July 9—After a 20-year military standoff, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his Eritrean counterpart Isaias Afwerki have agreed to “normalize relations.” Behind the scenes is a $2 billion loan from the United Arab Emirates, deposited in Ethiopian National Bank. Chinese imperialists have invested billions more in infrastructure and industrial parks where Ethiopian workers are ruthlessly exploited. But not forever! Capitalist Investors Need Peace Two years ago, mass protests forced the Ethiopian government to scrap the first phase of its plan for foreign capitalist development. But not before they had murdered hundreds of ethnic Amhara and Oromo students and farmers to quell the protests. Ethiopia was in turmoil. Since 1991, Ethiopia has been ruled by the Ethiopian People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), Tigray nationalist party. (Tigrays are a third ethnic group.) It was increasingly unable to provide the stability demanded by foreign investors. Finally, this April, the EPLF elected Ahmed, a member of the majority Oromo ethnic group, as party chairman. His election to the presidency was a done deal. Ahmed has made some reforms to fool the masses. He released some political prisoners and lifted the state of emergency. Now he has put together a peace deal with the Eritrean rulers. They, after seceding from Ethiopia, fought a brutal war from 1998 to 2000 in which at least 70,000 people were killed. “We have agreed to allow our airlines and ports to operate freely,” said Ahmed. And this is the bottom line. When Eritrea seceded, Ethiopia lost its Red Sea port, Massawa. Now Ethiopia can again do business through Massawa. It’s All in the Service of Imperialism Chinese imperialist investment in Ethiopian infrastructure and industrial parks is proceeding at full speed. Its part of China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative. China has funded a railway from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, to Djibouti as well as a light rail system in Addis Ababa. While building infrastructure, they have also invested massively in local mines and processing facilities. The railways and roads constructed with Chinese loans will ship natural resources extracted by Chinese firms to feed the Chinese industrial machine. This is the pattern of Chinese neo-colonialism throughout Africa. African governments incur massive debt for infrastructure and Chinese investors take their compensation in natural resources. Who is collateral to this debt? The working class and the oppressed masses of Ethiopia. Who will pay the price? The working-class masses through super-exploitation and repression. An example is the Hawassa Industrial Park, near the small city of Sidama. A Chinese construction company built 56 identical hangar-sized metal sheds devoted to textile production there. This is just one of four industrial parks that have opened since 2014. Eight more are planned by 2020. Ethiopia plans to create 2 million new jobs in manufacturing by 2025. Loans from China and the United Arab Emirates allow the government to offer the companies tax-free status for five years. The life blood of capitalism is surplus value. That’s why the Hawassa industrial park has attracted brands like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger as well as the Chinese-Sri Lankan firm Indochine. The super-exploited garment workers in Ethiopia earn the lowest wages of any garment factories in the world. They get a basic wage of $27 US per month. Most are young women from rural areas who have to ask their families to send them money to survive. But the imperialists of the world have a surprise coming if they think that workers in Ethiopia or anywhere else will be exploited forever. Workers have gone on strike once a month in the Hawassa Industrial Park, because of maltreatment at work and exploitation. When workers like these grasp revolutionary ideas and join a communist party, they can wipe out neocolonialism and capitalism itself and build a communist world. 9—After a 20-year military standoff, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his Eritrean counterpart Isaias Afwerki have agreed to “normalize relations.”
Behind the scenes is a $2 billion loan from the United Arab Emirates, deposited in Ethiopian National Bank. Chinese imperialists have invested billions more in infrastructure and industrial parks where Ethiopian workers are ruthlessly exploited. But not forever!
Capitalist Investors Need Peace
Two years ago, mass protests forced the Ethiopian government to scrap the first phase of its plan for foreign capitalist development. But not before they had murdered hundreds of ethnic Amhara and Oromo students and farmers to quell the protests.
Ethiopia was in turmoil. Since 1991, Ethiopia has been ruled by the Ethiopian People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), Tigray nationalist party. (Tigrays are a third ethnic group.) It was increasingly unable to provide the stability demanded by foreign investors.
Finally, this April, the EPLF elected Ahmed, a member of the majority Oromo ethnic group, as party chairman. His election to the presidency was a done deal.
Ahmed has made some reforms to fool the masses. He released some political prisoners and lifted the state of emergency. Now he has put together a peace deal with the Eritrean rulers. They, after seceding from Ethiopia, fought a brutal war from 1998 to 2000 in which at least 70,000 people were killed.
“We have agreed to allow our airlines and ports to operate freely,” said Ahmed. And this is the bottom line. When Eritrea seceded, Ethiopia lost its Red Sea port, Massawa. Now Ethiopia can again do business through Massawa.
It’s All in the Service of Imperialism
Chinese imperialist investment in Ethiopian infrastructure and industrial parks is proceeding at full speed. Its part of China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative.
China has funded a railway from Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, to Djibouti as well as a light rail system in Addis Ababa. While building infrastructure, they have also invested massively in local mines and processing facilities. The railways and roads constructed with Chinese loans will ship natural resources extracted by Chinese firms to feed the Chinese industrial machine.
This is the pattern of Chinese neo-colonialism throughout Africa. African governments incur massive debt for infrastructure and Chinese investors take their compensation in natural resources.
Who is collateral to this debt? The working class and the oppressed masses of Ethiopia. Who will pay the price? The working-class masses through super-exploitation and repression.
An example is the Hawassa Industrial Park, near the small city of Sidama. A Chinese construction company built 56 identical hangar-sized metal sheds devoted to textile production there.
This is just one of four industrial parks that have opened since 2014. Eight more are planned by 2020. Ethiopia plans to create 2 million new jobs in manufacturing by 2025.
Loans from China and the United Arab Emirates allow the government to offer the companies tax-free status for five years.
The life blood of capitalism is surplus value.
That’s why the Hawassa industrial park has attracted brands like Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger as well as the Chinese-Sri Lankan firm Indochine.
The super-exploited garment workers in Ethiopia earn the lowest wages of any garment factories in the world. They get a basic wage of $27 US per month. Most are young women from rural areas who have to ask their families to send them money to survive.
But the imperialists of the world have a surprise coming if they think that workers in Ethiopia or anywhere else will be exploited forever. Workers have gone on strike once a month in the Hawassa Industrial Park, because of maltreatment at work and exploitation.
When workers like these grasp revolutionary ideas and join a communist party, they can wipe out neocolonialism and capitalism itself and build a communist world.
Front page of this issue
