Re: Food and politics...

["keller" <ak.and.ak@on-line.de>]

----- Original Message -----
From: John Schinnerer <eco_living@yahoo.com>
To: permaculture <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2002 9:09 PM
Subject: Food and politics...


> Aloha,
>
> A friend of mine has been travelling in Africa...where, as elsewhere,
> it appears that food and politics are inseparable.  On a train into
> Mozambique:
>
> "Since transport and refrigeration is a problem, train and bus
> rides are a combination of getting where you want to go and
> shopping along the way. We rode through mango, tomato and onion
> growing areas and people bought huge quantities of them.
> At one point, something crashed out the window and it turned
> out the police were on the train and throwing some bags of
> mangos out the window. The man in our section said they did
> not allow people to buy more than one (trying to control the
> export), but in our car only bags blocking the aisle were
> thrown out the window. Still, it was very sad/strange to
> see useful food being thrown out the window."

In Europe, taxpayer's money is used to pay subsidies to farmers to produce
too much food (we have a butter mountain, a beef mountain...) using all
kinds of environ-mentaly ill methods (agrochemicals, topsoil loss etc.),
then they use taxpayer's money to buy the surplus and then they destroy it
(it ends up in the garbage, many thousands of tonnes of food). They call
that agricultuarl policy. Or they give it to poor Africans for free, thus
pushing the African farmers out of the market. They call that overseas aid.

I prefer the African approach. Try to think the African way, then you will
understand it: probably some people (the policemen's family, perhaps) are
waiting outside along the railway already to collect the food bags (they
sell them to the next train). Moreover, these policemen are underpaid. Their
salary is not enough, and being the family members who have a job, they are
the ones who have to pay the bills (also for their brothers, sisters,
cousins...). So they need to make money. They will spare your bag, of
course, if you help them financially a little bit. So nothing happens
without a good reason, and nothing is wasted.

Now, on which continent the people are crazier?

Andreas