Le Livre noir du capitalisme

Le Livre Noir du Capitalisme (The Black Book of Capitalism) is a French book published in 1998, in reaction to The Black Book of Communism (1997). Unlike the latter however, Le Livre Noir du Capitalisme does not attempt to provide a comprehensive tally of victims of the politico-economic system in question. Rather, the book is composed of a series of independent essays commissioned from various writers who were given free rein to write on any aspect of capitalism they chose.^[1] Topics covered range from the African slave trade to the era of financial globalization.

An appendix provides an incomplete list of 20th century death tolls which editor Gilles Perrault attributes to the capitalist system. The list, which includes both combatant and noncombatant dead, includes an estimated 58 million dead from the First and Second World Wars, plus death tolls from various colonial wars, anticommunist wars and repressions, ethnic conflicts, and some victims of famines or malnutrition, which brings the incomplete list to a combined total of about 100 million deaths attributed to capitalism in the 20th century.^[2]

Edited by Gilles Perrault, the other contributors to the book include historians, sociologists, economists, trade unionists and writers: Caroline Andréani, François Arzalier, Roger Bordier, Maurice Buttin, François Chesnais, Maurice Cury, François Delpla, François Derivery, André Devriendt, Pierre Durand, Jean-Pierre Fléchard, Yves Frémion, Yves Grenet, Jacques Jurquet, Jean Laïlle, Maurice Moissonnier, Robert Pac, Philippe Paraire, Paco Peña, André Prenant, Maurice Rajsfus, Jean Suret-Canale, Subhi Toma, Monique and Roland Weyl, Claude Willard and Jean Ziegler.^{[1][3][4][5][6]} The book has been translated into Greek, Italian^[7] and Czech.^[8]

Contents

• Andreani Caroline is a historian. She wrote about the migrations of the 19th and 20th centuries and how they contribute to the history of capitalism.
• Francis Arzalier, is a historian, and a professor, teacher training institutes in Beauvais, head of Africa Today magazine, wrote the chapter titled "African Independence and 'Communism'".
• Maurice Buttin, lawyer and President of the France-Palestine Association. He wrote the chapter titled Imperialism, Zionism and Palestine.
• François Chesnais is an economist, and the author of numerous books including The Globalization of Capital, Syros Editions, Paris, 1997. He wrote the chapter titled "The Globalization of Capital and the Threats of Barbarism."
• Maurice Cury is a poet, novelist, essayist, screenwriter and television writer. Cury is President of the Writer's Council and Vice-President of the National Union of Authors and Composers. He wrote the chapter titled "Totalitarian Liberalism".
• Francois Delpla is a historian with specialization received in World War II. He wrote the chapter "World War II".
• François Derivery is a painter (Group PR) secretary of the journal Aesthetic Papers, deputy editor of the journal Speech. He wrote two chapters: "War and Punishment: The Massacre of Vietnam", and "Massacres and Repression in Iran".
• Durand Pierre is President of the Alumni Committee of Buchenwald-Dora, a journalist and historian specializing in World War II. Pierre wrote two chapters: "Counter-Revolution and Foreign Interventions in Russia (1917–1921)" and "The Origin of Wars and a Paroxysmal Form of Capitalism."
• Jean-Pierre Fléchard is a historian, wrote the chapter titled "First World War: 11,500 dead and 13,000 wounded in 3 and a half years"
• Yves Fremion is a journalist and writer, vice-president of the Voltaire Network. He wrote the chapter titled "A Pub is Worth a Thousand Bombs ... (Advertising Crimes in Modern Warfare)"
• Yves Grenet is an economist. He wrote the chapter titled "Capitalist Assault on Asia".
• Jacques Jurquet is a writer, anti-colonial activist from the Communist Resistance. He wrote two chapters, one about the genocide in Indonesia, and the other chapter is titled "Fascist annexation of East Timor".
• Jean Laille is a reporter for Humanité. He wrote the chapter titled "The Re-Concentration of Weiler: A Century of Genocide in Cuba".
• Robert Pac, journalist, started reporting in the civil rights movement over 25 years ago in the fight alongside African Americans, Indigenous people of the Americas, and members of other ethnic minorities in the Americas. He wrote about the Indigenous American Genocide, and the chapter titled "The Long March of African Americans in the United States: The Unfinished Dream."
• Philippe Paraire is a writer, he wrote books for children, published by Hachette Jeunesse. He wrote the chapter titled "A Slave Economy and Capitalism: A Quantifiable Assessment", and the chapter titled "The Living Dead of Globalization."
• Paco Peña is a teacher and journalist in Chile. He wrote the chapter titled "North American Interventions in Latin America".
• Gilles Perrault wrote the introduction, "Why a Book on Capitalism".
• Andre Prenant is a geographer, he wrote about the events in Algeria from 1830–1998.
• Jean Suret-Canale is a veteran volunteer of the Resistance, the underground militant Communist Youth League from 1939 to 1944, former central committee member of the French Communist Party, an honorary lecturer at the University of Paris VII, geographer and historian, and is the author of ten books about Africa and the third world. He wrote about the origins of capitalism and Africa under French imperialism and colonial rule.
• Tomas Subhi is a sociologist, of Iraqi origin, exiled in France since 1971. Co-founder of the International Coordination Against Embargoes, he led several missions in Iraq since the 1991 war. He wrote about "Iraqi Oil Victims".
• Monique and Roland Weyl, lawyers, wrote the chapter titled "When the Abolition of Capitalism is not Enough".
• Jean Ziegler is a member of parliament in Geneva, Switzerland. He also teaches sociology at the University of Geneva. His contribution to the book is entitled "Swiss Bankers Kill Without Guns".^[9]

See also

• Criticism of capitalism
• Schwarzbuch Kapitalismus
• The Black Book of Communism
• Le Livre noir du colonialisme

Notes

References

Perrault, Gilles (ed.) (1998): Le Livre Noir du Capitalisme, Le Temps des cerises, 427 pages, ISBN 2-84109-144-9, ISBN 978-2-84109-144-7.

External links

• (French) Les Temps des Cerises
• (French) Account of Capitalism
• (French) Du Bon Usage des Livres noirs
• (French) Summary of casualties
• (French) François Delpla's chapter of book: La Seconde Guerre Mondiale
• (French) Anarchopedia article on book