Choose or constrain, the reasons of The Soft Protest Digest: Difference between revisions

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→‎a. The Green Revolution

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 <u>Interests and collateral victims</u>
-:However, these results should be relativized by the deleterious effects of this complete overhaul of the agricultural model: the pollution of soil by synthetic, oil-based products; the weakening of biodiversity by the generalization of monoculture restricted to a few varieties in the place of local crops<ref>3/4 of the diversity of agricultures was supposedly lost during the 20th century according to the FAO.</ref>; the erosion of the soil by intensive and mechanized ploughing, and the rural exodus<ref>Farmers and farm-workers made unemployed by mechanization leave the countryside</ref>. So, if it does not benefit peasant farmers, who does benefit from the altruistic Green Revolution? Without subscribing to conspiracy theories, by obliging the then developing countries to progress, the American agro-pharmaceutical (petrochemical) corporations increased their client portfolio, while preparing them to produce surpluses to be purchased at low cost..<br>
+:However, these results should be relativized by the deleterious effects of this complete overhaul of the agricultural model: the pollution of soil by synthetic, oil-based products; the weakening of biodiversity by the generalization of monoculture restricted to a few varieties in the place of local crops<ref>3/4 of the diversity of agricultures was supposedly lost during the 20th century according to the FAO.</ref>; the erosion of the soil by intensive and mechanized ploughing, and the rural exodus<ref>Farmers and farm-workers made unemployed by mechanization leave the countryside</ref>. So, if it does not benefit peasant farmers, who does benefit from the altruistic Green Revolution? Without subscribing to conspiracy theories, by obliging the then developing countries to progress, the American agro-pharmaceutical (petrochemical) corporations increased their client portfolio, while preparing them to produce surpluses to be purchased at low cost.<br>
 :The notion of constraint does not stop at the application of the intensive model: the American journalist, Mark Dowie<ref>Mark Dowie, American Foundations: <i>An Investigative History</i>, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2001, p.109-114.</ref>, advances that the Green Revolution participated in the Cold War against the Red Revolution through the actions of the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations. At the time, socialism offered to address the food security of developing countries with systems of public redistribution rather than with technological and economic systems coming from private industries. With its private investments and spectacular and rapid results, the Green Revolution was positioned as a demonstration of the superiority of the capitalist system at a time when rumors (confirmed, at present) of terrible famines in the USSR and China were crossing their frontiers.<br>
 :As for the sanitary impact provoked by the Green Revolution, it is incarnated by the agro-pharmaceutical corporation Monsanto. In the 1980’s, the lawsuits brought against Monsanto by numerous victims of Agent Orange<ref>Used during the Vietnam War to destroy the foliage of forests in which Viet Cong soldiers took refuge.</ref> and the herbicide Roundup pushed it to turn its activity towards vegetal bio-technologies. The corporation has created plants which have been genetically modified to resist pesticides<ref>Roundup-ready soya and plants resistant to glyphosate.</ref> or to synthesize pesticides themselves<ref>“Bt” cultivars MOM810 corn and MOM531 cotton.</ref>.<br>
-:Besides, the Green Revolution has created a clearly laid out path for the commercialisation of genetically modified seeds in developing countries with regulatory contexts as poor as that of the United States in which the legal status of these seeds has been liberalized. Being, a priori undifferentiated from any other plant, by its nature as an organism comprising a DNA composed of the same amino acids, no regulation and no obligation to inform consumers is required by American law. Moreover, since these seeds are sterile to prevent their development in  ecosystems, farmers cannot use their fruit as seed<ref>It is even illegal for non-genetically modified “proprietary” seeds, the fruit of which is fertile. It should, however, be noted that their yield will degrade at each new generation., and, with these products, enter into a cul-de-sac of dependence with regards to the corporations which sell them seeds and inputs.
+:Besides, the Green Revolution has created a clearly laid out path for the commercialisation of genetically modified seeds in developing countries with regulatory contexts as poor as that of the United States in which the legal status of these seeds has been liberalized. Being, a priori undifferentiated from any other plant, by its nature as an organism comprising a DNA composed of the same amino acids, no regulation and no obligation to inform consumers is required by American law. Moreover, since these seeds are sterile to prevent their development in  ecosystems, farmers cannot use their fruit as seed<ref>It is even illegal for non-genetically modified “proprietary” seeds, the fruit of which is fertile.</ref> It should, however, be noted that their yield will degrade at each new generation., and, with these products, enter into a cul-de-sac of dependence with regards to the corporations which sell them seeds and inputs.
 ===b. The meat industry===