Professional Documents
Culture Documents
UNCIVILIZED
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Hugh Brody, in his wonderful book Maps and Dreams about his experience of mapping North East British Columbia prior to exploration for oil, describes a debate in mid 16th century between two Spanish monks, that reflects the intensity and nature of the controversy that had already come to surround questions about the nature of American Indian society. This debate . . . turned on a central and deceptively simple issue: did, or did not, the Indian occupants of Spains new territories have a way of life that deserved to be respected? In another idiom, this becomes a question about whether or not the Indians have a proper social and economic system that Europeans must legally and morally respect. The white mans inability or refusal even to see the existence of Indian economic systems [hunting, gathering, trapping and fishing] is the one theme that threads its way through the story of the New World. European beliefs that hunting people occupied the bottom rung of an evolutionary ladder. . . implied that their economies and forms of political and social life were neither recognized nor respected, and framed them as pre-civilized tribals with no recognizable government or economy. It was thus actually possible to debate whether they were humans to be respected, infidels to be slaughtered, or savages to be tamed. This bifurcation of civilized and uncivilized was integral to the notions of sovereign and sovereignty that figure large in colonial history, as European monarchs chartered explorers to claim, and companies and colonizers to exploit, new territories. The assertion of sovereignty, however, really came down not to the divinely ordained authority of the monarch but to arms and armies, the physical domination of others, and the capability of feeding and financing, i.e., taxation in one form or other, to maintain and hopefully extend the forces of oppression. Of course there is another reading of this history, one which gives more glory and stature to the role of sovereign and the practice of sovereignty. In this account the sovereign provides law and order for his or her subjects. This is most generally understood as the protection of property rights. With the transition to what we now refer to as states, the protection of private property became the states primary duty. Food sovereignty, as the term is now being used in the food movement, turns this on its head. Calling for the right to food or even food security is really an appeal to the sovereign who is expected to graciously fulfill these requests. As I have pointed out in previous issues of the Rams Horn and in my book The Tyranny of Rights, the actual provision of food may
have to be taken up as a subsequent demand. Law is one thing, regulations and enforcement are something else. Food sovereignty, however, is not an appeal to some sovereign power or state. It is an assertion of intent: we intend to bring the food system back into our own hands, with respect for Mother Earth and all the other beings among whom we live and on whom we depend. What our relationship to the sovereign state will be remains to be seen, and should certainly not be assumed to be what it is now. Given the developing political disaster that is Canadas current federal government now, the distinction between citizen and subject can be a useful analytical tool. When we refer to food sovereignty we are thinking of ourselves as responsible citizens, not as subjects of an imperial power or a dictator. Citizens have a say in how they are governed. The size (or effectiveness) of their say can depend on many factors, but in any case citizens have a voice which subjects do not. Subjects, on the other hand, are supposed to be obedient to the demands of the sovereign and grateful to their benefactors (rulers). While over the years the names given to the sovereign have changed queen, chief, dictator, president, ruler, Glorious Leader the character of the relationship between the resident and the ruler remains pretty much the same: the sovereign has the power to recruit and maintain an army and police force, and to tax and expropriate wealth, including land. The citizens may or may not benefit from the sovereigns arrangements, but they are at least protected by the sovereign. Subjects, on the other hand, live largely outside the city, without the rights of the citizens, subject to the will of the sovereign without recourse to the courts. Daily, under the Harper regime, the class of citizens is shrinking even as it grows wealthier, while more and more of us are reduced to the status of subjects, without a say in how we are governed or what the state does in our name.
No government: no state?
Belgium has been in political deadlock without a government since June 2010, as parties from both sides of the Dutch-French linguistic divide have consistently failed to agree on the future make-up of the country. So far, the country, which is currently administered by a caretaker government, has not gone up in smoke.
FDA is supposed to address. The problem, of course, is not the fault of the bacteria (unless you wish to describe the mega-corporations that dominate the industrial food system as giant poisonous bacteria). But needless to say, neither the New York Times, nor or any other paper dependent on corporate advertising, is going to identify the industrial food system and its corporate owners as the real culprits behind food poisoning. While on the subject of Cargill, we should add another note to last months tally of its recent acquisitions. Not only has Cargill acquired Provimi, it has purchased Raggio di Sole Mangimi, an Italian feed producer, Unilevers Brazilian tomato-products division, an 85% interest in an Indonesian food ingredients maker, and the 21,500 acre hog production site of Smithfield Foods in Texas for $33 million. Smithfield remains the largest pork producer in the US, with Tyson second and JBS Swift third. For Cargill junkies: you can find a rare BBC interview with Cargills chief, Greg Page, at: bbc.co.uk/ news/business-15077909
MEGA-BACTERIA
CARGILL Notes
In our last issue we had a little item about Cargills recall of 16 million kilos of ground turkey. Subsequently, the New York Times ran an article describing the problems facing the US Food and Drug Administration as it tries to write rules for the food industry for increased food safety. It mentions Cargills turkey, refers to a 30-acre lettuce farm and a 65-acre organic vegetable farm, but nowhere mentions the cause of the problem food containing or carrying bad bacteria the
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on referring to it as a survey. But more than that, the individualistic right-wing ideology of the Harper regime comes through in his emphasis on the right of individual farmers to act against the expressed interests of the majority. This ideological ide fixe is also demonstrated by the lack of cost-accounting. Indeed, only now has the government decided to hire an auditor to determine how much getting rid of the CWB will cost taxpayers. The auditor winning the contract will be paid between $500,000 and $1 million to figure out the cost of employee severance and pension costs, potential legal costs for broken long-term contracts and other costs. A CWB analysis already carried out and reviewed by the accounting firm KPMG concluded that the costs will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. These potential costs to the public should be treated as a subsidy to the grain traders. One corporation that will surely benefit from the disappearance of the CWB is Viterra, the blatantly capitalist successor to the three Prairie grain coops. In addition to grain handling, Viterra has fertilizer interests, and in its most recent quarter, saw fertilizer sales increase 23%.
PepsiCoolie
You will be pleased to know that PepsiCo, Inc., not nearly as well-known for its agro-ecologial prowess as for its beverages and salty snacks, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Peoples Republic of China to promote sustainable agriculture projects and accelerate the development of the Chinese countryside. As part of the joint initiative, PepsiCo and the Ministry of Agriculture will build and operate demonstration farms that leverage the most advanced irrigation, fertilization and crop management techniques. They also will collaborate to promote best practices across Chinas farming system to improve yields, increase income levels and raise living standards for farmers throughout the country. PepsiCo is one of the largest agricultural enterprises in the world, growing and using more than four million tons of potatoes for its Frito-Lay snacks, 600,000 tons of oats for its Quaker food products, and three million tons of oranges and other fruits and vegetables for its Tropicana and other juice brands every year. PepsiCo offers the worlds largest portfolio of billiondollar food and beverage brands, including 19 different product lines that generate more than $1 billion in annual retail sales each. Our main businesses Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Frito-Lay, and Pepsi Cola also make hundreds of other enjoyable foods and beverages.
PRNewswire, 19/9/11
And the wages of those who serve you your coffee? Who benefits from the rising price of food commodities? Glencore International PLC, for one. Glencore is the largest publicly-traded commodities company which is aggressively studying mergers and acquisitions after reporting a 57% jump in first-half profit.They tell it as it is: We are an opportunistic company. . .
source: GM, 26/8/11
Kranthi makes it clear that these issues have nothing to do with Bt technology, which he believes is good, but he worries about the issues that have become a major concern with farmers. Prime among these is the steady increase in insecticide use. Farmers now pay as much as they did in 2002 for management of the new pests. When Monsanto says, Indian farmers are the worlds fastest adopters of Bt cotton technology it actually highlights the problem. US anthropologist Glenn Stone, who has been studying the questions surrounding the use of Bt technology in India for over a decade, finds that farmers are on a seed and pesticide treadmill, and this is right at the heart of the problem.
source: Business Standard, India, 25/7/11
Monsanto officials contend that problems are limited to areas with unusually heavy rootworm populations that overwhelm the plants defenses. Critics say Monsanto is underplaying the threat. They point out that Monsanto made a similar argument eight years ago when weeds resistant to Monsanto herbicides appeared. Monsanto officials now acknowledge there are resistant weeds. Its estimated theyve spread to more than 10 million acres of U.S. farmland.
Minnesota Public Radio, 20/9/11
Monsantos Bt corn is toppling over in northwestern Illinois fields, a sign that rootworms may have developed resistance to the genetically modified crop. Michael Gray, an agricultural entomologist at the University of Illinois, is studying whether western corn rootworms collected last month in two counties are resistant to an insect-killing protein derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). The insects were collected in two fields where corn had toppled after roots were eaten by rootworms. Bloomberg, 3/9/11 The resurgence of a major corn pest has led to a growing debate about the role of genetically modified corn, and cast doubts on the economic and environmental benefits of one of the nations most popular seed lines. Rootworms have damaged corn plants in Minnesota and other states, and research suggests rootworms have developed immunity to the protections in Monsantos genetically modified corn. Officials at Monsanto, the nations leading seed corn company, deny that the pest is developing a resistance to the protein. Instead, they contend that overwhelming numbers of rootworms are to blame for the damage. Insect experts who doubt the companys theory include Michael McNeill, who farms in northern Iowa. In a test patch in McNeils cornfields, where a recent wind storm left some varieties unhurt, stalks of Monsantos genetically engineered corn are lying on the ground. You can see how the plant is tipped over, McNeill said. The root ball is partially sticking out of the ground. As McNeil pried a corn stalk out of the soil and used a knife to knock the dirt off the plant, he quickly spotted root damage. This whole side is chewed off, he said. You can see where the rootworm has moved up the side of the root, chewed a little tunnel.
UNINTENDED VICTIMS
In India conservative estimates for small scale farmers indicate that use of biotech cotton has increased yield by 31%, decreased insecticide application by 39%, and increased profitability by 88%. And then, reminiscent of Monsantos Florence Wambugu: The speaker for the outreach seminar is Dr. Hortense Dodo, professor and Fulbright scholar from Elizabeth city, North Carolina. Dr. Dodo is an Ivorian by birth who taught food biotechnology and molecular biology at Alabama A&M University. She is currently the president of a biotech startup company with a focus on R&D and commercialization of transgenic agricultural crops. She is brought [bought?] by the Economic Bureau of the U.S. Department of State.
Foroyaa, Gambia, 18/9/11
In recent years, residents of the Solomon Islands have grown increasingly dependent on processed foods, which are contributing to rising rates of diabetes, chronic heart disease, and malnutrition. To combat this growing reliance on less nutritious, imported foods, the project focused not only on distributing OSP vines to households but also on promoting consumption of a wide range of locally grown, vitamin A-rich foods. Islanders diets have become overly dependent on heavily processed imported food at the expense of local fruit, vegetables and fish. The result is an epidemic of diabetes, chronic disease and malnourishment. A sweet potato, whether its white or yellow or purple or whatever, is a much better product than rice and they can produce plenty of these root crops per hectare for next to nothing. And yet its white rice, white flour and white sugar and high fat Western imported foods that are dominating the Solomons diet. A lot of them seem to think that something that comes in a packet from Australia or maybe China is better because its packaged and its been processed so its a more prestigious sort of food than their local food that they can grow in the garden.
Australian Broadcasting Corp, 10/7/10; Harvest Plus (USA), 19/8/11
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