Globalisation – An Imperial Initiative? The fight of the Ogoni people.

The impact of globalisation on the global south is specifically important when discussing imperial globalisation. In this blog post, I will focus on Nigeria and here specifically on the Ogoni based social resistance movement The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). This social movement developed during the 1990s following Shell’s move into Ogoni territory. Shell engaged in large-scale oil extraction and exploration in Ogoni, forcing the indigenous people to give up land without their consent.

Photo by Friends of the Earth International

Globalisation, Resistance and Trump: contesting the political economy of global restructuring

Voting for Donald Trump did not require civil disobedience, there were no strikes against other businesses and there was no significant violent protest. Trump’s electoral victory was however the result of a fundamental resistance to globalisation. More than that, and to the chagrin of his voters, Trump’s election demonstrates the beginnings of Marxist theory on capitalism. America, considered the bastion of global capitalism, had forsaken its proletariat in favour of allowing market forces to profit. The political elite had succumbed to the powers of multinational lobbyists and no longer sought to benefit ‘real Americans’. Such was the view of Trump voters, and whether or not it was true, their demand for a candidate outside of the political elite was fundamentally a rejection of globalisation. It was the culmination of a want for a return to isolationism and a revision of America’s relationship with the global economy.

Photo by LeoLondon