Hanging around inside Victoria Park yesterday, there are many different talks and forums held there. One of them is organized by the APC (Asian Peasant Coalition) regarding the drawback of GATT.
In fact, it is an interesting program like a tribunal, peasants were delivering testimonies, their organizations were whom to be prosecuted, and there are even jury (the audience) and judges.
They "junk" WTO base on a very simple observation that we always oversee.
The increase in agricultural production is due to the extensive use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides that pollute the water system and soil there. The final result? The death of local people! Those who know chemistry would properly heard about that, but how many of us would concern the issue when we are having rice taken for granted everyday?
Moreover, many peasants are facing the pressure of mechanization. GM seedlings were told to consume less water and have better yield, the local peasants are not allowed to retain their own seedlings and being forced to buy those expensive GM competitors. Another issue raised is ecological destruction. Excessive mechanization brings drawbacks to human as well as our earth which do irreversible harms to us. People died of eating poisoned food in Pakistan, one of the Pakistan woman reported with sadness and anger. On the other hand, excessive use of chemicals contributed to irreversible deterioration to farmland, which might be the only source of livelihood of poor peasants.
When all spotlights are focused on agricultural subsidies and free market exemplified by Korean friends, the problem still exhibits if our governments cannot have an alternative imagination regarding development and the relationship between human activities and lands.
Industrialization and new technology do improve the standard of (physical) living. The testimony by APC tells us what’s on the other side of the coin, small farmers and peasants are being expelled from their land. Industrialization and development in terms of wealth generated causing destructive effects on their farmland.