Some have criticized the prominence of corporations, such as Nestlé, Tyson and Bayer, in the summit’s efforts to identify food system solutions.

Yet critics say the role and responsibility of transnational corporations – which dominate every part of the food system, from seeds and pesticides to slaughterhouses, breweries and supermarkets – has not been adequately addressed. Nor have human rights or the pandemic, despite the fact it led to a huge rise in global food insecurity and exposed severe vulnerabilities in the global supply chain.

“The audacity of the UN to keep calling this a people’s summit even as it continues to lose support is arrogant, [as is] pointing to my participation without listening to any of the substantive things I’ve said,” said Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food and adviser to the summit.

“The UN has provided a cover of legitimacy for corporations to capture the narrative and deflate public pressure – it has not been an honest broker,” said Sofia Monsalve, secretary general of the Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN), a research and advocacy organization based in Germany.

“The refusal to discuss major issues like concentration in every part of the food system, corporate land grabs, taxation and accountability for human rights means the summit will fail,” Monsalve added.

According to the special rapporteur Fakhri, it took months to persuade organizers to include human rights in discussions, and even then the right to food appears only in the margins. “We see the same corporate players who have caused irreparable damage to our health, climate and environment trying to create a new game, gain more influence and carve out new economic opportunities.”

For instance, the summit is broken down into five areas known as action tracks. Those tasked with coming up with solutions to “boost nature positive production”(action track 3) include a single Indigenous group but 26 private sector corporations such as Nestlé, Tyson, Bayer and the International Fertilizer Association, according to the research commissioned by a global grassroots campaign opposing the corporate focus.

Yet about 80% of the planet’s remaining biodiversity is located on the territories on Indigenous peoples, who have practised sustainable agriculture for millennia and who along with small-scale farmers are at the forefront in developing agroecology – sustainable modern farming practices that work with nature and communities rather than exploiting them.

The analysis also found that influential business associations, thinktanks and philanthropies which represent, finance and promote corporate interests in sectors like agriculture, retail and finance, were given important leadership roles.

The World Economic Forum, a corporate-funded transnational organization of business, political, intellectual and civil society leaders (popularly known as Davos), has played a driving role in the summit while working to unlock $90tn in new investments and infrastructure. So has the World Business Council on Sustainable Development – an international CEO-led coalition promoting the idea that corporations and wealthy elites can solve climate change and environmental degradation caused by extractivism.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a strong advocate of biotech-based solutions for food insecurity, is linked to several summit participants with corporate ties. It co-founded and helps fund the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Agra), which promotes the spread of industrialized agriculture in the continent. The president of Agra, which has close ties to the agrochemical industry, is the summit’s special envoy, Kalibata.

“This corporate juggernaut must be stopped, or we risk deepening environmental injustice and human rights violations,” said Kirtana Chandrasekaran, co-author of the report and food sovereignty programme coordinator at Friends of the Earth International. “Hiding behind their associations and business platforms, powerful corporate actors are directing policymaking, financing, narratives and science in the summit … agribusiness, fossil fuel and tech giants are promoting market-led false solutions that are designed to increase profits and tighten their stranglehold on food systems.”

The Narrator, commenting on current events in UK: And it turned out that, after all, the foreigners were not stealing jobs from the native population.

good morning/evening everyone, let’s read news for toda-

Full offence but countries like America, Australia, the UK, etc, should all be -- not only accepting as many refugees from Afghanistan as need be, but helping refugees get the fuck out of Afghanistan.

We're the ones who spent twenty years fucking up their country and murdering their civilians "for fun." And then we just collectively drop everything and say "the Taliban can have you."

Fuck that noise. It's disgusting. There are untold numbers of people fleeing the Taliban right now, across the whole country, with all of them -- but especially women and anyone who might be accused of helping the old government/foreign armies -- fearing for their lives.

The Western countries that have spent two decades fucking up Afghanistan have a duty of fucking care to the civilians left behind.

Breaking news as of 16 August 2021 is that the Afghan president and all other government officials have fled Kabul. The "last stronghold" that was predicted to "hold out against the Taliban for three months" has fallen within a week, and most civilians in that city and others that have been overrun are now fearing for their lives.

We have a basic moral obligation to help them in any way possible. That includes taking unreserved numbers of refugees that are refugees in large part due to the actions of the "heroic west."

I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS REAL

hnnnngh, I’m trying to conduct global maritime trade, but I’m dummy thicc, and the clap of my hull plates keeps blocking the Suez Canal

literally for the rest of my life whenever something gets stuck I’m going to be like “what is this, the Suez Canal?”

People are asking whether the pilot of the Ever Given will still have a job after this, but honestly, I’d be surprised if the owner of the Ever Given will still have a job after this. When this is over, Evergreen Marine is going to get sued by every shipping insurance company on the planet. Like, I’m not even exaggerating for effect here: I mean every single one.

For anyone not keeping up, Trump held a rally earlier today, told his supporters to storm the Capitol building with him, then went to hide in the White House.

Protestors tore through 4 layers of barricades and are fighting cops to get into the Capitol building. A possible bomb was spotted and the Madison and Cannon buildings have been evacuated while a bomb squad was called in. And just now the Capitol has gone into lockdown.

But also Pence issued a statement that he is not doing anything with the electors and McConnell denounced Republican senators’ efforts to stop counting the electoral votes.

And as I was writing this, the protesters breached the Capitol and Pence was pulled from the Senate chamber.

Like obviously there's going to be some pretty damn negative economic effects to the Suez Canal being blocked off for multiple days in a row, and I don't want to think about what's going to happen if any of that cargo is, like... medication or food or other vital supplies.

BUT

The sheer absurdism of the latest crisis is a balm to my soul. I feel like it's November 6, 2020, again, and I'm checking the computer for election updates only to see the Destiel meltdown, except now I'm trying to see if I can get vaccinated yet and instead it's just "boat got its dick stuck in the canal wall because it's too long" and I just have to live with that. Like it's not a good thing but at least it's funny.

My parent's generation: "All this talk about pollution and climate change and super-viruses... In my day, we were all worried about nuclear war, and it never happened! These things are always blown out of proportion. Calm down."

Me now, an adult, soaking wet and stripped down to my underwear, taping tinfoil over my windows to keep the twenty-degree-above-normal heat out of my uninsulated split apartment so my roommate and I don't die of heat stroke while self-isolating to suppress the spread of the global pandemic that's kept the whole world in lockdown for the better part of a year and a half, while the sky grows grey and hazy from the distant wildfires that we now expect to come annually and block out the sun in the middle of the day: I miss my friends

I'm still seeing a few donation posts going around for sheikh jarrah, I know people are trying to help and everyone has good intentions, but these donation campaigns are not endorsed by them!! there's a lot people trying to take advantage of the situation and they're stealing money. instead, palestinians are asking for you to place political pressure, protest, boycott, divest, and share what's happening.

however, gaza needs donations for medical, financial, and food aid. below I've linked some trusted organisations:

PCRF (palestine children's relief fund) is an organisation that provides free medical care to children in palestine: urgent gaza relief fund

UPA (united palestinian appeal) is also directly based in palestine and provides emergency relief in gaza

palestine emergency charity that provide medical aid to wounded people and work with PCRF

I just wanna share something that has been happening recently in my country that just warms my heart.

So in the Philippines, the national government has been handling the pandemic horribly. Contact tracing is decentralized, implementation of travel restrictions were delayed (which could’ve helped curb the spread earlier), absurd restrictions have been imposed (which gave way for police to abuse their power against quarantine violators, who were usually out for essentials) –all the while killing activists, spreading disinformation and implementing a law that targets critics of the administration and our freedom of speech. (and also putting ₱389-million pesos worth of dolomite sand on Manila Bay in the middle of the pandemic which could’ve been used to feed millions). Oh and as of writing, we are tallying up to 9,000-10,000 cases daily.

That being said, millions of low-income households around the country are struggling to put food on the table. Government payouts per household (which goes as far as ₱1,000- 8,000 pesos/$20-160 depending on your wages) are not enough to sustain months of lockdown and no income.

Tired of witnessing inaction, a local woman named Patreng Non made a makeshift pantry right outside her community in Quezon and named it the “Maginhawa Community Pantry”. The rule was simple. It simply wrote “Magbigay ayon sa kakayahan, kumuha batay sa pangangailangan.” (translation: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”)

The pantry gained traction, and after that, donations started pouring in from local farmers, fishermen and other regular folks

First Photo: Patreng Non refilling the community pantry Second Photo: Local fishermen about to donate 50 kilos surplus of fish Third Photo: Cardboard saying: “Free sweet potatoes from the farmers of Paniqui, Tarlac” Fourth Photo: Tricycle drivers helping repack donations received Fifth Photo: Current pantry with signages designed by local students

There was no panic, no hoarding, and people only took what they needed and left. Soon enough, community pantries started to pop up in different provinces.

This pantry and the nurturing community behind it has done more for the community in a week than what the government has done for the Filipino people in months. 

Patreng Non has also set up a Paypal if you want to donate to the community pantry!

Jurassic Park, but everyone including the dinosaurs is wearing high heels.

A reminder that full-time minimum wage workers can’t afford rent anywhere in the US