Hurricane Irma and the rump of British Empire

Natural disasters which destroy lives, livelihoods and living conditions, are of course a tragedy. Such is the case with Hurricane Irma.  However, there is another aspect to the devastation of the hurricane; it has exposed the dirty hidden rump of British Imperialism in the Caribbean.

Using the euphemism of British Overseas Territories, the Imperialist regime in London is the controlling authority over the remnants of the British Empire.  The territories globally include:

Akrotiri and Dhekelia; Anguilla; Bermuda; British Antarctic Territory; British Indian Ocean Territory; British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands; Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Pitcairn Islands; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Turks and Caicos Islands

The Caribbean islands smashed by the Hurricane included many of the outposts of the British Empire.  The islands suffered the impact of the weather, but their problems have been exacerbated by the economic system.  The islands are operated as Tax Havens, with the result that money passes through the islands into the coffers of greedy unscrupulous capitalists, leaving the bulk of the islanders in absolute poverty, living in buildings which have no chance of withstanding harsh weather, and certainly not a hurricane of the magnitude of Irma.  The rich may have been inconvenienced by the hurricane, but the Working Class have lost everything - precious little that it was to begin with.

Tax havens are a Capitalist's wet dream.  They allow for the vilest of exploiters to squeeze the Workers out of every ounce of sweat, and make an obscene profit without having to return anything of worth in taxation.  With a competent accountant, tax havens can become places where literally not a penny is lost in tax to the foul exploiter.

But there is more than 'just' unbridled exploitation involved in the economic piracy of the British Overseas Territories.  The UK government is a front for the Ruling Class.  It does not operate for the People, but for the criminals and corporations who operate outside the law.  The British Empire was allowed to mutate into the Commonwealth to give the appearance of the people getting back control of their own lands (they didn't really, the new countries are still owned by the same 'elites'), and the British Overseas Territories were kept under more direct control to ensure the continuation of money-laundering without the hassle of having to go through allegedly independent nations.

The British Empire Overseas Territories are kept under the control of London because by so doing, all the bribes from the Arms Industry, Oil Companies, and Global Corporations in general, can be washed through the banks and into the coffers of corrupt politicians, without a trace.  The illegal wars of aggression against Libya, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, and countless other countries have brought in vast revenues for the politicians who have okayed them (look at the millionaire Tony Blair); the highly lucrative trade in Heroin (from Afghanistan through Kosovo and onto the streets of the UK) has been made possible through tax haven laundering; the vastly profitable paedophile slave trade which the Ruling Class indulge in to levels which make the Rotherham tragedy pale in comparison, has been made possible due to tax havens laundering money for the procurement of children, as well as money to the media to buy their silence.

The Hurricane has brought the tax haven status to light, but of course, the media has failed to look into it, preferring to concentrate on 40 high risk of convicts who have escaped from prison in the British Virgin Islands!  No matter what crimes they have committed, the real criminals are walking large, making money out of human misery on a horrific scale.

A UK liberated from capitalism by a Socialist Republican Revolution, would see the end of tax havens as a priority.  SWPE would ensure that all the British Overseas Territories became Socialist Republics, with the same economic system as the UK.  Ultimately, we would like to see the end of British Overseas Territories and the ridiculous Commonwealth (the latter which we would end immediately), but we are aware that in a capitalist world, the territories would immediately fall to the likes of the USA which would subjugate them and continue using them as the corrupt UK does at present.  Reluctantly, it has to be accepted that it would be better for the Territories to remain part of the UK until the demise of global capitalism would make total independence a safe reality.

One Country at a time, Socialism will liberate the people.  A Socialist UK could use the British Overseas Territories to push the Revolution further and faster, and with a great poetic justice in that the territories which are at the heart of the capitalist system, would be the first to be liberated.