Radical U.N. Report Promotes Democratic Control of Food and an End to Corporate Domination

Click here to access article by Sonali Kolhatkar from Truthdig. 

A new report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council on the “Right to Food” took aim at the entire basis on which food is produced and distributed on a global scale. Reflecting the type of progressive analysis of our food system from experts like Vandana Shiva and Michael Pollan, report author Olivier De Schutter called for an undermining of large agribusinesses and an infusion of democratic control.

Although the report’s recommendations are revolutionary, news of its release went largely unreported in the major U.S. media.  

Of course, the recommendations seem equally valid for the rest of the economy, and the author hints at this with this statement:

Like other basic human needs such as water, shelter and health care, our food shouldn’t be subject to the drive for profit. In calling for democratic control of our food, De Schutter and Patel are threatening the business interests of some of the world’s largest and wealthiest corporations.

However, she ends the paragraph with an extremely understated, or else very naïve, recommendation for action:

Given that De Schutter’s report has been submitted to the highest international representatives of civil society, it has the potential to effect change, but only if there is enough pressure from below.