#imperialsim

[stillnaomi]

with the way that economic sanctions predictably kill people, they should be viewed as weapons of war, like indiscriminate bombing campaigns. they're usually less dramatic on the news than bombs and special forces raids, making them easier to ignore, but they don't destroy lives and stop society functioning normally any less for that

when your country is cut off from trade, banking, and its own foreign reserves, its currency usually collapses. prices go up fast but wages don’t. food, utilities, rent, and medicine all become more expensive at the same time. if you're already living close to the edge, you end up skipping meals, delaying medical care, and choosing between heating and eating

healthcare is another major place you're going to get screwed over. even when sanctions technically allow medical goods through, hospitals often still struggle to get what they need. banks and payment processors refuse to put payments through, shipping companies don't want to deliver to your ports, and now there's much less money available to buy supplies. so spare parts never arrive. clinics run out of basic medicines. machines break and can’t be repaired. your chronic illness that's normally manageable becomes life threatening or much more disabling, and emergency care becomes less reliable. so more people die from conditions that, in other circumstances, wouldn't have been fatal

sanctions also damage the systems around healthcare that people don’t always think about. power cuts affect hospitals and refrigeration for medicines. when you can't import treatment chemicals or replacement parts, clean water systems fail. transport problems make it harder for you to reach care at all, especially for people in rural areas. all these things add up to kill people prematurely, and the people who suffer and die the most are the ones in the most precarious positions

a paper in the Lancet estimates that sanctions kill 564,000 people every year. it's like the US and its imperial core allies nuke a mid sized city in the developing world each year, and yet sanctions are often framed as peaceful alternatives to war. economic sanctions are weapons of war

[rip-apush]

Manifest Destiny through the ages

[imperialsim]

New dress with cape!

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[sherdnerdcollective]

When the Camera Was a Weapon of Imperialism. (And When It Still Is.)

In his final On Photography column, Teju Cole argues that images of human suffering often implicitly serves the powers that be.

[lighthouse1138]

I still find it weird

How this site is so willing to call out imperialism and colonialism, but is silent about the occupation of Tibet by the PRC.

[stillnaomi]

the imperialist powers coercing underdeveloped countries to grow cash crops and import food is gonna hit so much harder now there's a looming fertilizer shortage, and long-lasting high fuel prices. whatever prices you're seeing in the supermarkets in your wealthy country, it's gonna be comparatively more expensive for some of the worst off globally to eat

[stillnaomi]

politicians and the media in the UK are always talking about how we need to fund the military to protect ourselves from China and Russia. that's because they're likely to invade us right? Russia's going to land an army in Scotland - triggering a war against all of NATO - and China's going to use its one foreign military base, in Djibouti, to launch an invasion of the south coast

the truth is, it's all about protecting western business interests around the world. it always has been. most countries don't need to station troops at 145 military bases around the world (like the UK does) because they're not using their economic and military might to exploit half the global population

[stillnaomi]

if you live in poverty in the first world, know that much of your state's strength to oppress you comes from imperialism. without extracting cheap labour and resources from around the world, your state would be much weaker and more easily overthrown. supporting the liberation of palestine, or of any exploited people, is supporting the liberation of yourself. all the working and marginalised of the world are on the same side