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The Rich Do Not Know Hunger
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The Rich Do Not Know Hunger
The Rich Do Not Know Hunger
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| SharynS |
Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 2:28 pm
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Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 2939 Location: the 'puter |
Esteban Hernández, VP of the State Council of the Republic of Cuba, speaks about the causes and effects of the current food crisis at the May 7th, 2008 Presidential Summit in Managua, Nicaragua. As translated by Granma International, a popular grass roots news source.
read more _________________ Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. - Salman Rushdie |
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| PhoenixIratus |
Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 11:42 pm
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Joined: 22 Nov 2006 Posts: 51 Location: Canada |
A timely post, Siggy.
And scary. Contained in the speech by Esteban Hernández, VP of the State Council of the Republic of Cuba - Quote: The figures are more than eloquent. In 2005 we paid $250 to import one ton of rice; now we are paying $1,050, four times as much. For one ton of wheat, we paid $132; now we are paying $330, two-and-a-half times more. For one ton of corn, we paid $82; now we are paying $230, almost three times as much. For one ton of powdered milk, we paid $2,200; now it is $4,800. This is a perverse and unsustainable situation. and Quote: The problem, as it is being expressed in our region, is essentially connected to the precarious situation of small farmers and the rural populations of underdeveloped countries, as well as the oligopolist role of the large transnational corporations in the agribusiness industry.
These transnationals control the prices, technologies, standards, certifications, distribution channels and funding sources of world food production. They also control its transportation, scientific research, genetic funds, and the fertilizer and pesticides industries. Their governments in Europe, North America and elsewhere impose the international regulations in relation to trading foodstuffs and the technologies and supplies needed to produce them. A few worldwide conglomerates potentially owning most of the world's food sources? What could be scarier than that? Ever heard of Terminator Seeds? Read these - http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Transnational_corps/TerminatorSeeds_Monsanto.html http://www.rightoncanada.ca/site/c.juIZLdMOJrE/b.2766369/ http://www.rightoncanada.ca/site/c.juIZLdMOJrE/b.2535787/ http://www.banterminator.org/ Save your seeds, folks. The future is closer than you think. |
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| Mulligan |
Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:19 pm
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Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 358 Location: Ground Zero |
Quote: Hunger, the inseparable companion of the poor, is the offspring of the unequal distribution of wealth and injustices in this world. The rich do not know hunger.” “In the struggle against hunger and injustice millions of people in the world have lost their lives. Yes, well, the Communists can certainly speak authoritatively about injustice, hunger, and death since they’ve caused so much of it in the last ninety years. Stuff like this is so transparent that it’s a wonder anyone would still buy into it. ‘Blame the failures of ‘collectivism’ on the successes of capitalism and Western Culture; stir up class envy, class resentment, …’ -it’s failed Marxism déjà vu all over again. |
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| SharynS |
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 1:58 am
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Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 2939 Location: the 'puter |
You should get over it Mull.
I take it you have no qualms about the elite agenda, which is looking more and more everyday like usurpation of (all) resources so that "they" can put a price on it. And then, when people can't afford the price "they" can toss it in a dumpster, write it off against the citizens tax base, blame it on labour costs and continue the cycle until the resource is exhausted. I'd say basic foods and water are pretty much the last leg of what thus far appears a fairly successful take-over. I'm basing my estimation on the b/millions of hard working poverty stricken people v. the few privileged elite driving the operation. Is there an argument over and above a "communist" grudge that says it ain't so, can you share? _________________ Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. - Salman Rushdie |
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| Mulligan |
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 12:45 pm
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Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 358 Location: Ground Zero |
Quote: …more and more everyday like usurpation of (all) resources… It’s been going on since Cain whacked Able, Sig. I’m just continually amazed that collectivist types get such a free pass here. That’s what I can’t get over. Quote: …b/millions of hard working poverty stricken people v. the few privileged elite driving the operation. The “few privileged elite” are the Communists and their ilk. Hello!? {Sigh…} I guess I’m going to have to polish up one of my rants. Let’s see… {looking into the archives…}. {Where’s my brass polish…?} |
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| wm pasz |
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 1:22 pm
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Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto |
right, left, communist, capitalist, are all fundamentally the same. They are means to an end that is all about control and domination. Only the prayers and platitudes are different.
_________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X |
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| Mulligan |
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 3:45 pm
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Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 358 Location: Ground Zero |
Quote: …fundamentally the same… No, they’re not the same. To say that they are, is for one to admit to a basic misunderstanding of how the world of global politics, culture, economics, etc, -works. Capitalism, in a politically conservative society, is the opposite of Liberalism. While no man-made form of ideology is free from corruption, capitalism is clearly the better of the two because it promotes free trade, competition, ingenuity, progress, and, if the Gordon Gekkos* of the world are kept under control, –greater personal freedom. Liberalism, in its commonly understood modern form, promotes redistribution of wealth, greater taxation, greater dependence on government control, restricted freedom of speech, restrictions on personal autonomy, in short a ‘nanny state’ that is into everyone’s personal business. A classic example of this, taken to its ultimate form, would be the formerly Soviet controlled government of East Germany. Think of it this way: Marxism is the ‘thinking’ behind Liberalism. Liberalism, once it is established in any free culture, is the advanced guard of Socialism. Socialism, once it is established, doesn’t really work so it has to be enforced by Communism. Communism is really the ‘thug’ of Marxism that forces its victims into compliance –hence: E. Germany, N. Korea, China, and Cuba. Of course, you don’t see so many examples of Communist controlled countries anymore because the Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight in 1989. As a result, many of the countries under the heel of the Soviets (Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, in short the ‘Eastern Block’) were released from their control after the collapse. The Soviet Union was the ‘thug’ of the world that kept the communist governments of all of these countries propped up. Cuba, for example, was backed by the Soviets. Now it is just traveling its path on momentum because there’s no one to enforce its ‘Socialism.’ N. Korea’s government is primarily propped up by China which is Communist in its ideology -despite Kmart. *Of the movie "Wall Street" fame; the quintessential capitalist greedmonger invented by Oliver Stone. |
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| wm pasz |
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 5:07 pm
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Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto |
Thanks for the poli sci lesson Mull but I think you missed my point. The isms all have their unique belief systems but they are all the same in that they are all means to a particular end: A way of organizing society where one group controls the social order.
_________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X |
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| Mulligan |
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 5:37 pm
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Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 358 Location: Ground Zero |
My pleasure. If you didn’t need it, maybe someone else did. Fewer people understand that than you may think.
Quote: …one group controls the social order I got your point. Someone or something will control it. I just thought we might want to look at the options before we buy the package. |
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| wm pasz |
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 8:14 pm
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Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 1219 Location: Toronto |
What about a social paradigm that is not based on domination? Can you imagine something like that?
_________________ Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the oppressor. You don't need anything else. - Malcolm X |
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| SharynS |
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 9:15 pm
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Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 2939 Location: the 'puter |
Hard to see the forest for the plastic palms huh Mull. Quote: It’s been going on since Cain whacked Able, Sig. Quote: The “few privileged elite” are the Communists and their ilk. Hello!? _________________ Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. - Salman Rushdie |
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| Pearson |
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 9:20 pm
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Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 1417 Location: Sun City AZ |
Cool, i'm sitting here reading the thread and watching Evita (for the record, one of my favorite movies of all time).
Quote: I just thought we might want to look at the options before we buy the package. And therein lies the real question...why do we have to buy any package? I have to ask mull; are you happy with the direction the US is headed? While you snipe at liberals, can you tell me with a straight face you are contented with the right? What's wrong with looking for a new ism? Can something better be created? _________________ If we don't do it, who will? |
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| Mulligan |
Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 12:13 am
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Joined: 04 Feb 2006 Posts: 358 Location: Ground Zero |
Quote: …social paradigm that is not based on domination? Quote: …just society? Quote: …name names… Antonio Gramsci, Theodore Adorno, Max Horkheimer, Georg Lukacs, Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse, and Jurgen Habermas are names that immediately come to mind. All were Marxist ideologues who advocated control over the masses by socialist or communist means –making them, by definition, elitists. Modern day elitist? Any number of tenured university professors who consider themselves Marxists and who propagandize Marxism and communism to their students. Hollywood is ‘ate up’ with those who think socialism or communism is better for everyone, as is the news media. Elitism of this sort is about advocating or implementing a form of government without having to live under it yourself. A privileged class as it were. Rule of thumb: if they advocate the radical left, socialism, or communism, but aren’t willing to stand in the breadline with you –they’re probably elitists. Quote: …snipe at liberals… Quote: …happy with the direction the US is headed?... Quote: …Can something better be created? |
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| SharynS |
Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 1:42 am
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Joined: 28 Jan 2006 Posts: 2939 Location: the 'puter |
I apologize if that's the way you took anything I've said Mull. Quote: Utopia? Off the cuff, I would have to assume that as is "utopia" now, so too would it be in any system/structure - purely subjective. I'm not a seer (though I have had my moments) but from your posts I'm guessing that either you've attained the degree of utopia which fits your needs or you believe you have. All that despite a well documented unjust system. Wouldn't it then stand to reason that the odds for many others to attain a utopian fit would skyrocket in a just society ? _________________ Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself. - Salman Rushdie |
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| atuuschaaw |
Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 11:18 am
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Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 781 Location: an ahwangan |
Quote: ...capitalism is clearly the better of the two because it promotes free trade, competition, ingenuity, progress, and, if the Gordon Gekkos* of the world are kept under control, –greater personal freedom. Yep, free trade has really helped the citizens hasn't it? And by golly, it's gave our corporate interests a big shot in the arm so us citizens can continue to benefit from their increased growth and profits. But wait... what about the controversial fair trade? No, nevermind...that's considered subsidizing isn't it? Quote: Liberalism, in its commonly understood modern form, promotes redistribution of wealth, greater taxation, greater dependence on government control, restricted freedom of speech, restrictions on personal autonomy My Gawd Mull! You should have taken the red pill Bro! 
I think one of our biggest obstacles is overcoming these "hand me down" ''isms". Can we not get past all this and at least tweak the system to make it better? I don't think it's about increasing taxes. I believe we have plenty of taxation now. It's just that we need to better distribute and focus the spending of these taxes on what will benefit the people...not place more burdens on them. While we spend $341 million per day on our war machine, our infrastructure is crumbling around us. Our children's educational opportunities and knowledge continue to fall behind when compared to a cross section of the worlds students. And our healthcare is a maze of privatization that most get lost within. Dependence of government control? I don't see placing power within the people's hands a form of governmental dependence at all. On the contrary. It's freedom! And you want to talk control...good grief man, have you looked around at the amount of government control we have now...not that we are dependent on it, but we are forced to conform to it or face the conseqences! All for the cost of freedom? HDT asked, "Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government?'' I hope the answer to that question is "absolutely not"! Because if we don't continue to attempt to make it better...to try to turn it into a more just system...then we have failed ourselves and all the future generations. _________________ "Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." George Orwell |
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