Australia - Wilson's Blogmanac

February 23, 2006

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 03:22:30 -0800 (PST)

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Australia - " Wilson's Blogmanac "

Historically, millions upon millions of acres of Australia were

deforested and stripped to grow wheat, for the profit of corporations.

The loss of habitat has been immeasurable.

The Australian Wheat Board (AWB) used to be a government monopoly

which marketed all the country's wheat around the world. Now it's been

privatized and it's just an ordinary monopoly. Now it's embroiled in

controversy due to accusations that it paid the Saddam Hussein regime

$300 million in kickbacks during the Oil For Food Program.

The usual suspects -- Australian media, politicians and agribiz

interests -- are screaming and bleating that it will be a disaster if

Iraq bans Australia selling it wheat, so the Prime Monster John Howard

is sending his Trade Minister to Baghdad to fix things up.

The Trade Minister has rocks in his head so he's going into the eye of

Howard's storm. Hope he's got a flak jacket. With luck, he will fail.

One of the best things that could happen to Australia is for weeds to

start growing in broadacre wheat fields, and agribiz fields of all

kinds, for weeds form the first storey of regeneration and there's a

chance that a bit of Australia might take root in their shade.

Australia has 20 million people on a continent about the size of the

USA, with just about every known climatic region existing on this

continent. Everything you can put in your mouth on a fork grows here.

There's no need for it to import or export food at all -- it's a 19th

Century paradigm for a 21st Century landmass, a paradigm created not

by people but by huge companies for profit. The AWB scandal merely

brings this into high relief. Tagged: permaculture, environment,

deforestation (2/22/2006 10:55:00 PM)

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