A Critical Week for the World Social Forum

Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s E-Bulletin No. 1358, by Pierre Beaudet, Jan 20, 2017 – Translated by John Bradley.

It all began right here in Porto Alegre in 2001 when this city in the south of Brazil became a major site of popular mobilization. Influenced by the Workers’ Party (PT), unions were, along with popular movements, at the forefront of a proactive political effort that included the support of the left within the Catholic Church, inspired by liberation theology. Continuer la lecture de « A Critical Week for the World Social Forum »

Does the end of high food prices mark the end of the global land rush?

Published on farmlandgrab.org, by Pascal Liu, FAO, Jan 18, 2017.

The surge in commodity prices in 2007-2008 was one of the main causes of what has sometimes been described as the “global land rush” – a wave of large-scale land acquisitions in developing countries by foreign investors. Non-governmental organisations and the media were quick to denounce these deals as “land grabbing”, which were blamed for ignoring the rights and interests of the people who make their living from a land that is legitimately theirs.   Continuer la lecture de « Does the end of high food prices mark the end of the global land rush? »