Five companies who control the world’s food “Tt is difficult to understand how the international grain com- panies could have slipped through history as inconspicuously as they have. “‘Grain is the only resource in the world that is even more cent- ral to modern civilization than oil. It goes without saying that grain is essential to human lives and health. But as much as oil, grain has its politics, its history, its ef- fect on foreign affairs. “*After World War H, dozens of countnes that once fed them- selves began to depend on a dis- tant source — ‘the United States — for a substantial part of their food supply. As America became the center of the planetary food system, trade routes were trans- formed, new economic relation- ships took shape, and grain be- came one of the foundations of the postwar American Empire. Food prices, diets, the dollar, politics, and diplomacy were all effected’’ — from the introduction to The Grain Merchants. World trade in basic food commodities amounts to more than $50-billion yearly. This trade is controlled by five companies owned by seven American and European families: Cargill, Con- tinental (Known to Canadian MERCHANTS OF GRAIN by Dan Morgan. Viking Press, New York: 1979. Cloth $15.95. grain growers), Louis Dreyfus, Bunge and André. The political power these com- panies can exercise becomes clear when one realizes that North America and Argentina are the only two areas in the world where climatic conditions can <= good crops consistent- y. Grain has been made a world- wide staple, not only for human consumption but as an animal feed. Developing countries particularly are kept under the thumb of these cartels as they are forced to use their agricultural land for export products (coffee, cocao, bananas etc.) — land which could keep their own popu- lations self-sufficient in food — in exchange for grain. Even in Europe and Asia where grain is a basic component of their agriculture, climatic conditions force those countries to rely on grain imports to maintain their populations eating standards. As an exporter of grain, the Soviet Union buys from these com- panies to fulfill international commitments. Study slams ‘cynical efforts to tax ill’ TORONTO — The public won’t benefit from proposals to make Their monopoly allows the Un- ited States government to use grain as a political weapon. Mor- gan cites Chile as a prime exam- ple. When Allende took power the U.S. cut off grain supplies to the country. After the 1973 coup they restored their shipments. This weapon is not only used against progressive governments but has tied reactionary states to agricultural dependency on the 12S: Morgan deserves credit for his excellent research. He uncovers scandals, ‘‘global food crises’’, political maneuverings, and the ‘‘mystery’’ of world trade yet his conclusions ignore his own re- search. He remains an unabashed supported of the capitalist system and stands in awe of these com- panies and the men who lead them. Despite the fact that he ady mits their wealth is based on the hard, unrewarded work of the people who produce the grain. Even while. acknowledging the efficiency of the Soviet agri- culture he fails to see how food supplies could develop without the monopolistic control of these companies. The Grain Merchants is not easy reading, but I'd still recom- mend it not only for a better understanding of the significance Sh << of the grain trade on world politics but it will invoke a sickly laugh next time you hear food prices mn: the poweran : ‘ive giant comiod < orthe wards Sod suoaly Wreic ofthe . 8 ésat the center ° have jumped 5% because ‘‘fal . mers deserve a better deal.” — Norman Brud¥ News Guild breaks CIA ties _ Special to the Tribune Both AID and AIFLD have patients carry more of the burden of health costs, three economists say in an independent study for the Ontario Economic Council._ = : “Most proposals for patient participation in health care financing reduce to misguided or cynical efforts to tax the ill and/or to drive up the total cost of health care while shifting some — of the burden out of government budgets,”’ the study contends. Direct billing by physicians, the raising of health insurance premiums, deterrent fees and doctor overcharges would not provide tangible social benefits, on the contrary, they could produce serious social harm, the economists state. The report comes in the wake of another made public two weeks ago by the Fraser Institute of British Columbia that says Canadians must get used to the idea that universal access to proper medicare is impossible, just as it is impossible to provide everyone with adequate housing. 3eware Flora the ‘red’ tory EEE NEW YORK — The News- ‘ paper Guild voted here not to take any more money from the U.S. government orcorporations forin- ternational trade union activities. - At the heart of the issue at the Guild’s Boston convention is a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Agency for International De- velopment (Aid) and the Ameri- can Institute for Free Labor De- velopment (AIFLD) for supposed trade union organizing in Latin America. long been exposed as fronts for the U.S. foreign security service, the Central Intelligence Agency. Back in 1967, AIFLD’s connec- ‘tions with the CIA were exposed prompting a movement within the ° Guild to press the union to sever all connection with these subversive U.S. Government programs. Journalists and newspaper people have been greatly con- cerned about the increasing evi- dence of the CIA’s use of repor- ters and journalists to gather in- formation and spread reactionary propaganda ‘through the media, particularly attacking socialism; the socialist and developing world — communities and the labor movement. | : Besides AIFLD, the Guild par- ticipates in seminars of the African-American Labor Centre and projects of the International Federation of Journalists. The African-American Labor Centre has also been exposed as a chan- nel for CIA activities and funds, It is expected that these pro-- jects also will be terminated. Flora MacDonald, while sitting in Parliament as a member of the Conserva- tive Opposition, created an aura of mili- tant cntic of such degree that she became widely known asa ‘‘red” tory. In master- ing the art of populist demagogy she re- sembled somewhat that master of right-wing populist- demagogy, John Diefenbaker, known by friend and foe _ alike as a maverick tory. Of course, that was while she sat in the Conservative. Opposition bench. Then she became a political<‘left’’ symbol for dejected tories wandering in the political wilderness. Now, as minister of external affairs, she is a public menace. *~ * * It is not our purpose here to examine Flora’s maiden speech to the UN Gen- eral Assembly as Canada’s minister re- sponsible for foreign affairs and inter- national relations. Except to say that in | that speech, Flora applied her demagogic _ skill with compléte abandonment. And in doing so did not serve the interests of our country on the world scene. For, not only did she set out to attempt to denigrate the UN asa world institution — for peace and equality among the nations of the world but she advocated, in the name of Canada, the transformation of PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCTOBER 12, 1979— Page 10 Marxism-Leninism in Today’s World that body intoan instrument of open inter- ference into the internal affairs of its member states. This she did in her advo- cacy of a UN human rights secretariat. - oe Surely, Flora the'‘‘red’’ tory knows that the United Nations is a voluntary institution which the various states in the _world apply for membership in, and are. free to leave if they so decide. The UN provides a world rostrum for an ex- change of views and positions between the member states aecompanied by the making of decisions determined by majority vote. Such decisions serve as guidelines to member states in the con- ducting of international relations. We underline the word guidelines, for deci- sions are not binding upon member states. Nor could they be, for the United Nations does not hold such power. Nor is the UN Assembly a world parliament with the right to legislate or to enact laws on behelf of the nations and peoples of the world. The highest body of the UN, between meetings of the General Assembly, is the Security Council. That body clearly re- flects the basic principle of unanimity that guides the practical work of the UN. In this body, its permanent member states, which include the USA, USSR, Britain, France and China, hold veto power which is the guarantee of that principle of unanimity. cece We presume that the Clark govern- ment knows all'this. At least it and its members should. And if they don’t they have no business to be in office, and should leave office before they make any more stupid blunders such as the ‘‘Jerusalem’’ episode. One may ask: where did the minority Clark Con- servative government get a mandate to undermine the authority and prestige of the United Nations? Certainly not from the Canadian electorate. So why did the government or Prime Minister Clark allow the minister of ex- ternal affairs to make her mischievous ' addresstothe United Nations Assembly? For that speech, while it contained gen- eral statements in favor of world peace and listed the categories of human rights: was basically a cold war speech. It wa§ such because, stripped of its verbiage, : was directed to undercut the prestige a authority of that international institutio® - as a world rostrum serving the cause © world peace and equality. * * * . The majority of states in the UN are no longer representative of the outmode® and therefore doomed, imperialist sy tem. Rather, they are representative % new and burgeoning economic and soc#” systems — a majority made up of soci?” ist, newly-liberated and newly’ developing states. All of which hav common interests and needs. It 1s d new majority that Flora MacDonald a™ the Clark government (a minority fo 4 in Canada too) want to denigrate “ splinter, in the interests of the tram national corporations and reaction OF ° world scale. Forward-looking Canadians must : the Clark Conservative govern ary know that it must change its reaction “id posturing and heed the voice of yer peace and social progress — a voice © | could well be that of the majority in Ca da.