Allan Cooper is a professor of political science at North Carolina Central University. He joins us to discuss his latest book, Africa and the Global System of Capital Accumulation, which describes the strategic role Africa plays in the global capitalist economy, where exploitation of labor and resources sustains the world’s middle class and consolidates state authority. In this conversation, we explore the role consumer desire for products like chocolate, diamonds, and cell phones plays in that larger chain of racism and imperialism, and trace how neoliberalism creates a culture that skillfully obscures its ravaging of the planet.