The author clarifies how the capitalist system affects food production, but has unrealistic hopes about the Green New Deal's ability to transform the present system into one that empowers all of humanity instead of capitalism which serves the needs of a tiny minority of "owners".
He writes:
The food movement has been very good at developing alternatives, but it hasn’t been good at addressing the systemic barriers to good, clean, fair food for all. Some even seem to think that we can transform our food system in isolation of the larger, political-economic system in which it is embedded. That system is capitalism and it has co-evolved with our food system, so clearly we can’t change one without changing the other.But pins his hopes on the Green New Deal:
The good news is that the food system has always been a pivotal pillar in capitalism, so if we can push systemic changes within the food system, it will influence the rest of the system. That’s why things that seem utopic, like insisting on the human right to food and food sovereignty, are so important. To the extent we can ensure these rights, we dismantle capitalism.
... whatever you are doing—studying, gardening, in a CSA [link], whatever—thank you, and keep doing it. Now, you need to do something else: change everything! Let’s catch the momentum of the Green New Deal to build a powerful, broad-based, working class and people of color-led movement for transformation. Let’s create the political will not just for reforms, but for transformative, structural reforms that put us solidly on the road to food sovereignty and to cooling the planet. [my inserted link]Like the New Deal under the Roosevelt administration, the Green New Deal won't be allowed to empower people at the expense of capitalists. Only an organized revolutionary people can do that. The Green New Deal, under capitalist controlled political system, likes its predecessor, will only protect the present ruling class from any substantial changes. He essentially admits that in the first paragraph.
