>>> The challenge is to modernize agriculture in the best way
>>> feasible.
Michael Pollak wrote:
>> I don't think anyone by a straw man would argue with that.
Doug Henwood Mon, 15 Sep 2003 12:45:37 -0400
> Not necessarily. Walden Bello told me that the consensus at Porto
> Alegre was against industrialization and in favor of the
> preservation of the rural third world. (Others disagree that that
> was the consensus.) That rules out "modernization,"
Really? I thought modernization meant, among other things, scaling communication and organization. Suppose rural farm<|work>ers acquired increased access to, e.g., phones, radio, internet, e.g. for learning about market prices (cutting out "traditional" middleman exploitation), organizing co-operatives, etc. Could that not both modernize them and "[preserve the economic viability] of the rural third world"?
Or is the consensus just to preserve tradition, period? If so, does this include, e.g., traditional endemic diseases? traditional patriarchy? traditional illiteracy?