This Bay Area hearing will focus specifically on homelessness, mass incarceration, and the criminalization of poverty. It is the Oakland stop on a statewide Poor People’s Bus Tour from the Yurok Indian Nation in the North down to the U.S.-Mexico border. The Bus Tour is organized the California Poor People’s Campaign which is part of the National Poor People’s Campaign.
Agribusiness corporations claim their destructive practices are necessary to feed the world’s current large population. Come hear Eric Holt-Gimenez, executive director of Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy, debunk this claim.
He will explain how, on the contrary, the current global system causes injustice, hunger, poverty and environmental degradation. He will also describe the social movements that are fighting to take back control of the food systems we all depend on.
Sponsored by the Revolutionary Workers Group
Background:
Global agribusinesses are big fossil fuel users, adding to climate change by emitting greenhouse gases. Global agribusinesses destroy wetlands, grassland and forests to create more agricultural land. They use chemical fertilizers that destroy the ability of the soil to absorb carbon dioxide, while long-distance shipping of food puts massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
More details from Patricia S. Muir, Oregon State University
Also see Can Organic Farming Feed Us All? Worldwatch May/June 2005
