Salman Rushdie, the glorified comprador capitalist
I have never, since childhood, been able to stand Salman Rushdie.
Every ten years or so, he rears his head and reminds me why.
For most of my life, I’ve felt a sense of distaste whenever I encounter Salman Rushdie in the media. Fortunately, that hasn’t been often. Out of sight, out of mind. But he had to rear his head in May 2024.
The phrase “rear its head” is a common idiom that refers to something unpleasant or unwanted becoming visible and causing problems. It’s like something that should stay hidden finally emerging from the shadows.
And the thing is, this is exactly the kind of reaction Salman Rushdie wants from people. To feel distaste and outrage.
This is exactly the kind of reaction Salman Rushdie wants from people.
I think that my childhood self realized immediately that the personality structure of this character, Rushdie, is the original “troll”.
Salman Rushdie is the original “troll”
It has nothing to do with what Salman Rushdie says or writes.
That’s not his purpose, nor his mission in life.
In Internet contexts, a “troll” is someone who posts inflammatory, insulting, or off-topic messages in an online community with the intention of provoking a reaction. They aim to disrupt conversations and get a rise out of others. Salman Rushdie has always been about attention for attention’s sake.
“A troll is someone who makes inflammatory, insulting, or off-topic statements with the intention of provoking a reaction.”
The full idiom that I referenced just moments ago, is often used with the additional phrase “ugly head” to further emphasize the unpleasant nature of the issue. (e.g., “The old tensions between the teams reared their ugly heads again during the game.”)
Salman Rushdie is not a “wise old man”, nor has he ever been wise. Rushdie is what a mediocre mind becomes when it is promoted to comprador capitalist.
Origin of the term “Comprador Capitalist”
The word “comprador” originates from the Portuguese word “comprador,” meaning “buyer.” During the colonial period, particularly in the 19th century, it was used to describe local intermediaries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America who facilitated business transactions for foreign colonial powers. These individuals played crucial roles in the colonial economies by acting as middlemen between local producers and foreign traders or companies.
The term “comprador bourgeoisie” describe a segment of the middle-class in colonized or semi-colonized countries. This group was seen as collaborating with imperialist powers to exploit local resources and labor for the benefit of foreign interests. The word bourgeoisie emerged in Old French as “burgeis” or “borjois,” which meant “citizen of a town”, and later came to connote the “middle class”. As a social “class” it places between the wealthy upper class (aristocracy) and the working class (proletariat).
Comprador capitalists facilitate the penetration and domination of their economies by foreign powers, and knowingly perpetuate their own subservience and the underdevelopment of their nations.
In the context of dependency theory, which emerged in Latin America in the mid-20th century, the term is used to describe local “elites” who maintain the peripheral status of their economies within the global capitalist system. These elites profit from the economic relationships that benefit the core (developed) countries while hindering local development.
The term comprador capitalist has a broader application than just business trade, and is relevant in areas such as criminal studies in a few ways; for example money laundering, exploitation, bribery, resource smuggling, human trafficking, and environmental crimes.
In their pursuit of profit and notoriety, comprador capitalists align themselves with criminal international networks and their financial resources, derived from the exploitation of humans, societies, and the earth.
Case in point:
Israel is a major player in the global diamond trade, both as an importer and exporter of diamonds. But not as a producer. Israel profits from the resources of other countries, on the backs of exploited vulnerable populations and destabilized economies.
Israel’s role is primarily in cutting, polishing, and trading of diamonds rather than mining them domestically.
The story of Israel’s diamond industry is part and parcel with that of the state, developing from a handful of isolated workshops created by a immigrants from Holland and Belgium into one the world’s biggest trading centers, and an anchor of the national economy. The establishment of a diamond industry in Israel preceded the creation of the state in 1948. Already in 1908, when the Bezalel Art Academy was founded in Jerusalem, it was proposed that it become an incubator for a diamond-cutting and jewelry-manufacturing industry. But the Ottoman regime, which ruled the region until 1917, refused to waive customs duties on the import of diamonds for the purpose of training and education, and the idea was dropped.
A significant portion of the rough diamonds “imported” by Israel originate from the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the world’s largest producers. This trade relationship between Israel and the DRC has raised concerns about perpetuating the “blood diamond” crisis and exploitation in the region.
In 2022, Israel was the 5th or 6th largest “exporter” of diamonds globally. The fastest growing market and importer of blood diamonds is the USA.
Embedded in honest society
Comprador capitalist networks, although criminal in nature, are not always identified as such, because the criminals legislate, define legal definitions, enforce “the law”, control state media (whether “private” or “public”), and the narrative.
Case in point: In 2010, Israel became the chair of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which aims to “prevent” the trade in conflict diamonds.
The DRC (Congo) is one of the world’s largest producers of rough diamonds, which Israel then cuts, polishes and re-exports as polished diamonds.
As of 2016, cut diamonds constituted 23.2% of Israel’s total exports, making them the country’s biggest export product
If the trade in blood diamonds stopped, Israel’s economy would implode while Congo’s grow exponentially.
Sodom & Gomorra
According to the Global Organized Crime Index 2021 profile on Israel, the country is a crime hub. Israel is for example “predominately a destination market for forced labour and sexual exploitation”.
In addition there are, “allegations of involvement in illegal procuring, selling and exploitation of other countries’ natural resources. Accusations mainly stem from the exploitation of natural resources in the Palestinian territories and the Syrian Golan Heights, as well as the procurement of African rough diamonds. Reportedly, the diamond trade is one of the biggest markets in Israel, accounting for a significant portion of the country’s national gross income. Rough diamonds are sourced from South Africa, Sierra Leone, Angola, Congo, Liberia and Ivory Coast, as well as Russia and Canada. Reports claim Israel has made deals with militant groups in Africa that source blood diamonds in return for weapons.
The Global Organized Crime Index 2021 profile on Israel continues: “State actors are not generally involved in organized crime on a wide scale. There have, however, been reports of state actors controlling, engaging in or facilitating criminal markets, most notably cocaine smuggling, investment scams and exploitation of Palestinian natural resources along with the blood diamond trade. Some immigrants in Israel have reportedly resorted to prostitution or selling drugs, but there is no evidence they control any criminal market”.
“ Israel is considered a central hub for cyber-dependent crimes like distributed denial of service attacks, with thousands of attacks launched against Israeli targets [and] conducting cyber-attacks against adversaries abroad”. Israel is also known as a major hub for commercial spyware.
The lists from various authoritative sources is seemingly endless.
The book “The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World”, by Antony Loewenstein (who is also the author of Disaster Capitalism) offers a look into this Sodom & Gomorra on Earth. (The phrase “Sodom & Gomorrah on Earth” is a reference to the biblical story of two cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. It’s used to describe a place that is seen as being extremely sinful and corrupt).
Antony Loewenstein (born 1974) is a Jewish Australian-German freelance investigative journalist, author, and film-maker.
In short, credible reports highlight Israel’s prominent role in transnational organized crime markets.
Rushdie — the Comprador Capitalist
Scholars in postcolonial studies use the term comprador capitalist to analyze the economic and political dynamics in former colonies, examining how local “elites” often serve the interests of former colonial powers or multinational corporations. In globalization studies, the concept is applied to understand how local capitalists in developing countries align with transnational corporations and global financial institutions, often to the detriment of local economies and workers.
In the context of international explotation activities, comprador capitalists provide the necessary local knowledge, networks, and legitimacy to foreign criminal enterprises, thus facilitating activities like money laundering, illegal trade, and corruption. Their roles can range from passive enablers to active participants in these schemes.
To quote Major General Smedley D Butler, one of America’s highest decorated soldiers:
“A few profit — and the many pay. But there is a way to stop it. You can’t end it by disarmament conferences. You can’t eliminate it by peace parleys at Geneva. Well-meaning but impractical groups can’t wipe it out by resolutions. It can be smashed effectively only by taking the profit out of war.” ~ Smedley Butler
Comprador capitalists don’t care about the costs for the world, they line their pockets and happily soak in the spotlight.
By their very “success” (within the system) they become living testaments to the supposed benefits of their masters. They can be used as figures who seemingly “prove” certain talking points aimed at perpetuating the explotation and violence.
Comprador capitalist trolls like Salman Rushdie don’t get book deals and TV interviews because they are brilliant or even smart; their purpose (as the Jewish-American scholar of critical communication studies Herbert Schiller stated) is to bolster the narratives of exploiters.
They are amplified for selective representation, to do the so-called whitewashing. Comprador capitalists often highlight positive aspects of foreign involvement, downplaying or ignoring the exploitative elements. They become filters, presenting a sanitized version of exploitation while omitting the realities and impact of resource extraction, environmental damage, and cultural oppression.
Eager comprador capitalists like Salman Rushdie become selected from specific ethnic or social groups, to create divisions, weaken resistance movements and serve as the face of manufactured consent that doesn’t have any foundation in real life. Everything for the benefits doled out by their masters.
By elevating comprador capitalists, settler-colonialists and international crime syndicates create “minority” champions who align with their interests. Both elements do it to gain a veneer of legitimacy to their rackets.
Comprador capitalists gain wealth and status, while these syndicates gain control and a buffer against ethical resistance.
When public anger, and economic downturns threaten the manufactured legitimacy of comprador capitalists and, by extension, their syndicate projects, the glamorized puppets are sent out to do the crime syndicates’ bidding.
But the days are over when state-controlled media in kahoots with the military industrial complex (MIC), monopolized what could be expressed in the mass media, and gatekeepers filtered facts that disproved and exposed charlatans like Rushdie.
I don’t have to attack his person (argumentum ad hominem) or “character”. Or fall into the trap of debating his weakly scripted straw man arguments and deflections. The whole world, billions of people, with exceptions, know by now where the scripts, that comprador capitalists like Salman Rushdie regurgitate. come from. People no longer have to waste time that they’re never getting back listening to and enduring bad-faith arguments from the sycophant puppet Salman Rushdie.
Notes:
Creamer, E. (2024, May 20). Salman Rushdie says a Palestinian state formed today would be ‘Taliban-like.’ The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/may/20/salman-rushdie-says-a-palestinian-state-formed-today-would-be-taliban-like
A journey into the archives of Herbert Schiller, media scholar and critic of American Empire. (2023, December 20). Annenberg. https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news/journey-archives-herbert-schiller-media-scholar-and-critic-american-empire
Dan Gertler Revelations. (n.d.). PPLAAF. https://www.pplaaf.org/cases/gertler-revelations.html
Lipton, E. (2024, May 16). White House considers easing sanctions on Israeli billionaire. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/us/politics/congo-cobalt-us-sanctions.html
The Observatory of Economic Complexity. (2024, March). Diamonds in Israel. OEC. https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/diamonds/reporter/isr
Ben-Zvi, G. (2024, February 14). Israel’s diamond trade is stuck between two crises. Rapaport. https://rapaport.com/news/israels-diamond-trade-is-stuck-between-two-crises/
Benson, S. (2024, February 6). The story of Israel’s diamond industry — MID House of Diamonds. MID House of Diamonds. https://www.middiamonds.com/the-diamond-blog/the-story-of-israels-diamond-industry-parallels-that-of-the-country-and-its-economy/
Loewenstein, A. (2023). The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel exports the technology of occupation around the world. Amazon. https://www.amazon.se/-/en/Antony-Loewenstein/dp/183976208X
Democracy Now! (2023, June 23). “The Palestine Laboratory”: Antony Loewenstein on how Israel exports the technology of occupation [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eYVjWwOVC4
Antony Loewenstein. (2024, May 20). Official website. https://antonyloewenstein.com/
War is a Racket, by Major General Smedley Butler, 1935. [Full text] https://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html
