Socialist Appeal
The Marxist voice of Labour and youth
Across the media, the question of food is consistently raised here in Britain, from the endless programmes about cooking to the constant stream of warnings about malnutrion and obesity. We publish here an article written by John Peterson, editor of Socialist Appeal USA, who discusses the relationship between the food we eat and the capitalist system of production and distribution that we live under.
The past seven months have seen the release of the Fifth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The conclusions of the latest IPCC report are unequivocal: climate change is real; its effects will be disastrous; and nothing short of a revolution will do if we are to combat it.
Centuries of scientific research and investigation have helped to propel society forwards and improve the lives of millions. But, as with all other areas of society, the senility and decay of capitalism is now being reflected in the question of science also, and many are starting to worry about the reliability of research.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recently released a report that came up with a novel idea: convince the world population to eat insects in order to avert mass hunger. In reality it is already possible to feed everyone without the need to eat bugs. What stands in the way is the “market”, i.e. capitalism.
The development of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) has opened up whole new possibilities for improving the nutrition of humanity. However, under capitalism, GMOs are being abused by large agro-corporations to maximize shareholders’ profits at the expense of ordinary people around the world. What is a working-class approach to confronting the problems of GMOs and food security?