Hi, I’m looking for a country whose people or government mainly support my values. I’m looking for a country that:

  • supports wildlife protection

  • supports eco-friendly things and solar/wind energy

  • supports freedom of expression and does NOT criminalize queer people, be it trans, gay, bi, pan, intersex, asexual, etc.

  • peaceful, low crime

  • community-oriented

  • equal and just

  • very friendly towards animals, filled with animal sanctuaries and no-kill shelters

  • free education and/or healthcare (preferably education and healthcare are free/government-funded)

  • high taxes are therefore fine to me

  • compassion-oriented

  • affordable food with low unhoused rates and high employment rates

  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
    1111·
    2 days ago

    Iceland participates in the ongoing system by which the global north plunders the global south. It’s of course a NATO country, and participates in unequal exchange. Iceland isn’t especially imperialist, just like, say, Texas isn’t especially imperialist, just that these are both participants in a broader system of imperialism.

    • Helix 🧬@feddit.orgEnglish
      63·
      1 day ago

      Ah, I see. I wouldn’t count supporting/enabling/allowing war and famine instead of actively pursuing war and famine in other parts of the world and doing Euro-centric policy with exploiting the other countries plain imperialism per se. It may be cultural imperialism which I’d separate from the “traditional” imperialism by hard power.

      I see where you’re coming from and I think how Europe treats other countries often lacks any kind of empathy, consideration or equality, but again, wouldn’t call it imperialism to not mud the waters.

      • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
        122·
        1 day ago

        See my other response regarding Germany’s very real participation in full, ecomomic plunder-style imperialism:

        It isn’t just that Germany has a strengthened millitary industrial complex, it’s that Germany is an active and willing participant in imperialism today. The west in general super-exploits the global south for super-profits, relying on financial domination of the global south and processes of unequal exchange. Germany in particular is especially predatory towards lesser developed European countries like Greece, and due to having a huge amount of influence over European finance and banking is one of the major beneficiaries of European imperialism towards African and other global south countries.

        I’m calling it imperialism precisely to not muddy the waters. Economic imperialism is how the west functions, past and present, and this is due to the dominance of finance capital and unequal exchange. The idea that imperialism was a thing of the past, and that Germany today runs largely on its own production and not the economic plunder it continues to extract (along with the west collectively) is fundamentally incorrect.

        • Helix 🧬@feddit.orgEnglish
          24·
          1 day ago

          Understood, but I disagree and maintain that this form of globalised exploitation and unequal exchange is not the same as imperialism. It can be argued that it’s economic imperialism but I think that’s also not quite the right term if the other criteria of economic imperialism aren’t met.

                • Helix 🧬@feddit.orgEnglish
                  11·
                  10 hours ago

                  Then how do you define imperialism? What criteria need to be met exactly?

                  • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
                    4·
                    10 hours ago

                    The very basic and simplified features of imperialism are as follows:

                    1. The presence of monopolies which play a decisive role in economic life.

                    2. The merging of bank capital with industrial capital into finance capital controlled by a financial oligarchy.

                    3. The export of capital as distinguished from the simple export of commodities.

                    4. The formation of international monopolist capitalist associations (cartels) and multinational corporations.

                    5. The domination and exploitation of other countries by militaristic imperialist powers, now through neocolonialism.

                    6. The territorial division of the whole world among the biggest capitalist powers.

                    This is of course generalized, and each individual country’s role in imperialism/anti-imperialism is going to fulfill different manifestations of this. For example, the US Empire is the hegemon, with Europe and the collective “west” vassalized post-WWII.