Comments on: “Free trade” should be called “forced trade” https://energytransition.org/2017/08/free-trade-should-be-called-forced-trade/ The Global Energiewende Fri, 20 Oct 2017 12:09:50 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.1 By: Vishal https://energytransition.org/2017/08/free-trade-should-be-called-forced-trade/#comment-5870 Thu, 17 Aug 2017 19:32:35 +0000 https://energytransition.org/?p=15546#comment-5870 Well, pre colonial governments in India and China did not go to war with each other in order to obtain more coal or oil as compared to the western imperialists. Back then, their focus was more on territorial acquisition, assimilation of the local population into their empires and gaining control of important crafts and trades practiced by the locals.
Britain, France and Netherlands never really cared of assimilating any of the locals and treating them as equals within their societies. The colonized countries were looted off of their resources. The common people except for the ruling princes/ kings and bureaucrats were treated like second class citizens or Untermenschen ( as the Nazis referred the Jews and the Slavs) .After liberating Egypt and some northern territories from the Ottoman empire, the Brits were indeed more focused on getting their hands on the oil fields on those regions.

So objectively speaking, the author is correct in his claim and comparing pre colonial lifestyles and conflicts in Asia , China and Mexico to their post colonial and present state of affairs in my opinion is not appropriate.

Please remember that this is not a baseless criticize Britain or other imperial powers, but just stating of mere facts from an objective stand point.

Although, one must clearly point out that in India, there were some honest and good English/ Scottish and Irish officers doing their job and trying their best to do justice to their new homes, their policies and governing abilities were completely undermined by their overlords sitting in Delhi and London.

]]> By: James Wimberley https://energytransition.org/2017/08/free-trade-should-be-called-forced-trade/#comment-5869 Thu, 17 Aug 2017 17:44:36 +0000 https://energytransition.org/?p=15546#comment-5869 Seems fairly standard anti-colonialist fare. It’s a reasonable take on the cynicism and violence of many if not most European imperialists. What is hard to take is the rosy spectacles about the colonised societies. Pre-colonial Indian and Chinese businessmen and landowners were devoted to the “needs of local communities”? Really? Pre-Colombian Aztec Mexico and Inca Peru were highly aggressive and expansionist empires, in the former case to supply the victims for industrial-scale human sacrifices.

]]>