Colonialism is not a modern phenomenon.

World history is full of examples of one society

gradually expanding by incorporating another territory and settling its people on newly
conquered territory. But as time passed by, the colonies became independent. However, this
phenomenon never ended because the colonizer always wanted to dominate. That’s the reason
that at first, they colonized but since after independence of so many colonies and wars which
they couldn’t directly fight, they did it in a different manner where the country they want to
dominate and rule lives in a bubble of independence. They did it in the name of development. As
the colonies were ended the people living there already had a perception of inferiority and they
wanted to be like their colonizer.
Neo-colonialism or neo-imperialism is the practice of using capitalism, globalization and cultural
domination to influence a developing country in lieu of direct military control (imperialism) or
indirect political control (hegemony). The term was coined by Kwame Nkrumah in the context of
African countries undergoing decolonization in the 1960s.

In “Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism”, Kwame Nkrumah wrote:

“In place of colonialism, as the main instrument of imperialism, we have today neo-colonialism .
. . [which] like colonialism, is an attempt to export the social conflicts of the capitalist countries.”
The result of neo-colonialism is that foreign capital is used for the exploitation rather than for the
development of the less developed parts of the world. Investment, under neo-colonialism,
increases, rather than decreases, the gap between the rich and the poor countries of the world.
Even the struggle against neo-colonialism is not aimed at excluding the capital of the developed
world from operating in less developed countries. It is aimed at preventing the financial power
of the developed countries being used in such a way as to impoverish the less developed.

Pakistan faced a brutal past being a colony of the British Empire and after a lot of struggle, we
finally became an independent state. But it is not true independence because we are now in a
phase of neo-colonialism because due to the modernization neocolonialism took over the old
colonialization techniques. They wanted to control us so they did it through a different approach
which is not as direct as colonizing. During the phase of colonization they had already changed
our world view towards progress and development and now we idealize them and are
continuously living in a state of belated consciousness that we should not lag behind in this race
for progress.

They now control us through IMF, World Bank and different multinational corporations. As they
give aids and loans in the name of development and they impose their policies on us. And if we
fail to return the debt, they create their domination. An example of this is Tajikistan which had
to cede 1% of its territory to China in exchange for unpaid loans. Sri Lanka will give away 80% of
its share of the Hambantota deep-sea port to China for the next 99 years, in exchange for USD
1.1 billion in debt relief. This is the new form of colonizing in the name of development and
policies.
Other than domination there is one major problem attached with neo-colonialism that is
environmental degradation. In which the colonizer reaps the economic benefits from his prey
country and leaves there all the crisis and make that country more vulnerable to environmental
degradation and diseases.

The example of this neo-colonialism can easily be seen in Mexico along the US border where
Maquiladoras industry (export processing factories established for cheap labor and low
production cost) exploit their environment by dumping so many untreated wastes and causing
not only an environmental problem but also a lot of health problems along with other sorts of
exploitation. The same case can be seen in Zambia where foreign companies (eminently
Glencore) are extracting different metals and, as a result, the groundwater of Zambia is getting
contaminated and the air quality has become a thousand times worse than the WHO
recommended levels. These are some examples of Neocolonialism wherein the name of
industrial development they are indirectly exploiting the country.

Pakistan is facing such a problem through CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor). In this
project, the major beneficiary is China who will use our route to export its goods from their
country to the Arabian Sea for further exports. Pakistan is involved because this project will boost
its economy as more jobs and several business opportunities will emerge through it. But it is
doing more harm than good in terms of the environment. As of now, the Karakoram Highway has
supported only a handful of trucks that traversed its narrow route to move goods between
markets in Pakistan and China. The highway is expected to carry up to 100 trucks a day when
CPEC reaches its full swing. The highest paved surface in the world already has more than a dozen
diesel powered semi-trailer trucks chugging along it every day. The ugly dark fumes released by
these trucks stand out in striking contrast to the pristine landscape alongside the highway. These
dark fumes will eventually settle on glaciers, causing them to melt and form lakes. In Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province, where the provincial government has started an afforestation campaign,
more than 54,000 trees have already been chopped down to make way for the CPEC road
network. China has promised to finance and build the USD 50 billion five-dam Indus Cascade to
generate more than 22,000 MW. The cascade could stop the flow of silt – the lifeline of
agriculture downstream – as well as drastically reduce the flow of water in the Indus, especially
affecting downstream areas like Pakistan’s Sindh province. Thousands of people will be displaced.

Other than CPEC, the multinational companies operating in Pakistan are disposing their
untreated wastewater into the drains flowing nearby them. Not only waste, but the products
they are making have more usage of plastic in terms of packaging and manufacturing, since
plastic is the most hazardous yet easily available substance nowadays. For example, water bottles
and all the other products include plastic in their packaging which is contributing towards more
inorganic waste that is not decomposed in soil and has severe aftereffects on the environment.
These companies pay taxes and contribute in the economy of Pakistan but they are just using our
land for production and business and in return exploiting our environment and only reaping
profits that are sent to their home country. The Pepsi plant which produces Aquafina bottled
water has made lives of the residents miserable who argue that the factory was illegally built in
an area where agriculture once used to flourish. The test results of the factory’s effluent and of
water reservoir nearby, which the locals used for their livestock, revealed that the company is
violating government standards set for disposing of wastage water. The water of Thaddo River,
which runs along a number of areas was also used for agricultural purpose. However, the locals
say their lands have lost fertility because of the ‘poisonous water’ that the plant has been
spewing over and their livestock are dying.

There is a new Phenomenon to solve these environmental issues that is Sustainable

Development. However, this phenomenon is also prone toward neo-colonialism. This new
economic driver of Sustainability and environmental repair combined with the classical economic
driver of resource extraction and resulting environmental degradation work in concert to extract
the maximum value out of nature. In this way, the damage of environment and rehabilitating the
damage both become socially justifiable and thus the neo-colonialism and domination doesn’t
look bad or exploitative.

Conclusively, the era of colonialism didn’t end but only changed its form acquiring modern
structure to fit in and the colonizer does the same as it was doing previously, that is exploitation.
We, the third world countries have a belated consciousness and we will always welcome such
gestures in the name of development and economic growth. The degradation and exploitation
will outweigh the economic benefits thus leaving us more vulnerable.