{"id":93854,"date":"2019-10-13T16:02:55","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T23:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93854"},"modified":"2019-10-13T16:02:55","modified_gmt":"2019-10-13T23:02:55","slug":"have-the-superpowers-ever-helped-the-third-world-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/10\/13\/have-the-superpowers-ever-helped-the-third-world-countries\/","title":{"rendered":"Have the Superpowers ever helped the Third World Countries?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Many authorities in Sri Lanka \nare waiting with open arms to grab the MCC Grant of $ 480 million. They\ndo not care that some 28% of the country will be sold off to the USA for two\nhundred years.. Two hundred years is well over the period that Sri Lanka was a\ncolony of Great Britain! Britain ruled Sri Lanka for only 132 years. It is said\nthat one of our major political parties will sign the MCC contract immediately\nafter winning the elections. It means that a major chunk of land with the two\nports of Colombo and Trincomalee and including the Eppawela phosphate and\nPulmoddai Illmenite deposits will be sold to the United States for 200 years.\nSri Lanka will be divided into three sections and with the prestigious section\ngoing to the USA, the rest will inevitably disintegrate. Is that the fate of\nour beloved country?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context it is worthwhile assessing whether the Superpowers\never helped our countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the Fifteenth Century, the Superpowers conquered over half the World and imposed\ntheir colonial domination. Sovereign countries that had till then enjoyed\npeace, had self reliant and self sufficient economies were structurally altered\nto produce crops for export and also to be the consumers of the manufactured\nproducts of the Superpowers. The highlands lands in the hills, that enabled\npeople to obtain their firewood and building materials, where their cattle were\ntethered during the paddy cultivation and also retained water throughout the\ndrought months for cultivation was taken over under the Crown Lands Ordinance\nwhich deemed that all unoccupied land belonged to the State. These lands were\nthen sold to Europeans at some five shillings an acre for opening up\nplantations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Sri Lanka the\nrailways were built to bring down tea and rubber from the hill country. To\nbuild the Railway lines the British used Rajakariya- forced labour, (normally\nenlisted for two weeks a year,  to\nmaintain the village infrastructure of tanks and channels), to pull down the\nforest, clear the rail track and laydown rails. People were forced to travel\nfrom far. It is reported that the number of people killed by snake bites while\nlaying the rail track  is more than the\nnumber of sleepers on the rail track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Superpowers benefitted from the colonial economies. From\nBengal, a small state of India, when the East India Company defeated Shiraj Ud\nDaulah, the ruler of Bengal 2,750 million pounds was sent to Britain,- in the\nfirst eight years of Company rule, 5.9 million pounds were extracted out of\nBengal\u2026In the 1770 famine where a third of the population of Bengal died, more\ntaxes were colleted than in the earlier year…. the yearly drain of wealth\nfrom India represents at least pounds 35 million.” This income from all\ncolonies enabled Britain to become wealthy, build skyscrapers, develop social\nsecurity and free health  systems for\ntheir entire population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the colonies became sovereign states the Superpowers had to\nchange their modus operandi.  Then it\nbecame controlling the countries very unofficially, covertly and at times\nenforced with threats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us see what happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One can quote Professor\nJeffery Sachs: The USA has thrown elections through secret CIA financing-\nputting foreign leaders on CIA payrolls.\u201d(From; Commonwealth Economics for a\nCrowded Planet)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1953, a  CIA Coup was\nstaged in Iran.   . The CIA ousted the\ndemocratically elected ruler, Mohammed Mosadegh, ushered in a quarter century\nof brutal rule under the Shah and stimulated the rise of Islamic fundamentalism\nand anti Americanism in the Middle East.(Stephen Kinzer: All the Shah\u2019s Men)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mossadegh had sought to make Iran a full democracy. He\nnationalized the Iranian Oil industry  \nthat belonged to the Anglo Iranian Oil Company. In August 2013, the\nCIA formally admitted  that it was\ninvolved both in the planning and the execution of the coup, including the\nbribing of Iranian politicians, security and army high ranking officials as\nwell as pre-coup propaganda.\u201d(wikija.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rohith , a Director of Adult Education in Afghanistan was a\nbatchmate of my doctoral studies at Michigan State University in 1978. He told\nme again and again to take a month\u2019s leave after studies and come to\nAfghanistan when he promised to take me all over the country when he goes on\ncircuit. Afghanistan was a prosperous country till the USA and Russia invaded\nit under various pretexts.  Today it is a\ncountry torn between war lords. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sovereign countries mustered their resources and developed\ntheir agriculture and industry. Sri Lanka was in the forefront and achieved\nself sufficiency in paddy, the staple crop by 1970 and did wonders in the\nimport substitution type of industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The countries developed their agriculture by having streamlined\nextension systems, also using people’s organizations like cooperatives and\ncultivation committees to plan and enlist the participation of the people. The\nUSA itself- its,  Agency for International\nDevelopment and  its  Ford Foundation backed by expertise at\nMichigan State University, spearheaded a rural development programme in the\nKotwali Thana of the Comilla District. In under a decade the yield of paddy was\ndoubled, industries were developed and poverty was totally alleviated. Kotwali\nThana is today an oasis within a poverty stricken country. Its method was\nthrough cooperative extension work and total development,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third World agricultural development had to be stopped .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This the Superpowers did in around 1978, through the World Bank.\nAs each trained agricultural officer at the village level had over a thousand\nfarmers, cooperatives were used to enable the farmers to cooperate. In Sri\nLanka there were two peoples organizations- the multipurpose cooperatives and\nthe cultivation committees to organize paddy cultivation. The World Bank barred\nagricultural officers from using peoples organizations. Instead the officers\nwere asked to contact farmers direct.  To\nmake the various countries accept this system, an Aid package was offered .\nThe Training and Visit System is financed under IDA Credit where funds are\nbrought in on foreign aid  to meet the\nsalaries of local officers and servicing costs. The IDA Credit is also based on\na grace period of 10 years so that the Government that takes the loan  has nothing to worry about the consequences\nof repayment.\u201d (From: Karunaratne:Administering Rural Development in the\nThird World(1983)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The adoption of the Training & Visit System totally destroyed\nthe agricultural extension systems that had been built up in Sri Lanka and\nother similar countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USA was very keen to develop their sale of wheat. The USA came\nup with Public Law 480(PL480) which provided wheat at concessionary rates to\nDeveloping Countries. Food Aid was provided till the countries came to depend\non it.  A USA Department of Agriculture\nOfficer once said: We taught people to eat wheat, who did not eat it before.\u201d\nOrville Freeman, US Secretary of State said; “in the last seven years our\nagricultural exports to Taiwan climbed by 531% \nand to South Korea by 643%.  PL480\nmakes good sense.\u201d(From Lappe & Collins; Food First: Beyond the Myth of\nScarcity)  It has been proved that\nthe inroads of wheat sales has had a detrimental effect on local agriculture in\nthat bread found a place and ousted local grains, yams etc. that  were consumed by people earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Third World countries were at the forefront of developing new\nvarieties of paddy,  Sri Lanka\nestablished seed producing stations  and\ndeveloped new varieties well before 1955. This enabled the doubling of yields.\nTo undo this the Superpowers through the IMF advised the privatization of seed\nfarms. Many important seed farms were privatized. The USA also established the\nInternational Rice Research Institute in Manila, Philippines in 1990 and sought\nto undermine the  production of new\nvarieties by countries.  In my words:\nSri Lanka was the first country to come up with miracle paddy seeds. In 1955\nwe had H4 and immediately afterwards H 8. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We privatized most seed farms and thereby cannot assure our\nfarmers of high yielding certified seed. Distributing high yielding certified\nseed and organizing cultivation was the mantra by which we became self\nsufficient by 1970.  Our country was\ndeprived of certified seed as well as the extension service through\ncooperatives, all at the behest of the World Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, multinationals in the USA  that deal with seeds  are engaged in a massive campaign to buy all\nthe seed farms all over the World\u2026 Led by Monsanto they are buying seedfarms..\nThe multinationals are seeking patents for the seeds they develop and they have\nalso developed \u2018terminator technology\u2019 whereby the crop that is produced from\nthe certified seed does not germinate. It follows that once the multinationals\ndevelop new varieties the farmers even in the remotest areas  will have to purchase new seeds from the\nmultinationals. Gone are the days when farmers can retain their stock of seeds\nfrom the earlier harvest to the next.\u201d(From: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka is blessed with many resources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Superpowers  have tried\nagain and again to wrest control of these resources. Eppawela has a major\nPhosphate resource . A US multinational was interested in securing this\nphosphate and I quote from the Report done by scientists appointed by Minister\nBatty Weerakoon once Minister of Technology.(who passed away today-6\/01\/2019):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposal of the US mining company will exhaust the resource\nin 30 years, with insignificant benefit to the country. The proposal is highly\nenvironmentaly damaging and does not serve in the national interest in any\nmanner. Mountains of gypsum, an unwanted byproduct  will accumulate polluting the environment\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The invasion on phosphate had to be stopped by a  Supreme Court order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to enable people-farmers to increase their production and\nthereby alleviate their poverty, Sri Lanka had in place a development\ninfrastructure. This included the Marketing Department(MD) activities- the\nVegetable and Fruit Purchasing Scheme under which the MD purchased vegetables\nand fruits from producers at a higher rate than what was offered by\ntraders,  This produce was transported to\nthe Cities and sold at Fair Price Shops at cheap rates. The MD kept a margin of\n15% for handling and wastage as opposed to 100% kept by traders. The fruits\nwere processed into Jam and Juice, which enabled the country to become self\nsufficient. The MD ran rice mills which milled paddy into rice. The MD had a\nBakery which produced bread and pastries. The MD used to run canteens at\nfestivals like Kataragama where food was sold at cheap rates, competing with\nhoteliers. This was the infrastructure we had to combat inflation. The\nInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) forbid the countries from attending to\ncommercial undertakings and the MD was abolished.  With this the producers found it difficult to\nsell their produce and this reduced production. Imports increased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the advice of the IMF, which is run by the Superpowers,\ndevelopment was brought to a standstill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once President Clinton tried to entice Bangladesh. Let me narrate\nwhat happened:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the overtures of President Clinton on his current visit\nto Bangladesh, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh has refused to change\nBangladesh’s long held stance  against\nthe liberalization of  of gas exports\nuntil local needs were met and a fifty year reserve was assured. President\nClinton had earlier announced $ 97 million in food aid, $ 84 million in clean\nenergy initiatives and $ 8.6 million to reduce abusive child labour, \u2018debt for\nnature\u2019 swap and forgave $ 6 million  in\nBangladesh’s external debt but Prime Minister Sheik Hassina stood her ground\nstating, ‘we would like to lead a life of dignity\u2019. The decision of the\nGovernment of Bangladesh disappointed US and British Companies as well as the\nWorld Bank. Their idea was to prise open the gas reserves of Bangladesh for\nexploitation by multinationals and the bulk of the wealth created would flow to\nthe Western Companies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One can go on for ever\ndetaling how the Superpowers have tried again and again to ruin Third World\ncountries. This is a never ending saga. They have never helped us. Instead they\nwant us to produce raw materials, sell it to them and buy their manufactures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka is already trapped\nby the International Monetary Fund- the IMF by their imposing the Structural\nAdjustment Programme on us which advised us to spend foreign exchange which we\ndid not have and advised us to meet the shortfall with loans. We are now an\nindebted country to the extent of $ 60 billion, of which say half was spent on\ndevelopment projects-Mahaweli, roads and armaments to win the war etc and half\nspent to help the rich, on IMF advice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is time we shake off the\nshackles of domination from foreign Superpowers and their IMF. Instead we have\nto follow a non aligned path and develop our resources, help our people to\nincrease production get employed in industry and alleviate poverty   becoming self reliant. . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University
Former G.A. Matara
Author of: How the IMF Ruined SriLanka & Alternative Programmes of Success(Godages:2006) from which I have quoted.
How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development (Kindle\/Godages:2017)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12\/10\/2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Garvin Karunaratne Many authorities in Sri Lanka  are waiting with open arms to grab the MCC Grant of $ 480 million. They do not care that some 28% of the country will be sold off to the USA for two hundred years.. Two hundred years is well over the period that Sri Lanka was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-garvin-karunaratne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}