"The Chinese and Arabs are buying poor countries’ farms on a colossal scale. Be wary of the results.
OVER the past two years, as much as 20m hectares of farmland—an area as big as France’s sprawling farmland and worth $20 billion-30 billion—has been quietly handed over to capital-exporting countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and China. They buy or lease millions of acres, grow staple crops or biofuels on it, and ship them home. The countries doing the selling are some of the world’s poorest and least stable ones: Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo, Pakistan. Usually, when foreigners show up in these places, it is with aid, pity and lectures (or, in one instance, arrest warrants for war crimes). It must make a nice change to find their farms, so often sources of failure and famine, objects of commercial interest instead."
(The Economist, thanks Molly)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
China investing in developing countries is very good for poor people and the world. So is Indian, American, Brazilian and other investment in developing countries.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in many cases China will be the largest investor and trading partner; therefore China will lead the economic development effort.
There are few things that poor people despise as much as "aid, pity and lectures." Much of the anger at the west derives from this. Poor people want others to facilitate them working <span style="text-decoration: underline;">their own way</span> out of poverty. Poor people detest depending on others.
LETS CREATE SOME MORE OF THIS
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw9OARpp-KI
V, Anand is a "globalization" Takfiri Jihadi. No matter how many millions of people are destroyed or harmed or impoverished by it(and it's far, far more than the number harmed by Muslim Jihadis), he still thinks it's the saviour of humanity along with his Messiah, Obama.
ReplyDeleteTHE FACTS BE DAMNED.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/26/shell_on_trial_landmark_trial_set
KEN SARO-WIWA: Shell does not want to negotiate with the Ogoni people. Each time they’ve come under pressure from local people, their want has always been to run to the Nigerian government and to say to the Nigerian government, “Oil is 90 percent of your foreign exchange earning. If anything happens to oil, your economy will be destroyed. Therefore, you must go and deal with these people, these troublemakers.” And most times, the government will oblige them and visits local communities of poor, dispossessed people with a lot of violence.
And when these communities then protested and said, “Look. Look at the amount of violence that is being used against us, even though we are only protesting peacefully,” then the oil companies will come and say, “Well, there is no way we can determine how much violence a government decides to use against its own people.” So, basically, the local communities have no leverage with the oil companies at all.
AMY GOODMAN: Who is the government now of Nigeria?
KEN SARO-WIWA: There is a military government in power at this time. And indeed, military people have been in power in the country for a long time.
AMY GOODMAN: Because they suspended the results of the elections?
KEN SARO-WIWA: Yes, indeed. But for a long time now, Nigeria has been under military dictatorships. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">And the oil companies like military dictatorships, because basically they can cheat with these dictatorships.</span> The dictatorships are brutal to people, and they can deny the rights of—human rights of individuals and of communities quite easily, without compunction.
AMY GOODMAN: Ken Saro-Wiwa, how does the oil companies—how do Shell and Chevron deal with you as the president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People?
KEN SARO-WIWA: Well, recently, when the protests started, Shell, they had a meeting. And the operatives of Shell in Nigeria and of those at The Hague in the Netherlands, and in London, held a meeting, and they decided that they would have to keep an eye on me, watch wherever I go to, follow me constantly, to ensure that I do not embarrass Shell. So, as far as I’m concerned, I’m a marked man.
Yes red pill, it is tragic how this happens. What is interesting is that the governments of the corporations will wage the war, they will take the money of the people from the imperial home front - so no money comes out of the pocket of the corporation. So it does no good to say "look at how much you are spending," because the money is coming from the exploited people of whatever offending country in which the corporation is based. There is nothing new here these things have been going on for hundreds of years, while the people of the offending imperial force do nothing. The only way to stop these atrocities is for the people in the offending countries (Western Alliance, etc.) to rise up, and take the power away from them, because power never willingly steps down.
ReplyDeleteIt is all well and fine to point out these things, and they should be pointed out but brought to a cresendo in all of these offending imperial hell holes - all over the world. Removing them permenantly from any pretense to power.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-Q3BVsIBzY
And of course, it almost goes without saying - that governments are merely the franchise of an elite for the most part.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_8Zq_iWuFg
ReplyDeleteWhat must be understood now is that these situations, where there is predatory activity of corporations that will exploit and kill people will increase, because of the current economic debacle. So, while there is bullshit being cast with the image of Obama, it will actually get worse. It is better if you understand this up front, and remember as things get worse, what I told you. The real question is what are you going to do about it, what are the people going to do about it, all over the world? If you do not rise up collectively, you will fall collectively.
ReplyDelete