TANIT

By David van Wyk

What sustains the imperialist wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? What sustains the occupation of Palestine?

According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics almost 30% of its (1) exports were diamond related (polished diamonds, jewellery, and unpolished diamonds). Since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 the prices of copper and uranium have boomed. Copper is the base component of most munitions from bullets to shell casings, not to speak of electronics wiring. Coltan and tantalum are essential components of electronics and communications systems in use by NATO and the US army.

I have just spent three months zipping in and out of the mining provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Zambia and Zimbabwe, where I interviewed mine workers, trade union leaders and peasants. There is a literal scramble for mining rights by global capitalist companies in these three countries. The most sought after minerals being copper, cobalt, uranium and coltan

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‘Who, whom ?’

Lenin

In a examining the complex nature of Africa’s development and perspectives for the continent, Marxists proceed from this point of view. Put simply, our method is based on a scientific assessment of ‘who is doing what to whom’, that is, the interests of the ruling classes and those that they exploit. The concrete tasks of the exploited classes flow from this and this is the basis of a programme to change society in the interests of the working class and poor, who inevitably will come into conflict with their exploiters. It will be the African working masses armed with a revolutionary programme who will carry this conflict through to it’s conclusion by taking control of their own affairs.

The history of Africa is a history of domination by imperialism and foreign interference. Put simply, the outright plunder by the strongest nations, beginning with slavery. Africa’s development, which is proceeding on an extremely uneven basis, continues to be bound up in the contradictions posed by it’s place in the global economy and with the intervention of the global superpowers, of the United States and China, in particular. With China now second only to the US in it’s consumption of oil, there is no doubt that they are the main competitors for influence, in the quest for natural resources, in particular energy.

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