New Imperialists : Ideologies of Empire

180 The New Imperialists
observation stands in stark contrast to the neoliberal predictions of
convergence and equilibrium. Indeed, it is precisely the convergence of
neoliberal policies across the globe that causes the divergence characteristic
of the global economy today. 33
The dispersal of capital, however, implies more than geographical
extension. Perhaps more significant in the current period is the deepening
penetration of capital into increasingly numerous and variegated
spheres of human activity. This process is known as commodification
(that is, turning more and more of the objects we make and consume
into things produced and sold by capitalist businesses).
This has been a continual tendency of capitalism throughout its
history. The 1950s, for example, witnessed the penetration of capital into
the sphere of domestic production. White goods, pre-packaged food, and
so on – representing activities that were previously performed in the
family and outside of the basic capitalist social relation – became subject
to the profit motive and controlled by capitalist industry.
Today this drive manifests itself in one of the central policies advocated
by neoliberalism, privatization, which is an attempt to (re)commodify
spheres of human activity that have been partially removed from – or not
yet become subject to – the profit motive. One of the key elements of
imperialist control today is a program of mass privatization of Third
World assets and natural resources. In the advanced capitalist countries,
privatization of state-run sectors is central to neoliberal austerity
measures, often phased in through stages of corporatization or “public–
private partnerships.” 34
The commodification of water provides one example of this process.
The three biggest water companies in the world – Suez and Veolia
Environment of France and R.W.E. A.G. of Germany – serve almost 300
million people in over 100 countries. These three companies are
predicted to control over 70 percent of the water systems in Europe and
North America within a decade. 35 All over the Third World, water
supplies are becoming the exclusive property of large transnational
corporations. In Bolivia, for example, the Aguas de Tunari consortium –
majority controlled by two multinational companies: Bechtel (U.S.A.)
and Edison (Italy) – was in 1999 awarded a forty-year water concession
for the Cochabamba province. Following this privatization, the price of
water was raised by 400 percent. 36
Iraq also provides a striking illustration of neoliberal privatization.