From: Hank Roth <odin@world.std.com>
Subject: How the market causes poverty
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: ?
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 20:09:14 GMT

<<< via P_news/p.news >>>
{From Socialist Worker, December 1992}
SOMALIA'S NIGHTMARE
 
HOW THE MARKET CREATES POVERTY AND 
DESPERATION 
 
The  FAMINE in Somalia and the talk of  trade 
wars are both symptoms of the bosses'  crisis 
in the post-Cold War world. 

The problem is that, on a world scale, plenty 
of food can be produced,  but people are  too 
poor to buy it. 

Standing  behind  the  negotiations  at  the 
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 
meetings  over the last month are  the  giant 
corporations  who  want  the  best  deal  for 
maximizing their profits in the future. 
 
The  concern  for the negotiators is not  the 
needs  of  ordinary  people  but  bottom-line 
figures on corporate ledger sheets. 
 
The focus last month on soya beans, sunflower 
seeds, rapeseeds and European wine imports to 
the  U.S.   suggests  a  sharpening  of   the 
negotiations   as  nations  and   their   big 
business backers maneuver for advantage. 
 
The  market  is  dominated by  a  handful  of 
producers.  The Cargill Corporation  controls 
15  percent of the world's oilseed trade, for 
example,   AMD,   another U.S.   corporation, 
dominates grain sales. 
 
While  GATT  negotiators  argue  over oilseed 
production  and  how  much  to   reduce grain 
production in order to hold prices  high,  40 
million people starve in Africa. 
 
In  the  early  1980s  farmers  were told that 
oilseed  production  was the answer for anyone 
who  was  growing "too much"  grain. Now there 
is "too much" oilseed. 
 
So  governments  argue about "free trade" while 
subsidizing  their  own firms  and  farmers and 
try to set up barriers to outside   competition. 
 
             "WITH A CROWBAR"
 
Carla  Hill,   U.S.  trade  negotiator  at GATT 
says  she   will  open  foreign markets, "with a 
handshake  wherever  possible and with a crowbar 
when necessary." 
 
A  counterpart  from  the   European   Community 
(EC)  says,  "We   like  the  rhetoric  of  open 
borders  and  the  reality  of  an invisible wall 
to hide behind." 
 
THE EFFORTS OF WESTERN GOVERNMENTS TO STOP 
THE FAMINE HAVE BEEN LESS THAN PITIFUL. IN 
FACT, THE PROPOSAL FOR ARMED INTERVENTION 
WILL ONLY PROLONG THE TRAGEDY. AS A BANNER 
CARRIED BY PROTESTERS IN SOMALIA PUT IT, 
"FOREIGN ARMY NO, FOOD YES." 
 
While   the  Bush government and the Democratic-
controlled  Congress  complain  about  the    EC
subsidies  to  their  farmers,  no  U.S.  farmer 
goes  without  some  kind  of  subsidy  to  curb 
production. 
 
Both  in  the  U.S.  and Europe, farmers are paid 
not  to  grow  food  in  order  to stop "flooding 
the  world  with overproduction." 
 
THE PEOPLE WHO SUFFER ARE THE STARVING PEOPLE 
IN AFRICA AND THE ORDINARY WAGE-EARNER IN THE 
U.S. AND EUROPE WHO ARE FORCED TO PAY MORE 
FOR THEIR FOOD. 
 
In  1988, U.S. grain storage  facilities held 
57,400,000 tons of "excess grain. 
 
This is  enough to feed 30 million people for 
over a year. 
 
U.S. tax payers are  forced  to  pay  for the 
storage  of   this  grain  while   the  grain 
corporations wait  for  "more favorable market 
conditions." 
 
To help   divert  attention from this crisis of 
the   market  and  the   new     world   order, 
governments  are  trying to whip up nationalism 
against their rivals. 
 
Thus,  the  U.S.  attacks Japan for unfair trade 
restrictions  and  slaps  a   massive  tax   
on  French wine. 
 
The solution   is  not to  back the rulers in the 
White  House  and  the   Congress  against  their 
competitors  but   to  fight   for  a   different 
world   where   food  is produced to feed all who 
are  hungry   and  not  to   fill  the coffers of 
corporate profit seekers. 
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