By Léo Boivin
It was recently revealed that mining company Lomiko Metals Inc. received a grant from the US Secretary of Defense (the Pentagon) for graphite mining in the Upper Gatineau region in Quebec. This project is causing a stir on the environmental front among the local population, but its political and imperialist implications seem to have gone unmentioned.
While US imperialism succeeded in blunting the influence of the Russian Federation in the wake of the latter’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, it is still struggling to do the same for its most credible economic competitor, the People’s Republic of China. The ever-increasing tensions between NATO and China are signs of a Cold War in full swing. But in the face of these rivalries, the threat of military action is growing ever greater. As a result, the military sector of the US imperialist machine is seeking to free itself from its dependence on raw materials from China.
To replace the Chinese graphite used in the anodes of high-performance lithium-ion batteries, the US is once again turning to the resource-rich lands in Canada, particularly Quebec. It’s an ideal ploy – mining lithium, graphite and other components in Quebec at bargain prices, with no sustained benefit to the working class here, then assembling the batteries in the US.
If the destruction of the surrounding environment is worrying, the economic and political submission to the war economy of the United States is even more so. Canada must develop its own foreign policy – a policy of peace – and free its economy from US imperialism.
Unless they are part of an anti-monopoly, anti-imperialist approach – that is, rooted a class perspective – environmental preservation efforts will inevitably be recycled by the bourgeoisie and imperialism. Invasions with electric tanks? Ecological coups d’état? It’s all about co-opting and diverting the concern over pollution from the military sector, to render it harmless to the monopolies and their power.
The problem with the Lomiko mine is not its connection to lithium-ion battery manufacture. It’s that in doing so, it pollutes communities all around it and, above all, contributes to the already tense relations between the United States and China, tensions in which Canada is intrinsically linked.
The mania surrounding so-called “foreign interference” attributed to China, with very little evidence beyond hearsay from CSIS, regularly makes the headlines. But sustained and massive political and economic interference on the part of the United States? Well, that’s just business as usual.
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