So Brazil de Fato, when analyzing the latest BRICS summit, spoke about oil: “The bloc has embraced countries that are conservative and have economies based on oil exploration, trends that go against important contemporary agendas, such as women’s rights and combating climate change.”
The issue of conservatism and women’s rights is not the theme of our article, although it must be said: this idea is a repetition of the propaganda that imperialism makes about BRICS countries. However, let’s focus on what is said about oil.
According to the considerations of the Brazil de Fato article, oil exploration goes against “contemporary agendas.” What would these agendas be? It is not explained in detail, but we must assume that it refers to “combating climate change.”
This position is not exclusive to Brazil de Fato. The discussion in these terms of “contemporary agendas” appears in the major newspapers of the bourgeoisie. It also appears in foreign propaganda. With little effort, we can research on the internet and find dozens of websites of international NGOs and other organizations advocating exactly this idea.
The idea is so prevalent that it has already become a matter of governmental crisis. It is with this same argument that IBAMA, under the Ministry of the Environment of Marina Silva, embargoed research for oil exploration in the Amazon’s mouth.
But is oil really an “outdated agenda”? Believe it at your own risk.
Let’s look at the case of Gabon. The country is a major oil exporter and a member of OPEC. Its oil reserves were discovered in 1970 and account for 45% of the country’s GDP and 80% of its exports. The country, even with a tiny population of only two million inhabitants, is the fifth-largest oil producer in Africa.
The “outdated product” makes Gabon’s per capita income on average four times higher than its neighboring countries.
Without oil, the country’s situation would be much worse. And it is important to note that this oil, like the entire economy, is not controlled by the people. Imperialism robs the population of its wealth. This is one of the reasons for the nationalist coup. Whether it will solve the problem, only time will tell.
In any case, it is clear that no country in the world can do without oil. Those who have it want to control it, and those who don’t want to steal it. The Brazilian case is quite significant because while Marina Silva delays oil research in the Equatorial Margin, using arguments such as “outdated agendas,” an argument propagated by imperialism, France and other imperialist oil groups are siphoning off oil right next door in French Guiana.
It is clear that oil is not only not a thing of the past, but the world continues to revolve around it. That’s why imperialism wants to steal the world’s oil, and poor countries want to protect their oil. The new configuration of BRICS poses a serious problem for imperialism, as member countries hold a significant portion of global oil production.
Therefore, imperialism needs to invent an ideology to convince the people that “oil is outdated,” while they steal from countries, leaving the people in poverty, as is the case in Gabon. It works more or less like this: imperialism says “this is outdated, so you can leave it to us”, as we are seeing very clearly in the case of Brazil.
