[Marxism] The real story of the Somali pirates

[Stuart Munckton <stuartmunckton@xxxxxxxxx>]

The real story of the Somali pirates
Tony Iltis
18 April 2009


*“Pirates caught redhanded by one of Her Majesty’s warships after trying to
hijack a cargo ship off Somalia made the grave mistake of opening fire on
two Royal Navy assault craft packed with commandos armed with machineguns
and SA80 rifles”, began a November 22, 2008 London Times article. *

 If not for the reference to modern weapons, the article could have been
written 300 years ago.

The pompous triumphalism from the press of the “great powers” reached a
fever pitch following the US navy’s April 12 rescue of Richard Phillips,
captain of the US-flagged and crewed Maersk Alabama. Three teenage pirates
were killed and one captured in the raid.

This is not the only parallel between the current confrontation of powerful
navies and pirates off the coast of Somalia and that in the early 18th
century Atlantic — the “golden age of piracy”.

Like the piracy of the “golden age”, contemporary Somali piracy is a
response of the downtrodden to the devastating effects of globalising
capitalism.

full <http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/791/40758>

-- 
"The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of
dummy?" — Jarvis Cocker

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" — Oscar Wilde
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