The Agribusiness Empire and Iraq

I've been reading about a subject that seems far removed from the U. S. presence in the Middle East: the philosophy of unlimited and rapid economic growth, the effects of that philosophy on the environment and on communities, the limitations of that philosophy. In his book, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, Bill McKibben argues against America's secular religion of "More Means Better." He describes how a growth economy will ultimately meet its end in ecological disaster. Steady and rapid growth, as has occurred in the West since the discovery of fossil fuels, has led to increased consumption of natural resources. There are limits to those resources. McKibben suggests ways to ward off that disaster and to address the issues of decreased resources.

Americans have exported to the rest of the world the philosophy of "More Means Better," of the efficiency of the marketplace. The consequences, according to McKibben, will be astronomical. Every American, he writes, "uses 6 times as much as the average Mexican, 38 times as much as the average Indian, 531 times as much as the man in the Ethiopian street. That gives you," he continues, "some rough idea of what it would mean if most of the rest of the world even approached our level of consumption" (184).

The American dream these days seems not to be "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," so much as "buying stuff in all those malls and outlets." Go shopping, our president tells us in times of crisis. We're exporting the religion of consumption and corporate hegemony.

So I get to the last chapter in the book and see how even this subject connects to the war in Iraq. Here's the draw-dropping quote:

In Iraq, one of the first laws adopted by the U.S.-led transition government of 2003 protected the patenting of plants and seeds, even though 97 percent of Iraqi farmers used seeds saved from their own crops or from local markets to grow their food. "The new law is presented as being necessary to ensure the supply of good quality seeds in Iraq, and to facilitate Iraq's membership in the World Trade Organization," reported the GRAIN, an international organization promoting sustainable agriculture. "What it will actually do is facilitate the penetration of Iraqi agriculture by the likes of Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, and Dow Chemical." Does this sound overly suspicious? Daniel Amstutz, the man named by the U.S. government to oversee agriculture reconstruction in Iraq, was a former Cargill executive. "It's like putting Saddam Hussein in the chair of a human rights commission," one observer said. "This guy is uniquely well-placed to...bust open the Iraqi market, but singularly ill-equipped to lead a reconstruction effort in a developing country." (193)

I'm no leftist, and I don't want to think that the war in Iraq was an excuse for American corporate hegemony. But when I read stuff such as this, I get mighty suspicious. My Republican father is an avid gardener and an heirloom seed saver. He is always railing against those huge agri-businesses that patent seeds and plants. Would he be surprised, I wonder, to see this connection between the war in Iraq and seed-patenting? I sure was.

Here's the link to the article McKibben quotes, on the website of GRAIN: "Iraq's new patent law: A declaration of war against farmers"

UPDATE:

In re-reading this post, I realize that I come across as more naive than I really am. Of course, the Iraq war is connected to the philosophy of unlimited growth and our dependence upon resources that are diminishing. There are plenty of dictators in the world who abuse their citizens and a few who pose a threat to our country, yet we have not invaded their country. Iraqi oil and Iraq's proximity to other Middle Eastern countries with oil resources factored into our invasion of that country. I'm not saying it's the only reason; I'm saying it's one important reason. But what surprises me is that as soon as the CPA is in place, the first laws that organization passes include seed-patenting laws, laws that benefit American agribusiness. When everything is going to hell in Iraq, when the Iraqis are being slaughtered and there's looting in the streets, our government has time to pass seed-patenting laws. That's what I find jaw-droppingly unbelievable. And so it goes.