Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism

American and European companies have partnered with African governments to “exploit new sources of primary products” (84). These ventures will not lead to the industrialization of African economies because they primarily only produce materials in basic or secondary stages; these are raw materials which are sent abroad to be processed into finished goods, rather than be processed in Africa. This limits the profits which will remain in Africa and limits the industrial growth of the African economies. As such, African natural resources are used primarily for the development of the Western world rather than Africa.

Western capitalists openly advocate for the “harmonized exploitation” (86) of resources in Latin America and Africa because cheap labor and local government assistance offer greater profits at the expense of African development. Nkrumah cites information about the rapid rise in extraction of African resources, though always in an exploitative manner.

Were Africans able to extract, control, and process raw material for the benefit of Africans, then the development of the continent would place it “among the most modernized continents of the world without recourse to outside sources” (89). Materials such as manganese and bauxite are found in abundance in Africa. Such resources are vital for steel production, but Western countries must extract these resources and others from African countries.

Nkrumah cites the ways in which mining companies in Africa are owned and operated by Western powers through firms such as the British company, B.I.S.C. (Ore) Ltd. Many of these firms are part-owned by wealthy old families such as the Rothschilds, the Morgans, and the Oppenheimers. The Agnelli family of Italy, for example, built an industrial empire through the company known as Fiat. Though Fiat is ostensibly a car manufacturer, it invests in many resource extraction ventures around the world. Through subsidiaries and other firms, Fiat is invested in beverage production, hydro-electrical dams, cement production, and much more. The company also owns lands, hotels, and tourist resorts, as well as shipping companies and oil. Fiat also builds military aircraft and publishes newspapers.

Gabon has large quantities of uranium, essential for atomic energy research. Western companies build infrastructure in Gabon with the sole purpose of extracting this uranium, while maintaining control of this infrastructure. Giants like US Steel and General Electric are invested in “many sectors of industry: radio, aviation, marine, scientific research, and turn out heavy capital goods, industrial components and materials and defense products, as well as consumer goods” (103-104).

In terms of fertilizers, Nkrumah believes that Africa has enough phosphates to “cover its future food and industrial requirements [and] leave enough over to supply the needs of many other parts of the globe” (105), yet almost all phosphate extraction is controlled by Western powers for Western benefit and profit. Since these powers then sell fertilizers at a higher rate, developing countries have less access to fertilizers made from their own resources, thus limiting their potential for development. At the same time, Western powers subsidize fertilizer costs for domestic use. As more resources are discovered in Africa, Western companies rush to invest and control their extraction in pursuit of “fabulous profits” (109).

Harry Frederick Oppenheimer is “the king of mining in South Africa” (110). As a result, he is one of the most powerful people in the entire country. He is director, chairman, or president of as many as 70 companies, meaning that he is involved in almost all industries in South Africa. His complex knot of involvement in many businesses is in a constant state of rearrangement “to forestall or meet competition, to streamline the structure and to correct the tax position” (112). Nkrumah describes the extent to which these companies’ interests span the globe, though he concedes that he has space to touch “only on the bare bones of the Consolidated Gold Fields skeletal structure” (119).

Nkrumah cites estimates that “over 50 per cent of the foreign capital invested in Africa has been poured into South Africa” (120). The Anglo-American De Beers group (part of the Oppenheimer empire) is dominant in the South African economy. The cheapness of African labor means a much greater profit for companies investing in South Africa rather than America, where workers earn 27 times as much.

South African mines produce gold, uranium, and more. Nkrumah describes the various ways in which foreign capital is invested in these mining companies. An example is Kennecott, perhaps the foremost copper producer in the United States, which is valued at more than a billion dollars. These foreign investments make vast sums from the exploitation of African labor and resources, Nkrumah notes, particularly “in a country that makes a mockery of human rights for its non-white inhabitants” (126).

Nkrumah examines the Anglo-American Corporation Ltd., which is the “biggest octopus in the Oppenheimer sea of operations” (127). The company’s undertakings involve gold, uranium, iron, asbestos, and coal. Nkrumah provides a long list of the company’s direct investments. A number of the company’s investments involve countries which operate a system of apartheid, thereby propping up the racially segregated countries in the name of profit. These Western interests “wield a preponderant influence upon the policies of their governments in relation to the African scene” (133).

The history of explicit colonial violence and exploitation involving men like Cecil Rhodes has evolved into a more obfuscated and veiled system of neo-colonialism. The system is equally as exploitative, but not as explicitly colonial. The De Beers corporation, set up by Rhodes, “still controls within its own group of companies the output and distribution of most of the world’s diamonds” (133). Rand Selection, a subsidiary of Anglo American, owns thousands of acres in South Africa and runs townships. Anglo American “governs the fate of many millions on this continent” (136) and is constantly looking to expand its domination, as it cannot afford to be overtaken.