For the subsistence-level, tribal peoples of the world a new age is dawning. It is the age of the worker.

"Developing" nations have been annexed wholly, or in-part, by multi-national corporations seeking new markets, cheap labor, and lax environmental laws. However, these corporations have a problem.

What happens when the villagers don't want your goods, your jobs, or your money? After all, what use is TV to a village with no electricity? A tribe that has spent generations developing a sustainable relationship with nature and culture incompatible with western ideals (i.e. capitalism, democracy, monotheism, etc.) has no need for the trappings of modern life - nor the sweat-shop labor necessary to enjoy them. The solution: Destroy the tribes.

Militias armed by western governments and multi-national corporations stalk these nations systematically killing men and raping women. Ethnic cleansing? Perhaps. But it's also an effective way of depopulating the countryside while flooding urban centers - some next door, some half-way around the globe - with refugees...most of whom are women and children. The result: An instant source of cheap, victimized, terrorized, labor at the mercy of their employers.

The corporations get their workforce, their merchandise, and a dumping ground for their pollution. The murderers and rapists on the ground melt back into the night - all the richer from the spoils. And finally, we - the first-world we - get our campaign pullovers on the cheap.

Labels: Africa, economy, refugees, slavery, UN