Photo courtesy of Google Images.
With a sense of humor, seemingly flawless memorization skills and no concern over offence, activist and writer Raj Patel spoke at Elon on Sept. 28 about the fundamental flaw in America’s free market economy.
That fundamental flaw is actually in the free market itself, says Patel.
“What we have now in America is consumer choice, not democracy,” Patel said.
He said our current market system would work well if there were many buyers and sellers, but when there is less of each, the market collapses.
“We need a level playing field for the little guy,” Patel said.
Patel offered an example of the ineffectiveness of the free market economy system in other countries. Prior to the 1990s, Haiti grew its own rice, according to Patel. But after that, U.S. presidents and the World Bank imposed policies on the country that would allow the free market to control the food market.
The market could not take care of itself and wasn’t a good system for Haiti, according to Patel. Today, he says, Haiti grows none of its own rice.
To show that this doesn’t always happen in countries where the government tries to control the land, Patel pointed to another agrarian country: India. He said one in six world farmers are Indian.
In India, farmers own their land, according to Patel. But many farmers are extremely poor, according to Patel. He told a story of one farmer who had to borrow money from a local lender to build wells on his property, five separate times. The wells kept coming up dry.
“So he mixed a pesticide (that is) banned in the U.S. with water,” Patel said. “His nerves asphyxiated. And all for a debt of $325.”
Patel said this story has been passed around India to raise awareness of their flawed lending system and the sometimes desperate conditions people find themselves in. He also said that Indian farmers have been requesting their government to help them.
To combat the failing nature of a fully government-owned property or a fully people-owned property, Patel proposed the idea of the commons, a balancing act between no ownership of the land, people owning the land and the government owning the land.
This idea comes from a theory — the tragedy of the commons — that explains that if people are given a public space they will destroy it trying to own and control it. Patel said this doesn’t have to be accepted as fact, adding that people have negotiated public spaces in the past.
“We can manage a commons in a way that discriminates against a group,” Patel said. “With hatred, exclusion, xenophobia. But we’re all built to have to work together.”
While Patel admitted that he didn’t know exactly how this would look, he said he was excited for the next generation to keep these ideas and dialogues going. Patel said some communities have been better at managing their resources than the government has been.
He gave an example of a sort of commons in effect now in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Oakland Food Policy Council involves the government, nongovernmental organizations, teachers, unions, activists, farmers, workers and prisoners. The council tries to create an equitable and sustainable food system in the area, according to the council’s website.
“The main thought going into (the council) was, ‘We need to make sure that everyone in our community eats,’” Patel said.
Patel said he believes a food movement in the U.S. is possible. He listed several organizations working toward similar goals: Slow Food, the Oakland Food Policy Council and local food co-ops.
“I love the idea of free, uncoerced exchange between people,” he said.
Patel said that people need to communicate ideas on how to promote social change.
“If we’re going to have social change we have to make it enjoyable,” Patel said. “Otherwise no one’s going to do it.”