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Despelchin's article is an excellent analysis on the correlation between capitalism and genocide - not just genocides that happened on "individual" scales such as the holocaust and Rwandan genocide, but the systematic genocide that is an ongoing dehumanization of the planet.

“There is a tendency, even among the most critical voices not to see the connections between what could be described as the inaugural homelessness of the Amerindians and the African’s Hitler’s lebensraum, today's homelessness in the richest countries of the Planet and the same phenomenon in the streets of Fallujah, Palestine and South Africa".

This statement reminded me of a comment on my blog Black Looks, in response to the now famous speech by Mrs. Anthony Fatayi Williams whose son had been murdered by the London bombers of 7th July. A few days later my son's uncle was murdered having been shot 4 times by armed robbers in front of his two very young children and his wife in Abuja, Nigeria. Most of the comments I received condemned Islam and Muslims rather than the individuals who actually committed the act, the usual Islamophobic diatribe. My son came in on the discussion and attempted quite eloquently to make a connection between the London bombers and the robbers who had killed his uncle and the system that underpinned these kind of acts whether in London, Fallujah or Lagos.

Unfortunately, everyone missed the point in their blind dash to only see the superficial which feeds their prejudices and naivety. The AIDS pandemic that is killing millions of Africans today is one example of the genocidal nature of capitalism. The refusal to allow cheap generic drugs over expensive brand name drugs, lack of access to medical care, poorly equipped hospitals and clinics, poverty and unfit housing are all part of the system that feeds off and destroys humanity. Another more recent example is the racial drama played out in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, where we were presented with the most disgraceful treatment of poor African Americans reminding us that the mind of white America is still cast in that of the slave master, albeit recast and modernized.

Thank you for this excellent piece of writing.