It’s not surprising that the imperialist heads of state at the G-8 summit rejected the economic demands made by African leaders. Washington and its allies, which represent a tiny minority of billionaire families, have nothing to offer humanity except wars and economic devastation.

The capitalist crisis facing working people in Africa has sharpened over the past several years. Two years of droughts and floods have ravaged vast regions of the continent and millions face starvation and famine conditions. Added to this misery is the AIDS crisis, where at least 7 million farmers in Africa have been killed by the virus over the past two decades. These conditions are tearing apart the social fabric in rural areas where farming skills are being lost and the capacity to work the land is eroding.

Far from a natural disaster, this is a social crisis emanating from the normal workings of finance capital. Imperialism warps the economic structure of semicolonial countries and keeps them tied down with the chains of underdevelopment.

The predatory trade policies of Washington and its imperialist rivals reproduce and exacerbate the unequal economic relations between the advanced capitalist countries and the rest of the world. For example, the agricultural subsidy programs of the governments in Europe, Japan, and the United States--a guaranteed source of income for the capitalist exploiters--robs semicolonial countries of some $50 billion a year in farm exports. Under the impact of such policies sub-Saharan Africa’s share of world trade has dropped to 1.3 percent, one-third of its level 20 years ago.

The modest demands by African heads of state that the G-8 countries slash agricultural export subsidies to agribusinesses deserve the support of workers and farmers the world over. The proposal to cancel foreign debts is also crucial in addressing the devastating conditions the imperialists have foisted on the continent.

And the proposal for grants to construct an electrical power grid to provide energy across southern Africa is one step that would help transform the conditions of life for millions of people.

Today, sub-Saharan Africa, with 9 percent of the world’s population, uses only 1 percent of the electricity. The imperialist countries, with 14 percent of the world’s population, consume nearly 60 percent. These figures are just one example of the vast disparities in social and cultural development in the world today.

The imperialist rulers, however, have no intention of trimming their profits or forgiving debts to improve the lives of workers and farmers in African or other Third World countries. And despite their hand-wringing about AIDS, the chief concern for international finance capital is how to squeeze more and more wealth from the toilers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to bolster their sagging profit rates.

It is in the interest of working people in the United States and other imperialist countries to back demands to cancel the Third World debt and to eliminate all tariffs and nontariff barriers erected by Washington and its main competitors in Paris, Tokyo, and elsewhere. Opposing these measures, which are used by the propertied classes to maintain their wealth and power, can strengthen our struggles against the superwealthy ruling minority, the common enemy of workers and farmers around the world.
 
 
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