Wolfgang Korsus Dipl.-Ing. NT, Astrophysiker
D-25451 QUICKBORN
Klingenberg 40
wkorsus@gmx.de
Website: Wolfgang.Korsus.net
Chapter 333/9
So, almost last but not least, large companies also get their comeuppance… from me. International social standards (such as education, safety, and health standards) must be created for them, which means implementing them and constantly monitoring compliance. There is a huge amount of catching up to do worldwide, especially when it comes to gender issues and work with children and young people. After all, global food security requires damn clear and binding values and standards. These are actually universal, but their implementation can still be location-specific.
To this end, appropriate political and institutional frameworks must be created and the principles of agricultural policy must be fundamentally rethought. A vision for the future that takes this into account includes the following points:
The fundamental right to food is enshrined in all constitutions. So far, it has only been mentioned in 22 constitutions, but there is no practical means of enforcing it. The coexistence of different production and processing systems is legally guaranteed worldwide, and control and certification systems are enshrined in law. Only food produced under socially and ecologically comparable conditions is traded between regions of the world. Subsidies for food exports are abolished. Public funds for the preservation of cultural landscapes, for agricultural research, and for research into new forms of civil society organization for the implementation of food justice and food sovereignty are increased to at least one-third of gross investment in the infrastructure of an economy. Food prices in developed markets and countries would include all ecological and social costs. However, it is not only politicians, producers, processors, and retailers who are called upon to break new ground; consumers must also be made more accountable. The question of how our own eating habits contribute to a more just world should be discussed much more widely in society. The media also have a key role to play here. There needs to be a shift in consumer awareness away from a purely price-oriented approach toward high-quality, regional food produced under ecologically and socially acceptable conditions.
We are letting them starve
In Jean Ziegler’s book Wir lassen sie verhungern (We are letting them starve), published in Munich in 2012, we read that in this world of abundance, a child under the age of ten dies of starvation every five seconds. For Jean Ziegler, this is not just a problem of distribution or a systemic failure, but a disgrace, a scandal, organized crime, and mass murder that must be stopped immediately. Jean Ziegler: „Hunger kills around 100,000 people worldwide every day. Hardly anyone talks about this genocide, let alone about remedying it.“