How to End the Global Food Crisis Now

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The world is sliding into an entirely preventable global mosaic of food famines in which many millions of men, women and children will perish in anguish and in agony.

It is likely that at least a billion will die in the next few years, and many children brain-damaged, if the United Nations is not immediately democratised; and if the domination by a few imperial powers, a situation mandated by the UN, is not ended.

With grisly irony, the United Nations has launched an investigation into the food crisis to find answers that don’t implicate itself; an impossible task because the UN has facilitated this destruction through World Bank and World Trade Organisation policies; as will become evident in the following analysis.

Rather than one or two causes of the food crisis, there are twelve; eleven of which are addressed here:

Fuel crisis

The most immediate and tangible is the ethanol programme, in which food crops are being converted to fuel. Quite apart from the reality that the conversions are neither cost-effective nor energy-efficient; corn, rice, wheat and other crops; the staple diet of four billion human beings, are being used to fuel cars for the arrogant wealthy elite.

What is worse is that the inevitable starvation this will cause has always been known to those who administer this programme. They proceed because they consider the genocide to be commendable. Language experts must now coin a new word for these sociopathic administrations; or will eugenics still suffice?

The United Nations must immediately declare food for fuel programmes a Crime Against Humanity, and ban these under threat of expulsion from the UN, and the conjoint imposition of immediate global trade and currency sanctions.

Urban sprawl

Governments and UN support for giant agribusiness to replace family farming; achieved through tariff removal, has created massive unemployment and forced many millions of regional and rural people into towns; which has promoted urban expansion, which in turn has swallowed up the arable lands that were the genesis of the towns in the first place. Developers have bribed politicians to maintain the status quo. This urban population explosion has also created a desperate shortage of water, particularly in dry continents such as Australia; a situation exploited by the ruthless water privateers such as Bechtel and Vivendi. The single simple step required to reverse urban sprawl is immediate tariff restoration.

Tariff removal

Incremental tariff removal has destroyed the food production diversity of nations like Australia and America, who must now consume reduced nutrition mass-marketed hybrids, contributing to obesity; or import food from third world nations; food that the people of developing countries themselves should be eating.

This has had severe rolling impacts on these globalised nations, and Australia is the classic example. Over a period of two and a half decades, two thirds of family farms have been abandoned, and between one third and a half of the national manufacturing sector has been forced into bankruptcy by subsidised imported third world product. Because of urban population-flooding, (and in Australia, combined with high mortgage rates and oil/groceries-led inflation) in some cities rents have almost doubled and 21% of the nation is now unemployed; although a cynical government fudges figures down to below 4%. It has been conservatively estimated that, in the next year or so, 300,000 Australian families will be living on the streets; which, arguably, is around one in fifteen.

54% of Australians now barely survive on incomes below $15,000, and cannot afford adequate nutrition, medical or dental care; which means they are dying in slow motion (figures from August 2006 interactive questionnaire by AIA; copies available).

This is the direct result of the Australian Government’s slavish ideological compliance with WTO and White House’s 'free trade' policies. Tariffs must be immediately restored and all free trade policies declared illegal by the UN, unless mandated by national referenda or plebiscite; and continued impositions prosecuted by the International Criminal Court. The WTO is not God, and if a majority of a nation’s electorate want agreements revoked, then revoked they must be.

Drought

An objective perusal of non-selective evidence suggests that, far from experiencing global warming, we may now be moving into a phase of solargenic cyclical global cooling. The Antarctic ice sheet is the most extensive it has been since measuring began, and much of this is water that probably should have fallen on Australia and parts of Africa, West India and South America. Greater scientific funding independence, and absolutely objective research are needed to gather all evidence until at least tentative conclusions can be drawn. It must be presumed that drought will worsen and that new food production policies must emerge. Population dispersal to regional and rural areas is essential, as is encouragement for family vegetable gardens.

Genetically manipulated crops and animals

Taking advantage of an ethic-less legal industry, especially in the provision of patents on life itself, Monsanto/Bayer and other corporations have bribed governments, manipulated research and the employment of scientists, and have trapped farmers into signing contracts to plant and harvest crops that quickly under-perform. In only a decade, 110,000 farmers in India have committed suicide, in irresolvable despair over the debts subsequently incurred. Elsewhere, farmers have been imprisoned for refusing to pay royalties on wind-drift-effected GM crops. Independent research has showed that rats fed GM corn produce young with undersized testicles, brain and liver; organs that then deteriorate with age. Considering the risks of this impinging on food productivity, not to mention human health, there must be a global moratorium on GM foods.

Selective breeding

Although the media, and especially science publications, have lauded selective breeding, there has been a serious downside. Species have been promoted that are suited to mass marketing, at the expense of those that are resistant to drought, flood and disease. Species that have already adapted to local environments are becoming extinct, thus eliminating an important range within the gene pool. There is widespread evidence that this may soon have a significant impact on food crop and animal survival rates in the aftermath of global warming or cooling.

Trade hegemony and imperialist policies

As a means of dominating markets, major nations have forced the elimination of alternative species of food types. The experience of Australia’s Northern Territory illustrates the seriousness of this. The United States forced Australia to eliminate a large proportion of its cattle herds, to eliminate bovine brucellosis and tuberculosis, or suffer exclusion from the long-standing meat export quota that was the sister agreement to the ANZUS Treaty. This was both hypocritical and phony as the US retains these same diseases in its livestock, especially in the Dakota region. Moreover, the Northern Territory was forced to entirely shoot out its water buffalo population; which was the world’s largest pool of lean clean meat. Although the collaborating Murdoch media presented buffalo as being 90% infected, in fact the average infection rate was less than 2%; an extraordinarily low rate for feral animals. This is because less than 1% of the NT landmass is cleared; providing a unique opportunity for natural food harvesting, instead of risk-endemic farming. Meanwhile an embryonic multi-billion dollar market was emerging in Germany and other parts of Europe for this environmentally sustainable and unpolluted animal. Once again, Australian scientists further diminished the social value of buffalo by blaming this magnificent animal for the environmental damage inflicted by feral pigs (the genuine issue of saltwater intrusion was merely a management factor, not understood by narrow-perspective scientists).

Elsewhere, this trade colonialism and exploitation has been endured for centuries; first experienced in India when the British Raj (led by the East India Company) forced the replacing of indigenous crops with monocultures, such as cotton to feed the Manchester mills. This monoculture depleted soils, and production methods dislocated peoples, destroyed skills and eroded cultures. Logging decimated north-east forests. Out of this emerged the famines and high death-toll flooding, which had never before been a feature of India. Currently, Australia and many other nations are required to replace food crops with cotton, GM soy and palm oil. Vast areas of forest and woodlands are being sacrificed, which will affect climate and, therefore, global food production.

Pseudo-science

We are paying a dear price in lives for the myth that scientists are intelligent. Few are; they are merely specialised, and a meaningful percentage are entirely mercenary and without ethics. Agriscience promoted NPK regimes for 70 years, depleting soils and contaminating creeks, lakes, coral, mangroves and the ocean. Many scientists have supported the absurdity of anthropogenic global warming (AGW), knowing full well that the primary long term measuring devices are faulty. In fact, in the US, only a measured 4% of land surface temperature gauges are correctly sited; the rest having been absorbed by urban sprawl, and are now recording higher ambient temperatures from adjacent concrete, bitumen, air conditioner unit exhausts and sun-heated motor vehicles. It is reasonable to presume a similar situation exists elsewhere. Anyway, 17,200 climate-orientated scientists have listed their refutation of AGW (DigitalJournal.com, 2008), according to one article and, if this claim is even partially true there is certainly no scientific consensus; and even less within the infinitely more legitimate electoral community.

Another example of scientific asininity is the logic that says fire is natural therefore fire is good. This has resulted in burn-off regimes that damage environment and climate. In Australia, this affects the entire northern third of the country, an area the size of Europe, causing very measurable erosion of soils, depletion of fauna and flora, reduction of woodland canopies, sterilising of soils, and pollution of the air, creeks, rivers, mangrove forests and coral formations (and hence, fishing). Scientists, ignoring the presence of fire-sensitive species that would have become extinct millions of years ago, were fires a widespread natural event; wonder childishly at seeds that germinate prolifically after fire, not understanding that this relates to ground longevity, not fire. They also gullibly absorb urbanised Aboriginal claims of ‘firestick farming’; a practice conceptualised through linguistic and cultural miscomprehension, lyrical romanticism and simple ignorance of hunting environments and techniques.

Agribusiness

Under the coercive influence of agribusiness, food is produced for trade, rather than to feed local populations. In third world countries, and under traditional circumstances, food is for family consumption; only surpluses are sold.

Industry-dominated governments, corporations and international banks contribute to major political party election campaigns and therefore control political agendas. This control results in largely unrestrained poisoning of rivers, lakes and aquifers; all of which impact on food production; and food production policies are subverted for profit rather than benefiting the people. Secondly, thus-suborned governments allow the incomes of workers to degenerate to the point by which they can no longer afford adequate quantities of sufficiently nutritious food.

Inequitable taxation regimes

These over-tax the poor and families, and under-tax the wealthy. Secondly, revenue is distributed back to the wealthy and corporate/banker elites. And, again, contrary to media-produced propaganda, corporate welfare always outsizes welfare for the economically disadvantaged. Quite simply, the poor cannot afford enough food.

Resolving the food crisis; four critical requirements:

(1) Restore Tariffs

The first step must be the resurrection of Domestic Production Cycles, which can only be achieved through the restoration of national tariffs, which protect food producers; and also protect manufacturers, who employ workers so that they have incomes and can afford to purchase the food. Put simply, the circle widens to accommodate distributors, retailers and service providers.

First, second and third world tariff restoration also prevents the food needed by third world peoples being siphoned off by giant agri-corporations and sold to developed countries at greatly expanded profits.

Contrary to the claims of pseudo-green organisations, these are not family and village crops we are consuming, but are corporate-produced with exploited labour. The former traditional village people’s surpluses were first rendered profitless by subsidised unfair competition by agribusiness; and these people subsequently forced to work for the corporations on slave labour wages. In other words, the removal of tariffs did not help third world people as asserted, but forced then into virtual enslavement. Tariff restoration will result in the corporations departing from these countries.

In countries like the US and Australia, another direct effect of tariff restoration will be re-invigoration of regional and rural economies. This will have significant radiating impacts:

New job opportunities will attract people back to rural regions, with concomitant recommissioning of small-town and village health and education facilities, the reopening of bank branches; and the blossoming of regional economies. Local councils will once again become solvent, and the current and hated amalgamation of councils will need to be reversed.

According to surveys, young families and retirees will also abandon cities: families for the better jobs, housing access and healthier lifestyles; and retirees for the much lower property rates and taxes; and the absence of violent crime. Other retirees will move to be closer to their grandchildren. Many traditionally urban-bound occupations will follow, enabled by the transportability of Internet productivity.

This massive rural migration will attract new service industries. Overall, it is calculated that employment opportunities, in terms of full time jobs, will increase around 55%; somewhat higher than was evident prior to tariff removals. In the US it will restore the labour imbalance caused by 15 million illegal migrants, with many returning to Mexico and other countries of origin, to enjoy restored regional economies. Terrorist organisation La Raza will die a natural death.

The consequential regeneration of the Domestic Production Cycle will be a new dynamic injected into manufacturing and commerce generally, with expanded consumer incomes enabling adequate producer profits; which will discourage outsourcing and off-shoring. And, of course, because tariff restoration automatically removes the unfair competition of foreign corporate imports, both farming and manufacturing will prosper. For the first time, migrant intake will actually be needed to mitigate labour shortages.

A cumulative effect of rural migration will be greatly reduced demand on city water catchments; important factors in Australia and on America’s west coast and south-west.

(2) Democratisation of national and international governments

All of the listed causes of the food crisis; and in fact, almost every other crisis, is due to the political myth that the act of electing a corrupt politician to do our thinking for us, and to determine our futures for us, constitutes democracy. It does not.

Democracy is government of the people, by the people, for the people. Anything else is simply not democracy.

What we do have now is representationalism, and we are currently experiencing the hideous product of that propagandised ideology… corruption, exploitation, pollution, poverty, famine, war and genocide. It will get much worse.

In the modern context, democracy is government by informed electoral consensus. In other words, the electorate decides the general direction and thrust of policy. Those citizens, who wish to become involved in details of implementation have every right to do so, and many no doubt will.

But it must be firmly understood by everyone, that no such government exists today; but many existed prior to the 9th century; prior to the Vatican takeover of Europe. This is a history that we need to catch up on, especially the social and economic organisation of the Finnish and Irish of that period; and the role of the Irish Monks.

Today, each nation’s people must take whatever steps are necessary to install genuine democracy; and books and papers are available to guide the architects. Contrary to hierarchic propaganda, implementation is not difficult; and any instance of successful referendum demonstrates just how simple it can be.

Once again, Australia can point to an illustrative example: the 1967 referendum in which 90% of Australians voted to give Aborigines the same population status as other citizens. Although the so-called political representatives were utterly divided on the issue, the electorate had had a decade to discuss the implications and experienced no difficulty whatsoever in deciding; in spite of the media muddying the waters.

Finally, each nation’s votes in the United Nations must echo plebiscites of each entire national adult population. The current practice of corrupt government leaders appointing retired cronies to represent nations is probably one of the most appalling scandals in history. It is envisaged that a democratised UN will quickly dismantle the Security Council, the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation, the IMF and the BIS. If there were genuine representation on the UN, they would do this forthwith, and so save millions of lives.

(3) Ban the production of ethanol from food

No explanation is required.

(4) Place an international moratorium on GM foods, and permanently ban patents on life

Again, no elaboration is necessary.