[L-I] Thousands in Rome

Reuters. 8 June 2002. Thousands March on Rome to Demand End to Hunger.

ROME -- Thousands of anti-globalization protestors marched through Rome
on Saturday ahead of an international food summit to demand that world
leaders and the United Nations change their tactics in the war on
hunger.

The crowds in Rome on Saturday arrived from all over Africa, Europe,
Asia and Latin America amid heightened security for the four-day summit
hosted by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The meeting is aimed at reviving the global political will to achieve a
goal of halving world hunger by 2015.

But protesters like rebel French farmer and activist Jose Bove accuse
the U.N. and world leaders of making trade more important than
agriculture.

"It is not a problem of quantity of food, it's only an economic and
political problem,'' said Bove, sporting his trademark pipe and
handlebar mustache as well as a white T-shirt with the words "The
country way."

Mexican peasants, Indonesian farmers and German activists carried
bouquets of wheat, yellow flags demanding food sovereignty and banners
condemning genetically-modified crops.

"We are here to tell the FAO to get the WTO out of agricultural
politics,'' said Manab Bozu, a 52-year-old farmer from Calcutta,
referring to the World Trade Organization.

Police said no more than 10,000 people were gathered at the start of the
march, but organizers expected up to 50,000.

The FAO and activists will work together in some workshops in a parallel
summit in a bid to address hunger.



-------------------------------------------
Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
--
In the contradiction lies the hope.
                                     --Bertholt Brecht



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