Extracting Profit: Imperialism, Neoliberalism and the New Scramble for Africa

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Meticulously researched critique of dominant explanations for African poverty through a discussion of the historical roots of economic conditions today

Extracting Profit explores the nature of the new scramble for Africa and its impact on African working classes, including an assessment of debates on resource-dependent economies from a Marxist framework

Situates this new scramble within a global context of expanding growth in China, intensified imperial competition and widening U.S. military involvement on the continent

Reviews

Lee WengrafsExtractingProfit- Imperialism, Neoliberalism and The New Scramble for Africa is at once historical and contemporary. It unpacks ongoing resource crimes by analytically exposing its historical roots and pointing to ways by which the oppressed can cut off the bonds that lock in their subjugation. Nnimmo Bassey, Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation "Lee Wengraf provides an important reminder that Africas position within the world economy is heavily determined by its unequal insertion into the global capitalist system and ongoing manifestations of imperialism." James Chamberlain, Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute "Lee Wengrafs Extracting Profit provides a breathtakingly detailed account and analysis of some of the major socioeconomic ills that have been plaguing Africa for centuries. Amongst the host of issues she tackles, arguably the most consequential are mass poverty in African societies, their indefensible economic inequalities and the steady plundering of the continents resources, starting from the slave-trade era up till the present-day." Remi Adekoya, Review of African Political Economy "Extracting Profit offers several narratives of grassroots organizing and protest, pointing to the potential for resistance to global capital and fundamental change, in Africa and beyond." Developing Economics Evidently, this book is well-researched and it contributes to the expansion of the frontiers of Marxist scholarship on Africas development dilemma within the global capitalist order. This book lends credence to the pioneering works of such notable radical scholars as Andre Gunder Frank, Walter Rodney, and Samir Amin among several others. It should be read by students and teachers of political economy, development studies, Marxism and philosophy. Marx & Philosophy Review of Books Extracting Profitprovidesa great arch of scutinyfrom the earliest carve-up of the African continent, through colonialism, war, imperialism, to the recent neoliberal takeover.The bookdemonstrates the continuedimportanceof Marxist analysis on the continent,assertingthe centralityofclass analysis and a project of revolutionary change. Wengraf provides us with a major contribution, that highlights contemporary developments and the role of China on the African continent that has perplexed and baffled scholars. Anindispensablevolume. Leo Zeilig, author ofFrantz Fanon: The Militant Philosopher of Third World Revolution "The history of resource frontiers everywhere is always one of lethal violence, militarism, empire amidst the forcing house of capital accumulation. Lee Wengraf in Extracting Profitpowerfully reveals the contours of Africas 21stcentury version of this history. The scramble for resources, markets, and investments have congealed into a frightening militarization across the continent, creating and fueling the conditions for further political instability. Wengraf documents how expanded American, but also Chinese, presence coupled with the War on Terror, point to both the enduring rivalry among global superpowers across the continent and a perfect storm of resource exploitation. Wengraf offers up a magisterial synopsis of the challenges confronting contemporary Africa." Michael Watts,University of California, Berkeley "One of the most well-known stylized facts of Africa's recent growth experience is that it has been inequality-inducing in ways that previous growth spurts were not. Lee Wengraf, in her new book Extracting Profit , expertly utilises the machinery of Marxian class analysis in making sense of this stylized fact. Along the way we learn much about Africa's historical relationship with imperialism and its contemporary manifestations. This book should be required reading for all those who care about Africa and its future." Grieve Chelwa, Contributing Editor, Africa Is A Country "In recent years countries in the African continent have experienced an economic boombut not all have benefited equally.Extracting Profitis a brilliant and timely analysis that explodes the myth of Africa Rising, showing how neoliberal reforms have made the rich richer, while leaving tens of millions of poor and working class people behind. Lee Wengraf tells this story within the context of an imperial rivalry between the United States and China, two global superpowers that have expanded their economic and military presence across the continent.Extracting Profitis incisive, powerful, and necessary: If you read one book about the modern scramble for Africa, and what it means for all of us, make it this one." Anand Gopal, author,No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes "Thorough and thoughtful, Wengraf's book has a radical depth that underscores its significance. It's definitely a must-read for anyone who cherishes an advanced knowledge on the exploitation of Africa as well as the politics that undermines Africa's class freedom." Kunle Wizeman Ajayi, Convener, Youths Against Austerity and General Secretary of the United Action for Democracy, Nigeria "Extracting Profitis a very important book for understanding why the immense majority of the African population remain pauperised, despite impressive growth rates of mineral-rich countries on the continent. It continues the project of Walter RodneysHow Europe Underdeveloped Africa. And in several ways, it also goes beyond it, capturing the changing dynamics of global capitalism 45 years after Rodneys magnus opus. In this book, Lee Wengraf debunks the myth of Africa Rising and the supposed expansion of an entrepreneurial middle-class, revealing reforms imposed by international financial institutions as mechanisms for fostering imperialism in an era of sharpening contradictions of the global capitalist economy. The adverse social, economic, political and environmental impact of these are elaborated on as a systemic whole, through the books examination of the sinews of capitals expansion in the region: the extractive industries. But, Wengraf does not stop at interrogating the underdevelopment of Africa. Her book identifies a major reason for the failures of national liberation projects: while the working masses were mobilised to fight against colonial domination, the leadership of these movements lay in the hands of aspiring capitalists, and intellectuals. The urgency of the need for a strategy for workers power internationally, she stresses correctly, cannot be overemphasized. ReadingExtracting Profitwould be exceedingly beneficial for any change-seeking activist in the labour movement within and beyond Africa."Baba Aye, editor,Socialist Worker(Nigeria)

Author Bio

Lee Wengraf is a writer and activist in New York City. Her articles have appeared inInternational Socialist Review, Socialist Worker, Review of African Political Economy, Pambazuka News, AllAfrica, Jacobin, Truthout, Green Left Weekly and the Indypendent.