Washington and its echo chambers in the media like Thomas Friedman nevercease to extol the virtues of so-called free trade. So-called because itis heavily dependent on taxpayer subsidies. While well-paying jobsdisappear in the United States and wages are stagnant, citizens fork overbillions of dollars to top corporations to export their products. Forexample, giant American agri-businesses dump their cheap grain in theIndian marketplace. This is the famous level playing field that free tradeadvocates loudly champion. But how can Indian farmers compete? They canāt.The impact has been devastating. As journalist P. Sainath and others havedocumented, there is an epidemic of suicides among farmers as well as aninternal refugee crisis. Unequal trade deals are producing a backlash. Allover India groups are fighting back.
Vandana Shiva
Vandana Shiva is an internationally-renowned voice for sustainable development and social justice. A physicist, scholar, political activist and feminist, she is Director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy in New Delhi. She's the recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, the alternative Nobel Prize. Author of many books, her latest are "India Divided" and "Earth Democracy."
