Tuesday, August 24, 2010

"Land Grabs" in Africa as Hedge Funds and Wealth Nations Buy up Land, Dispossessing Local Farmers

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/24/report_global_food_security_and_sovereignty

Also read the report on mis-investment in agricultural land in Africa
http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/pdfs/misinvestment_web.pdf

When wealthy nations such as Saudi Arabia, investment funds (Goldman Sachs) and hedge funds buy up land in Africa to export food or simply to invest in a tangible commodity-land-they force local people off land.

These local people are then denied the ability to sustain themselves from their own agriculture.

This happened in Mexico when NAFTA privatized land formerly owned collectively by indigenous people. This land was sold to U.S. transnational corporations. The local farmers in Mexico were forced over their land.

The World Bank is supposedly promoting these types of policies under the guise of "development."

Another example of neofeudalism in the making....

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