I have seen quite some people post about the recession in Britain and attempt to justify the pitiable state of Nigeria’s economy with it by doing comparisons.
Like I have said before, to defend the austerity ravaging Nigeria at the moment, it’s either such a person benefits from the misery of the immense majority of the people, or s/he is born for servitude. The former seems to be more in number. There is another group of people that are ashamed of their electoral choices, so while some of them bury their heads in shame, some are dogmatic in defence of their choices, steered by blind ego.
Back to the British economy. Some of the characters described above try to make us “see reason” why “no administration is perfect” and so it is “okay” for us to continuously remain impoverished by the policies made by some people that have led to the deregulation of virtually all sectors of the economy, from power (leading to darkness amid rising bills) to oil (leading to the removal of fuel “subsidy”) to education (leading to fee hikes amid imprisoning student loans), etc.
Again, what has been made clear is that the system of privatisation has not helped working-class people. Those who profit from the sales of state-owned enterprises are a handful of billionaire capitalists, most of whom are connected to the capitalists in government. Privatisation has contributed significantly to making the few super-rich people richer, while the majority of poor working people get poorer.
The economies of Britain, the United States and other Western imperialist countries might be more advanced than the economies of Nigeria and other African countries. But they are all capitalist i.e., based on the profit motive which serves the interest of the exploiter class. Indeed, the world economy is capitalist, putting profit before poor people and the planet.
This system is inherently flawed, not only because it is exploitative. Since production is based on making profit and not the needs of people, production is cut when profitability falls. Meanwhile, the deployment of technological development to production leads to enhanced productivity on one hand on one hand. On the other hand, increasing poverty and rising inflation make it more difficult for working-class people to purchase goods.
In light of these two intertwined trends, there is always a tendency for profit to fall. And when it does, the capitalists cut down on production leading to recession. So economic crises are not accidents or things that simply happen now and then in the capitalist economy. They are the way this exploitative system of competition to maximise profit at any cost works. And it is we, poor working-class people, that bear the brunt of these systemic crises of capitalism.
To stop the cycles of crises and the suffering which go with it, for us, we must overthrow the capitalist system. Since this exploitative system is worldwide, its defeat can be won only with an international socialist revolution. Struggle and solidarity within our different countries, and across borders must thus be at the heart of our revolutionary politics.
So, as we fight for and defend reforms and concessions from the capitalists, such as improved wages, reversal of removal of subsidies and putting in place of price control mechanisms, we must not have the illusion that these alone can lead to the betterment of our living situations and ultimately our liberation. These are important and could lead to some political gains for working people, but the capitalists are ready to take them back as soon as they can.
Thus, in Nigeria, Britain and across the world, we as workers and other exploited people must wage a permanent political war against the capitalists and their governments, until we emancipate ourselves and build a better world where exploitation and oppression will become a thing of the past. We must unite and fight, for international socialism.
by G. VON
