[lbo-talk] The Ironies of Imperialism: Haiti vs. India

michael perelman michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
Wed Feb 24 20:10:27 PST 2010


I first criticized the Green Revolution in

Perelman, Michael. 1971. "Second Thoughts on the Green Revolution." The New Republic, v. 165 (17 July): pp. 21-22; and then in a book, Farming for Profit in a Hungry World.

The Green Revolution was designed to promote capitalist development by changing class relationships in the countryside, making developing countries more dependent on imported inputs, while leaving the system susceptible to the environmental problems associated with intensive chemical agriculture.

The Wall Street Journal published an article describing the falling yields in India from the over-application of nitrogen fertilizer. A second article describes the heroic efforts of an agricultural operation funded in part by the wonderful Paul Farmer.

The articles offer a fascinating window into the contradictions of capitalist development, the unexplained damage done to Haiti by imperialism -- they do so without ever connecting the dots, but that is easy to do.

Anand, Geeta. 2010. "Green Revolution in India Wilts as Subsidies Backfire." Wall Street Journal (23 February): p. A 1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703615904575052921612723844.html#mod=todays_us_page_one

more at:

http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/the-ironies-of-imperialism-haiti-vs-india/

-- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929

530 898 5321 fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com



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