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The U.s. grain arsenal. Food as a weapon. Political and Economic Agenda. President Hoover – used food relief to support anticommunist forces in Eastern Europe. President Carter – boycotted grain against Soviet Union after their involvement in Afghanistan.
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The U.s. grain arsenal Food as a weapon
Political and Economic Agenda • President Hoover – used food relief to support anticommunist forces in Eastern Europe. • President Carter – boycotted grain against Soviet Union after their involvement in Afghanistan. • Post WWII – U.S. gave food aid to Italy and France to suppress lingering socialist sympathizers.
Public Law 480 • Pl 480 originated in 1954 as a means to open new foreign markets for our agricultural goods. • Also provided us a tool to control the value of our agricultural commodities. We dump excess food on foreign markets. • $30 billion worth of agr. commodities in last 25 years.
Types • Title 1 – Offer low interest loans to food-deficient countries so they can pay us back in the purchase of U.S. food stocks. Create dependency. • Title 2 – Charity donations of food aid to “friendly” countries for emergency and non-emergencies. Creates dependency. • Title 3 – Like title 1, but loans are eligible to be forgiven. Creates dependency.
Examples • Bangladesh – since 1974, 90% of all aid has been title 1. Although their government subsidizes the price, more than 90% of the food goes to the middle class. Advantages the more wealthy and disadvantages the poor. • South Korea – in 1975, $6 billion of the proceeds from the sale of title 1 credit went to their military budget.
Cooley Program • Established in 1971, it further advantaged U.S. farmers and agricultural corporations by giving funds in local currencies instead of U.S. dollars. • This prevents the depreciation of the dollar.
Food Colonialism • In many cases, title 1 credit has only been awarded after formal agreements to increase purchases from the U.S. • Have assisted countries in transitioning into wheat and grain dependency and developing businesses that require U.S. imports such as local livestock. • EAT AMERICAN! • Dependency on U.S. imports has strategically been implemented to increase our global political leverage.
Chile • 1970 – Socialist government under president Salvador Allende took power. • White house, CIA, and TNCs, collectively suspended all title 1 credits to Chile under their common political and economic agenda. • Food security at risk due to dependency on food aid loans. • U.S. also denied the sale of food of cash.
Chile Continued. • 1973 – The socialist Allende government was successfully overthrown by a local military coup supported by the United States. • U.S. supported the new government with $52 million in title 1 credits. • This made up 84% of all loans to S. America. • U.S. supported a military dictatorship to strengthen its own political and economic power.
Chile Aftermath • Chile became the world’s 9th largest purchaser of U.S. arms. • 30% unemployment. • Inflation up 600%. • Infant morality up 18%. • 80% of an average citizen’s income went towards food. • Average caloric deficiency of 40%.
Changes in PL 480 • 1975 – Congress stated that ¾ of title 1 credits must be given to “poor” countries. (countries with per capital GNP of $300 or less) • 83% of non-food aid given out to countries above “poor” line • Poverty line was changed to $520 so the U.S. could continue to lend to ally countries and new countries with economic potential in industries such as oil.
Conclusion • The United States has and is continuing to use food as a means to gain global political and economical leverage. • Humanitarianism and peace have been used to cover up and justify this selfish agenda. • Our history of international food aid demonstrates this with the many instances in which the U.S. has disregarded democratic and poor populations in favor dictatorships and militaristic goverments.
