How corporations ally with movements only to drain them, discard them, and return to what they have always beenCorporations often look like allies when social movements rise. They adopt slogans, release campaigns, and revise policies to align with whatever cause dominates the moment. To the public, they appear progressive. To activists, they seem to stand with the movement. But this is not true allyship—it is a survival strategy.Corporations serve one master: capital. Shareholders, financiers, and regulators dictate their behavior. Customers matter only because they support profit. Movements and ideals have no real standing. They are tools to be used when convenient, ignored when they are not.This is why ESG, DEI, and other activist-driven programs were embraced. Environmental and diversity initiatives were not moral awakenings; they were paths to more investment and better public relations. CEOs openly admitted this. GE’s Jeff Immelt once said, “Green makes us green,” revealing the real motive: profit.When conditions shift, corporations abandon their “values.” ESG, once tied to capital, is now quietly dropped as political pressure grows. DEI programs, once aggressively funded, are the first cut during layoffs. Pride campaigns shrink after backlash. Yesterday’s loud slogans fade into silence when they stop serving shareholder interests.Examples are clear. Bud Light’s partnership with Dylan Mulvaney was meant to signal progress but backfired, leading to retreat and reassignment. Target’s Pride displays were scaled back after threats and lost revenue. Starbucks, once a safe zone for visibly nonconforming workers, is tightening codes and controlling access. Google and Meta, which once celebrated activism, are now dismantling DEI departments and sidelining those who were most vocal.The human cost is severe. Many employees came out or built their identities during these cultural bubbles. They believed the changes were permanent. Activists spoke up thinking they were safe. Whistleblowers were celebrated during #MeToo. Now they are quietly labeled “troublemakers” and avoided in hiring. The protection they trusted has vanished.This mirrors Afghanistan. Locals who collaborated with foreign powers during occupations took risks believing in a new future. When the invaders left, they were punished as traitors. Corporate collaborators face a softer version of the same fate: valuable during the surge, discarded when the movement fades.Corporations absorb the energy of movements, profit from it, and erase it when it no longer pays. They reflect whatever power is in front of them but hold no belief of their own. When the pressure is gone, they return to their core purpose: serving capital.Movements confuse compliance for moral support. They believe the partnership is real. But corporations never believed in the cause. When the energy drains, they roll back reforms and erase the evidence. Those who embraced the movement fully are left exposed.This cycle repeats endlessly. Movements surge, corporations comply, energy fades, and rollback follows. The company survives because it bends without breaking. It waits out the storm, just as Afghanistan waits out empires.Corporations are the perfect collaborators. They give everything demanded during the occupation, only to undo it later. They profit from the surge, discard the allies, and return to what they have always been.

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