In spite of the obviously sectarian nature of the violent events that have taken place in Lebanon yesterday, the fact that they were associated with the general workers strike is highly symbolic. As elsewhere in the food-dependent countries of the Middle East, but also in Asia, Africa and the Caribbeans, the poor and the slightly less poor in Lebanon have been protesting the tremendous increase in food prices. The cost of living was never cheap in Lebanon, but it has now become prohibitive. I won't go into an analysis of the causes, as I have many previous postings about that and the world is awash with economic hindsight experts telling us what we already know. In Lebanon, a combination of laissez-faire economy of the worst kind, corruption, self-serving policies and worship of the market gods has led to the disintegration of the productive sector. To be fair, while farming has been left to die slowly, there has been some investment into industrialized agro-foods. By industrializing agriculture, definite economic gains are made because of the economy of scale and also because large investors have more political clout and can sway policies and legislations their way. The price is paid by small producers who do not have the investment power, the access to knowledge and to technology of the industrialists. This forces them out of business, their lands are purchased and consolidated, and they end up as wage laborers on their lands or they drift to the outskirts of the cities. This is what happened (on a much larger scale) in India and has led to the suicide of 150,000 farmers in the past 10 years. This is also what happened in Lebanon, but the farmers did not kill themselves, at least not directly. Some of them emigrated, but most migrated to the outskirts of the cities where they became fertile ground for radical movements of all kinds, and where they became clients of the sectarian politicians. This of course, is more like mass suicide.
I understand governmental policies on farming and agriculture. They are simplistic, like a lot of neo-classical economic policies. They are growth-oriented, and use lumped growth (GNP) as their basic indicator. GNP is important, but it is not the only measure. Indicators of development (such as equity) are at least as important not least because the more equity, the less the danger of revolts and violence of the kind we are seeing. It is also important to keep people into farming when governments do not have the slightest idea about how to address unemployment. I am all for the concept of economic efficiency, but it has to be done in a way that preserves the country and its society in the medium and long terms. Improving the efficiency and the return from farming by modernizing it is the way to go, but a big challenge remains: how to modernize without reducing the number of rural people from 12% (or 25%, or 40% depending on where you are) to 2% and 3% and end up with a food system exclusively managed by absentee landlords and bookkeepers? The social and political outcome of this demographic shift will be dramatic, and the environmental impacts cataclysmic. This is what we are witnessing in all developing nations, but more so in the countries that have adopted the full liberalization packages.
To illustrate, look at the situation of the poultry farmers in Lebanon. This morning's paper ran, alongside the frightening accounts of yesterday's street wars, a news item about the poultry producers threatening to close business because the government, in the same fated meeting which lit the fuse of the current troubles, also took the decision to remove import duties on imported chicken. This will have the immediate result of reducing prices, which will please consumers. But this will also annihilate the production sector, plagued with import duties on feed and high fuel prices. The large scale poultry industrialists will not suffer as much, because most of their production is contract-farmed to the small and medium producers, and they are vertically integrated: a large share of their profits come from adding value to poultry meat (nuggets, frozen, etc...). They still have the option of using the cheaper imports to manufacture their products. Those set to profit most are the meat importers. Now, of course, it is a pure coincidence that the head of the union of poultry producers is close to the opposition, while the head of the union of meat importers is a staunch loyalist.
If the government is intent on liberating prices, then it should do it for all imports, including feeds. More importantly, this and subsequent government must realize that they need to help farmers improve their efficiency. It has been shown repeatedly that, in spite of the economy of scale advantage, small, family producers can be just as efficient as big ones, especially if social and environmental costs are internalized. To confront the food crisis, populist measures are insufficient. Commitment to equity and development is needed, especially in countries that are torn by inequalities.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Global famine
"There are two interrelated dimensions to the ongoing global food crisis, which has spearheaded millions of people around the World into starvation and chronic deprivation, a situation in which entire population groups no longer have the means to purchase food.
First, there is a long term historical process of macroeconomic policy reform and global economic restructuring which has contributed to depressing the standard living Worldwide in both the developing and developed countries.
Second, these preexisting historical conditions of mass poverty have been exacerbated and aggravated by the recent surge in grain prices, which have led in some cases to the doubling of the retail price of food staples. These price hikes are in large part the result of speculative trade in food staples. " (Thanks A)
Rosemary's baby
There are skirmishes everywhere in Beirut today. The strike declared by the General Workers Union, and supported by the Opposition, did not pass very well, although the morning was quieter than expected. The airport workers declared a strike till pm and everybody is waiting to see if it will reopen at 3 pm as initially planned. There has been street fights with automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades in the districts of Ras el Nabeh, Mazraa, Nweiry, Barbour, Fakhani, Tarik al Jadideh and Msaitbeh. Media organs in Lebanon are all partisan, and so it is nearly impossible to have a clear view of what is going on. But it does not really matter who starts what and where, because what is happening is the result of the sectarian build up, practiced by politicians of all sides over the past three years. No doubt that this was precipitated by the decision of the government (and therefore the loyalist camp) to dismiss the airport's security chief and to expose and complain to the UN and therefore delegitimize the resistance's communication network.
At the end of the day, it is the civilians who suffer the most. My kid's friend just called him. He was in tears. He and his mum have been hiding in the bathroom (the least exposed room in the house) for 4 hours, while gunmen exchange views and opinions in his street. He is 10 years old.
On TV, the pictures of the fighters look like a re-run of the civil war, but with better resolution.
What did Condie call it again? Birth pangs. Rosemary's baby.
At the end of the day, it is the civilians who suffer the most. My kid's friend just called him. He was in tears. He and his mum have been hiding in the bathroom (the least exposed room in the house) for 4 hours, while gunmen exchange views and opinions in his street. He is 10 years old.
On TV, the pictures of the fighters look like a re-run of the civil war, but with better resolution.
What did Condie call it again? Birth pangs. Rosemary's baby.
This land is Palestine
"One recent warm afternoon, Jamal Abdulhadi Mahameed drove past kibbutz fields of wheat and watermelon, up a dirt road surrounded by pine trees and cactuses, and climbed the worn remains of a set of stairs, declaring in the open air: “This was my house. This is where I was born.”
He said what he most wanted now, at 69, was to leave the crowded town next door, come to this piece of uncultivated land with the pomegranate bushes planted by his father and work it, as generations had before him. He has gone to court to get it.
He is no revolutionary and, by nearly any measure, is a solid and successful citizen. His children include a doctor, two lawyers and an engineer. Yet, as an Arab, his quest for a return to his land challenges a longstanding Israeli policy.
“We are prohibited from using our own land,” he said, standing in the former village of Lajoun, now a mix of overgrown scrub and pines surrounded by the fields of Kibbutz Megiddo. “They want to keep it available for Jews. My daughter makes no distinction between Jewish and Arab patients. Why should the state treat me differently?”
The answer has to do with the very essence of Zionism — the movement of Jewish rebirth and control over the land where Jewish statehood first flourished more than 2,000 years ago.
“Land is presence,” remarked Clinton Bailey, an Israeli scholar who has focused on Bedouin culture. “If you want to be present here, you have to have land. The country is not that big. What you cede to Arabs can no longer be used for Jews who may still want to come.”"
NYT article: This is Zionism. (Thanks Anna)
A failed state does not mean failed people, not failed creativity, not failed hopes, not a failed culture, just failed politics. (Thanks Marcy)
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Small farmers to remain poor?
"Even though rice prices are high at the moment, farmers' profits are low due to the high cost of fertilizer and the low prices farmers still receive for their crops from millers and other middlemen who often pocket most of the profits.
"Our children's children have other things in mind. They're no longer interested in farming because our rice paddies are not producing enough even for our own consumption. We still have to buy rice from the low lands.""
That has been my fear: that the small farmers wouldn't be able to improve their income even after the increase in food prices. This would require governments to invest in infrastructure and in farming, and they won't do that. As long as decisions are taken by urban politicians and capitalist investors, farming as a livelihood will continue its free fall. But not food production as an industry. I am looking forward to hearing more about the $100 millions program of Bolivia, Nicaragua and Venezuela and Cuba to promote the development of agriculture. It sounds like a lot but this is really very little money for a task of this size.
Rice and foreign policy
"Never before in history has hunger become a global threat in a period of plentiful harvests. Global rice production will hit a record of 423 million tons in the 2007-2008 crop year, enough to satisfy global demand. The trouble is that only 7% of the world's rice supply is exported, because local demand is met by local production. Any significant increase in rice stockpiles cuts deeply into available supply for export, leading to a spike in prices. Because such a small proportion of the global rice supply trades, the monetary shock from the weak dollar was sufficient to more than double its price.
It is not only rice, of course, that the cash-rich countries of the world are buying as a store of value; the price of wheat, soy and other grains has risen almost as fast. This might deal the death-blow to America's hapless efforts to stabilize the Middle East, where a higher proportion of impoverished people eat off state subsidies than in any other part of the world. Egypt has been the anchor for American diplomacy in the Arab world since the Jimmy Carter administration (1977 to 1981), and is most susceptible to hunger. Food prices have risen by 145% in Lebanon and by 20% in Syria this year. Iraqis depend on food subsidies financed by American aid.
Reduced to essentials, America's foreign policy sought two unattainable objectives: to stabilize the Middle East and destabilize China. That is an exaggeration, of course, for Washington hoped not to sow instability, but only to put China in its place over the Tibetan affair.
The George W Bush administration might as well have used the State Department as a set for the Jackass reality show. American arrogance has eroded the ground under many of the governments on which its foreign policy depends. It is hard to characterize what will come next, except, like the stunts on Jackass, that it is going to hurt."
From a very good article by Spengler in Asia Times.
It is not only rice, of course, that the cash-rich countries of the world are buying as a store of value; the price of wheat, soy and other grains has risen almost as fast. This might deal the death-blow to America's hapless efforts to stabilize the Middle East, where a higher proportion of impoverished people eat off state subsidies than in any other part of the world. Egypt has been the anchor for American diplomacy in the Arab world since the Jimmy Carter administration (1977 to 1981), and is most susceptible to hunger. Food prices have risen by 145% in Lebanon and by 20% in Syria this year. Iraqis depend on food subsidies financed by American aid.
Reduced to essentials, America's foreign policy sought two unattainable objectives: to stabilize the Middle East and destabilize China. That is an exaggeration, of course, for Washington hoped not to sow instability, but only to put China in its place over the Tibetan affair.
The George W Bush administration might as well have used the State Department as a set for the Jackass reality show. American arrogance has eroded the ground under many of the governments on which its foreign policy depends. It is hard to characterize what will come next, except, like the stunts on Jackass, that it is going to hurt."
From a very good article by Spengler in Asia Times.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Inflation in Lebanon ran at 10 percent year-on-year in March, driven by the higher price of oil and food and a weaker dollar, central bank governor Riad Salameh said on Friday.
Endangered food
"But not Gary Paul Nabhan. He has spent most of the past four years compiling a list of endangered plants and animals that were once fairly commonplace in American kitchens but are now threatened, endangered or essentially extinct in the marketplace. He has set out to save them, which often involves urging people to eat them.
Mr. Nabhan’s list, 1,080 items and growing, forms the basis of his new book, an engaging journey through the nooks and crannies of American culinary history titled “Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods” (Chelsea Green Publishing, $35)."
Gary is of Lebanese descent, from the village of Kfarzabad in the West Bekaa. He will be visiting with us in mid-May. Amazing guy.
The other side of the crisis
I have received today the "watch letter" of the CIHEAM (Centre International de Hautes Etudes Mediterraneennes). This is an incredibly good center, very progressive in its analysis, but mainstream enough to be able to have an impact on policies. It is funded through contributions from member countries. The site is www.ciheam.org.
The current watch letter is sent as a pdf file, and I cannot link to it. The topic is (unoriginally) "Rise in agricultural prices: what repercussions for the Mediterranean?". I like this section from an article by Giulio Malorgio, Professor at the University of Bologna (Italy) about speculations, one of the neglected causes food crisis.
"Mariann Fischer-Boel, the European commissioner for agriculture, observed that it should not be automatically assumed that the increase in retail prices is closely tied to the increase in basic product prices and that a whole range of other factors need to be taken into consideration.
In the case of bread, for example, given that the price of wheat accounts for just 4% of the price of the final product and that a kilo of flour makes 1.4 kg of bread, the increase in the price of bread – 10 to 40% on average depending on the country or region – is not always justified. Many other factors have a role in determining the final price, as is easily ascertained from a simple comparison of the price of bread in the North and South of Italy. The same is true of the increase in the price of dairy products, which is due to a combination of factors related to inefficiencies in the economic organisation of the sector and the distribution processes."
The current watch letter is sent as a pdf file, and I cannot link to it. The topic is (unoriginally) "Rise in agricultural prices: what repercussions for the Mediterranean?". I like this section from an article by Giulio Malorgio, Professor at the University of Bologna (Italy) about speculations, one of the neglected causes food crisis.
"Mariann Fischer-Boel, the European commissioner for agriculture, observed that it should not be automatically assumed that the increase in retail prices is closely tied to the increase in basic product prices and that a whole range of other factors need to be taken into consideration.
In the case of bread, for example, given that the price of wheat accounts for just 4% of the price of the final product and that a kilo of flour makes 1.4 kg of bread, the increase in the price of bread – 10 to 40% on average depending on the country or region – is not always justified. Many other factors have a role in determining the final price, as is easily ascertained from a simple comparison of the price of bread in the North and South of Italy. The same is true of the increase in the price of dairy products, which is due to a combination of factors related to inefficiencies in the economic organisation of the sector and the distribution processes."
Sunday, May 4, 2008
How to obliterate nations
This is a long excerpt from an older article (2005) by Ghali Hassan. Read on. Food crisis? What food crisis?
"Just before announcing his departure from Iraq and handing "power" to the U.S.-installed band of discredited quislings (the so-called "transfer of [fake] sovereignty"), U.S. proconsul and head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), Paul Bremer issued "100 Orders" to transfer Iraq's economy and legal ownership of Iraqi resources into the private hands of U.S. corporations.
"Just before announcing his departure from Iraq and handing "power" to the U.S.-installed band of discredited quislings (the so-called "transfer of [fake] sovereignty"), U.S. proconsul and head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), Paul Bremer issued "100 Orders" to transfer Iraq's economy and legal ownership of Iraqi resources into the private hands of U.S. corporations.
Order 81 deals specifically with Plant Variety Protection (PVP) because it is designed to protect the commercial interests of corporate seed companies. Its aim is to force Iraqi farmers to plant so-called "protected" crop varieties 'defined as new, distinct uniform and stable', and most likely genetically modified. This means Iraqi farmers will have one choice; to buy PVP registered seeds. Order 81 opens the way for patenting (ownership) of plant forms, and facilitates the introduction of genetically modified crops or organisms (GMOs) to Iraq. U.S. agricultural biotechnology corporations, such as Monsanto and Syngenta will be the beneficiaries. [4] Iraqi farmers will be forced to buy their seeds from these corporations. GMOs will replace the old tradition of breeding closely related plants, and replace them with organisms composed of DNA from an altogether different species, e.g., bacterium genes into corn. In the long run, there won't be a big enough gene pool for genetic viability.
Upon purchasing the patented seeds, farmers must sign the company's technology agreement (Technology User Agreements). This agreement allows the company to control farmers' practices and conduct property investigation. The farmer becomes the slave of the company. Like U.S. farmers, Iraqi farmers will be "harassed for doing what they have always done." For example, Iraqi farmers can be sued by Monsanto, if their non-GMO crops are polluted by GMO crops planted in their vicinity. [5] The health and environmental consequences of GMO crops are still unknown. GMO-based agriculture definitely encourages monoculture and genetic pollution. Moreover, this will further increase the already polluted Iraqi environment as a result of tens of thousands of tons of 'depleted' uranium dust, napalm, chemical weapons, and phosphorous bombs.
Farmers will also be required to buy fertilisers, herbicides and insecticides, against plants disease. Iraqi farmers will be required to pay royalties for the new seeds and they will be forbidden from saving seeds. In other words, Iraqi farmers will become agricultural producers for export, a recipe for the introduction of hunger in Iraq, not unknown in many developing countries. Unless an independent sovereign Iraqi government repeals these edicts, they will override Iraq's original patent law of 1970, which, in accordance with the Iraqi constitution, prohibited private ownership of biological resources.
Furthermore, Order 81 ignores Iraqi farmers' old traditions of saving seeds, and using their knowledge to breed and plant their crops. It also brutally disregards the contributions which Iraqi farmers have made over hundreds of generations to the development of important crops like wheat, barley, dates and pulses. If anybody owns those varieties and their unique virtues, it is the families who bred them, even though nobody has described or characterized them in terms of their genetic makeup. If anything, the new law -- in allowing old varieties to be genetically manipulated or otherwise modified and then "registered" -- involves the theft of inherited intellectual property, the loss of farmers' freedoms, and the destruction of food sovereignty in Iraq.
Iraqi traditional plant varieties, which were kept in Iraq's gene bank at the town of Abu Ghraib -- the town where the Bush administration used the prison to abuse, torture and murder Iraqi prisoners and detainees --may have been looted and lost during the invasion. There is hope that the Syria-based Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and the affiliated International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) still holds accessions of several Iraqi varieties in the form of germplasm. Evidence shows that Western "bio-prospectors" have been using indigenous genetic material taken from their traditional owners. [6] It is this kind of looting or "biopiracy" that is contributing to the destruction of farmers in the developing world, because they have lost control of what they sow, grow, reap and eat.
The man who is in charge of dismantling Iraq's agriculture is Daniel Amstutz, formerly an executive of the Cargill Corporation. Cargill is well known for having the reputation of being one the worst violators of the rights and independence of family farmers throughout the world. Amstutz appointment is designed to undermine Iraqi farmers and destroy Iraq's ability to produce food to feed its people. His service has been to advance U.S. agribusiness corporations. [8] For his task, Amstutz will be assisted by no others than Cargill, Monsanto, Dow and Texas A & M's Agriculture Program and its subsidiary the Arizona-based agriculture research firm, World Wide Wheat Company. All are known to have innately unjust records doing business in developing countries and enslaving farmers there.
According to Focus on the Global South and GRAIN report: "Iraq has the potential to feed its people. But instead of developing this capacity, Washington is shaping the future of Iraq's food and farming to serve the interests of U.S. corporations." [7] The aim of the U.S. is to undermine Iraq's food security, and remove all the contributions Iraqi farmers have made to development of agriculture and important crops like wheat, and barley. [9] Iraq's agriculture will be re-engineered to produce high yields agricultural products for export, and force Iraq to depend on importing food, and on Western "aid."
"If Iraq's new administration truly wanted to re-establish Iraqi agriculture for the benefit of the Iraqi people it would seek out the fruits of their knowledge. It could scour the country for successful farms, and if it miraculously found none could bring over the seeds from ICARDA and use those as the basis of a programme designed to give Iraq back the agriculture it once gave [to] the world," writes Jeremy Smith. [6]
Famine in Palestine
"As 1.5 million Gazans are crying out to the world to pressure Israel to lift its scandalously callous blockade of the coastal territory, another 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank are struggling to cope with an unprecedented economic crisis that is further impoverishing and exhausting them.
The crisis, the harshest in recent memory, stems from a host of local and global factors, including soaring food and energy prices, sagging currency value, rampant joblessness and draconian Israeli restrictions on the movement of people, goods and services.
Further exacerbating these conditions is a devastating drought, unseen for decades, and which has nearly destroyed this year's grain crops upon which many Palestinian families depend for their livelihood. And the drought is not just affecting farmers. Coupled with a phenomenal rise in temperatures, it is also expected to cause a serious water shortage crisis in most localities, especially in the summer months."
Khaled Amayreh for Global Research
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
Rice cartel
"The prime minister of Thailand, Samak Sundaravej, said Wednesday that his government would try to create a cartel of rice-producing countries in partnership with Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.
“We don’t aspire to be like OPEC, but we hope to be just a group of five to help each other in trading rice on the world market,” Mr. Samak was quoted as saying in The Nation newspaper.
But if successful, a cartel could have far-reaching consequences on the rice market, sustaining prices at their current historic highs and worsening a food crisis that is hurting Asia’s poorest consumers. The price of Thai B-grade rice, a benchmark variety, has nearly tripled in recent months and is now hovering at about $1,000 a ton." (Thanks D.)
“We don’t aspire to be like OPEC, but we hope to be just a group of five to help each other in trading rice on the world market,” Mr. Samak was quoted as saying in The Nation newspaper.
But if successful, a cartel could have far-reaching consequences on the rice market, sustaining prices at their current historic highs and worsening a food crisis that is hurting Asia’s poorest consumers. The price of Thai B-grade rice, a benchmark variety, has nearly tripled in recent months and is now hovering at about $1,000 a ton." (Thanks D.)
Profits
"As inflation and shortages expose billions to hunger worldwide, agricultural giant Archer-Daniels-Midland Company revealed a 42 percent leap in quarterly profits. The announcement follows similarly skyrocketing earnings reports from half a dozen other agribusinesses and suppliers, as well as from major oil companies BP, Shell, and Exxon.
On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal noted enormous profit increases for all of the largest agricultural suppliers and processors. The second-largest grain processor, Cargill, recorded quarterly earnings of $1.03 billion February 29, up 86 percent from a year ago. Third-largest processor Bunge reported $289 million, shooting up 1,964 percent over last year. Farm equipment manufacturer Deere & Co. reported a 55 increase in quarterly earnings over the year, to $369 million.
Monsanto, a company with a virtual monopoly on crop seed and herbicide production, reported $1.13 billion in profits for the latest quarter, more than doubling profits of the preceding quarter. Other corporations with significant agricultural operations, including Syngenta AG, DuPont and Dow Chemical, have also posted huge profits."
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Worker's Day
There is no doubt in my mind that Al Akhbar is the best newspaper in the Arab World, and NOT because it tends towards the Lebanese opposition. Today's issue, on May 1, Workers' Day in Lebanon (not Labor Day as many in the Lebanese government would want it to be. This is the day we celebrate workers, not work!) was very rich. I will only cover a few items, all in Arabic (but some of the resources are in English):
1. In the local political news, ma7alliyat, Rana Hayeck writes about the history of the worker's movements in Lebanon, starting with the 17th century rebellions of Jabal Amel against the Shihab, through the Kesrwan communes, all the way to the sectarian divisions that have plagued the worker's unions of modern Lebanon.
2. In the economy page, Rasha Abu Zeki nails it again: a great report on the people who actually earn the minimum wage: $200. This is an issue of contention because the hawks in the successive Lebanese governments have always denied the fact that there are people who earn minimum wage in Lebanon, and have hidden behind this argument to refuse to raise the wages. Rasha interviews 3 people from different ages and family conditions, and the stories they tell are dramatic. The main point is: to live in Lebanon, families need closer to $800 a month, so increasing the minimum wage to $260 isn't going to do much. People are supported by the remittances of relatives working abroad. Note that the $60 increase has not been approved by the government in spite of the increase in cost of living.
3. News from Egypt: The president gave an address to a carefully chosen 1000 or so workers. His message was unclear: he said there will be a wage adjustment, but the government has approved nothing of the sort. There are rumors that this may be a strategy to diffuse the May 4 demonstration (planned concurrently in Egypt and Lebanon). In another item, the people of Dumiat, a low-income resort town on the Nile estuary are demonstrating against the implantation of a Canadian fertilizer factory ($1.2 billions project by Agrium, see linked Reuters update). The company had apparently obtained all the necessary permits, but the (poor) people do not want it in their backyards and ruining their children's health. Will they prevail? Here some news about the project (in English) from an Egyptian blogger.
4. A (long) article (and this is only part 2) by Ernest Khoury about the anthropologists working for the US army in the Human Terrain System Project (HTS). Here's the statement of the American Anthropological Association about the HTS program.
1. In the local political news, ma7alliyat, Rana Hayeck writes about the history of the worker's movements in Lebanon, starting with the 17th century rebellions of Jabal Amel against the Shihab, through the Kesrwan communes, all the way to the sectarian divisions that have plagued the worker's unions of modern Lebanon.
2. In the economy page, Rasha Abu Zeki nails it again: a great report on the people who actually earn the minimum wage: $200. This is an issue of contention because the hawks in the successive Lebanese governments have always denied the fact that there are people who earn minimum wage in Lebanon, and have hidden behind this argument to refuse to raise the wages. Rasha interviews 3 people from different ages and family conditions, and the stories they tell are dramatic. The main point is: to live in Lebanon, families need closer to $800 a month, so increasing the minimum wage to $260 isn't going to do much. People are supported by the remittances of relatives working abroad. Note that the $60 increase has not been approved by the government in spite of the increase in cost of living.
3. News from Egypt: The president gave an address to a carefully chosen 1000 or so workers. His message was unclear: he said there will be a wage adjustment, but the government has approved nothing of the sort. There are rumors that this may be a strategy to diffuse the May 4 demonstration (planned concurrently in Egypt and Lebanon). In another item, the people of Dumiat, a low-income resort town on the Nile estuary are demonstrating against the implantation of a Canadian fertilizer factory ($1.2 billions project by Agrium, see linked Reuters update). The company had apparently obtained all the necessary permits, but the (poor) people do not want it in their backyards and ruining their children's health. Will they prevail? Here some news about the project (in English) from an Egyptian blogger.
4. A (long) article (and this is only part 2) by Ernest Khoury about the anthropologists working for the US army in the Human Terrain System Project (HTS). Here's the statement of the American Anthropological Association about the HTS program.
More Food Crisis Resources
La Via Campesina mobilises against the Food Crisis
Resources for the media
Background papers- Sustainable family farming can feed the world
-
Open Letter: Concrete measures are needed to strengthen peasant and farmer-based food production
More on www.viacampesina.org
- Ibrahim Coulibali, Mali + 2236761126 (en français)
- Alberto Gomez, Mexico + 525512955651(en español)
- Dena Hof, United States + 1 406-939-1839 (in English)
- Paul Nicholson, Basque Country + 34636451566 (español, English, français)
- Henry Saragih, Indonesia + 628163144441 (bahasa indonesia, English)
- Chukki Najundaswamy, India + 919448241401
Via Campesina farmer's mobilisations
- « Peasant's agriculture creates biodiversity » : mobilisation during the Convention on Biodiversity Conference meetings in Bonn, 19-30 May.
- « Food sovereignty can solve the food crisis» : mobilisation during the FAO conference conference on world food security: the challenges of climate change and bioenergy, Rome, 1-5 June.
- « Implement peasant's rights to solve the food crisis": International Via Campesina conference on peasant's rights in Jakarta, 20-24 June.
- "G8 Governments: Stop corporate control over food, land and resources", mobilisation during the G8 summit in Hokkaido, 7-9 July.
For our media programme during those events, contact us: idelforge@viacampesina.org
- Annalyse critique des causes de la flambée des prix agricoles mondiaux
(Jacques Berthelot, Solidarité) - En la era del post –petrolera: Movilizándonos para rescatar nuestro sistema alimentario
(Miguel A. Altieri, Alai-amalatina) - Making a killing from hunger
(Grain)
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