Chances are if you live in the West, you hear this term all the time: “The Third World.” It’s immediately met with the vision of a yellow-color-scheme Hollywood movie, where everyone lives in huts and is radically anti-American, hating our amazing democratic values!
According to Britannica, the term “Third World” originated during the Cold War and was used to describe the non-capitalist Western-led states. Other than this, you may hear the mainstream media — or even people around you — use phrases like “banana republic,” “failed state,” “uncivilized” or “anti-West”. You might even hear the term “sh*thole countries,” as famously used by President Trump in reference to African nations.
As understood by now, these phrases generally refer to an underdeveloped, poverty-stricken nation.
There’s no doubt that nations with these characteristics exist, whether or not you want to use a derogatory or diplomatic term to describe them. But the question is why do these nations exist?
To reach the answer to this question, definitions must be established. One key to understanding this is the concept of “imperialism”, defined as other nations maintaining and extending power over foreign nations.
Another is the idea of a Global North and Global South, and the relationship between these two regions. The Global North generally adheres to the most developed, industrialized and wealthy countries in the world, usually in Europe, North America, and East Asia. While the Global South is the opposite: the less wealthy and more underdeveloped nations, usually in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. More specific examples of the Global South can include India, the Congo and every nation in the Middle East (other than Israel).
Colonialism usually brings to mind the European colonists who decimated Native populations, or who brought slaves to the Americas. While these are all examples of the horrendous impacts of imperialism by Europeans, colonialism and capitalist greed are still causing issues for many people today. And now this oppression is not just from the 15th century European monarchy, but from the USA, the UK, Europe, Oceania and even parts of Asia.
A study by Nature Communications found that “the economies of the global North net-appropriated 826 billion hours of embodied labour from the global South, across all skill levels and sectors.” The study also found a drastic imbalance between wages, showing that Southern wages are 87-95% lower than Northern wages for labor of equal skill. Significantly, the study found that, “while Southern workers contribute 90% of the labour that powers the world economy, they receive only 21% of global income.”
This practice is referred to as the “unequal exchange of labor” in the basic world economy, and it is largely the reason for these nations’ issues with poverty. But examples of imperialism stretch further than just poverty. They go all the way toward government corruption and international destruction itself.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been involved in numerous covert and overt operations aimed at changing foreign governments, particularly during the Cold War. Between 1947 and 1989, the U.S. attempted to change other nations’ governments seventy-two times—sixty times covertly and six overtly.
The most daunting cases of regime change include those such as Iran in the 1959 coup d’état, otherwise known as Operation Ajax. During the coup, the USA overthrew a democratically elected government, and it facilitated the eventual Islamic revolution, which represents the issues currently facing Iran in the modern world.
Most of these coups and regime changes were done with the excuse of spreading democracy, ending terrorism and even stopping the spread of Communism. If this sounds familiar, it should, because this is still occurring to this day. Americans continue to push the fear mongering regarding issues, such as those occurring in the Middle East, and in effect, they have become brainwashed to support further imperialist measures, to stop the very terrorists that we helped create.
Like Michael Parenti said in his famous lecture on the subject, “These countries are not underdeveloped, they are overexploited.” And fact of the matter is that the damage has already been done.
The global South didn’t fail, they were sabotaged. If the West can spend centuries exploiting cheap labor and resources, and installing puppet regimes, maybe it’s time to start talking about real justice.
This however, cannot occur within a single lifetime. The process of bringing these nations back together will take generations, and these generations must agree on ending this exploitation. But as far as we know, this is not happening anytime soon.
Ending exploitation requires a shift in how powerful nations interact with the rest of the world. It means moving away from systems built on extraction and control, and moving toward relationships based on fairness and mutual benefit. This includes stopping exploitative labor practices, ending unfair trade deals and ensuring that countries in the Global South have control over their own resources and political decisions.
It also involves addressing the effects of colonialism through meaningful economic and structural support. This can’t be viewed as a charity, but as a step toward justice.
The fact of the matter is that, while many aspects of the “American” way of life should be cherished and valued, it is stubborn and hypocritical to ignore the many cases of the mighty Uncle Sam taking down all competition. Through its imperialist and capitalist desires, our country has stopped any development within these “Third World” countries. It’s time for us to recognize this fact and do what we can to bring this international travesty to an end.
