Don't make poverty permanent

Too many Westerners do not realise how far from free and fair are the ways that our economies play out into the global. We advocate free trade but everywhere it is in chains...

Seventy percent of the population in poor countries work in agriculture and millions have seen their livelihoods devastated by western agri-business dumping subsidised products - such as corn, rice, sugar and wheat - on local markets.
Most of these subsidies are not paid to small farmers in Europe and the US but to large-scale farming operations and rich corporations.

The whole article is a crash course in globalisation and the barriers to making poverty history.
Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Don't make poverty permanent: Filed in: EU, USA, subsidies, Make_Poverty_History, fair_trade