I drew the Dominican republic in this because of convenience, easier for me to represent, this applies to all colonies

  • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
    ·
    3 days ago

    A lot of the time they didn't even build a refinery; bauxite, gold ore, coco all tend to be exported and refined in colonizer countries.

    Under neocolonialism, even when the country's government or national bourgeoisie manage to build a refinery, the foreigner or comprador-owned mines prefer to export, since they have an interest in keeping the colonized country poor to keep labor costs down.

    Ghana for instance has at least 3 major gold refineries built in the last 15 years sitting idle while the ore is exported.

    • multitotal@lemmygrad.ml
      ·
      3 days ago

      Under neocolonialism, even when the country’s government or national bourgeoisie manage to build a refinery, the foreigner or comprador-owned * prefer to export, since they have an interest in keeping the colonized country poor to keep labor costs down.

      True for all commodities; Ireland exported food during the famine, because its sold to the West the price of quinoa makes it unaffordable for people who live where its grown, etc.

      • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
        ·
        edit-2
        3 days ago

        The reason they're not using the refineries in Ghana isn't because they're more expensive or have strict environmental laws. It's significantly cheaper to refine locally as 1 ton of ore yields 2-10 grams of gold. We're talking millions of tons of ore vs tons of bullion.