The global economy is often framed as a system of free trade and open markets, but an infrastructure built on violence lies beneath this idealised narrative. From forced labour to militarised trade routes and covert operations protecting corporate interests, international commerce is sustained not merely by supply and demand but by a network of coercion, intimidation, and outright warfare.
Slave Labor and Forced Exploitation in Global Supply Chains
Many of the goods we consume daily—our food, clothing, and electronics—are produced under conditions that closely resemble modern slavery. The cocoa fields of West Africa are infamous for child labour, with children trafficked and forced to work under inhumane conditions. Similarly, in South Asian textile factories, wages are kept artificially low through state-sanctioned repression of labour movements. This pattern of exploitation ensures that Western companies can maintain cheap production while externalizing the costs onto vulnerable workers.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have also played a significant role in deepening economic coercion. Their policies, often designed to benefit Western investors, have left Third World nations dependent on foreign capital while enforcing austerity measures that drive people into exploitative labour markets.
Militarised Protection of Trade Routes
Global trade routes rely on naval power to ensure uninterrupted commerce. The United States, for instance, maintains military bases in key strategic locations, such as the Philippines and the Middle East, to safeguard its economic interests. The U.S. Navy polices critical sea lanes like the Strait of Hormuz, the South China Sea, and the Suez Canal, under the pretence of countering piracy. However, these military operations primarily protect Western multinational interests from disruptions by local actors who have been economically disenfranchised by the same trade systems.
During the Gulf War, one of the primary objectives of U.S. intervention was to ensure continued control over Middle Eastern oil, reinforcing that military force is deployed not for ethical or humanitarian reasons but to maintain the economic order.
Private Military Forces and Coup Support
Beyond state militaries, private security companies and mercenary forces are frequently used to enforce corporate control over resource-rich areas. The U.S. government, for example, has historically funded paramilitary groups in Latin America to protect business interests. One well-documented example is the overthrow of Guatemala’s democratically elected president, Jacobo Árbenz, in 1954. The coup was backed by the CIA on behalf of the United Fruit Company, which saw Árbenz’s land reforms as a threat to its monopolistic hold over banana exports.
Similarly, in Africa, corporate-funded militias have violently suppressed workers and local communities to ensure continued resource extraction. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, private military firms have been employed to guard mining operations from local resistance movements, often with the tacit support of Western powers.
The Arms Trade and Its Role in Sustaining Economic Order
A key yet often overlooked element of global commerce is the arms trade. The United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and China are the largest arms exporters, and their weapons often fuel conflicts that serve economic interests. These arms are sold not only to governments but also to private security firms and mercenary groups, which use them to maintain control over economic assets.
For example, U.S. military aid has been found to correlate strongly with human rights abuses, with aid disproportionately flowing to regimes that use torture and repression to maintain economic "stability". This was evident in the U.S.'s support for brutal regimes in Latin America throughout the Cold War, ensuring that local governments remained friendly to American corporate interests while suppressing leftist movements that threatened economic hegemony.
Covert Operations and Training Programs
One of the most insidious forms of global economic enforcement is the use of covert operations and training programs to prop up compliant regimes. The U.S. has repeatedly trained foreign military personnel through programs like the School of the Americas (now WHINSEC), where Latin American officers were taught counterinsurgency tactics, often used to crush labour movements and peasant uprisings.
The CIA's involvement in the global drug trade also serves as a covert economic enforcement mechanism. During the Vietnam War, the agency facilitated drug trafficking in Laos and Thailand, ensuring that its proxy forces had a steady revenue stream while simultaneously destabilizing local resistance movements.
Conclusion: Violence as the Engine of Global Trade
The romanticised image of globalisation as a free and fair marketplace masks the reality that the system relies on coercion at multiple levels. Whether through the direct use of military force, economic policies that perpetuate poverty, or the backing of authoritarian regimes, the world's trade networks function not through voluntary exchange alone but through a structured application of violence.
Understanding this reality forces us to rethink the nature of economic relationships and raises the question: if trade must be upheld through force, is it truly free at all?
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