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Give Capitalism a Chance

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Vandana Shiva is right to say that agricultural control should be in the hands of farmers themselves. Solutions imposed from the outside are rarely as effective as solutions devised from the inside, solutions that have worked over the course of many, many years. I am worried, however, by blanket condemnations of capitalism, as in "neither chemicals nor capitalism yields the promised benefits." Capitalism is the ONLY thing that can help farmers, whether they're in Kansas or Costa Rica. Farmers need access to markets, and access to markets means capitalism has to work for them. The terms of trade must be fair, and farmers must be able to choose their own production methods. But capitalism is the farmers' friend, not their enemy.

posted by James Geary on 6/13/2007 8:47 pm | COMMENTS (3)

Comments (3)

Dear James Geary, i am right to thionk that you live in the US of A? A wonderful country, but a country with a history, when it comes down tot 'capitalism'. What i think Shiva means, is NOT about 'capitalism is that a random producer has acces to the market (although: random producers only seldom have a real chance in getting on fair conditions on the market) I think Shiva hits at the mechanisms behind these sad facts. A farmer, wanting access to the market, has to deal with a lot of unfair rules, regulations, GATTprotocols, "tax walls" etc. etc. etc. These sad facts are, according to a lot of economists (who did not live in the US during or after mr. McCarty) are the exact heart of capitalism - not a simple thing that can easily be amended with just some good will. (A lot of good wil and some power of a friendly sort might!)

posted by Jolande on 7/ 5/2007 10:38 am

I wonder why Capitalism is always the first point in debates when defending behavior. Capitalism needs to go hand-in-hand with social responsibility and ethical behavior to be given a chance. There is a lot at stake here, like making life long heritages private property. We know that genetically modified seeds are bad, you don't have to travel too far on the internet to find that out. And poverty cannot be eased with greater debt to companies like Monsanto. There in lies a crime that cannot be defended by the term "Capitalism." A lack of social responsibility and value system, and enlisting corporate seed suppliers, who sue and bully farmers over their patented seeds, is the detriment to African farmers. Can we let such behavior exist under the protection of this term Capitalism?... A crime of disregard for farmers rights and a destruction of food supplies? I think we need to redefine Capitalism to include complete regard for Humanity and the Environment, don't you?

posted by girlwithglasses on 8/23/2007 11:32 pm

Capitalism is not inherently bad. Greed is. I agree that farmers need access to markets and fair trade, if they want to continue the capitalistic, plantation style economy where you specialize in one or two crops and get cash for these.

Not all farmers want this. Some want local self-sufficiency. Some want to pick the veggies and rice that they eat, rather than purchasing it. Or sell their leftover crops to neighbors and buy what they're selling. Some want to be able to bring their children with them to help in the field, without it being exploitative child labor. I think that this is what Vandana Shiva is suggesting. Going back to the old ways of village life. This way we don't need to use up the water supplies growing sugar for sale, fair trade or not.

I helped to start the Fair Trade movement in Los Angeles, and am aware of the positive opportunities that Fair Trade certification offers. I think that most farm communities benefit from a combination of local sustainability and being a part of a Fair Trade Cooperative, because people do need money, though not nearly as much as you think we need. There is far more satisfaction to be gained from enjoying the simple things in life.

posted by serez on 8/31/2007 12:05 pm