GUTEN APPETIT

Though we certainly all live off agriculture, I learned today that more than half of humanity – be it small scale farmers or agricultural labourers – live from agriculture. A thought all we eating-inclined might consider – a fact whose relevance should perhaps predominate our lives more than once in a while, on a Agriculture–themed G8 Action day in a port-town in Northern Germany.

Of these said 3,301,112,000* directly dependant on agriculture, a few were in Rostock today, some from as far away as Nicaragua, Mexico and Brazil, to speak to a gathering of about 400 people. Sitting in groups on the red-bricked Neuer Markt Platz in Rostock this afternoon, we took time to reflect on what is perhaps the most taken for granted of the pressing G8 issues.

Standing on a tractor-drawn cart, workers, union-representatives, researchers and citizens released slogans into the crowd, snippets of their experiences and distresses. A group of students dressed in yellow and sunglasses staged the tragedy of Monsantan canola crops. Standing in the sidelines, wearing a green apron, an organiser spoke with us briefly to explain how today’s objective. “We will be carrying out multiple actions’, he said, ‘each highlighting the various points within the agricultural production chain”. The Agriculture Action Day plan, as the website details, is:
to blockade the sowing of genetically modified crops; to address the outrageous working conditions of employees and the ruinous prices paid by the head buyers at the multinational supermarket, Lidl; to criticise the agricultural policies of the European Union the collaboration between different departments at the University of Rostock and agri-business in front of a pig-fattening factory. (http://dissentnetzwerk.org/wiki/index.php?title=Arbeitsgruppe_G8_und_Landwirtschaft)

The apron-clad organiser then returned to his task, serving an extensive buffet of local eco-foods, ranging from apple honey, to lentil spread, to beautiful breads – all offered for free in exchange for the appreciation that local and ethical food tastes delicious.

The crowd, however, clustered in colour-themed groups (many still stained in yesterday’s blacks) seemed for the most part to absorb only the simplest of slogans. Applause rose to greet the word Kampf, and the ever-present chant: Another world is possible. Perhaps the clouds overhead, or the after-effects of the clashes, of which a few bore band-aids and bandages, muffled the implications of the message. Many munched absent-mindedly on Subway sandwiches, Kraft Foods produced Milka bars, and plastic-wrapped, processed wursts and cheeses, while occasionally cheering or raising their fists to acknowledge someone’s hopeful or infuriated statement. “Down with Multinationals, Down with Capitalism”, they chanted, mouths still perfumed with what they claim to detest most. The paradoxical imagery present here must no doubt be covered in the upcoming days.

Tractor in lead, the crowd set off, largely on bicycle, towards the GMO-research centre 13 kilometres away. I came “home” to read a WTO-published paper discussing the impacts of environmental standards on agriculture and economies or developing countries, as well as on international trade flow. So far, it is a lucid, though cautious and not particularly surprising, glimpse into the intentions and concerns of one of the most reviled organisations of the G8 protesters. My post on this should be up soon.

Samara 03.06.07

* Based on CIA estimate for July 2007