Fighting Back Against Hunger
WE ARE FIGHTING BACK! is a compilation of inspirational stories of
courageous people around the world who are fighting back to reclaim
peoples’ rights to lead a dignified human existence.This is a SPECIAL EDITION on systemic causes of hunger with the
following stories:
1. 40,000 Protest Over Land Reform and Genetically Modified Food
2. We Can End Hunger with the Politics of Courage
3. Bolivians Outraged to Find Banned Food in U.S. Food Aid
Change is happening. People around the world are challenging the global
economic system that rewards corporations and a handful of billionaires,
while stripping the basic human rights of people to feed themselves and
retain their livelihoods. That is why we at Food First feel it is
crucial to share inspirational stories of how change is sprouting up
around the world.
1. 40,000 Protest Over Land Reform and Genetically Modified Food
Rome, Italy – Approximately 40,000 protestors peacefully marched through
Rome to voice frustration with governments who have dragged their feet
in implementing agrarian land reform, and in addressing pesticides and
genetically modified foods. World leaders from 180 nations converged at
the World Food Summit in Rome to begin talks (June 10-13) on how far
countries have progressed in meeting their 1996 commitment to halve
world hunger by 2015. Protestors claim that these vital issues cannot
be ignored as they further aggravate hunger, human health and the
environment.
In a study prepared for the Summit,
“Access to Land: Land Reform and Security of Tenure,”
(http://www.foodfirst.org/action/cgar/AccessToLand.htm),
Food First Co-Director Dr. Peter Rosset found
that “access to land is a key issue in the fight to end poverty and
hunger.” Current corporate industrial agriculture emphasizes export
agriculture and cash crops over food crops, destroys arable land,
and displaces small farmers who then migrate to cities where many
are unable to find living wage jobs and fall into deeper poverty.
One group at the summit, Via Campesina, calls for diversified
farmer-based sustainable production as a way to assure a decent
living for the world’s population of which over 50% are working in
agriculture.
Protestors oppose genetically modified organisms in food and agriculture
production because they do not contribute any benefits to farmers and
consumers, and pose new and unknown risks to the environment, the
quality of food and human health.
Hundreds of farmer, land, and environmental rights organizations pushing
for land reform have organized a parallel conference called the “World
Forum on Food Sovereignty” to protest the imprisonment of farmers,
indigenous peoples, and union leaders who have been fighting for land
rights and reform.
Food First Co-Director Dr. Peter Rosset is reporting daily from the
World Food Summit. Visit:
http://www.foodfirst.org/progs/global/food/wfsrosset.html
2. We Can End Hunger with the Politics of Courage
More than 815 people live in chronic day-in-day-out hunger, comprising
nearly one-eighth of the world’s population. The majority of the
world’s hungry live in Asia alone, but hunger is most intractable in
Africa, where 34 percent of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa are
hungry. While the world’s majority of hungry live in Third World
countries, rich and developed countries also have millions that go
hungry. In the United States, more than 36 million Americans, including
14 million children, are food insecure.
“What causes hunger?” asks Food First Co-Director Anuradha Mittal, “when
abundance best describes the world’s food supply.” Enough food is
produced to feed every man, woman, and child 2,800 calories a day, so
what then causes hunger amidst plenty? Mittal points to the absence of
democracy and respect for human rights, specifically the denial of a
living wage to the poor and land to the landless. We need to break the
shackles of apathy and realize that “The politics of courage lie in
summoning the confidence in our deepest moral sensibilities to convert
corporate profits into peoples’ welfare.”
For full article in Reuters, visit:
http://www.foodfirst.org/media/opeds/2002/politicscourage.html
3. Bolivians Outraged to Find Banned Food in U.S. Food Aid
A sample of food aid sent by the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) tested positive for the presence of StarLink
genetically altered corn, according to the citizens’ group Bolivian
Forum on Environment and Development. StarLink was not approved for
human consumption after the Environmental Protection Agency found that
allergens in the corn variety cause nausea and anaphylactic shock. The
corn was first detected in taco shells manufactured by Kraft Foods,
which led the U.S. government to recall over 300 contaminated food
products after more than 200 people reported illnesses.
Bolivian groups were outraged that the U.S. would send illegal corn as
food aid. “The U.S. considers this genetically engineered corn unfit
for human consumption and has banned it for years. Yet it has been sent
to Bolivia as food aid,” said Gabriel Hervas of the Bolivian citizens’
group. They demand that the USAID and the World Food Program do not
send genetically engineered crops as food aid to countries that have not
formulated biosafety regulations.
For more information, visit the Friends of the Earth website at:
http://www.foe.org/foodaid
This edition of We Are Fighting Back! is written and edited by Christine
Ahn, New Voices Fellow of the Economic and Social Human Rights Program
at Food First.
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Food Rights Watch
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Tags: Hunger