Make cabbage delicious again!

As the European elections draw to a close, so does the show’s season. But don’t worry, we’ll be back soon.

In today’s episode, we discuss how climate change will affect our food system, because we often hear about transportation and other industries causing pollution, but we don’t think that industrial agriculture is as big a culprit as it actually is, and it affects all of us.

A 2022 study found that Less than half of Europe Consumers trust where their food comes from, yet only 37% believe their food is truly sustainable. Many people care about organic produce and sustainable sources, yet industrial agriculture does not prioritize these values at either the corporate or policy level.

of The EU has begun to consider ideas such as: “Degrowth” rather than “green growth”. Experts suggest replacing current economic indicators that focus on abstract monetary gains such as GDP with numbers and factors that put society at the centre and provide a more complex understanding of trade, industry and finance.

Modern socio-economic theory is built on the idea of a teleological path of progress, the entirely false idea that humanity is moving in a straight line in a particular direction, and that perpetual growth and expansion are the key to a great society.

Now, you don’t need a PhD to see why this is a problematic idea. First, our resources are not infinite. More importantly, human history is not linear. Furthermore, this concept sees certain societies as more optimal and expects other societies to “catch up” to the leaders, ultimately trapping them in a state of development limbo forever.

After all, we have reached a level of overproduction and overconsumption, with more goods than the planet needs, yet we have not distributed wealth or resources fairly, leaving billions of people living in extreme poverty.

Instead of this global madness, Degrowth We will promote reducing global consumption and living with fewer resources – yes, that might mean paying a fairer price for a well-brewed cup of coffee currently produced by abused and exploited workers in Guatemala – and we will also focus on reducing trade distances, local products and positive interdependence between sectors.

The current global trade system creates many dependencies, and most of them are not good dependencies. Industrial agriculture is entirely dependent on fossil fuels, both to run the heavy machinery that replaces farm laborers, and to use highly polluting agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides.

As for industrial agriculture, Russia’s war with Ukraine had a profound effect on the Arab world, as half of Ukraine’s wheat production was exported to Ukraine, causing bread prices to soar. Historically, such events have sparked political unrest in the region. In 2021, Food inflation has reached levels similar to those that sparked the Arab Spring.

Some believe this challenge could enable grain producers from European countries such as Germany to exert soft power in the region by exporting more advanced agricultural practices to the region.

Food sovereignty has always been about control of resources, and as long as resources are not in the hands of producers, the fight for farmers’ rights will be won. New protests From India to opponents of the EU’s Green New Deal in Europe, they The neoliberal agricultural model They place more importance on economic competition than on environmental protection.

The far-right seems to be the only voice willing to listen to Europe’s angry farmers, who have been taking to the streets for months across Belgium, Germany and Poland in opposition to the sustainability reforms of the Green Deal. Instead of protecting local farmersThe EU catered to the needs of agribusiness, causing confusion and distrust.

The fusion of peasant struggles is evident on both the left and right extremes. With less than four months to go until the European elections, the far right Europhobia and anti-immigrant rhetoricBut this is nothing new. Right-wing politicians have long had ties to agribusiness, and this false claim to “protect” family farms is There is personal benefit involved. Who would have thought that climate protection would be a great excuse to continue harming the environment?

Today’s guest:

Tendai Ganduri Ganduli is a Zimbabwean academic at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was awarded a Digital Humanism Fellowship from the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and is currently researching how climate change is communicated on X, using Zimbabwe and South Africa as case studies. Ganduli explores diversity within human societies and compares how citizens criticize and/or support their governments on national and international events and platforms.

Maciej Jakubowiak He is deputy editor of Dwutygodnik magazine, one of the Eurozine partner publications in Poland. He is an award-winning author and essayist, winner of the Adam Włodek Prize, among others. His books include Hanka: A Career Story (Hanka.Opowieść o awansie, 2024), The Last Humans: Imaging the End of the World (Ostatni ludzie. Wymyślanie końca świata, 2021) and Inevitable Plagiarism (Niechronny plagiat, 2017). His Dwutygodnik essays Folktale: Belly Meatexplores the cultural and national history behind his family’s relationship with food, and has been translated from Polish into English and published in Eurozine this week.

Salma Shakya A multimedia artist and researcher who grew up in Palestine, Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates, her work explores themes of land reclamation, indigenous imaginations and anti-colonial struggles linked to food-gathering rituals in the Arab and Mediterranean regions. Food is at the heart of her practice, transcending borders, fostering solidarity and helping to make sense of heavy themes such as cultural preservation, hunger and systematic erasure.

We met them at the ERSTE Stiftung in Vienna.

You can also enjoy episodes in podcast format at the Cultural Broadcasting Archive or wherever you find your podcasts.

Rekha Kinga Pappu, Editor-in-Chief
Merve Akiel, Art Director
Sylvia Pintel, producer
Zofia Gabriela Papp, Digital Producer
Salma Shakya, writer and editor
Priyanka Hutchenreiter, Project Assistant

management

Hermann Riesner, Managing Director
Judit Csikos, Project Manager
Csilla Nagyné Kardos, Office Management

OKTO Crew

Senad Helgic, producer
Leah Hohedlinger, video recording
Marlena Stolze, video recording
Clemens Schmiedbauer, video recording
Recorded by Richard Brusek