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Indian farmers to assail MNCs and biz groups in Europe for dangerous practices

Gurdip Singh in New Delhi

International business pressure groups like the World Economic Forum and the International Chamber of Commerce have incurred the ire of Indian farmer's organisations for extending their influence beyond their traditional or immediate concern, such as agriculture.

In a document on ''Intercontinental Caravan for Solidarity and Resistance'', the farmers' organisations have launched a scathing attack on these groups as well as strong criticism of the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Bank

These are interest groups for transnational corporations which exercise a ''decisive influence'' of policy making of the world. Through groups like these and the European Round Table of Industrialists, the multinational corporations are gradually establishing their interest at the centre of an increasing number of policy fields, the document said.

These organisations are exercising control not only to areas where TNCs have traditionally influenced policies, such as those relating to trade and investments, but spreading it to fields where their power was earlier limited, such as agriculture, education and health, it said.

Nearly 400 farmers from India will leave New Delhi on May 20 for Europe where they will meet grass roots organisations, major TNCs and representatives at the EU and G8 summits. They will be joined 100 representatives of grassroots movements in the country. Several top leaders from the farming community from different parts of the country will be part of the delegation.

The document said the policies and technologies introduced by insututions like the FAO and the WB have driven millions of peasants off their land to the slums of cities, where inhuman conditions prevail. Land is becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of TNCs and landlords.

Besides, trade liberalisation and capital intensive agricultural technology have led to the bankruptcy of peasants and small scale farming all over the world and the loss of biological and cultural diversity.

In the north, where the decomposition of the rural world has different features, trade liberalisation is also destroying the livelihood of millions of small farmers.

The document says the introduction of genetic engineering in food production will increase considerably the control of agri business of the food system on which everyone depends, causing massive ecological havoc, health hazards and the impoverishment of famers all over the world.

''In the brave new world, TNCs are receiving private ownership rights over any micro organisms, plants, animals and components of the human genome that are liable to produce a profit. Genetic engineering and patents of life represent one of the most serious threats ever faced by humankind, since they are giving an unprecedented level of control over our lives to the biotechnology industry,'' it says.

Yudvir Singh, one of the leaders of the delegation, explains the objective of the programme. He says the purpose is to draw and focus the attention of the city-dwellers on rural issues.

The introduction of genetic engineering and agriculture and introducion of patents on life will have irreversible effect on all ecosystems of the world and on the balance of power in society, as they introduce private ownership, over life as a new form of control.

''We are still in time to stop these destructive developments. However this will require the dismantling of the multilateral trading system enforced by the World Trade Organisation,'' Singh said.

The document criticises the imposition of neoliberal policies on countries affected by the ''debt crisis'' which it says was provoked by the corruption of northern and southern elites. The debt crisis resulted in the transfer of billions of dollars from the poorest of the poor to the richest elites of the world.

''We have had enough of this highway robbery,'' the document says. In Europe, the farmers will denounce the institutions they think are responsible for the situation. Apart from the bank, they are the International Monetary Fund and also international commercial banks. The G7 is managing the crisis to its advantage.

''We are not asking for debt relief or renegotiation. We are asking the southern governments to disobey the rules of the G7 governments and the Bretton Woods institutions,'' Singh said.

''As a part of our visit, we want to make a clear statement about the kind of change that massive people's movements from the south are struggling for,'' Singh said.

According to the president of the All India Women Farmers' Association, Swaraj Lamba, international financial globalisation can cause serious damage to world financial markets and the rural economy.

There is therefore a need for a global tax to control volatility of the international currency markets and to preserve autonomy in national currency policies.

There is also need for a wider debate on the proposal for creating a new global institution (world finance authority) with adequate executive authority to regulate global financial flows.

However, Lamba says social movements, non-government organisations and labour organisations are yet to respond effectively and critically to the issues emerging from globalisation of financial markets. This is true of both developed and developing countries, she said.

Financial markets are a new subject for social movements, which have largely been dealing with foreign direct investment, official capital flows and multi-lateral organisations.

She cited the example of Thailand farmers recently joining the growing protest movements against the IMF-led bailout programme.

There is a growing consensus among the peasant groups in Thailand to oppose IMF conditionalities that interfere with and manipulate the Thai economy and its policies.

Lamba says globalisation is nothing new. In many ways, the world economy in the late 20th century resembles the world economy in the late 19th century. The fundamental attribute of globalisation, then and now, is the increasing degree of openness in most countries. The openness is not simply confined to trade flows, investment flows and financial flows.

It also extends to flows to services, technology, information, ideas and persons across national boundaries. There can be no doubt, however, that trade, investment and finance are the cutting edge of globalisation.

UNI

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