permaculture

[Steve Hart <stevenlawrencehart@gmail.com>]

Here we go again...its time to watch all those movies of CIA plots over and
over so we can get it into our heads what is really going on."The November
Man" a fairly late movie could be a start.  I have a close friend in
Ukraine in Dnepropetrovsk. An hour long skype with her this morning gave
new perspectives from on the ground. A doctor whose family have all
recently shifted into one small apartment having evacuated from Dontesk
where the fighting is. She says just over the last few days there has ben
huge air cargo movements of NATO equipment moving in...so the battle for
real is  about to start...and the propaganda war from both sides  is
rampant...so its all primarily about the mineral wealth and who wants to
steal or possess it. Then also about western imperialism or what I call
MacDonaldisation. Which itself, is rampant through Romania at
present...Thats the world we live in right now...of course we know how to
create and build the models and how to avoid the imperialisation. Just
build a garden for starters then build neighbourhood then community...Steve
Hart

On 16 December 2014 at 21:36, Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> If Russia invades Ukraine the upside is that they will likely drive out the
> Monsanto types and save the Black Earth Region's precious farmland from an
> uncertain fate (absentee land ownership, profits exported, pesticides,
> gmo's, loss of wildlife, loss of biologically active soil, chemical
> fertilizers, monocropping and more), that is if the plan described below in
> this excellent article becomes reality:
>
> Is Europe’s Breadbasket Up for Grabs?
>
> http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/07/is-europes-breadbasket-up-for-grabs/
>
> <>
>
> Speaking of small scale farmers, i.e. small to medium sized farms
> participating in a local food production system serving their respective
> regions, often called the Fertile Crescent concept, a friend emailed me
> this snippet he wrote about traditional Russian ways of farming their land:
>
> "The (Russian) farmers, for instance, knew exactly how agriculture should
> be organized. They had in fact been working for centuries in a kolkhoz
> framework, one in which each community had a system for sharing out the
> work and taking a share of the profits.
>
> This, of course, was totally ignored. Lenin and Stalin both despised the
> peasants, thinking them stupid. So they came up with a collectivization
> scheme that could not possibly work efficiently and that took away
> everyone's personal possessions... in the name of the all-powerful State.
>
> Once the State had forcibly nationalized all the pigs, chickens, cows, farm
> implements, plows and carts, they mismanaged them by putting non-farmers
> who had been steeped in Marxism in charge of everything. And so stupid
> blunders became the rule."
>
> On Sun, Dec 14, 2014 at 9:31 PM, Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > - and that means everything you might think it means, yes to all of the
> > above.
> >
> > What about permaculture individuals, organizations and teams working with
> > existing landowners to secure as much Black Earth Region land as possible
> > for
> > ecologically and environmentally sound agricultural practices with local
> > and regional sales to Ukrainians.
> > What do you think about this Steve, Scott and anyone else? It offends my
> > sensibilities to the max to think of this beautiful land wasted on
> > unthinkably
> > wasteful ag practices, Ukraine, USA, Africa, Asia, Southern Hemisphere.
> > ><><
> >
> > Is Europe’s Breadbasket Up for Grabs? | Inter Press Service
> > http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/07/is-europes-breadbasket-up-for-grabs/
> >
> > “These reforms sound good on paper, but when you look more closely you
> see
> > they are actually designed to benefit large multinational corporations
> over
> > workers and small-scale farmers." -- Frédéric Mousseau
> > Ukraine is the world’s third-largest exporter of cotton and the
> > fifth-largest exporter of wheat. Credit: Bigstock
> >
> > NEW YORK, Jul 30 2014 (IPS) - Amidst an exodus of some 100,000 people
> > from the conflict-torn eastern Ukraine, ongoing fighting in the urban
> > strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk between Ukrainian soldiers and
> > separatist rebels, and talk of more sanctions against Russia, it is hard
> to
> > focus on the more subtle changes taking place in this eastern European
> > nation.
> >
> > But while global attention has been channeled towards the political
> > crisis, sweeping economic reforms are being ushered in under the
> leadership
> > of the newly elected president Petro Poroshenko, who recently brokered
> > deals with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund that have
> rights
> > groups on edge.
> >
> >
> > Even before Poroshenko assumed office on Jun. 7, international financial
> > institutions (IFIs) were rushing emergency missions into the country,
> with
> > IMF European Department Director Reza Moghadam declaring
> > <https://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2014/pr1487.htm> on a Mar. 7
> > visit, “I am positively impressed with authorities’ determination, sense
> of
> > responsibility and commitment to an agenda of economic reform.”
> >
> > After years of dangling a 17-billion-dollar loan – withheld in part due
> to
> > ousted President Viktor Yanukovych’s refusal to implement a highly
> > contested pension reform bill that would have raised the retirement age
> by
> > 10 years, and his insistence on curbing gas price hikes – the IMF has now
> > released its purse strings.
> >
> > The World Bank followed suit, announcing a 3.5-billion-dollar aid package
> > on May 22 that the Bank’s president, Jim Yong Kim, said was conditional
> > upon the government “removing restrictions that hinder competition and
> […]
> > limiting the role of state control in economic activities.”
> >
> > While these reforms include calls for greater transparency to spur
> > economic growth, experts are concerned that Ukraine’s rapid pivot to
> > Western neoliberal policies could spell disaster, particularly in the
> > immense agricultural sector that is widely considered the ‘breadbasket of
> > Europe.’
> >
> > *A quiet land-grab*
> >
> > Ukraine is the world’s third-largest exporter of cotton and the
> > fifth-largest exporter of wheat. Agriculture accounts for about 10
> percent
> > of gross domestic product (GDP), with vast fields of fertile soil
> yielding
> > bumper harvests of grain and cereals each year.
> >
> > According to a 2013 forecast by the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
> > Ukraine is poised to become the world’s second biggest grain exporter in
> > the world (after the U.S.), shipping over 30 million tonnes of grain out
> of
> > the country last year.
> >
> > The World Bank estimates that farmers and agricultural workers made up 17
> > percent <http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS> of the
> > country’s labour force as of 2012. And according to the Centre for
> Eastern
> > Studies, agricultural exports soared in the last decade
> > <
> http://www.osw.waw.pl/en/publikacje/osw-commentary/2014-02-07/transformation-agriculture-ukraine-collective-farms-to
> >,
> > from 4.3 billion dollars in 2005 to 17.9 billion dollars in 2012.
> >
> > Lush soil and a rich agrarian culture do not immediately add up to
> > nationwide dividends. Potential investors have cited“red tape” and
> > “corruption” as hindrances to development, as well as a communist legacy
> > that forbids the sale of land.
> > Related IPS Articles
> >
> >    - Separatist Violence Just One of Ukraine’s Problems
> >    <
> http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/05/separatist-violence-just-one-ukraines-problems/
> >
> >    - U.S. Ukraine Aid Frustrated by IMF Reform Debate
> >    <
> http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/03/u-s-ukraine-aid-frustrated-imf-reform-debate/
> >
> >    - The Uses of Ukraine <http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/03/uses-ukraine/>
> >    - World Bank Formally Urged to Overhaul ‘Doing Business’ Report
> >    <
> http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/06/world-bank-formally-urged-to-overhaul-doing-business-report/
> >
> >
> > But the past decade has seen an abrupt change in Ukraine’s agricultural
> > sector, with foreign investors and agri-business hugely expanding
> ownership
> > and influence in the country.
> >
> > According to a report
> > <
> http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/press-release-world-bank-and-imf-open-ukraine-western-interests
> >
> > released Monday by the U.S.-based Oakland Institute, over 1.6 million
> > hectares of land have been signed over to multinational companies since
> > 2002, including “over 405,000 hectares to a company listed in Luxembourg,
> > 444,800 hectares to Cyprus-registered investors, 120,000 hectares to a
> > French corporation, and 250,000 hectares to a Russian company.”
> >
> > A deal brokered between China and Yanukovych prior to the political
> crisis
> > – now disputed under the present regime – granted Beijing control over
> some
> > three million hectares of prime farmland in the east, an area about the
> > size of Belgium that totals five percent of Ukraine’s arable land.
> >
> > This changing climate has been a boon for investors and corporations,
> with
> > Michael Cox, research director at the investment bank Piper Jaffray,
> > referring to Ukraine as one of the “most promising growth markets for
> > farm-equipment giant Deere, as well as seed producers Monsanto and
> DuPont.”
> >
> > Such statements have raised a red flag among researchers and trade
> > watchdogs.
> >
> > OI Executive Director Anuradha Mital told IPS, “IFIs are imposing
> > Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) in Ukraine, which we know – from
> > the experience of the Third World – will undoubtedly lead to severe
> > austerity measures for the people and increase poverty among the
> > Ukrainians.”
> >
> > “Ukraine is also one of the 10 pilot countries in the World Bank’s new
> > Benchmarking the Business of Agriculture (BBA) project,” Mittal told IPS,
> > referring to a brand new initiative <http://bba.worldbank.org/>, still
> in
> > the development stage, which is connected to the Bank’s controversial
> Doing
> > Business <http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/our-land-our-business>
> rankings.
> >
> > This index has been criticised
> > <http://www.ituc-csi.org/why-the-world-bank-must-do-better> by numerous
> > groups including the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) –
> > comprised of over 176 million members hailing from 161 countries – for
> > favouring low taxes for transnational corporations and lowering labour
> > standards in developing countries as a means of attracting foreign
> > investment.
> >
> > The Bank itself says the BBA will largely serve as a tool for improving
> > agricultural output.
> >
> > “The world needs to feed nine billion people by 2050,” a World Bank
> > spokesperson told IPS.
> >
> > “For small-scale farmers to be more productive and far more competitive,
> > they need access to land, finance, improved seed, fertiliser, water,
> > electricity, transport and markets.
> >
> > “By identifying and monitoring policies and regulations that limit access
> > of smaller producers to these critical components of success, BBA is
> being
> > designed as a tool to foster an enabling environment that boosts local
> and
> > regional agribusinesses,” she concluded.
> >
> > David Sedik, senior policy officer at the Food and Agriculture
> > Organisation’s (FAO) regional office for Europe and Central Asia,
> believes
> > such an initiative is sorely needed in Ukraine, where “the primary
> > beneficiaries of subsidies granted by the agricultural VAT system are…
> > large agri-holding companies, the overwhelming majority of which are
> > Ukrainian.”
> >
> > “The list of needed reforms is quite long, and could start with building
> a
> > more transparent land market,” he told IPS. “A first step in this
> direction
> > could be the lifting of the moratorium on land sales.”
> >
> > “The BBA project seems to support the construction of a transparent and
> > inclusive system of agricultural regulation, something Ukraine lacks,”
> > Sedik added.
> >
> > But the OI report’s co-author Frédéric Mousseau says initiatives like the
> > BBA and others exist primarily to pry open Ukraine’s doors, hitherto
> sealed
> > by its socialist traditions, to foreign capital.
> >
> > “These reforms sound good on paper, but when you look more closely you
> see
> > they are actually designed to benefit large multinational corporations
> over
> > workers and small-scale farmers,” Mousseau told IPS.
> >
> > “Ranking systems like the BBA push for contract farming, which entails
> > farmers working for corporations, instead of as subsistence producers. We
> > are denouncing this rhetoric, and its attendant struggle between
> different
> > foreign interests over Ukraine’s resources.”
> >
> > Research into the impacts of the Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ rankings in
> eight
> > countries – including Mali
> > <http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/world-banks-bad-business-mali>, Sierra
> > Leone
> > <http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/world-banks-bad-business-sierra-leone>,
> Sri
> > Lanka <
> http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/world-banks-bad-business-sri-lanka>
> > and the Philippines
> > <http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/world-banks-bad-business-philippines> –
> > has yielded similar results: sharp increases in foreign investments and
> > land-grabbing in a bid to appear more ‘business friendly’.
> >
> > Further, Mousseau said, arrangements such as the Association Agreement
> > <
> http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/docs_autres_institutions/commission_europeenne/com/2013/0290/COM_COM%282013%290290%28PAR2%29_EN.pdf
> >
> > between the European Union and Ukraine offer glimpses into an
> agricultural
> > future steered by corporate interests.
> >
> > “Until now, Ukraine had banned the use of GMOs in the agriculture
> sector,”
> > Mousseau stated. “So when we anaylsed the EU Association Agreement we
> were
> > surprised by article 404, which states very clearly that both parties
> agree
> > to expand the use of biotechnologies.”
> >
> > Such clauses, experts say, could strengthen existing initiatives such as
> > Monsanto’s Ukraine-based ‘Grain-basket of the Future
> > <
> http://monsantoblog.com/2013/12/13/monsanto-ukraine-launching-social-development-program/
> >’
> > project (which offers 25,000-dollar loans to rural farmers) and Cargill’s
> > 200-million-dollar stake in UkrLandFarming, the eighth largest land
> > cultivator in the world.
> >
> > These developments give weight to the title of OI’s report, ‘Walking on
> > the West Side’, a reference to the role of Western interests in Ukraine’s
> > unfolding political crisis.
> >
> > “It is necessary to see this in context of the U.S.– Russia struggle over
> > Ukraine,” Joel Kovel, U.S. scholar and author of over 20 books on
> > international politics, told IPS.
> >
> > “Geostrategic politics and neoliberal economics fit together within the
> > overall plan …in which global finance capital under American control and
> > neoconservative leadership imposes austerity, seeks dominion over the
> > easternmost portion of Europe, and continues the policy of encircling
> > Russia,” he stated.
> >
> > *Editing by: Kitty Stapp*
> >
> > *The writer can be contacted at kanyaldalmeida@gmail.com
> > <kanyaldalmeida@gmail.com>*
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
> Lawrence F. London
> lfljvenaura@gmail.com
> http://www.avantgeared.com
> https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
> Ello: https://ello.co/ecoponderosa <https://ello.co/ecoponderosa>
> Twitter: @ecoponderosa <https://twitter.com/ecoponderosa>
> Reddit: ecoponderosa
> Cellphone: lfljcell@gmail.com
> _______________________________________________
> permaculture mailing list
> permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
> subscribe/unsubscribe|user config|list info|make a donation toward list
> maintenance:
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/permaculture
> message archives: https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/permaculture
> message archive mirrors:
> https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/permaculturelist
> http://permacultureforum.blogspot.com
> http://permaculturelist.wordpress.com
> Google message archive search:
> site: lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture [searchstring]
> Permaculture Institute USA http://permaculture.org
> How to permaculture your urban lifestyle
> http://www.ipermie.net
> Avant Geared  http://www.avantgeared.com
> https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
> Permaculture: -- portal to an expanding global network of landtech
> pioneers practicing and teaching permaculture
> while designing ecological, biointensive land use systems with integrated
> elements for synergy, sustainability, regeneration and enhanced
> nature-compatible
> human habitat --
>


-- 
Kia ora

[image: Picture]
*Steve Hart*
Ecology Architect
Designer, Teacher, Builder of Ecologically Sustainable Resilient
Environments
Skype: stevenlawrencehart
Phone: +64 220 75 62 11
Permaculture Global Design:
www.permacultureglobaldesign.org
The Permaculture College of Europe.
www.permaculturecollege.eu
GAPPS The Global Alliance for Permaculture Partnerships and Solutions.
www.permaculturepartnerships.com