We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Food Security A Hostage To Wall Street And US Global Hegemony

Click here to access article by Colin Todhunter from his blog East by Northwest. 

By using huge amount of pesticides and genetically modified seeds together with expensive agricultural machinery, global corporations are "making a killing" from large farming operations by shipping their products over long distances (using fossil fuel energy) to Western countries to serve the whims of richer consumers. In order to do this and fatten their corporate income statements, they must "by hook or by crook" move small farmers off their lands and into their hands.
...peasant agriculture prioritises food production for local and national markets as well as for farmers’ own families. Big agritech corporations take over scarce fertile land and prioritise commodities or export crops for profit and markets far away that cater for the needs of the affluent. This process impoverishes local communities and brings about food insecurity. The concentration of fertile agricultural land in fewer and fewer hands is therefore directly related to the increasing number of people going hungry every day and is undermining global food security.
Everything under a capitalist system insures that decisions about nearly everything is made on the basis of its profitability for individuals rather than how much it benefits society. In this advanced form of capitalism known as neoliberalism, the boundaries of nations no longer serve to protect societies from predatory actions of corporations. In this new world corporations are moving across boundaries, bribing and co-opting local officials to serve their corporate agenda instead of the local population. However, this phenomenon is also true within the richer capitalist countries where many live in, or near, poverty. So, you see, everywhere in the world the system pits small groups of individuals known as "owners" or investors against the needs of the overwhelming majority while undermining the ability of the planet to sustain a healthy human habitat.