Vol. 73/No. 40      October 19, 2009

Earthquakes are acts of nature, but the devastating effects they have on working people are not. It’s the workings of capitalism and imperialism that are behind the acuteness of these social catastrophes, which have been magnified by the worldwide capitalist economic crisis.

The plunder of the natural resources and exploitation of labor of the semicolonial world by the barons of finance capital in Washington, Paris, London, Tokyo, and elsewhere have everything to do with lack of access for millions to electricity, telephones, paved roads, sturdy housing, public sanitation, medical care, and adequate nutrition.

Just one day after the tsunami struck, Chicken of the Sea shut its operations on American Samoa. It did so rather than raising subpoverty-level wages for the more than 2,100 tuna cannery workers to the federally mandated minimum wage. This is the bosses’ answer to their crisis.

In Indonesia little aid was provided in the days immediately following the earthquake to help rescue thousands trapped under collapsed buildings or mudslides. Rather than getting needed heavy equipment like tractors, bulldozers, and drills, volunteer workers had to fend for themselves, attempting to save what lives they could by digging through mounds of rubble with their bare hands.

Washington announced that it was sending $300,000, a mere pittance. It promised another $3 million possibly at some later date “once an assessment has been made” of the situation. U.S. aid to Indonesia’s military is more easily forthcoming. In fact, over the next year the Pentagon projects increasing it by $10 million.

Massive aid should be provided to all these countries, with no strings attached, and their foreign debt should be immediately cancelled.
 
 
Related articles:
Indonesia, Samoa quakes expose legacy of imperialist exploitation  
 
 
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