Crossposted with Axis of Logic
Jean Ziegler au salon du livre de Genà ¨ve en 2011 - Wikipedia
Jean Ziegler[1], in his recently published book 'Massive Destruction -- the Geopolitics of Hunger'[2], is denouncing the brutal arms the neoliberal masters of the world are using in order to annihilate resistance to their senseless attempt to run the world as they see fit.
Jean Ziegler is a tireless fighter for human rights and the right to food, stated in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as has been proven in his numerous earlier books on various subjects dealing with the extreme callousness of the Empire. His latest book is such an outspoken denunciation of the agroindustry in its various aspects that the huge land barons, the biofuel corporations and the GMO industry will certainly do everything in their power to keep this message from being spread worldwide. Professor Ziegler speaks out loud and clear in the United Nations and through his books and he is merciless in his denunciation of neoliberalism that breeds poverty worldwide. He has thus attracted numerous enemies, but also, most certainly, even more admirers. What is going on in the name of neoliberalism is nothing short of calculated murder, as the title of this book is clearly indicating.
Land grabbing for the cultivation of sugar cane and other plants, especially in the U.S., for the production of biofuels (ethanol), is one major cause of the scarcity of food since it deprives the small land owners of their land and reduces the amount of food for everybody. Also the loss of arable land for the production of biofuel has contributed to the scandalous increase in food prices. Less land, less food -- so higher prices. Added to that is also the fact that biofuels even increase the damage to the earth that their advocates so loudly and dishonestly claim to reduce.
The speculation in food commodities as well as in arable land must also be forcefully denounced as a major contributing factor in the dramatic increases in basic food prices that we have seen since mid 2007. Thus, not only are the small farmers deprived of their land, often with no or very little compensation, but also, with the skyrocketing food prices, they can not even afford buying the food they need for survival.
The third cause is desertification of land and soil degradation which is only hastened by the increased replacement of biological farms by huge monocultures, for biofuel or for GMO cultures, that demand enormous amounts of water. Rivers and lakes are drying out and an ever increasing number of people in the world are lacking access to clean drinking water.
The following texts are excerpts from four chapters in 'Massive Destruction', a summary of the powerful arguments Professor Ziegler raises against the monstrous attempts to starve the masses in order to increase the wealth and the power of the very few. And I would also add -- in order to keep the masses at bay, ignorant and submissive.
The Lie
"Green gold" has for several years been considered as a magic and profitable complement to black gold.
Food-production trusts that dominate the trade in biofuels, in support of new products, make an argument that might appear irrefutable: the substitution of fossil fuel by energy derived from plants would be the ultimate weapon in the fight against the rapid deterioration of the climate and the irreversible damage this does to the environment and humans.
Here are some figures.
Over 100 billion liters of bioethanol and biodiesel will be produced in 2011. The same year, 100 million hectares of agricultural crops will be used to produce biofuels. Global production of biofuels has doubled over the past five years, from 2006 to 2011.
Climate degradation is a reality.
Globally, desertification and land degradation now affect more than 1 billion people in over 100 countries. Dry areas - where arid and semi-arid regions are particularly susceptible to degradation - represent over 44% of arable land on the planet.
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