Why Capitalism Needs Imperialism To Drain Wealth From the Global South

Why does capitalism need imperialism? What is the magnitude of colonial and imperial theft of resources from the Global South? How did global capitalism adapt after World War II and in the neoliberal era? And how is it fueling neofascist movements today?

Rania Khalek was joined by renowned Marxist Economist Utsa Patnaik. She is co-author of “A Theory of Imperialism” and the more recent “Capital and Imperialism: Theory, History, and the Present,” with Prabhat Patnaik.

TIME CODES
0:00 Intro
1:00 Why Marxism is important to understanding imperialism
2:41 How much wealth was stolen by colonial powers from the Global South?
7:29 What to look at to quantify colonial transfers of wealth
9:50 Effects of British colonial drain on India, then and now
11:23 Why we don’t understand mechanisms of colonial drain
13:26 Why the Global North stole from the Global South
17:04 Oil in West Asia as primary product the Global North needs
19:35 The Global South is NOT poor!
22:32 Why did the Global North have to subjugate the Global South?
25:21 Magnitude of colonial transfers from India to England, 1700s
33:42 The industrialization of the Global North deindustrialized the Global South
39:21 The slave trade & indigenous land theft
42:24 The Global South does not need trade from the Global North
52:15 After 1857 mechanism of British colonial drain changes
58:19 How the budgetary revenues were used by colonial powers
1:03:08 British colonialism drained $64 trillion from India!
1:06:03 From colonialism to imperialism and The rise of neoliberalism
1:23:37 Capitalism caused food insecurity and farmer’s protests in India
1:28:52 Connection between neoliberalism & neofascism