U$ props up Indonesian fascists
MIM Notes 195
by MC53 and MC17
The U.$. has backed the Indonesian occupation of East Timor from the beginning. It has given political, economic and military support to the Indonesian dictatorship of President Suharto and to President Habibie. U.$. arms sales to Indonesia have totaled more than $1.1 billion dollars and two decades' worth of U.$. arm shipments account for 90% of Indonesia's military hardware.(1) Commercial arms sales from the united snakes for just the next year are expected to total about $16 million. (2) The u.$. has a number of economic programs in Indonesia which total close to $490 million.(3)
The united snakes has propped up the Indonesian military dictatorship to ensure surplus value extraction from the world's fourth most populated country. Because the profit-stake is so big in Indonesia and because independence movements only hurt imperialism, the United Snakes supported Indonesian fascism.
Habibie's September 12 concession to the U.N. will logically mean that the imperialists have the green light to renege on the September 9th threat of freezing $470,000 a year military training programs and officer exchange programs.
In 1997, the U.$. congress allocated an additional $45 million in aid to the Indonesian dictatorship, with $100,000 aimed at military training alone.(4) The total bailout package following the dive of Indonesia's rupiah totaled $43 billion. Indonesia's total foreign debt is approximately $140 billion. The so-called aid given to the Indonesian dictatorship serves several purposes for the imperialists.
SO HOW DOES THIS ARRANGEMENT SERVE THE IMPERIALISTS?
First, imperialism must export capital as a means to extract superprofits from Third World workers. Imperialist corporations set up factories -- like Nike -- to profit off of cheap Indonesian labor. The so-called aid helps develop infrastructure that makes the sweat shops and plantations more efficient in their exploitation.
Second, the imperialist backers of so-called aid are able to extract additional surplus value from the workers in the form of interest paid on loans. The Indonesian government must pay huge amounts of interest to the big Amerikan, European and Japanese banks every year. These interest payments will leap again in the next few years, ensuring greater dependency and lack of funds to provide for the needs of the people. This is a typical international imperialist financing scheme that leads to greater impoverishment for the people in the imperialist colonies and neo-colonies and riches for the imperialists and their lackeys.
Third, the so-called aid helps to develop the fascist puppet military that represses the masses in their struggle for freedom and justice. The comprador class uses part of the so-called aid to build its own wealth off exploitation. The Suharto regime, deposed by mass protests, is still being investigated for having pilfered money during its decades in power. In the last 30 years about 90 Third World countries have received loans from the IMF, 48 are no better off and 32 are actually poorer.
The so-called aid given by the imperialists and their agencies only serves the interests of the oppressor, it does not assist the masses in moving closer to earning the value of their labor power.
In a nifty trick designed to ensure u.$. economic prosperity, $25 million was offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture earmarked last year for purchase of U.S. food (and the quantities and products will be determined by the USDA). This is a common policy of u.s. aid to Third World countries. It ensures dependency while keeping the money within the U.$.(3) The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) provides short-term export financing of up to $1 billion for U.S. exports to Indonesia to further back up this dependency strategy. According to the Ex-Im's own description "Ex-Im Bank is an independent U.S. government agency that helps to sustain American jobs by financing U.S. exports to emerging markets that otherwise would not go forward. In fiscal year 1997, Ex-Im Bank supported $15 billion in U.S. exports."(3)
NOTES:
1. The Christian Science Monitor 10/10/94, p. 18.
2. The New York Times 10 September 1999, p. A1.
3. http://www.indonesiatoday.com/a3/j6/y2mar98.html
4.http://amadeus.inesc.pt:80/~jota/Timor/TimorNews/Mar97/Indo.not.concerned.with.US.proposal.to.stop.aid