russia – siberia: communism and
capitalism: different roads to the same
place
Nowhere in
the world is the issue of privatization
more poignant than in the former Soviet
Union, a country where not so long ago just
the idea of private control of natural
resources was absurd and antithetical to
the country’s ruling Communist
ideology.
International Financial Institutions,
such as the World Bank and IMF, have had a
strong hand in privatizing Russia’s forests
and agriculture, prompting corporations to
take over national property and encouraging
the government to go forward with
privatization schemes. Their reasoning,
like the government’s, is classic
trickle-down economics. While there might
be some positive aspects to privatizing
resources poorly managed by the State, the
evidence overwhelmingly points to a
disaster for the environment and well-being
of Russians. Price hikes for natural
resources now controlled by
profit-motivated companies are already
burdening the majority of Russians and
social tension is growing.
In the Krasnoyarsk region, in Central
Siberia, prices are indeed on the rise as a
result of increasingly privatized and
concentrated ownership of natural
resources, agricultural lands and the
production of marketable goods. Before
privatization, few people lived in this
region, with its harsh environment. The
land could sustain the population, and the
cost of protecting the environment was
minimal. Today, as industry is being
developed, more people are moving into the
area and already the quality of life has
fallen. Illegal logging and poaching are on
the rise. The moose population has fallen
to 10 percent of carrying capacity. The
same fate has befallen the Siberian red
deer, the roe deer, sturgeon, and to a
lesser extent, salmon. Trucks drive over
grass cover to avoid muddy roads. Companies
and workers are dumping waste onto river
banks and roadsides.
In Russia, privatization, and capitalism
as a whole, has led primarily to the
economic empowerment of the already rich,
an outcome ironically similar to that
experienced under Communist rule.
more information
Friends of the Siberian Forests. Full case
study to be published in the publication
‘Life as Commerce’ by the Global Forest
Coalition and CENSAT Agua Viva / Friends of
the Earth Colombia.
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