made, opens up an array of economic opportunities for a select rich.
Within days of the Mumbai Terror Attacks, producers rushed to register films on that horrific event. The country had not even begun to pick up life together after this shock, and Bollywood was already planning of block busters to be spun out of this tragedy.
Any natural disaster seems like an economic boon to few industries. The tsunami in Sri Lanka was considered a blessing in disguise for the tourism industry. Entire villages were destroyed and thousands lost their lives, but the outcome of this mass scale disaster was more villagers loosing their land and livelihood at the behest of big corporations constructing plush resorts on that very land. The hurricane in New Orleans opened up opportunities in the public housing and schooling sectors. A handful developers exploited this devastation at the cost of hundreds of thousands displaced and shattered.
Natural disasters, catastrophes, wars, war-like situations create circumstances favourable for a few rich and powerful people to exploit resources and populations thoroughly. Be it a hurricane, an earthquake, a local riot, a tsunami, a terrorist attack, or a war…. A limited elite make a lot of money at the loss of many. The political and social instability created, presents big corporations with a range of opportunities – reconstruction of roads and highways and bridges, railways and pipelines, new houses and schools and hospitals, airports and hotels, and along with this a vast array of service and infrastructure industries to support these. And all these projects are accomplished by exploiting the local labour and then throwing them out like trash.
At various instances instability and social disorder have been initiated at the exhortation of certain industries. Big corporations lobby with their governments and persuade and pressurise them to bring upon the masses war and social unrest. The volatility and instability created, permits these corporations to induce more favourable work conditions and wage structures. Such situations also allow these corporations to enter into segments and industries which otherwise would have been closed to them. From Nigeria to Columbia to Indonesia to Chile to Argentina to Congo to China to innumerable other countries, big corporations like Shell, Occidental Petroleum, De Beers, Ford, Mercedes, Nike, Gap and the likes stood to gain. The whole idea is to create and maintain an environment that is friendly towards business with no resistance what so ever.
Was the war in Afghanistan a war on terror or a project to destroy and destabilise an already devastated country? What was Iraq about… war, oil, or an entirely new economic opportunity? Be it Latin America or Africa or the Middle East or South East Asia….. a few large corporations stand to gain from all the social unrest and disorder. These corporations make money in all walks of instability and mayhem. From diamonds soaked in blood to oil squeezed out of graves to garments spun in sweatshops…. Big Corporations make Big Bucks.
Its all about the money for these ruthless elite. Money made by a few at the cost of many. To quote from Shantaram, ‘The only force more ruthless and cynical than the business of big politics is the politics of big business’.
