Africa is being opened up like a tin of sardines to a new wave of resource extraction, writes Colin Todhunter. Masked under the soubriquets of 'investment', 'growth' and 'free trade', a handful of vast global corporations are systematically plundering the continent's mineral wealth and leaving desolation in their wake, backed to the hilt by that ever-faithful servant of capital - the UK government.
… The corporate scramble for Africa's minerals: Britain's new colonialism … Colin Todhunter | 14th July 2016 News Africa Mining Corporations War Economics … Western Sahara Morocco bou-craa-cut.jpg Africa is being opened up like a tin of …
From slave labour to armed conflict, our thirst for natural resources has created serious problems for Africa. Pádraig Carmody’s latest book attempts to unravel the moral morass, says Mark Newton
… The New Scramble for Africa Mark Newton | 9th May 2012 Reviews Books Reviews Africa Minerals Natural Resources Conflict … resources has created serious problems for Africa. Pádraig Carmody’s latest book attempts …
The Gates Foundation - widely assumed to be 'doing good', is imposing a neoliberal model of development and corporate domination that's opening up Africa's agriculture to land and seed-grabbing global agribusiness, writes Colin Todhunter. In the process it is foreclosing on the real solutions - enhancing food security, food sovereignty and the move to agroecological farming.
… is spearheading the neoliberal plunder of African agriculture Colin Todhunter | 21st January 2016 News Africa Farming Corporations Development GMOs … and corporate domination that's opening up Africa's agriculture to land and seed-grabbing …
Perhaps all the 'do gooders' busy forcing industrial models of agriculture onto poor but independent African farmers really do think they are helping them, writes Colin Todhunter. But if so they are deeply deluded. All they will achieve is the takeover of export-oriented agribusiness and GMOs, the destruction of agroecological farming systems, and a future of debt and landlessness.
… embedding agribusiness and GMOs into African agriculture Colin Todhunter | 8th April 2016 Comment Farming Africa GMOs Nutrition Health Finance … of agriculture onto poor but independent African farmers really do think they are …
Matthew Scully’s thoughtful look at the issues surrounding animal welfare is a triumph of lucid prose and cleverly marshalled argument, says Mark Newton
… differently: when white men head out into Africa and buy a chieftain’s favour so that … fishing contributing to poverty and piracy in Africa As European fish stocks decline rapidly …
Agroecology is key to retaking control over food, farming and land from the 'monstrous machine' of agribusiness, biotech, big finance and 'free trade', writes Colin Todhunter, as it represents a truly viable alternative to agriculture for corporate profit. But such are the powers ranged against the world's small farmers that it must be supported by a broad-based, global people's movement.
… related to debt repayment, as occurred in Africa , bilateral trade agreements like NAFTA … full spectrum dominance throughout much of Africa as well. Western seed, fertiliser and … success of agroecological agriculture across Africa in the face of climate change, hunger …
The world is in the grip of a structural war against people, land, economies and ecosystems, writes Colin Todhunter. It is being waged by a quartet of organised criminal interests bent on monopolizing energy, money, food and violence across the globe. But a deep-rooted resistance against their 'neoliberal' doctrine of death and destruction is fighting back.
… oil profits enabled Wall Street to entrap African nations into debt). Based on the US … of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Africa to appreciate this. If this cartel and … the agenda of big agribusiness, whether in Africa, India, South America or elsewhere, and …
Can political movements past provide lessons for future protest? According to Tim Gee’s Counterpower they most definitely can - and the result, says Mark Newton, is truly inspiring
… Indian independence to apartheid-era South Africa, the Vietnam War, the Arab Spring and …
India's food system, essentially clean just a generation ago, has been comprehensively contaminated with sugar, bad fats, synthetic additives, GMOs and pesticides under the country's neoliberal 'great leap forwards', writes Colin Todhunter. The result? a surge in obesity, diabetes and cancer incidence, but no let-up in the under-nutrition of those too poor to join in the over-consumption.
… now see their main growth markets in Asia, Africa and South America, where traditionally … now see their main growth markets in Asia, Africa and South America. …
India's farmers are the targets of structural violence aimed at uprooting indigenous agriculture and replacing it with an intensive corporate model based on GMOs and agrochemicals, writes Colin Todhunter. But as Monsanto's GM cotton succumbs to insect infestations despite repeated pesticide applications, agroecological farming is an increasingly attractive option for cultivators.
… (see this on the Gates Foundation in Africa) and chemical-intensive farming based … on the tremendous success of agroecology in Africa from the Oakland Institute; 2. This …
Colin Speakman’s Walk! is a delightful read that will make you want to pick up your hiking boots and head into the country for a stroll, says Mark Newton
… Walking Thunder: In the Footsteps of the African Elephant Cyril Christo and Marie … images highlight the luminous beauty of Africa’s elephants, says Ruth Styles, and show …
The dystopian take on the environmental movement provided by Dark Mountain’s second anthology, is a wonderful, if disturbing, read says Mark Newton
… Walking Thunder: In the Footsteps of the African Elephant Cyril Christo and Marie … images highlight the luminous beauty of Africa’s elephants, says Ruth Styles, and show …
How can progressive movements rise above merely being right, to mount effective mass opposition to corporate rule and the dictatorship of the super-wealthy? By learning from Gandhi, writes Colin Todhunter, and devising new campaigns that engage with people's everyday concerns - like access to safe, wholesome, affordable, 'open source' food.
… being played out in throughout the globe from Africa and India to Ukraine and beyond. …
Bayer's $66 billion takeover of Monsanto represents another big click on the ratchet of corporate power over farming and food, writes Colin Todhunter. With the 'big six' of global agribusiness now set to turn into the 'even bigger three', farmers and consumers are facing more GMOs and pesticides, less choice, and deeper price gouging. Agroecology has never looked more attractive.
… designed to feed humanity, from India to Africa indigenous models of agriculture are …
The more the GM industry claims to enjoy the support of 'science', the more it resorts to emotive attack and insult against its opponents, while doing its best to suppress the many scientific truths that are not to its liking, writes Colin Todhunter. In truth it is driven by profit, politics and ideology, and is based on fraud and the capture and corruption of governments and regulators.
… The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, …
New research suggests that we are heading for an "ecological Armageddon" that will affect all life on the planet, including humans. COLIN TODHUNTER investigates.
… apace, spearheaded by the Gates Foundation in Africa and the World Bank’s ‘enabling the …
GMO enthusiasts insist that organic, agroecological farming could never feed the world, writes Colin Todhunter. But it has been feeding us all for millennia - and it's the only way to continue while enriching the soils and biodiversity on which all farming depends. As Mahatma Gandhi once observed, industrial agriculture is but a nine-day wonder. And its time will soon be up.
… "tremendous success" of agroecology across Africa. The Oakland Institute presented 33 …
To understand how technology is used in the real world we must appreciate who owns and controls it, writes Colin Todhunter: whose interests it serves, and how it works in an economic system driven by profit, geopolitics and the compulsion to capture and control markets - while the monopolists proclaim a noble ideology of 'free choice' and 'democracy'.
… the UAE, which stood at $402 billion, South Africa ($350 billion) and Singapore ($308 …