Does capitalism make backing genocide inevitable?
JVL Introduction
Capitalism runs the world and morality is rarely a factor. Even the BRICS countries, ostensibly representing the Global South seems powerless to stop the killing, to stop pumping a genocidal regime with arms and other goods. In this thought provoking article, the writer notes that “(e)ven South Africa—the one BRICS nation to file a genocide complaint at the International Court of Justice—continues shipping coal to fuel Israel’s power grid.”
He goes on to argue that: “This is not hypocrisy. This is something more systematic and more terrifying. These are not evil people making conscious choices to enable genocide. They are trapped actors in an economic system that has evolved beyond human intention, a system that now operates according to its own logic of profit and growth, indifferent to the moral horror it produces.”
To this we can also add destruction of the planet on which we all – billionaires included – rely.
The focus on the BRICS nations is important as these often have “governments that came to power through anti-colonial struggles, that position themselves as alternatives to Western imperialism, (yet) prove equally powerless before the economic imperatives that bind them to genocide.”
LL
This article was originally published by BettBeat’s Newsletter on Wed 10 Sep 2025. Read the original here.
Capitalism Hijacked the World to Keep Contributing to Genocide—BRICS Proves It
We are like addicts who scream “no” while stabbing the needle into our arms. The rational mind recoils from the horror, but the economic body continues its automated motions of complicity.
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I sympathize with the writer’s criticism of the current international order. But s/he would offer a more accurate attack if s/he took account of the analysis of Marx and Engels; or from a slightly different perspective Franz Fanon.
The current situation is not new or unique. Just think of the colonial crimes and genocides that took place under the League of Nations. More recently Korea, Algeria, The Congo, Vietnam, Chile ….. The lists goes on. And it is not a loss of humanity; it is the interests of the capitalist class who have always put their interests and values before what are called human values.
It seems clear that the World, particularly the global economy, is gravitating toward capitalism as the preferred economic model. It is fair to say that greed has been, and most likely will remain, a core component of everyday life. Also, governments exist primarily to rule and govern geographical areas, driven by strongly held political, cultural, spiritual and similar beliefs originating and strengthening over many millennia. We are developing a multi-department University course designed to refine the concepts central to the course, as well as to develop strategies for domestic and global commercial interests’ implementation of a set of transparent and sustainable business goals and objectives reflecting Human Rights Capitalism.
The initial course encourages critical thinking about fueling the balance between self-interest and that which is good for all of humanity and Mother Earth, including careful identification of relevant rights, responsibilities, equality, and justice in the context of today’s modern and increasingly global challenges in a more transparent manner, using verifiable measurements of success economically, politically, and socially. While this initial course will be designed as a multi-departmental course, a goal will be to begin a separate department with representatives from a number of related existing departments.
The information about the various links with Israel of the BRICs nations was new to me and really helpful. I found the analysis excellent.
I have found this article terrifyingly accurate and have shared it widely. Thank you JVL, I/we could never have seen it otherwise.
Some of the Comments seem to me to miss the point that we are living in a new situation. The word unprecedented has been overused lately, maybe because it’s true.