With Respect to Food Policy and Programs

Dear AGRA Kenya and AGRA Ghana et al.


As brother/sister communities in a world of potential unity and cooperation dedicated to meeting the needs of people within the confines of a finite planet, I applaud your initiative.

At least one caveat: as we aim to move from industrialized oligarchies and Finance and Market dominated paradigms of Agriculture, so much the colonialist mentality of the "first world", to a world which is free from such domination where local needs are primary and ALL areas strive for relocalization of production and distribution of the food resource (and other necessities), remember the mission and basic principles of inclusion. humanity, equity, quality of life, environmental/public health and wellness, sustainability and peace.

You need to see your initiative as one consistent with a cooperative communitarian/mutualist/socialist world effort to wash off the irrational and self-serving shackles of Capitalist Market hegemony that enslaves the world over.

You must be sufficiently Cynical, in the truest sense of the word, and although Mr. Gates is often credited with being a great innovator (I am using a fabulous tool that he and MILLIONS OF OTHERS WHO YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD MENTIONED, NOR NEVER WILL, AND THEY WORK IN CUBICLED MINE-LIKE WORK TO MAINTAIN THIS GREAT COMMUNICATIONS ABILITY WHICH MAY BE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT HOPES THAT WE HAVE FOR THE FUTURE. IT IS MY HOPE THAT THESE WORKERS, MOSTLY THE DIRECT CONTACTS THAT I HAVE ARE IN INDIA ARE COMPENSATED WELL AND ENJOY A QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THEIR HARD, INTELLIGENT, and speaking from experience, WHAT CAN BE ALIENATING AND DEHUMANIZING WORK....

Anyway, the "first green revolution" was Financed by Ford and Rockefeller and USAID, with a partial good intention to feed the planet, but also with the intention to monopolize the means of production, inputs, etc.

Gates is MS-NBC/GE, he is the biggest Corporate Capitalist of our times, and one should approach his intentions with caution.

A good Friend bemoans that with all the mergers and acquisitions of the last generation, that we will soon be ONE BIG CORPORATION. My response is that Maybe that is close to what we need to be, but mind thee all, a company that is not-for-profit, and non-profit where it needs to be, and is dedicated to meeting the needs of all folks on the planet within the mission and principles that I have stated previously. And a company that can not allow unscrupulous operators to eschew their personal responsibilities


Mike Morin

Letter to Friend Vanessa (In Venezuela)

Hi Vanessa,

Good to "hear" from you.

Sorry that you are going through hard and/or traumatic times.

I hope it all works out for you and soon...

I read about the displacement of the indigenous in Peru and the fighting that was going on. In the news report we got in the USA, the headlines said "9 Policeman Killed in Peru". You had to read deep into the story to see that 31 "Indians" were killed and many more injured. Same attitudes that John Woolman had to endure, I guess.

The people in the United States are still consuming gasoline with a fervent madness and they either don't know, don't perceive it that way, and/or don't care about the injustices that go on: Peru, Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan, elsewhere, and the injustice that they are doing to the children of the world, including their own.

Two reports just came out, one regarding how much money is being spent on military supplies and operations ($1.46 trillion), with by far the most by the United States, and another discussing the world hunger situation and the dire prognosis of over 200 million more people falling into "absolute poverty". It isn't that we can't produce the food (especially if we reallocated military spending to humanitarian (i.e. food, housing, education, sanitation, resource conservation, etc.)), it's that within the Capitalism system, many people can't pay for it (Can't pay, can't have).

We need someone like Hugo Chavez to make a proclamation regarding the absurdity and irrationality of the above mentioned dichotomy, and to call for world unity among the people and the leaders of the world for a fundamental shift from Capitalism to socialism in the way that resources get allocated. It would be great if Hugo, Obama, the leader of Iran, and the leader of the Peoples' Republic of China all got together, with the support of other leaders, and made such an appeal and commitment. I'm sure that the people of the world would strongly support such leadership.

We need a world economy that is based on the principles of meeting the needs of people, equity, humanity, inclusion, quality of life, peace, and sustainability rather than one that seeks to maximize profits for a minority, and seeks infinite growth on a finite planet and promises trickle-down benefits to workers and totally disregards the poor.

Count me in on "Thee Socialist Friend" magazine. Let me know how I can contribute.

Great to "hear' from thee...

Let's keep in close touch.


With much love and care,

Mike Morin