THE ORIGINS OF GLOBALIZATION
The globalization of trade and human movement is not a new concept. Who would have thought that the establishment of the Silk Road between the Roman West and China's Han Empire, would be the first wire ( silk ) between two cultures separated by thousands of miles? Caravan trade route to the spices of the Renaissance, all over the world were quickly joined by those invisible son that allowed food and wealth to travel at great expense, unimaginable distances at the time. It is said that the clove cost its weight in gold in the early 17th century. Black pepper was a luxury. Even the salt transported by camel across the Sahara, has long been an essential commodity but very expensive.
It is however with the establishment of the first true maritime empires that global trade routes, driven by competition between English, Portuguese and Dutch in Asia, have consolidated. It is said also that the insurance policies were created when English speculators began to bet on commercial vessels (when the boat was lost at sea, they lose their implementation for the benefit of the shipowner).
The British Empire functioned much like our "Western bloc" modern: the importance of raw materials (minerals, textile raw materials, foods, spices) of its colonies, transformed, and then exporting the finished products. We always do the same thing with bauxite from Guinea (transformed aluminum ingots in Saguenay or Kitimat, or more than 10,000 km from the place of extraction). Ironically, then we sold planes or cars with aluminum chassis Africans.
DERIVATIVES AND RESISTANCE
the early 20th century, Gandhi became a sort of anti-globalization activist first. It was absurd that the Indians are forced to buy British textiles cheaply when they themselves produced, at low wages, cotton or linen used to make them! The solution advocated by the great pacifist buy clothing made from textiles local unprocessed; fabrics coarser but more profitable locally, too. When buying a rough cotton shirt in India today, you follow the footsteps of Gandhi. Guineans will they do such a day?
The excesses of globalization are insidiously installed from the heyday of the British Empire in the late 19th century. It was at this time that the concepts underlying the modern state emerged, including the invention of the visa and passport. While raw materials and manufactured goods began to travel, they began to establish guidelines, limits on Travel between human settlements and cities. For the system to be preserved, it must control what is exchanged and ... which languished!
FACTOR ENERGY
But what has perverted the trade is all about the ridiculously low cost of energy since the end of the second world war. Coal, then oil has broken the principle of locality in the production-processing goods. Can be considered as incompatible economic systems, which formerly operated in isolation, are now interconnected at multiple levels. It can carry a perishable food, product in an economic system in line with local wages less than $ 1 a day, thousands of miles in a controlled atmosphere container for a ridiculous price per tonne. All thanks to fossil fuels. That's what makes the banana and clove are no longer luxury items ... but there are other consequences!
When transportation costs are so low, it is possible to sell a commodity produced on the other side of the planet (where the pay scale and cost is different from ours) to a fraction of the price. Thus the Thai or Filipino furniture replace our local markets. Same with apples or melons Chilean Mexican ... Yet while we have a climate conducive to growing these fruits! And yet these are often imported fruit varieties giant tasteless ("pockets of water" as I call him), sometimes grown under conditions unacceptable, and are picked long before maturity so that they can withstand transport. Result, they are far less nutritious than fruit picked at term and went on sale immediately. You love it, the fruit that tastes like water or starch? Besides the pollution caused by long-distance transport, the steps handling, overpack, etc..
TRACK SOLUTIONS
We live like princes, because our real prosperity is multiplied by the relative poverty of the rest of the planet. So no, it will not be possible to combat these excesses of globalization as two economic realities are in place, either: (1) the difference in scale between local and distant economies, and (2) costs ridiculously low transnational transport.
solutions? Encourage the growth of the middle class in countries in Africa, Asia and South America. Forcing large Vessel owners to use clean, safe and employ seafarers well paid and well treated (this will cost them dear). Establish a surcharge to the distance traveled by perishable goods (to put that money into environmental programs and in local agriculture).
RICH COUNTRIES, Wasteland
A troubling aspect of the globalization of food (agricultural production outsourced to third countries, processing stages spread over vast territories, etc.) is that many industrialized countries have become dependent, absolutely, trade. The richest countries tend to drop in primary agricultural production in favor of more lucrative economic activities. They place themselves in some way voluntarily into deficit in agriculture. In addition, the land previously dedicated to the production of foodstuffs are often converted to urban neighborhoods, in non-food products (textile products like cotton, oil, feed and biofuels), when they simply are not abandoned and left fallow . In Brazil, there is a conversion from agriculture to soybeans (for oil), canola, etc.. In Uzbekistan, the state maintains a monoculture of cotton, while the population is thirsty, that famine is endemic and the soil is highly contaminated by pesticides.
There are also historical examples. We should not forget that Spain has undergone major disturbances in the twilight of his empire at the end of the 19th century. The country had been left fallow since the riches drawn out of the colony allowed the Spaniards to obtain supplies of foodstuffs throughout Europe and North Africa - all paid for with gold from the colonies. Major irrigation works built by the Romans and maintained by the Moors, fell into ruin. The country was drier than ever, despite the efforts modern never regained its agricultural capacity of yesteryear. Food production and water management remain important sources of concern in countries where the soil has been neglected.
QUEBEC VULNERABLE?
With the globalization of agriculture, we produce in Quebec enough food to feed all Quebecers? If there was a crisis of international transport, a world war or economic collapse tomorrow morning, how many children die of hunger in Montreal or Quebec? Currently, we convert our best farmland in the suburbs, while farms in Quebec are strangled by the Canadian agricultural planning system, North American and global (FCC, NAFTA, GATT, etc.). We no longer have the right to financially assist our agricultural producers or even the preferred, as markets open to products cheap which, paradoxically, come from countries where hunger prevails. Their hunger could become ours one day.
When we will produce almost no food, we become very vulnerable to any economic or commercial surge that could affect (even marginally) the volume of our imports. It would be desirable and even essential, therefore, introduce a policy of food self-sufficiency for Quebec. It would be an important gesture of sovereignty and a responsible initiative.
Addendum: According this study (which analyzed some sectors of production), several European countries are any more self-sufficient in terms of food production. The case of Great Britain is unique. Although his self-sufficiency rate is 83%, it is an island and in case of crisis (such as a blockade or quarantine because of an epidemic), it is unclear whether the country would fare without a major famine. This analysis is even more pessimistic for Great Britain and assesses its sufficiency is only 60% real (ie, the UK currently imports 40% of its food). Some communities in northern Europe do not expect a situation of scarcity arises and take initiatives such as this area of Copenhagen which established an experimental food self-sufficiency.
Addendum (2) : In a letter sent to the PQ this spring, I had proposed to include a policy of food self-sufficiency (presented as a gesture of sovereignty ) in the party platform. It seems that my proposal was ignored at this point, but the subject is now news and it will not be possible to turn a deaf ear. Again, the PQ can be found behind the headlines.
