[Marxism] Evo Morales on the WTO’s round of negotiations

["Fred Fuentes" <fred.fuentes@xxxxxxxxx>]

.....After seven years, the WTO round is anchored in the past and out
of date with the most important phenomena we are currently living: the
food crisis, the energy crisis, climate change and the elimination of
cultural diversity. The world is being led to believe that an
agreement is needed to resolve the global agenda and this agreement
does not correspond to that reality. Its bases are not appropriate to
resist this new global agenda.

Studies by the FAO point out that with the current forces of
agricultural production it is possible to feed 12 billion human
beings, in other words, almost more than double the current world
population. However, there is a food crisis because production is not
geared towards the well-being of humans but towards the market,
speculation and profitability of the big producers and marketers of
food. To deal with the food crisis, it is necessary to strengthen
family, peasant and community agriculture. Developing countries have
to recover the right to regulate[4] our imports and exports to
guarantee our populations' food supply. We have to end consumerism,
waste and luxuries. In the poorest part of the planet, millions of
human beings die of hunger every year. In the richest part of the
planet, millions of dollars are spent to combat obesity. We consume in
excess, waste natural resources and we produce the waste that pollutes
Mother Earth.

Countries should prioritize the consumption of what we produce
locally. A product that travels half around the world to reach its
destiny can be cheaper than other that is produced domestically, but,
if we take into account the environmental costs of transporting that
merchandise, the energy consumption and the quantity of carbon
emissions that it generates, then we can reach the conclusion that it
is healthier for the planet and for humanity to prioritize the
consumption of what is produced locally.

Foreign trade must be a complement to local production. In no way can
we favor foreign markets at the expense of national production.

Capitalism wants to make us all uniform so that we turn into mere
consumers. For the North there is only one development model, theirs.
The uniform models of economic development are accompanied by
processes of generalized acculturation to impose on us one single
culture, one single fashion, one single way of thinking and of seeing
things. To destroy a culture, to threaten the identity of a people, is
the greatest damage that can be done to humanity.

The respect and the peaceful and harmonic complementarity of the
various cultures and economies is essential to save the planet,
humanity and life.
For this to be in fact, a round of negotiations about development and
anchored in the present and future of humanity and the planet it
should:......read the whole article at
http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2008/07/evo-morales-president-of-bolivia-on.html

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