On Wed, 08 Mar 2000 14:56:04 Bart wrote
>With a quasi-industrialised food product there *already* exists some
>semblance of a distribution infrastructure. You can find Inka Kola
>just about anywhere in Peru, and you could do so even at the height of
>the Sendero terrorist campaigns.
>
>Finding someone to *teach,* on family at a time, or even one village at
>a time, is much more daunting. One of the reasons that industrialised /
>centralised approaches to food, energy, education, etc. have succeeded,
>is that in many ways it is *more* practical than any decentralised
>alternative.
>
This is a cop out argument, Bart. I guess we just all lay back and let
Monsanto et al. handle our food system since they are already set up to
'distribute' it. (They do such a good job, too)
In reality your argument about teaching is a red herring. People in Asia
and Latin America don't actually need to be taught how to eat. They know
perfectly well how to feed their families. It is insulting to assume they
don't. Their problem is they are poor and growing poorer. (about 70% of
them or more of them now, thanks to the last two decades of "free trade"
policies designed by those same corporations that bring you Yuki Cola).
What they need is something they can do about their poverty (i.e. policies
that allow increased incomes for the majority instead of increased capital
gains for the 10% elite). If we can't do that for them then 'teaching'
anything (including how to grow "golden rice") is wasting their time.
Ronald Nigh
Dana, A.C.
Mexico, D.F. & San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas
Tel. y FAX 525-666-73-66 (DF)
529-678-72-15 (Chiapas)
danamex@mail.internet.com.mx
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