"There are many farmers in Ghana, for example, whose livelihoods in tomato cultivation have been destroyed by the cheap importation of tomato paste, especially from Europe. And there are many poultry farmers in Africa, in the Caribbean, in Asia whose livelihoods have been destroyed by the imports of cheap chicken parts coming from Europe and the United States. And this is just not fair because these products are very heavily subsidized and that is why they are cheap. There are also many farmers who could be exporting cotton, for example, because they are very efficient in cotton farming, but whose opportunities are blocked because of subsidized cotton from elsewhere. And why is it that these countries are not able to raise their tariff in order to protect themselves? Because the IMF and the World Bank says that you cannot do so, and that is part of the loan conditionality attached to their being able to reschedule their debts. The WTO unfortunately is also being pressurized by the developed countries to institute similar policies for the developing countries."
— Martin Khor, university lecturer and director of Third World Network (via deafmuslimpunx)
(Source: globalissues.org, via casual-isms)
