Jean Ziegler: Brussels is unspeakably hypocritical
'The current European Commission is made up of fully fledged mercenaries in the service of monster corporations in the agri-food business. The power of lobbies in Brussels is incredible. If they wanted to do it they could put an end to agricultural dumping tomorrow..'
Vice-president of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, Jean Ziegler has just published Destruction massive. Géopolitique de la faim (“Mass Destruction: the Geopolitics of Hunger” published in France by Seuil). In this essay, the Swiss socialogist recounts his experience as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2000 to 2008, and analyses the reasons for the current global death toll from malnutrition, which kills 36 million people every year.
Vice-president of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, Jean Ziegler has just published Destruction massive. Géopolitique de la faim (“Mass Destruction: the Geopolitics of Hunger” published in France by Seuil). In this essay, the Swiss socialogist recounts his experience as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2000 to 2008, and analyses the reasons for the current global death toll from malnutrition, which kills 36 million people every year.
Why are people still dying of hunger?
There are five major reasons: first and foremost, financial speculation in in raw materials for food, which have resulted in soaring prices in recent years and made it almost impossible for aid agencies like the World Food Programme (WFP) to fulfill the needs of malnourished populations. Then we have bio-fuels, which have diverted farmland and crops from food production. Thirdly, there is the problem of external debt, which has a stranglehold over the poorest countries and prevents them from investing in subsistence agriculture. Then there is the dumping of agricultural surpluses, which has resulted in the sale of fruit and poultry from countries like France, Greece, Portugal and Germany etc. on markets in places like Dakar and Cotonou, at a third or half the cost of locally produced African products. Finally, there is the monopolisation of land by investment funds and major multinationals, who drive out local farmers to cultivate products that are exclusively destined for western markets.
Is the EU responsible?
It is 100% responsible for agricultural dumping, which is actively supported by France. In 2005, on the occasion of WTO talks in Hong Kong, the Secretary General of the WTO, Pascal Lamy, proposed to progressively eliminate export subsidies over a five-year period. And this proposal met with vigorous opposition from France, which is in favour of sustaining export subsidies, notably because of the political influence of agricultural chambers of commerce. And so the dumping has continued in Africa, which is under populated even though it has an extraordinary peasant class… but this class has been decimated because farmers are unable to sell their produce. Read on..
