*The Lords of Capital Decree Mass Death by Starvation* *By Glen Ford *
30 April, 2008 *Black Agenda Report<http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=589&Itemid=1> * * "No amount of emergency aid is sufficient to make up for the wild price rises that have already occurred." * *F*idel Castro called biofuels "genocide," and he was right. And there can be no question as to the identity of the perpetrators of this global genocide: the Lords of Capital that formulate the foreign and domestic policy of the United States. That policy calls for 20 million acres of corn from states like Iowa to be converted from food to fuel. As should have been expected, such a massive diversion almost immediately pushed up the price of all other basic foodstuffs - a global disaster made quick and easy by the fact that, over the past several decades, planetary food production has been taken over by agribusiness - the speculative human parasites that control how food is bought and sold, and to whom, and for what purpose. These Lords of Capital are killers on a mass scale. "Hot" money has totally distorted the "marketplace" for life-sustaining goods, causing millions of the desperately poor in scores of countries to take to the streets. "In less than a year," writes the Guardian newspaper, in Britain, "the price of wheat has risen 130 per cent, soya by 87 per cent and rice by 74 per cent." These are nothing less than crimes against humanity, and cannot help but destroy the lives of millions who are already at the very edge of the precipice. "The Lords of Capital have imposed a triage of death by starvation on the planet." The so-called "market" - which is actually a club of super-rich men who distort and destroy everything of value to humanity that they touch - will be the death of us all, and much quicker than through the effects of global warming, which is also greatly accelerated by the ghoulish, greedy rush to grow food for cars rather than people. In such a murderous environment -manipulated purely for the profits of the Lords of Capital - neither trees nor peasants stand a chance. The United Nations says it needs about half a billion dollars for the most critical cases of starvation, but no amount of emergency aid is sufficient to make up for the wild price rises that have already occurred - and which will put trillions in the pockets of the Lords of Capital. Agribusiness wiped out small farmers in the U.S., and impoverished and pushed off the land untold millions of peasants, worldwide. Now the Lords of Capital have imposed a triage of death by starvation on the planet. The people who live on two dollars or less per day will have to die, and then, as prices rise, the three dollar people will follow. The men who profit from such mass murder use terms like "structural adjustment" and "economic fundamentals" to attach a veneer of rationality to a chaotic system they have created on the fly for the sole purpose of mega-theft. In the end, the Lords of Capital have mastered only one art: the production of overlapping calamities, each more lethal than the last. Soon, if not already, the Haitian poor will have no cooking oil to mix with clay for their diet of dirt pies. The Lords of Capital will have turned them into dirt for another Haitian's consumption and demise. On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 3:10 PM, Afthab Ellath <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > *"The Challenge Of Modern Slavery" * > > *By Loretta Napoleoni * > > 01 May, 2008 > *Countercurrents.org* > > *S*lavery is in our refrigerators. From fruit to beef, from sugar to > coffee, slave labor brings food to our tables. "Miguel," a Mexican slave > freed by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a US human-rights organization, > may have harvested the apples we eat at breakfast. Miguel picked fruit under > guard in the United States. He had traveled to el norte to earn the money to > pay for treatment for his six-year-old son who has cancer; instead, his > employer enslaved him. > > The cocoa we drink while reading the newspaper or watching the morning > news shows may come from the Ivory Coast, which supplies half the world > market. Children and adolescents from even poorer neighboring countries, > such as Mali, trek all the way to the cocoa plantations to earn a > subsistence salary. Often, they end up working as slaves in remote farms. > "Nineteen-year-old Drissa was one such young man. When he was freed in 2000, > he had just gone through a 'breaking-in' period as his master accustomed him > to enslavement. His back was laced with scars and wounds from being > whipped." > > Almost every product we consume has a hidden dark history, from slave > labor to piracy, from counterfeit to fraud, from theft to money laundering. > We know very little about these economic secrets because modern consumers > live inside the market matrix. > > The first thought that comes to mind when we discover that our hot > chocolate comes directly from slave labor suggests that we boycott Ivory > Coast cocoa. But this decision would not help free thousands of young slaves > like Drissa. On the contrary, it could make their lives much worse and harm > honest farmers as well. "Africa is like a body infested with parasites. One > has to be careful not to kill the body to get rid of the parasites," > summarized Rico Carish. Millions of people depend for their sustenance on > this parasitic rogue economy. The alternative could impoverish them further, > if it does not put them at risk of death. > > Often, western intervention, even when willing and well intentioned, > achieves very little. In the case of many African commodities, Western > companies have no direct contact with farmers. Trade occurs through local > intermediaries, middlemen, and shippers. The profits of slavery are > collected at the farm gate, a practice that effectively incorporates them in > the price of the product. Often the intermediaries do not even know or care > that slave labor is involved in the production of the goods they trade. This > explains why halting imports from the Ivory Coast will not end slavery but > force thousands of honest farmers and their families into poverty. > To eradicate the problem, one must attack the root causes, a task that > only local governments can accomplish. But good governance also proves a > rare commodity on the African continent. > > Even more shocking is the discovery that in the twenty-first century, > slavery is booming on a global scale. According to the United Nations, > slavery is growing at an unprecedented rate. Figures put global slavery at > 27 million persons, a generation of modern slaves that, according to the > International Labor Organization, produces yearly profits of around $31 > billion. Population explosion and great migrations coupled with > globalization have boosted the slave trade. "The increase in slavery is > linked to globalization," concurs Kevin Bales, author of Ending Slavery: How > We Will Free Today's Slaves. "But this is not about sweat-shop workers > existing on misery wages. Slaves are under the complete, violent control of > another person; they are economically exploited and get only enough food and > shelter to stay alive. For millions of victims, their experience differs > little in hardship from that of slaves hundreds of years ago." > > Slavery's resurgence exerts a direct effect on its cost, which has now > fallen for decades. Bates calculated that, while over the past 3,000 years > the average price of a slave has ranged from $20,000 to $80,000 (adjusted to > current dollar value) now people can be bought and sold for a tenth of these > prices. After World War II, we witnessed a sudden surge in the supply of > slave labor, pushing prices down. Ironically, this phenomenon began as a > consequence of decolonization, which shifted slave ownership from colonizers > to countrymen. Today's slaves are predominantly enslaved by their national > peers and not by foreign powers. Like other commodity markets, slavery > operates by the law of supply and demand, and today supply proves plentiful > among the millions living on a dollar to two dollars a day. > > Consumers remain blissfully ignorant of these facts. The market matrix, a > complex maze of smoke and mirrors, hides the exploitative nature of trade > and commerce. The shelves of Western supermarkets are stacked with items > produced by people in developing countries who earn a miniscule fraction of > their value. Consumers, if they ever chose to think about it, might be > shocked to learn who pockets most of the profits of their daily grocery > shopping. > > Loretta Napoleoni is the best selling author of Terror Incorporated and > Insurgent Iraq. Her latest book is called Rogue Economics. An expert on > financing of terrorism, she advises several governments on > counter-terrorism. She is senior partner of G Risk, a London based risk > agency. > > As Chairman of the countering terrorism financing group for the Club de > Madrid, Napoleoni brought heads of state from around the world together to > create a new strategy for combating the financing of terror networks. She is > a Fulbright scholar at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of > Advanced International Studies in Washington DC. and a Rotary Scholar at the > London School of Economics. > To review further articles and listen to podcasts by Loretta Napoleoni, > you are invited to visit her website: *http://www.lorettanapoleoni.org* > > > On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 9:57 AM, Murali K Warier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Let me add this one comment, perhaps the last in this thread: > > Sainath's problem is not that he frames issues in an ideological frame > > work. Nor is it that he sensationalizes issues way beyond the limits. The > > issue is that he dishes out wrong data and outright lies as eternal truth : > > http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20051021&fname=surjitbhalla&sid=1 > > Is this a manifestation of the 'been there, seen it' arrogance? Maybe. > > > > Best regards, > > Murali > > > > On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 1:33 PM, Bobby Kunhu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > wrote: > > > > > I break my promised silence to ask only one question - who does not > > > work within ideological frameworks? S A Aiyyar, Bobby Kunhu or Murali > > > Warrier. Sanath stands out only beacuse he is in the field when writing > > > his > > > "journalistic" pieces as against Mr Aiyyar. > > > I would rather let others respond rather than this becoming a > > > conversation between the both of us. > > > > > > p.s. when i do find the time, i would respond personally > > > > > > Best > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Liberty, if it means anything, is the right to tell people what they > > don't want to hear. > > > > > > > > > -- > Regards > > Afthab Ellath -- Regards Afthab Ellath --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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