April 2011 - Centre for Civil Society - University of KwaZulu-Natal

knowledge, to invest in the area.
Even though these later approaches were never discussed, for political
reasons, there is a strong argument for their viability. Certainly they are
much more likely to produce the intended result than the mostly
unaccountable foreign companies ever will.
The scale of farming that is based on domestic investment would be
smaller and thus friendlier to the local environment and local
communities, while simultaneously allowing for a significant increase in
domestic farm output. Most importantly, this option would have placed
domestic interests in control of national food production, a much more
viable and positive proposition for Ethiopia’s prospects. If Indian, Saudi,
and Chinese companies are extending their reach beyond their borders to
secure national food security for their domestic economy, why can’t
Ethiopia do this within her own borders?
In terms of food availability, it seems like we are in a much more dire
situation than they are. Moreover, the involvement of global agribusiness
in Ethiopia would have been more acceptable if Ethiopia’s own farm
industry was given priority. This is not xenophobia; it is how the most food
secure nations in the world came into being. However, the guise that the
local farm industry will develop alongside major foreign agricultural
companies does not make economic sense. It is only a matter of time until
they are eaten up. A developmental state does not endorse such an unfair
take over of key national assets in this way. It is simply not developmental
policy. It is a give away.
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Capitalism not so popular... especially in the US
Fred Weston 20 April 2011
A recent edition of The Economist (April 7, 2011) complained about
“Capitalism’s waning popularity”. One does not have to be a genius to
understand that thirty years or more of cuts in welfare, large scale
privatizations and constant pressure on workers in the workplace was
sooner or later going to end up with ordinary working people questioning
the system that is responsible for these policies, i.e. capitalism.
The article opens up with the following: “Rising debt and lost output are
the common measures of the cost of the financial crisis. But a new global
opinion poll shows another, perhaps more serious form of damage: falling
public support for capitalism.” (The poll the article is referring to is
available here.)
The more intelligent strategists of capital look at such polls seriously, and
for a very good reason. They understand that if millions of people consider
their system a good one, one that “delivers”, i.e. one that provides a
reasonable living and one that appears to have a good future, then their
system is safe. The capitalist class does not hold onto power merely by
controlling the state apparatus, the police, the army and the judiciary, the