Question:
Do you think that the big multinationals will accept a win-win position that reduces their profits and brings us justice, or do you think they would much rather lose it all and leave us in ruins? Don’t you think that there are other components driving the western mentality rather than just “profits”; things like ideology, culture, fanaticism… etc.??
Answer:
Of course the general answer is “yes”; they will accept to profit less than they would like to profit if the alternative is to not profit at all. Not only will they accept this, but they are legally obligated to their shareholders to do so. But a more complex answer is that there are coalitions of interests in the international business community, and they do not all want the same things. There are some who would very much like to see Egypt in ruins, but that is because the ruination of Egypt would be more profitable for them in the long run. If we are talking about the companies that are currently investing in Egypt, and who have made plans for expansion, obviously, they have a vested interest in Egypt remaining stable. They need to be able to operate, move their goods in the market and into Africa. Egypt is ranked 5th in the world for “Greenfield investment” which means that companies are building their own facilities from the ground up; they do not want to abandon these facilities. They are planning to be in Egypt for a long time, and they are expecting it to be stable.
As for the issue of ideology, culture, and fanaticism etc; the profit motive IS an ideology, and corporations are indeed fanatical about it. They genuinely believe that your money and your labor are theirs by right. In their ideology, it is Halaal to poison the environment, pollute the air, deny people access to clean water, to impoverish entire populations, to deny children access to education, or to decide what they are allowed to learn; it is Halaal to oppress and abuse and exploit and endanger people’s lives for the sake of profit. All of this is ideological; otherwise they would simply behave like human beings and deal fairly and justly with people, instead of like parasites and mercenaries.