by Perry C Douglas
for Inclusive Economies… The Application of Technology as an Agent of Social Change
Black populations in the Caribbean have had a 400-year experience — 400 years beginning with enslavement under brutal dehumanizing conditions by Europeans in plantation-based economies, followed through by colonialism. The evolution of which has been deliberate, systematic, and shrewdly evolving; all for the economic exploitation of one race of people for the benefit of another.
Economics remains at the core of this 400-year experience. The entire system was created to extract resources from plantation economies to facilitate global commerce for the enrichment of Europeans. This stolen inter-generational wealth resource underwrote the future imperial and colonial aspirations of Europeans. The European Renaissance period, for example, would never have happened without the economic engine of slavery to finance it! The vast resource extraction drove trade, commerce, and new industries on a global scale. Creating wealthy European families in the process, allowing them to spend lavishly on science, engineering, the commissioning of great works of art, luxury, architecture, and more. European expansion in its formative years was underwritten and derived from the exploitation of free African labour. It is not very difficult to generate great profits and form industries when your resources, material, and labour are free, supported, and facilitated by the state and the associated churches.
Through this system of economic exploitation, raw materials like sugar, molasses, rum, tobacco, cotton, gold and metals, spices, hardwood, rice, and more. Saw the taking of those free raw materials, transported to Europe to be manufactured into goods for sale; creating commerce, global trade, and industry. Enormously wealthy European families were then formed from that commerce, and the foundations of inter-generational wealth transfers were established for Europeans.
George Bernard Shaw once said, “if history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.”
Today with Beijing’s scramble for Africa and the Caribbean, history is repeating, and local populations are once again being left behind. The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is a clear attempt at geopolitical conquest, and poor countries are being sucked in all over again. Countries in the regions of Southeast Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean are being lured into the debt trap cheap Chinese money.
How slavery and colonialism had fuelled European economic expansion; neocolonialism is now the preferred method for Chinese global expansion. Raw materials like aluminum, steel, minerals, fossil fuels, agricultural commodities…are all needed to build China at home, (just as it did with Europe) to fuel manufactured products for export and commerce. Like the European colonizers, China extracts resources and sends them to Chinese factories, importing back cheap and low-quality finished goods, undermining local African manufacturers, for example, who end up unable to compete. Additionally, that trade and commerce create massive wealth for the Chinese, so, what’s the big difference between European colonialism and Chinese neocolonialism? Not much, same playbook!
According to the article in NewAfrican: Viewpoint: Why we should be aware of China’s ‘new colonialism,’ by African businessman Benedict Peters. We are now “slowly awakening to the growing menace of China’s plans for economic supremacy. In Africa, it is clear that China’s campaign of foreign investment is a new form of colonialism.” Writes Benedict Peters.
In the article “Belt and Road: colonialism with Chinese characteristics” author Anthony Kleven points out that “while China’s tens of billions of investments and loans are greedily gobbled up by cash-starved African states, they are not as bereft of strings as is often claimed. The BRI is trapping numerous countries in unsustainable levels of debt.” One of the many examples he gives is where China has set its sights on Guinea’s bauxite reserves, one of the world’s largest. China needs such a resource to keep its Chinese aluminum industry running. China has promised Guinea loans twice the size of its GDP—and so, an abundance of related Chinese companies has now taken control of Guinea’s bauxite reserves.
In short, China lends desperately poor countries billions for investment, knowing very well that those investments are incapable of producing enough output or return, enough to service the huge debt load taken on. Deals often have predatory type terms and conditions attached for non-performance. Allowing China contractually, to seize vital public infrastructure assets as collateral if those set terms are not upheld, i.e. neocolonialism at its most elegant form.
In the recent article titled: China’s Opaque Caribbean Trail: Dreams, Deal, and Debt by Caribbean Investigative Journal Network (CIJN.) The piece is filled with many examples of the Chinese debt-trap strategy. For Caribbean countries, one of the most visible, expansive, and expensive forms of Beijing’s engagement with the region is its financing of large-scale infrastructure projects. The CIJN investigation unveiled a trail of official secrecy, questionable procurement processes, and the looming threat of potentially insurmountable debt. The Chinese playbook is the same everywhere—huge hotel projects, highways, agriculture projects, even building a Prime Ministers fancy new house. According to CIJN, “China’s Caribbean portfolio is extensive. It includes highways and bridges, housing, energy, mining, air and seaports, tourism projects, hospitals, and even official residences, forming a part of that country’s strategic thrust into Latin American and the Caribbean.”
The investigating team uncovered, that in most cases, the precise terms of agreements are not routinely publicized, the procurement processes and concessions are a mystery. The Chinese often end up with all the labour contracts, and their labour practices lack adherence to any type of building code and other health and safety standards.
A 2012 independent forensic audit of the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP) and the Palisadoes Shoreline Protection, and Rehabilitation Works Project concluded there was “non-adherence to allocations approved by Parliament and the Ministry of Finance. There was also the arbitrary issuance of Variation Orders and selection of sub-contractors along with the unprogrammed and arbitrary allocation of funds for institutional strengthening,” according to the audit document.
According to clause 13.3 of the contract ($630 million North-South Highway project signed with China Harbour Engineering Corporation (CHEC) on June 21, 2012):
“The Government shall unconditionally and irrevocably waive any right of immunity (to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law) which it or any of its assets now has or may acquire in the future in any jurisdiction.”
To add insult to injury, the highway deal, in a case study conducted by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB,) found there was “no way costs could be recouped through toll payments.” Hence, China now said that since the investment couldn’t be recouped through toll payments, land adjacent to the highway should be given as compensation. Jamaica of course had already agreed to those terms in the clause. China, of course, enforced it and the Chinese company promptly brought in 1000+ workers from China to begin work on a commercial project—free land, no Jamaican worker participation, no contracts for Jamaican firms, no economic benefit to Jamaica.
“New roads, new businesses, new hotels, and booming Chinese immigration has led to many companies being staffed with more Chinese workers than local Bahamians.”
– Forbes
In practical terms, this meant that the Jamaican state allowed China, in a case of a breach of contract by the Government of Jamaica, or actions that the Chinese have determined results in non-performance, would be actionable on Jamaica’s sovereignty. When contextualized, the clause essentially allows for the GOJ to forfeit any current or future owned assets to China, for debt recovery by seizure. A blatant neocolonialism play and encroachment on sovereignty.
What this article tells me is that after 400 years, the black man has still not grasped the importance of freedom and independence…hence his hurry to be rid of them.
Grenada has more than 75,000 acres of land.
Back in 1976, the Gairy Government allowed some Americans to take over what eventually amounted to about 100 acres of scrubland at True Blue. Has that turned out OK for most Grenadians?
Many Grenadians will never see it, or if they do, will never acknowledge it. But most foreigners have brought great benefits to Grenada. As recently as the 1960s, Grenada was an agricultural society, and a very good salary was EC$200 a month. Very few people made as much as that.
You’ve come a long way, Baby! Don’t screw it up.
Chan, the Baby is not screwing up anything. The Baby is getting screwed left, right, and centre by your name sake, if you are not one of them, under what should rightfully be called child abuse. The tragedy is that some of our Babies are helping out the abuser(s).
Screw up what and whom? Maybe for your name sake? The Baby cannot screw up anything when it is getting screwed left, right, and centre. This is should rightfully be called child abuse so take this nonsensical notion with you and go back wherever you came from.
The chinese built roard and a stadium in Fiji for fishing rights. Total mess. Boats tresspassing in restricted areas had to be arrested and auctioned off, whole town of the capital Suva is overrun with Chinese hookers. Chinese gangsters, the lot.
WHAT GRENADA NEEDS IS ANOTHER MARCH 13th EXPERIENCES. JUST SAYING. I’M GRENAIDIAN BORN LIVING ABROAD AND I JUST CAN’T UNDERSTAND HOW MY PEOPLE CAN JUST SIT BACK AND ALLOW THIS TO CONTINUE. THE CHINESE ARE STEALING OUR BEAUTIFUL ISLAND ONE PIECE AT A TIME. GRENADIANS ARE GETTING SOFT.
YES I AGREE WITH YOU WE NEED TO START ANOTHER REVOLUTION AND GET THIS COUNTRY BACK UP ON ITS FEET WITH HARD WORKING PEOPLE. WE NEED ANOTHER GOOD LEADER LIKE BISHOP. PROGRESS WILL BE MADE ON OUR OWN WITH A GREAT LEADER!
Well written and thought provoking. Think of the other ways that the Chinese take control of Grenada; rich Chinese are being granted citizenship for investments in Grenada. Then, who end up owning all the real estate on the island? Grenadians, open your eyes to what’s happening; don’t let the ruling party sell you out for 21 pieces of silver
I agree Perry. But the european wealth wasn’t built through extracting raw material from their colonies. Several countries in Europe never had any colonies and reached the same level of wealth as the colonial powers. When it comes to the chinese it’s up to the Grenadian people if Grenada should sign any deals with them. This is a democracy. The ruling NNP party’s policy is to bring the chinese in. People know that since several years back but keep putting NNP to power. That means that the people of Grenada want to cooperate with china. There is no one else to blame in a democracy.
I don’t think the people of Grenada (the majority) understand the ramifications of allowing the Chinese to freely operate like this. We are, as well as most of the other islands, in a lot of debt to China, and when they start calling for repayment…..?
“China’s Caribbean portfolio is extensive. It includes highways and bridges, housing, energy, mining, air and seaports, tourism projects, hospitals, and even official residences, forming a part of that country’s strategic thrust into Latin American and the Caribbean.”
Excuse me, do we need these things? I’d have to say yes. Do we have the resources to provide them a ourselves. Yes, if we followed the Cuban, Tanzanian, or erstwhile Venezuelan examples. Or resume the Grenadian model of 1979-83. Otherwise we simply have
to get help from somewhere.
“so, what’s the big difference between European colonialism and Chinese neocolonialism? Not much, same playbook!” Actually, a whole lot. For example, we don’t have to get help from Trump….and an America whose domestic and foreign policy has always been predicated on the visceral hatred of Black people. Chinese may be racially prejudiced – they show it to their Uighurs and other non-Han peoples- but they haven’t built their whole experiment on the marrow-deep hatred of Black people, as the USA has done.
THIS A REALITY CHECK FOR ALL OF THOSE POEPLE IN THE GRENADIAN GOVERNMENT!!!
BIG RESPECT FOR WRITING THIS ARTICAL.
THIS MAN HAS DONE HIS HOMEWORK AND UNDERSTANDS HOW MALICIOUS THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT ARE….
PLEASE OPEN YOUR EYES AND WAKE UP BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!!!
DON’T LET TO CHINESE GET INTO OUR BEAUTIFUL ISLAND TO STEAL IT AND LEAVE THE LOCALS HUNGRY AND POOR.
STOP TO CHINESE RAPE OF OUR BEAUTIFUL ISLAND.
Do we ever learn from the experience of Sri Lanka, Jamaica, Zambia, Ethiopia etc? Beware China’s debt trap diplomacy.
VERY TRUE, VERY WELL WRITTEN !! WHEN WILL THE POOR MAN PUT HIS BEER DOWN AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT ?????k