السيادة الغذائية

السيادة الغذائية

رامي زريق

تتعدد النظريات في موضوع الأمن الغذائي، وإن كان يمكن تقسيمها إلى فئتين شبه متناقضتين. فأتباع النظرية الأولى، وهي الأكثر شيوعاً، يرون أنّ الغذاء سلعة استهلاكية لا تختلف عن سائر السلع المعروضة في الأسواق، وإن كانت الأولوية في الحصول عليه تعود إلى من لديهم القدرة الشرائية الأكبر في أسواق مفتوحة. ويحبذ أتباع هذه المقاربة الإنتاج الزراعي المكثف في مزارع صناعية واستيراد الأغذية الأساسية من الأسواق العالمية والتركيز على الميزة التفاضلية لتشجيع نمط من الإنتاج الزراعي التصديري.

أما أتباع النظرية الثانية، الذين يعدّون الغذاء حقاً إنسانياً وليس سلعة، فيلفتون النظر إلى أنّ الأسواق تعمل تاريخياً لمصلحة الأغنياء، ما يؤدي إلى عالم كالذي نعيش فيه، حيث يتفشى الجوع والتخمة جنباً إلى جنب نتيجة الفوارق الاجتماعية السائدة بين الفقراء والأثرياء. كذلك يشير هؤلاء إلى الدمار البيئي الناتج من النمط الزراعي المكثف والكوارث الاجتماعية التي رافقت زوال القطاع الفلاحي. كذلك هناك مشكلة أساسية تنتج من الاعتماد على الأسواق الذي يجعل من الوطن والمواطنين رهائن لهذه الأسواق التي تسيطر عليها دول عظمى، ما يلغي مبدأ السيادة. لهذا السبب، يطلق على هذه النظرية اسم «السيادة الغذائية». وقد ولدت هذه الفكرة من رحم الجمعيات الفلاحية الراديكالية في أميركا اللاتينية وانتشرت في العالم.

ها هي بوليفيا تبنت هذه المقاربة وجعلت منها المبدأ الأساسي لسياستها الزراعية. أما في الوطن العربي، فلا سيادة على شيء، بدءاً من النفط المستخرج محلياً، إلى الغذاء المستورد بنسبة 80% من الاستهلاك المحلي. وإذا كانت مصر وتونس تستعدان للانتقال من حكم الطاغية إلى مرحلة جديدة، ألا يجدر أن تكون السيادة الغذائية أحد عناوينها؟

http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/15303

This woman (and Egypt) kicks ass

Egypt declines World Bank loan as incompatible with national interest

The government has declined a loan from the World Bank because it found the terms of the loan incompatible with the national interest, Egyptian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Fayza Abul Naga said on Monday.

The minister added that the government would not accept conditions dictated by the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund, especially since the 18-day uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.

However, Abul Naga said the Saudi government has granted Egypt a loan of US$200 million to be directed to small and medium enterprises.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal said Egypt was wary of the United States’ recent offer of financial support, doubting possible ulterior motives behind it.

It also said Abul Naga had lodged a complaint with the US Embassy in Egypt, and warned of violating Egypt’s sovereignty by dictating conditions for loans. The complaint came in response to an announcement by the United States Agency for International Development that it would grant Egypt US$165 million to finance projects for education, civic activities and human rights.

Abul Naga objected to the agency announcing loans to Egypt without consulting competent Egyptian officials.

From Al Masry al youm http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/469888

My interview with Just World Books: Can you really be free if you are hungry?

I was soooo jetlagged...

Agribusiness or terrorism?

"Afghanistan excels at poppy cultivation and the manufacturing of raw opium gum into a range of narcotics. Narcotics are global commodities that live double lives. They are sold legally to the pharmaceutical industry to manufacture into morphine and codeine for medicinal use (pain control and anesthesia) and are sold to the illegal market in the form of smokable opium and injectable heroin. If the production and sale of opiates were legal, such as the drugs caffeine and nicotine, Afghanistan wouldn't have a cabal of national and international narcotics control forces waging a violent drug war that criminalises ordinary Afghans trying to survive in a war-torn economy and brands the country an outlaw, failed "narco-state".
The drug warriors in the DEA, the White House and the Pentagon have intentionally conflated the war on drugs and the war on terror in Afghanistan. Call it a "twofer", more bang for the billions of bucks being spent to wage wars that have no exit strategies because they can never be won. Pairing drug hysteria with the fear of terrorism is powerful propaganda for the United States, and recasts and promotes what is in reality an imperialist war as a war against a "narco-insurgency" or "narco-terrorism". The ancient and pain relieving plant papaver somniferum [the opium poppy] is now referred to as a narco-terrorism crop. It is agribusiness, not terrorism." (Thanks Anne)

 - http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/06/201162065858707533.html

Slides of my talk at the Food Security conference: Food Security Education in MENA

http://fafsweb.aub.edu.lb/foodsecurity/presentations/Rami%20Zurayk%20-%20Teaching%20Food%20Security%20AUB.pdf

The Morales option: food sovereignty as a state policy

"However, the government has said it does not want to use the technology big business would like to embrace, for example, to modify food genetically. Ciro Kopp, an agricultural engineer at the National Council for Food and Nutrition, says that, before aiming to become a large exporter, Bolivia's priority should be to guarantee food sovereignty and security for its people.

"About 20 to 25 years ago, 70 to 80% of what we ate was produced locally in Bolivia," he said, "but then we embraced the agro-industrial model and now 70 to 80% of what we eat comes from the agro-industry, which makes us dependent on technologies and price controls from abroad. So, in the same way that industrialists received support from the government in the past, now it's small farmers who need help."" (Thanks Tamara)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jun/20/bolivia-food-security-prices-agriculture

How the rich are destroying the economy (and society, and culture, and the environment, and, and, and...)

"Organized labor needs to bring masses of people in the street all over the country in order to get attention and pressure the government to respond to these demands. And it can succeed, especially if it organizes a serious, protracted campaign and especially if this campaign does not get funneled into supporting Democratic candidates, the surest way to kill campaign momentum."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/12-1

How a very few rich people make the rest of the world poor: the truth about the economy

Petroaltruism: Common Dreams reveals the background of Obama's humanitarian war

"But all was not well. By November 2007, a State Department cable noted "growing evidence of Libyan resource nationalism." It noted that in his 2006 speech marking the founding of his regime, Gaddafi said: "Oil companies are controlled by foreigners who have made millions from them. Now, Libyans must take their place to profit from this money." His son made similar remarks in 2007.

Oil companies had been forced to give their local subsidiaries Libyan names, the cable said. . . .

The entire article is worth reading, as it details how Gaddafi has progressively impeded the interests of U.S. and Western oil companies by demanding a greater share of profits and other concessions, to the point where some of those corporations were deciding that it may no longer be profitable or worthwhile to drill for oil there.  But now, in a pure coincidence, there is hope on the horizon for these Western oil companies, thanks to the war profoundly humanitarian action being waged by the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner and his nation's closest Western allies:"

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/06/11-5

If London was occupied by Israel

الأرض لنا

رامي زريق

ولدت حركة الاحتجاجات الشعبية العربية في المناطق الأشد فقراً، أي تلك الريفية. هذا ما تشهد به مدينتا سيدي بوزيد ودرعا. وحتى في البلدان التي شهدت تزامناً في اندلاع الثورات في كل مناطقها، مثل مصر واليمن، بينما لم يغطِّ الإعلام سوى تحركاتها الشعبية في العواصم والمدن، مثّل النازحون من الأرياف الخزان البشري الأساسي للتظاهرات وللمسيرات الشعبية.
أولئك الأحرار هم الذين طردهم الفقر والحرمان من قراهم النائية، في ظلّ سياسات الإهمال المتعمدة التي مارستها جميع الحكومات العربية، ولا سيما تلك التي اعتنقت المذهب النيوليبرالي وجعلت منه دين الدولة الحقيقي.
قد يعتقد البعض أن إهمال الريف جاء صدفة، أو نتيجة لممارسات اقتصادية اجتماعية تجعل من المدن المحور الأساسي للحركة الاقتصادية والسياسية والثقافية. لكن الواقع أشد مرارة: فهناك العديد من المحللين الذين يعتقدون أن أحد الأسباب الرئيسية لإفراغ الريف هو وضع الأغنياء والقيّمين على الدولة والحكومات أيديهم على ما بقي من أراض زراعية، وتحويلها إلى استثمارات عقارية، أي إلى سلعة لا قيمة إنتاجية لها.
يملك الأثرياء في بلادنا حالياً الأكثرية الشاسعة من الأراضي، وتبلغ معدلات سوء توزيع الأراضي بين المواطنين، حسب مقياس «جيني» الدولي، أعلى مستوياتها في بلدان العرب التي لم تنتشر فيها ملكيات الأراضي الخاصة إلا بعد انتهاء الحكم العثماني وانتقال السلطة إلى يد المستعمر وأعوانه المحليين.
لن ينتعش القطاع الزراعي، ولن ينجح وتعود الحياة إلى الأرياف وتتقلص دائرة الفقر إلا إذا أُعيد توزيع الأراضي على من يحرثها. هذا هو التحدي الرئيسي للثورات العربية، هو نفسه التحدي الذي لم ننجح فيه عندما «تحررنا» من الاستعمار.

http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/14786

Red with shame

"Mass-produced tomatoes have become redder, more tender and slightly more flavorful than the crunchy orange “cello-wrapped” specimens of a couple of decades ago, but the lives of the workers who grow and pick them haven’t improved much since Edward R. Murrow’s revealing and deservedly famous Harvest of Shame report of 1960, which contained the infamous quote, “We used to own our slaves; now we just rent them.”

"Unlike corn and soy, tomatoes’ harvest cannot be automated; it takes workers to pick that fruit. And not only have workers been enslaved, they have been routinely beaten, subject to sexual harassment, exposed to toxic chemicals (Estabrook mercilessly describes the tragic results of this) and forced to wait for hours to find out whether they have work on a given day. Oh, and they’re underpaid." (Thanks Anne)

 - http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/the-true-cost-of-tomatoes/?hp

It's all about land

"A landless peasant activist has been found dead in Brazil's Amazon state of Para, the fifth murder in a month believed to be linked to the conflict over land and logging in the country’s rainforest region." (Thanks Anne)

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/06/20116155749606728.html

It is time to re-read Samir Amin's "The Arab Nation"

In my attempts to better understand the agrarian history of the Arab World and to answer the question: was the Fertile Crescent really fertile? (so far the answer is not really) I have been re-reading Amin's fascinating very short book originally written in French in 1976 and translated into English in 1981, published by Zed books. Amin has aways been a great favorite of mine, but this book is really exceptional. Here's a great quote:

"Without a revolutionary practice, theory is condemned to degenerate. What is needed today is a break with petty bourgeois circles, with their lifestyles and with their limited forms of political action, in order to undertake another kind of action among the proletarianised and the popular masses, especially the rural ones. In this case, practice is more important than theory, for a fundamentally correct practice (action within the struggle of the revolutionary classes which are the motor of history) helps in the re-evaluation of partially false theory-but this does not work the other way round."

Many comrades and friends engaged in small pursuits would greatly benefit, as I did, from reframing their practice in light of the above.

My talk at LSE on June 23

Bread and Butter: Food, De-Development and the Arab Revolutions

Speaker: Dr Rami Zurayk, American University of Beirut

Chair: Professor Martha Mundy, LSE

Thursday 23 June 2011

18:00 - 19:30

Alumni Theatre, LG.09, New Academic Building, LSE

Finding your way around LSE

In his lecture, Rami Zurayk will discuss his current work on food and de-development in Gaza and the use of food insecurtiy as a weapon of siege. He will also look at Egypt and its post-revolution agricultural policies.

Rami Zurayk is an agronomy professor at the American University of Beirut and a longtime activist for political and social justice. Born in Beirut during the 1958 U.S. Marines' landing in Lebanon, he has witnessed two Israeli-Arab wars, one protracted civil war, one major Israeli invasion, one Israeli retreat and one Israeli defeat. He studied at AUB and at Oxford University. He has published over a hundred articles, monographs and technical reports on agriculture, food, environment and education. His most recent book Food, Farming and Freedom: Sowing the Arab Spring was published this May.

This lecture is open to all and registration is not required.

Admission is on a first come first served basis.

I've always loved Montpellier

"This past weekend in the Montpellier, France, over 100 activists from 9 countries gathered for the first ever European Forum Against Agrexco. Delegates from Italy, UK, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Palestine joined the French organizers for two full days of workshops aimed at strengthening the boycott campaign against the Israeli agricultural export giant.

Agrexco is Israel's largest fresh produce exporter and European markets account for the vast majority of their sales under the brand Carmel. The Israeli government's 50% stake in the company as well as their marketing of 60-70% of the fruit and vegetables grown in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank have made Agrexco a prime strategic target for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign."

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/06/activists-from-across-europe-gather-to-build-the-campaign-against-agrexco.html

Angry young men

"Todd: Of course, one can placate the people with bread and money, but only for a while. Revolutions usually erupt during phases of cultural growth and economic downturn. For me, as a demographer, the key variable is not the per capita gross domestic product but the literacy rate. The British historian Lawrence Stone pointed out this relationship in his study of the English revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries. He saw the critical threshold at 40 to 60 percent.

SPIEGEL: Well, most young Arabs can now read and write, but how is the birth rate actually developing? The population in Arab countries is extremely young, with half of its citizens younger than 25.

Todd: Yes, but that's because the previous generation had so many children. In the meantime, however, the birth rate is falling dramatically in some cases. It has fallen by half in the Arab world in just one generation, from 7.5 children per woman in 1975 to 3.5 in 2005. The birth rate among female university graduates is just below 2.1, the level needed to maintain a population. Tunisia now has a birth rate similar to that of France. In Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Egypt, it has dropped below the magic threshold of three children per woman. This means that young adults constitute the majority of the population and, unlike their fathers and mothers, they can read and write, and they also practice contraception. But they suffer from unemployment and social frustration. It isn't surprising that unrest was inevitable in this part of world.

SPIEGEL: Is that why angry young men are taking the revolution into the streets, while there is a lack of recognized older forward-looking thinkers and leaders?

Todd: That isn't surprising. Young men led the revolutions in England and France. Robespierre was only 31 in 1789, and he was 36 when he was sent to the guillotine. His adversary Danton and his ally Saint-Just were also young men, one in his early 30s and the other in his mid-20s. Although Lenin was older, the Bolshevik shock troops were made up of young men, as were the Nazi storm troopers. It was young men who faced off against the Soviet tanks in Budapest in 1956. The explanation is banal: Young men have more strength and more to gain."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,763537-2,00.html

Financing social movements in Egypt (Jadaliyya)

How Do You Finance Social Justice in Egypt? Jadaliyya Interview With Wael Gamal from Jadaliyya on Vimeo.

Wheat breeders make breakthrough against devastating wheat rust

"Researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) in Mexico will announce next week that they have developed wheat varieties showing "near immune" resistance to deadly stem rust disease. Once thought as well-conquered as polio, stem rust is known for killing as much as half a harvest.

A mutant strain of the fungus that causes stem rust appeared in Uganda a decade ago, tearing through previously resistant crops. Scientists found that the fungus, Ug99, could infect 90 percent of the world's wheat, causing a surge of concern from the United States to India. Wheat provides a fifth of the world's calories; a mass outbreak risked plunging many societies back into hunger, reversing agriculture's gains in the developing world."

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/06/10/10greenwire-scientists-breed-wheat-near-immune-to-devastat-24621.html

The important thing now is to make sure that these new resistant varieties are in the public domain and not controlled by multinational corporations. 

A capitalist vison for Africa: more structural reform to create more inequality

"Structural reforms key to attracting investment for continent - OBG’s Regional Editor 
Agriculture and infrastructure will be key drivers of economic growth in Africa if the continent is able to attract the necessary investment to the sectors, according to Robert Tashima, Oxford Business Group’s Regional Editor for Africa."


http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/event/conference-puts-infrastructure-and-agriculture-spotlight

Making money from the food crisis in the Middle East

"The events in the Middle East, while a very visible catalyst of commodities prices, are in no way isolated indicators of a massive growth in demand for agricultural commodities and the products and services rendered to producers of these commodities. To once again beat a dead horse, the population is growing and not only that, it is getting richer. With increased population and purchasing power there is a steady, growing demand for food. It is as simple as that. While one could try to play the demographics game more tightly and focus investments in companies with out-sized exposure to certain growth markets, we feel confident that the traditional players offer a good first look for investors who are committed to this investment thesis.

We don't advocate speculating on the agricultural commodities market, but rather suggest that investors might find opportunities to invest with companies that benefit from these two "mega trends."

Commodity prices are rising and the world is going to need more food over the next century. Here are some names that will continue to respond to the world's food needs."

would I surprise anyone if I said that Monsanto is among these? Read more 

http://seekingalpha.com/article/274328-what-the-middle-east-chaos-means-for-agriculture-stocks?source=feed

Diffusing the Arab Spring with neoliberalism excellent article by Joseph Masaad

"Other Arab countries, especially Egypt, were being flooded with Western-funded NGOs as the IMF and the World Bank were ensuring that local wealth is firmly in the hands of international capital and a small, local, subservient business class that supports the local dictatorships. A large number of women and labour activists, human rights and political activists, minority rights and peasants rights activists were no longer to be found defending the poor and the oppressed among whom they lived, but were now found on the payroll of these Western-funded NGOs, masquerading as civil society. While this demobilisation of Arab civil society ultimately failed to forestall popular Egyptian and Tunisian rage against two of the most corrupt regimes of post-independence Asia and Africa (or even Latin America), the US and its Saudi and Qatari allies are devising a new economic package to "support" the recent uprisings, especially Egypt's larger and much more important economy." (Thanks Marcy)

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/06/2011689456174295.html

US land grab: for once a land grab is not an ay-rab issue

"Harvard and other major American universities are working through British hedge funds and European financial speculators to buy or lease vast areas of African farmland in deals, some of which may force many thousands of people off their land, according to a new study.

Researchers say foreign investors are profiting from "land grabs" that often fail to deliver the promised benefits of jobs and economic development, and can lead to environmental and social problems in the poorest countries in the world.

The new report on land acquisitions in seven African countries suggests that Harvard, Vanderbilt and many other US colleges with large endowment funds have invested heavily in African land in the past few years. Much of the money is said to be channelled through London-based Emergent asset management, which runs one of Africa's largest land acquisition funds, run by former JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs currency dealers." (Thanks Martha and Amahl)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/08/us-universities-africa-land-grab

Armenians, Palestinians and mulberry trees in the Bass and Rashidiyyeh camps

أشجار التوت في مخيمي البص والرشيدية: أمانة سلمهـا اللاجئون الأرمـن إلى الفلسطينيين

يجني التوت في البص حسين سعد لأشجار التوت وثمارها في مخيمي البص والرشيدية، قرب مدينة صور، حكاية تعود إلى نحو سبعين عاما، حين غرس الأرمن الذين نزحوا من بلادهم إلى صور، عبر مرفئها البحري في العام 1939 تلك الأشجار بكثافة. واشتهر الأرمن الذين حطوا رحالهم في أراض تابعة للدولة اللبنانية في البص والرشيدية، وظلوا فيها إلى أوائل الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية في العام 1975، بزراعة سهول «الشواكير» جنوب صور بالبطاطا الحلوة، وغرس أعداد كبيرة من أشجار التوت الأحمر والأبيض في تلك الأراضي الخصبة المسيجة بكثبان الرمل، إضافة إلى تركهم كنيستين في المخيمين، تشهدان على تلك الحقبة، والتعايش مع اللاجئين الفلسطينيين الذين أتوا بعدهم بتسع سنوات في عام النكبة. ومع بداية موسم التوت، الذي يمتد من أوائل أيار حتى منتصف حزيران، تنشغل عائلات فلسطينية كثيرة اليوم، منها من ورث أشجارا معمرة عن الأرمن، ومنها حديثة الزرع، بقطاف الموسم، ونشر عشرات الأولاد على مفارق الطرق في صور لبيع الإنتاج. ويصدر القسم الأكبر من الموسم إلى بيروت بواسطة عدد من التجار، الذين يقصدون المخيم لنقل كميات من التوت الموضب في علب بلاستيكية مقابل ثلاثة آلاف ليرة كحد أقصى لكل علبة. ويقول الفلسطيني أبو عبدو، الذي في داره شجرة توت يفوق عمرها الستين عاما: «الشجرة لا تزال صامدة، وكانت موجودة، عندما كان أقاربنا يشغلون المنزل من قبلنا أي قبل أكثر من خمسين عاما». يضيف: «صارت الشجرة من سكان المنزل، حيث لم ينل منها القصف الإسرائيلي في العام 1982، ولا عومل الطبيعة أيضا». ويؤكد جاره السبعيني إبراهيم بقاعي، الذي يتفيأ بظلال شجرة التوت التي تغطي داره، أنه زرع تلك الشجرة قبل 45 عاماً بهدف التظلل، عندما كانت بيوت المخيم متباعدة، ولكنها عندما كبرت أصبحت مصدرا من مصادر العيش. ويتناوب بقاعي وأفراد من عائلته على جني ثمار التوت من الشجرة وتوضيبها، استعدادا لتسليمها لتاجر آت من بيروت، لافتاً إلى أن «الأشجار التي تنتشر في مخيمنا زرعت منذ مجيء اللاجئين إلى المخيم في العام 1951، والتي كان قد سبقهم إلى زراعتها اللاجئون الأرمن». ويفخر جوني أطاميان، وهو الأرمني الوحيد الصامد مع أفراد عائلته في مخيم البص، بغرس آبائه لتلك الأشجار، لافتاً إلى دور والده المختار أواديس أطاميان في ذلك المجال، ومسائل أخرى متعلقة برعاية الأرمن آنذاك. ويقول أطاميان «هناك شجرة توت كبيرة عند ركن منزلنا ما زالت صامدة إلى اليوم، وتعيدنا كما الكنيسة الموجودة في البص إلى حقبة حلّ فيها الأرمن ضيوفا في المنطقة العزيزة على قلوبنا». http://www.assafir.com/Article.aspx?EditionId=1865&ChannelId=43928&ArticleId=848&Author=%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%86%20%D8%B3%D8%B9%D8%AF

USAID's special interpretation of the Right to Food

"While seemingly aligned with the policies and recommendations of leading ecological and environmental experts, the initiative has generated tremendous controversy since Rajiv Shah, USAID's chief administrator, announced in January that "large-scale private sector partnerships" would lead the way to a world free of hunger.

Identifying 17 global "champions", Shah named transnational giants Archer Daniels Midland, BASF, Bunge, Cargill, The Coca- Cola Company, DuPont, General Mills, Kraft Foods, Metro, Monsanto Company, Nestle, PepsiCo, SABMiller, Syngenta, Unilever, Wal-Mart Stores and Yara International as leaders in the fight against food insecurity.

Heavily featured on watchdog websites such as GRAIN, CorpWatch and Food and Water Watch, these companies have notorious track records in human and environmental rights violations."

http://news.tradingcharts.com/futures/4/2/159776024.html

How the Damascus Spring became a rural revolution

From Assafir

My interview with Max Blumenthal about the Nakba day demonstration in Lebanon

"RZ: No amount of Syrian money can make people run to a border knowing they will be shot at. If the Syrians are being clever, that is their consideration. But do you really think Palestinians need Syrians to make them want to return to Palestine? They are living in camps with sewage running openly, with no jobs and no opportunities. So the Syrian regime may be under pressure, but even if they do seek to use the protests to their advantage, does it excuse Israeli behavior? Beyond that, it’s so racist to think that the Palestinians do not have agency, that they have to attain their agency from Syria. It’s like they are below human. This is really the Israeli view of Palestinians: that they are sub-humans who can be manipulated by anyone."

http://electronicintifada.net/content/interview-planning-nakba-day-movement-lebanon/10046

The entrepreneurial fallacy

"So why are entrepreneurs being so shy? Don't they want to create wealth? They probably do. But the fact is this: the entire entrepreneurs-create-wealth thing is a fallacy, and the government is wrong to place its faith in it. Entrepreneurs don't create wealth. Banks create wealth, only banks. If you wonder why politicians seem so powerless to "rein them in", then wonder no more. It is for this simple reason: banks have a monopoly on wealth creation."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/02/only-banks-can-create-wealth

The great Ahdaf Soueif on Obama's plans for the Arab World

"And he will continue to "do these things" through the same bad policies : projects for US companies paid for with Egyptian debt, more debt, more IMF and World Bank plans pushing us to privilege "growth" and "free trade" over real development and critical issues like food security. This is not what we want.

If Obama is serious about supporting self-determination, here's a to-do list: remove state department warnings and give tax breaks to Americans holidaying in Egypt and Tunisia; grant a temporary tax amnesty to Egyptian imports; find our stolen money and hold it until our elections; regulate the US security industry; stop US aid to Israel and Egypt; close tax loopholes that encourage US citizens to fund settlements in Palestine; encourage Israeli transparency regarding its nuclear weapons."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/21/revolt-barack-obama-arab-world

ربيع الجامعات

رامي زريق

هناك بعض الحقائق التي يعلمها كل من لديه اهتمام بقضايا الغذاء والأمن الغذائي. أولها أن العالم واقع اليوم في أزمة غذائية متنامية، وأن أسعار الغذاء ستتضاعف خلال العقدين الآتيين، ومعها عدد الجياع في العالم. وستكون البلدان العربية في عين العاصفة؛ إذ إنها شحيحة المياه، كثيفة السكان، تفتقر إلى الأراضي الخصبة، وتقتات من استيراد الغذاء. وقد تبنت الحكومات العربية تاريخياً سياسات تنموية قضت على القطاع الزراعي وشجعت القطاعات الريعية، وعلى رأسها التجارة (بالغذاء) والمضاربات العقارية التي تلغي الاستعمال الزراعي للأرض. إن مواجهة التحديات الراهنة ستتطلب مقاربات جديدة خلاقة ومبدعة تجعل وطننا العربي أقل تعرضاً للصدمات وتوفر الغذاء لجميع سكانه. ولأن الصورة واضحة، قد يستغرب المراقبون شح الخبرات المحلية في مجال الأمن الغذائي. فالواقع أن أكثرية الجامعات في بلادنا لم تعط أهمية كافية لهذا التخصص، وألحقته بالتخصصات الزراعية، ربما بسبب أبعاده الاقتصادية والاجتماعية والسياسية الواضحة. قد يعود هذا الواقع إلى أسباب عديدة، منها أن البلدان العربية الغنية كانت تظن أن بإمكانها شراء ما تشاء من الأسواق، قبل أن تكتشف خلال أزمة عام 2007 أن الأسواق قد لا تكفي لإشباع شعوبها. ومن ناحية ثانية، لم تشجع الحكومات العربية يوماً الإبداع والتجدد في جامعاتها، وخاصة في المجالات السياسية والاقتصادية والاجتماعية التي قد تؤدي إلى طرح أسئلة محرجة، مثل: لماذا تستولي طبقة صغيرة جداً من المقربين للسلطة على مساحات زراعية شاسعة، فيما لا يملك المزارع ما يكفي من الأرض لتأمين معيشته؟
اليوم، نضع كل آمالنا في الربيع العربي، آملين أن تصل رياح الحرية إلى داخل صروح الجامعات

http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/13815

Lebanon: one NGO for every 550 citizen. What do they do? Who funds them?

Rasha Abu Zeki has a go at Lebanese NGOs, USAID, UNDP and the World Bank.

http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/13851

Pity the nation by Tabulagaza

pity the nation دولة تثير الشفقة from tabulagaza on Vimeo.

Critical Left: Please watch and wake up

Oxfam report on food: we are sleepwalking

"The average price of staple foods will more than double in the next 20 years, leading to an unprecedented reversal in human development, Oxfam has warned.

The world's poorest people, who spend up to 80% of their income offood, will be hit hardest according to the charity. It said the world is entering an era of permanent food crisis, which is likely to be accompanied by political unrest and will require radical reform of the international food system."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/31/oxfam-food-prices-double-2030

China in Argentina land acquisitions

"The attraction to the Chinese of access to an area of land in Patagonia larger than Cornwall is obvious. As China's economy grows and its population becomes more urbanised, diets are changing rapidly. People are eating more industrially produced meat and dairy products, and buying more processed foods.

Soya is the feedstock for this revolution, but demand for it can no longer be met within China. So the Chinese state-owned agribusiness company Beidahuang has joined the global scramble for land and water that has accelerated since food prices spiked in 2008.

Last year it was confirmed that the company had signed an agreement, with the government of Patagonia's Río Negro province, which provides the framework for it to acquire up to 320,000 hectares (790,000 acres) of privately owned farmland, along with irrigation rights and a concession on the San Antonio port."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/jun/01/china-land-deal-unease-argentina-agribusiness?intcmp=239

Guardian: Argentina accuses world's largest grain traders of huge tax evasion

"The world's four largest grain traders, responsible for the vast majority of global corn, soya and wheat trading and processing, have been accused of large-scale tax evasion in a landmark series of cases being brought against them by the Argentinian government.

In an interview with the Guardian, Ricardo Echegaray, the head of Afip, the country's revenue and customs service, has given a detailed account of the charges his department is bringing against ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Dreyfus.

"These companies have gone into criminality," Echegaray said. "2008 was when agricultural commodities prices spiked and was the best year for them in prices, yet we could see that the companies with the biggest sales showed very little profit in this country."

The Guardian has learned from separate sources that Afip is seeking to claim $476m (£290m) for what it says are unpaid tax and duties from Bunge, $252m from Cargill and $140m from Dreyfus. The companies have all denied all the allegations and have said they will defend themselves vigorously." (Thanks Laila)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/01/argentina-accuses-grain-traders-tax-evasion

see also here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/01/global-food-crisis-argentina-grain-tax

To all those who buy into Israeli propaganda and repeat it like imbecils

"The propaganda battle over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has reached a new level of intensity. In 2004 the Glasgow University Media Group published a major study on TV coverage of the Second Intifada and its impact on public understanding. We analysed about 200 programmes and questioned more than 800 people. Our conclusion: reporting was dominated by Israeli accounts. Since then we have been contacted by many journalists, especially from the BBC, and told of the intense pressures they are under that limit criticism of Israel. They asked us to raise the issue in public because they can't. They speak of "waiting in fear for the phone call from the Israelis" (meaning the embassy or higher), of the BBC's Jerusalem bureau having been "leant on by the Americans", of being "guilty of self-censorship" and of "urgently needing an external arbiter". Yet the public response of the BBC is to avoid reporting our latest findings. Those in control have the power to say what is not going to be the news.'" (Thanks Muna)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/31/israel-pr-victory-images-war

Palestine: all or none ya kullo ya balash by Stormtrap