President Emmanuel Macron is imposing a state of emergency in the French archipelago of New Caledonia after pro-independence protests left at least three dead and disrupted nickel production.
places like that, where there is some enormous resource of high demand, burn away all the pageantry and scaffolding of political liberalism's self-conception to reveal the shining, metal skull of capitalism and empire. they thrive in the distant fog of geographies distant from the glittering hubs of finance, infotech and real estate.
there's this open pit mine in alaska (owned and operated by a canadian corporation, naturally, because canada offers the best protections from liability for mining of any corporate jurisdiction... though the land it is own is owned by an indigenous corporation). anyway, this one pit produce 10% of the world's zinc. and it is also probably one of, if not the, most heavy metal contaminated places on the planet. though the commissioned investigations, studies and findings about this are consistently finding ways to contort what is obvious into some kind of muddled statement where maybe the mine is "ok for the environment, actually". and any critical reading of the messaging and situation makes it clear the capitalists are saying anything to keep it open to get the next load out before somebody calls bullshit.
Yup, this is colonialism in its purest form. France is occupying New Caledonia against the will of its people in order to steal their resources.
places like that, where there is some enormous resource of high demand, burn away all the pageantry and scaffolding of political liberalism's self-conception to reveal the shining, metal skull of capitalism and empire. they thrive in the distant fog of geographies distant from the glittering hubs of finance, infotech and real estate.
there's this open pit mine in alaska (owned and operated by a canadian corporation, naturally, because canada offers the best protections from liability for mining of any corporate jurisdiction... though the land it is own is owned by an indigenous corporation). anyway, this one pit produce 10% of the world's zinc. and it is also probably one of, if not the, most heavy metal contaminated places on the planet. though the commissioned investigations, studies and findings about this are consistently finding ways to contort what is obvious into some kind of muddled statement where maybe the mine is "ok for the environment, actually". and any critical reading of the messaging and situation makes it clear the capitalists are saying anything to keep it open to get the next load out before somebody calls bullshit.
Indeed, when push comes to shove, the mask falls off very quickly and the brutal reality of capitalism asserts itself.