Thursday, April 26, 2012

Namibia and the Anti-Chinese Backlash

"22 years of independence and thousands of construction tenders worth billions of dollars have been awarded mostly to Chinese contractors, yet we find poverty, lack of housing, unemployment, dilapidated school buildings, hospitals and roads in our country... Chinese are robbing our people with their poor business practices, killing our local businesses and due to the working conditions most of our people working for Chinese companies are left with diseases, such as TB and skin diseases. These people are also not environmentally-friendly and are destroying our environment."

http://www.informante.web.na/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9833:poverty-and-the-chinese-way&catid=13:letters&Itemid=105

Socialist Banner has posted on several occasion upon Chinese expansionism, and has not shied away from describing it as a new imperialism and neo-colonialism. However, we must caution against racism and xenophobia. We must differentiate between the Chinese state and their corporations exploiting for profits and the Chinese migrant workers who, similar to the  African or Latino poor, search for a better life for themselves and their families. The solution is solidarity between Namibian workers and Chinese, uniting against their common enemy, the capitalist class.

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