For several weeks now I have been part of the support group for one of the villages that have been organized to discuss the various topics related to the economy of the future, according to the indications of Pope Francis. It is an initiative aimed at promoting discussions and proposals by a large group of young people (18-25 years old) which will then be presented at a public assembly in Assisi in November. The above mentioned Francis is in reference to Francis of Assisi, whose frugality, thought and works should be a basic stimulus, together with the encyclical Laudato Sì of Pope Francis. Older people, as is my case, have been associated to share work experiences, reflections and ideas in order to facilitate this process.
Thanks to a dear friend who is a teacher at Sapienza, my name has been proposed and accepted. A first meeting allowed me to remember how my potential contribution was linked to the experiences on the ground, to the stimulus given over decades to many young interns, volunteers, consultants and, today, FAO officials. I also explained my independence of character and my refusal to submit to authorities whose legitimacy is due to family and political friendships and not to shared ideas on development issues. This has led me to have constant clashes with Service Chiefs and Divisional Director put in their place for reasons of obstacles to agricultural issues, the maintenance of the dominating status of the economic North over the South and an absolute lack of willingness for dialogue and transparency.
My proposal was to share the reflections that I elaborated in the booklet that will be released at the end of October (La crisi agraria ed eco-genetica spiegata ai non specialisti, Meltemi Ed.) dividing them into three webinars entitled, respectively:
- Where have all the farmers gone?
- Selling Nature by the Dollar
- Towards digital neo-colonialism
The titles of the first two are inspired by songs and records dear to me: Where have all the flowers gone? By Joan Baez (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSE03QVnXg0) and Selling England by the Pound by Genesis (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-jS4e3zacI).
The first presentation referred to the modern origins of the agricultural development mechanism in the North of the world, clearly inspired by the model of the North American farmer and how, thanks to political and economic choices forbidden to the countries of the South, it has come to compete in the same global market with farmers with extremely different productivity (500 times greater in the North) and with protections (subsidies, customs barriers, etc.) that contribute to the destruction of farmers' agriculture in the South. A complex subject, difficult to reduce to a presentation of 30-40 minutes and above all to simplify in such a way as to make it comprehensible to the new generations who are not very familiar with agrarian history and comparative studies (a subject which, in most agricultural universities, is not even taught as a joke - with the exception of a few scholars, among whom I would like to mention my mentor Marcel Mazoyer).
The second, translated into Portuguese with the title: Vende-se por dólar - A monetização da natureza, was made last night, essentially for an audience of young Brazilians, very active within the village of Agriculture and Justice (I stress their decision to expand the global title of the initiative, from Economy of Francis to Economy of Francis and Clara - also from Assisi and as Francis made Saint - so as to recall the importance of the female world in all these discussions on agriculture and justice). This presentation was centered on the second driving force of the crisis, the environmental one, whose origins can be dated back to the decrease in the profit rate of capital in the 60s, the breaking of the Gold Standard in 1971 (the system of monetary parity between gold and dollar - and other currencies linked to it), with a clear acceleration starting from the arrival in power of Reagan and, closer to us, the Kyoto agreement and the imposition of the theme of Ecosystemic Services (and its payment) as well as the various financial instruments (derivatives, Swap, Cat bond, etc.). ) that have served and serve to subjugate the Third World and its resources to the control of the North.
The last one we will do next week, and we will come back to that one.
In the discussions that followed the presentations, the obvious questions on how to organize a community of actors to fight against this world and what political forces to rely on came back.
For my part, I believe that we need to learn to match our strengths because these are and will be battles that will last for years and decades. The preparation of the current world, which has been evident since 1980 when Reagan and Thatcher came to power, but in fact began much earlier, required efforts, resources and political weight that the capitalist and right-wing world had at its disposal, as well as a clear and single objective: to keep the profit rate high and to continue to make money, in one way or another, even at the cost of endangering the very survival of the human race. On the opposite side, even though we are many (as I believe), we are divided and disillusioned and, above all, we have an obvious problem of political representation. Remaining at home, in Europe, it is clear that parties and movements that refer - more or less - to the Left (whatever we mean by that), have historical difficulties in understanding the origin, complexity and underlying reasons for the mechanisms put in place to subjugate the South. I sincerely believe that none of the current elected representatives, in most European countries, not only in Italy, have a clear understanding of where the agricultural crisis, the destruction of our family farming and that of the South, migration and growing conflicts are coming from. The United Nations agencies themselves, first and foremost the FAO, as I have seen from the inside during these years, prefer to steer clear of these issues. It is then that only a few individuals (and I want to remember and thank my internal mentor, José "Pepe" Esquinas) have dared to challenge these internal walls to try to carry on difficult, abrasive and unloved issues from the upper floors.
But we are left with no other solution than to continue to fight. Only that this requires consistent efforts in terms of:
- To study more and better the mechanisms that have led us to the current situation. So more history and more comparative analysis, subjects that are not usually taught in agricultural universities.
- Going to raise awareness and explain why the world in crisis in which we live to the common "people", who do not easily understand where all this comes from (including the current crisis of Covid, the last of the agricultural crises due to the savage assault of the last reserves of natural resources)
- Open up and fight to organize collective entities from below, privileging alliances and giving up power games to which, too often, even well-known movements (such as the Via Campesina) have let themselves go
- Finally, we must fight to enter the decision-making bodies of organizations, governments, parties, but not on the basis of that individualism that they have been teaching us for 40 years, but on the basis of the collective efforts mentioned above. Nowadays, those who come to the managerial posts of these institutions have had to pull their pants down so many times that nothing positive can be hoped for.
I am still here, as Vasco Rossi would say, and as the other Francesco, the one from Pavana, sings, I can guarantee you my part (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDZ9bZmA07Q).
PS. Vasco Rossi and Francesco Guccini are two well-kwon Italian singers.
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