"The Third World is not poor. You don't go to poor countries to make money. There are very few poor countries in this world. Most countries are rich! The Philippines are rich! Brazil is rich! Mexico is rich! Chile is rich! Only the people are poor. But there's billions to be made there, to be carved out, and to be taken. There's been billions for 400 years! The capitalist European and North American powers have carved out and taken the timber, the flax, the hemp, the cocoa, the rum, the tin, the copper, the iron, the rubber, the bauxite, the slaves, and the cheap labour. They have taken out of these countries. These countries are not underdeveloped, they're overexploited!"
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Academics from the United StatesHistorians from the United StatesCritics from the United StatesCultural criticsMedia critics
Original Language: English
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From a 1986 lecture Kenneth Root (2022) Creating Discursive Spaces to Promote Productive Discourse and Dissuading
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Parenti
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Michael Parenti
Michael Parenti (September 30, 1933 – January 24, 2026) was an American political scientist, historian and media critic.
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