Colonialism and capitalism are complimentary forces and neither one would exist without the other. The relationship between colonialism and capitalism throughout history presents itself as an unbreakable cyclical chain, seeking to permate all aspects of the global system. Capitalism as a perpetually productive force would be unable to sustain itself without the process of colonialism. Like the relationship between a train and coal, the movement of the train is only as effective as the amount of enough coal available to sustain its function. Much like there are limits to the coal one can extract from the surrounding environment, so too exists a limit to the profit potential within one’s own markets. For capitalism to continue chugging along, it is imperative that the conductor expand the scope of accumulation. But unlike the quest for coal, capitalism seeks not only the acquisition of material resources but the accumulation of profit which can only be facilitated by colonial endeavours of accumulation through processes of disposession.

By encroaching on foreign territory through the means of force: the land, resources and even human beings existing this area can effectively be privatized and utilized for their production potential. This form of colonial exploitation strengthened the wealthy nations who profited immensely from the global trade systems that had been created. However, during the decolonization era, the stronghold that these wealthy nations held on the poorer nations through colonial ties began to weaken as the dominant European empires became preoccupied with war and financial problems. A wave of sovereign independence washed through the Global South who looked hopefully toward a future of freedom from the chains of colonization.

But with these nations free from their colonial grip, how could capitalist accumulation continue? To solve this problem, countries in the Global North found a new method of Third World exploitation and the processes of dispossession were able to continue through economic methods instead of the traditional methods of military occupation. With the introduction of international financial institutions like the World Bank and the IMF, countries of the Global North were now able to begin a process of financial exploitation through these institutions that sought to reinstitute the dependence that colonialism had fostered. This was largely a great success as countries in the Third World have become increasingly dependent on production for external markets and this cyclical transfer of wealth and resources from South to North has left many developing nations with unsustainable levels of debt. While many of these nations were facing economic crises before the imposition of structural adjustment programs, the coercive efforts of the IMF to open the economies of the Global South to Northern markets did not foster growth and development for the most part and instead reveals that SAPs function mainly as corporate strategies to maintain the neoliberal financial order.

The acceleration of neoliberal ideas across the globe promoted wide-scale deregulation, liberalization and privatization in the name of lending our fate to the omnipotence of the almighty free market. With the expansion of these ideals across global financial institution, the nations of the Global North sang the praises of neoliberalism as these nations were poised to benefit the greatest from this reorganization of global economics. However, this economic shift only worked to the advantage of those at the top. Although the wealthy nations are positioned to grow even wealthier, many continue to be plagued with high levels of income inequality among the populous. If these countries are so rich then, why do there still exist hierarchies of wealth from within?

In settler-colonial states, national mythologies must evolve in order to justify the hierarchies that emerge under capitalism for the continuation of exploitation. Many of these societies are structured around racial hierarchies that exist in tandem with income inequalities. In settler-colonial societies much like Canada, history is reframed to support a narrative that positions the settlers as conveyors of civilization and development, therefore rendering them entitled to the lands they claim which then becomes codified into law, easily allowing for the omission of conquest, exploitation and genocide within the national mythology. These national mythologies serve as methods of reshaping the land and the colonizers as intertwined within a shared identity and redefines who is allowed to belong. While Canadian mythology had been largely centered around European settlers and aimed to exclude Indigenous and other nonwhite bodies, the national mythology underwent another transformation with the acceleration of the neoliberal doctrine. Canada now began to try and reframe itself as a tolerant paradise of multiculturalism.

However, this reconstruction of mythology served not only as a shield against addressing systemic racial inequalities but allowed for the government to distract from the largely unaddressed legacy of colonialism and slavery tied to its national heritage. This multicultural integration policy further racialized Canadians by emphasizing the notion that there exist differences between us without acknowledging the root causes behind our perceived differences in the first place. Racialization and the propagation of racial culture within Western nations serves as a function of the social superstructure that seeks to maintain the means of production which — within a capitalist system — can only function through exploitation. So, without addressing the causes of these social differences, multiculturalism acts as a surface-level bandaid placed upon deep-rooted structural cleavages while also reinforcing an environment that allows for socioeconomic hierarchies to materialize as though they are not a product of the very system that was founded on the basis of discrimination and inequality, but rather natural social occurrence.