Monday, December 22, 2008

I can't remember now why I called this "oneplanet". But anyway it's still what I want. Up here in the north it seems like it is way too easy to forget the Global South. Forget all those hungry people. Forget they even exist.But we can't. The businessmen don't forget them. However, while they do think about thee poor people, all those thoughts are about how they can squeeze more money out of them, so they will be even more poor and hungry than they are now. They do this by operating the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO. The purpose of these organizations is to make sure money continues to flow smoothly from the poor to the rich. From people who don't have any to those with way too much. This is how the world is divided, and it's also why. The concept of poor people handing over their treasure to rich people has been in force for 500 years. Now it is believed colonialism is over, that it is historical.Unfortunately it has not gone anywhere, but morphed into a far more deadly device, which goes by many harmless sounding names. Sometines it is called neo-liberalism, sometimes the washington consensus, most often free trade. Our so called leaders will soon be drafting and passing the Farm Bill. In it they will, if they follow their longstanding habit, give oiu billions people called "farmers" so they will grow corn and soy and cotton. Except those "farmers" never see dirt from their sparkly corner offices in great cities. These are agribusinessmen, and the farm bill is made so they can grow their products for almost nothing. Then they offer it to poor countries cheap. The people can't afford not to buy cheap stuff, so they do. The real farmers all over the Global South- India, Africa, Southeast Asia, Central and South America, can no longer sell what they grow, so they go broke and get hungry. 80% of the undernourished masses in the world are farmers. They can't sell anything and they can't even feed their families. North American capitalists have deliberately impoverished the Global South to fatten their own greedy selves. You may wonder why the u.s. government is so eager to help rich people rob the poor. It's because the "government" is also rich people. They are committed to causing world hunger, no matter what they may say to the press.
If you ever communicate with your congresspeople you might think about calling them up and telling them you do not want any more farm subsidies, not any, not ever. And while you are at it, tell them you also do not want anyone to go hungry on this planet.

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