Recently, John Smith, author of Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis, was interviewed by Daphna Whitmore of the online publication, Redline: Contemporary Marxist Analysis:
“DW: By tracing the production of the iphone, the t-shirt and the cup of coffee you put a human face to the economics of super-exploitation. You note that opposition in the west has been left to charities rather than unions. Do you see this changing?
JS: Protectionism is the reflex response of workers faced with competition, it is a much easier option than waging class struggle, yet workers can understand that protectionism leads to disaster. An impressive movement has developed in the United States among Walmart workers for $15 an hour and a union. I’m confident they can feel a sense of solidarity with the workers who produce the goods they stack on WalMart’s shelves. The 39,000 striking Verizon workers, including 13,000 call centre workers, recently discovered that workers at call centres in the Philippines, whose services were being used to break the strike, were being paid $1.78 per hour. Internationalism, however, was not the response of this union official, reported on the union website…”
Read the entire interview in Redline
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