I just read an article at The Automatic Earth that has me so mad I've got to write my first diary just to calm down.
The World Has Not Always Been this Way exposes the venality of corporations like Cargill, ADM, Nestle, and Monsanto in destroying peasant farms and third world countries.
I have some quotes over the fold but please read it all and pass it on.
The way it was:
Prior to the advent of neo-liberalism in the late 1970s, most governments across the world assisted small-scale farmers within their borders, providing them with various forms of subsidies. For example, in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, various state-run entities were created to offer small-scale farmers assistance in the forms of research, cheap credit, marketing services, transport,, and processing services.2 Many states even subsidized the seeds, compost and equipment that small-scale farmers needed.3 Third World states also applied high import tariffs on staple foods such as maize, potatoes, rice, beans, grain, and poultry, to protect small- and medium-sized farmers from dumping and cheap imports.
Then under Reagan things began to change:
In the early 1980s, the US, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank (WB) used the debt stranglehold that they had over Third World countries to force them to adopt neo-liberal economic policies through Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP). This period saw most Third World governments being forced to sell off their public assets to multinational companies; allow foreign companies to move money in and out of their borders; end food subsidies; create export-processing zones; smash workers' rights; dismantle environmental laws; and implement wage freezes. Under SAPs, almost all governments in Asia, Africa, and Latin America were also forced to reduce their import tariffs on agricultural goods, thereby creating new export markets for multinational companies.
A few countries have thrown out the WB and IMF and returned to local produce:
In Latin America, a number of states with progressive governments, such as Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua, have tried to address the food crisis through breaking with the dictates of neo-liberalism. These countries along with Cuba have attempted to establish a viable regional alternative to free trade in the form of the Bolivarian Alternatives for the America's (ALBA). Through ALBA, these states have created 5 major agricultural projects that are producing soy beans, rice, poultry, and dairy products. The goal of these projects is to guarantee food security in the ALBA member states. In fact, Venezuela has used these projects to provide free or subsidized food to millions of people.
Sorry if I haven't written much in this diary; I just wanted to get this out there. Thanks for reading.