from Courtney: hiding behind "freedom"

International trade has opened the floodgates of corporate manipulation. Companies hide their corruption behind the hypnotizing ideal of “freedom,” whose copyright they have bought from governmental officials. Their monetary and power currency causes suffering to any person outside of their elite club. A prime example of their twisted nature comes, not surprisingly, from the former US Secretary of State for Agriculture, Earl Butz, who stated that, “Hungry men listen only to those who have a piece of bread. Food is a tool. It is a weapon in the US negotiating kit.” (Patel, 91) This tool is produced and used at the will of the money-gatherers, formerly referred to as plantation owners, and at the expense of the farmers, formerly referred to as slaves.

Companies like Chiquita Brands and Atria have been able to exploit their producers, and fool their consumers in the name of obscene annual profits and market control. With the “free market” philosophy serving as the cornerstone of modern capitalism and consequently the American Dream, it’s ironic to learn that “settler colonies were made possible because agricultural commercialization in Europe was driving smallholders off the land.” (Patel, 81) This concept, while paradoxical, is not difficult to fathom as one begins to examine the “freedom” that is referred to by governments and international industry. Once the shades are drawn and investigation of such systems can begin, it is plain to see that their freedom only applies to those with lots of money and little respect of human life. Born from the twisted logic of Cecil John Rhodes who stated, “If you want to avoid civil war, you must become imperialist” (Patel, 84), slavery began to be employed as a means of providing cheap food for the middle class in the hopes that this distraction will dissuade them from demanding equal rights. But like the word freedom, the word cheap is only referring to the monetary expense imposed upon the rich. If they rich and powerful were to consider the human costs of this system, the term would be anything but “cheap.”