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	Hong Kong protests over China ''patriotism'' lessons by Stephen McDonell ABC News & agencies Hong Kong   July 30, 2012   Hong Kong protests over China ''patriotism'' lessons.   Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong have protested against a plan to introduce national education lessons, labelling it as a bid to brainwash children with Chinese propaganda.   The government plans to make the lessons compulsory by 2015, saying they will foster a sense of national pride and belonging.   The book will form the basis of a national education curriculum for students aged six years and older in Hong Kong schools in the coming year.   Protest organisers say up to 90,000 people marched against the policy, but police estimate the figure to be closer to 30,000.   Parents with children in strollers, secondary school students and activists joined the rally on a sweltering afternoon, carrying placards with slogans such as "We don''t need no thought control".   A man works as a primary school teacher and is one of many Hong Kong residents sceptical of the plan.   "I don''t even believe the content myself, so it''s difficult to teach my students," he said.   "Also the primary school students, like those in grades one and two, they listen to whatever teachers tell them, so this is a very serious matter if we continue to do this."   The controversy is the latest backlash against perceived political influence from Beijing in the former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.   The furore focuses on a Hong Kong government-funded 34-page book titled The China Model celebrating China''s single-party Communist state as a unique political system under which its economy and society have flourished.   "We don''t want our child to be fed this material," said P.S Ho, who joined the protest along with his wife and four-year-old daughter.   "If the initiative continues without changes, maybe we will change schools later or immigrate to another country."   Denying the claim and vowing its determination to push ahead with the plan, the government has nonetheless announced the formation of a special committee to monitor the implementation of the subject.   The non examinable subject would see students taking 50 hours of lessons a year focusing on "building national harmony, identity and unity among individuals".   The government aims to introduce the subject by September and make it compulsory in 2015.   It was the latest in a series of mass protests and gatherings in Hong Kong in recent months, including a July 1 demonstration that drew some 400,000 people demanding improved governance, full democracy, and less interference from Beijing.   Tiananmen Square remembered in Hong Kong, by Stephen McDonell.   For most people in China the bloody events of Tiananmen Square 23 years ago went unnoticed yesterday - at least publicly.   Government suppression and its sophisticated internet censorship system is blocking key phrases like "Tiananmen massacre" or "June the 4th".   Chinese state media is also banned from even referring to the incidents around Tiananmen Square in 1989. In Hong Kong it"s a different story. Last night more than 100,000 people gathered to mark the anniversary. China correspondent Stephen McDonell was there.   Stephen McDonell: On the Chinese mainland, it"s as if the events of June 1989 never happened. The People"s Liberation Army drove tanks into the heart of Beijing and soldiers fired on unarmed protesters, killing an unknown number of people in and around Tiananmen Square.   China"s state-controlled media virtually never mentions the bloody end to months of student unrest two decades ago, and in the Chinese capital this anniversary passes pretty much like any other day.   But here in Hong Kong it"s different. I"m standing in Victoria Park amongst what must be 100,000 demonstrators, many wearing t-shirts or stickers pledging to never forget the 4th of June 1989.   Woman speaking: "We have to let everyone know about the true history of these events," says one young woman who wasn"t even born when they took place.   She goes on, "We have to be persistent in letting Chinese people and Hong Kong people know what really happened, what the hidden truth is."   Woman speaking: "I want democracy, I want human rights," says another woman.. "I came because my heart was moved," says yet another.   Do you think you can change anything by coming here today?   VOX POP 1: Maybe not today but I think in the future the Chinese can show to our government. The Chinese government will, they"ll feel in their hearts.   Stephen McDonell: Feel in their heart what really happened?   VOX POP 1: Yes.   Stephen McDonell: The park became a sea of candles. There were solemn moments as the names of parents who lost their children were read out. Flowers were offered for those who died in 1989 and this massive gathering bowed in unison as a mark of respect. Even the organisers of the rally didn"t expect such an enormous response.   It could be because the Chinese authorities have been coming down harder on dissent of late. Some high profile cases like blind activist Chen Guangcheng or jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, or simply because people don"t want these momentous events to go unremembered.   The government in Beijing may have been hoping that these anniversaries would fade with time. But instead they seem to be getting even bigger.
	Food shortages and rural deprivation exacerbated by land grabs, say NGOs by La Via Campesina & news agencies   Apr 2012   Food shortages and rural deprivation exacerbated by land grabs, say NGOs, by John Vidal and Claire Provost. (Guardian)   The World Bank is helping corporations and international investors snap up cheap land in Africa and developing countries worldwide at the expense of local communities, environment and farm groups said in a statement released on Monday to coincide with the bank"s annual land and poverty conference in Washington DC.   According to the groups, which include NGO Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) and international peasants group La Via Campesina, decades of World Bank policies have pushed African and other governments to privatise land and focus on industrial farming. In addition, they say, the bank is playing a "key role" in the global rush for farmland by providing capital and guarantees to big multinational investors.   "The result has often been … people forced off land they have traditionally farmed for generations, more rural poverty and greater risk of food shortages", said FOEI in a report launched ahead of the World Bank conference.   The event, which promises to focus on "land governance in a rapidly changing environment", is billed as a forum to discuss "innovative approaches" to land governance challenges including climate change, the growing demand for key natural resources, and rapid urbanisation. But campaigners say the conference mistakenly focuses on how to improve large-scale land deals rather than on helping local communities to secure or retain access to their land.   The FOEI report suggests land grabbing is intensifying and spreading, especially in rural areas of Africa and Asia. "High levels of demand for land have pushed up prices, bringing investment banks and speculators into farming," it says.   "The World Bank"s policies for land privatisation and concentration have paved the way for corporations from Wall Street to Singapore to take upwards of 80m hectares (197.6 acres) of land from rural communities across the world in the past few years," said the groups in a statement accusing the bank of promoting "corporate-oriented rather than people-centred" policies and laws.   In 2010, the World Bank spearheaded the development of new principles for responsible agricultural investment to better ensure that land deals respect local rights, livelihoods and resources; these guidelines have also been criticised for legitimising, rather than challenging, the global rush for land.   Allegations of land-grabbing have hit countries around the world and have been accompanied by growing concern about whether large-scale land deals are delivering any promised income and employment for local people.   Current estimates suggest that up to 230m hectares of land have been leased or bought in recent years, largely to produce food, feed or fuel for the international market.   World Bank money has been involved in many recent international land deals, says the FOEI report. In Uganda, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the bank"s private sector lending arm, contributed $10m for a project to clear 10,000 hectares of land for palm oil plantations on Bugala Island in Lake Victoria.   But FOEI research has shown that local people were prevented from accessing water sources and grazing land, suggesting that – despite promises of employment – many people have lost their means of livelihood.   Resistance to land grabs is growing: For example Harvard University has come under intense pressure to ensure its investments do not contribute to land grabs in Africa, while Iowa State University has withdrawn from a deal in Tanzania that could have displaced an estimated 160,000 people. In South Sudan, the government halted a land deal after local communities erupted in protest, saying their lands had been secretly leased to an American company.   This month, farmers and land rights activists from across Sierra Leone converged on the country"s capital for a national assembly of communities affected by large-scale land deals, where groups launched a new civil-society watchdog to monitor agribusiness investments. The meeting followed the first international farmers conference to tackle land grabs, held in Selingue, southern Mali, in late 2011.   "Governments around the world need to stop land grabbing, not just try to mitigate its worst impacts. Governments must abide by their human rights obligations on land," said Kirtana Chandrasekaran, FOEI"s food sovereignty co-ordinator.   David Kureeba, from the Ugandan national association of professional environmentalists, said: "People"s rights to land in Uganda are being demolished. Small-scale farming and forestry that protected wildlife, heritage and food is being converted to palm oil wastelands that only profit agribusinesses."   Apr 2012   International Day of Peasant"s Struggle, by Alana Mann.   Small-scale producers are a dying breed around the world as the security of rural communities is undermined by "land-grabbing" - large-scale land acquisition by foreign investors.   Today the international farmers movement La Via Campesina calls on governments to stop the global-land grab that deprives rural communities of their livelihoods and threatens to spark civil war in countries already crippled by poverty and hunger.   Prompted by the 2008 food crisis, wealthy food-importing nations such as China, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and South Korea are securing their future food supplies in poorer, resource-rich nations.   The World Bank reports that foreign investors acquired 111 million acres of farmland in 2009. Nearly 75 per cent of this land is in sub-Saharan Africa. Controversial land acquisitions have contributed to conflicts in Sudan, Liberia and Sierra Leone.   Chinese multinationals Sino-Cam and Chongqing Seed Corp have leased land from the governments of Cameroon and Tanzania for future rice production. Bahrain has secured agro-fishery reserves in the Philippines. Indian interests are buying palm oil plantations in Indonesia.   The backlash is fierce. China"s attempt to secure 2.5 million acres of land in the Philippines was thwarted by a public outcry, and Madagascans sacked their government over the proposed sale of 3 million acres to Daewoo Logistics of South Korea in 2009.   However land deals are often made without consultation with local people. In Ethiopia, 150,000 people have been relocated from eastern Somali to make way for Saudi and Indian investment projects. The impacts of these ventures, including displacement, food insecurity and water shortages, are rarely considered.   A 2010 survey of private investment in agriculture in the Sudan, Pakistan, Tanzania and Mali by the New York Center for Human Rights and Global Justice identified an absence of transparency and regulatory frameworks within the host countries.   Supporters of the investment initiatives describe opportunities for technological development and increased yields that will feed local populations. They describe the leased land as "undeveloped" – a highly contested notion in regions where peasant farmers have no formal tenure. What governments consider empty or marginal land is often all that local people have to sustain their livelihoods.   In reality local people are unlikely to benefit from food production on land leased to foreign investors. World Bank analysis suggests only 37 per cent of foreign investment projects will be for food crops.   The food that is not exported to the home countries of investors will be converted to bioethanol produced from soya, palm, rapeseed and other oil-rich plants - the staple food of some of the poorest people in the world.   In 2009 an estimated 100 million tons of grain were diverted for lucrative biofuel production. This volume will escalate as developing countries set ambitious targets to replace fossil fuels.   In March the UN Committee on World Food Security adopted draft guidelines against land grabbing to better protect rural communities. Though non-binding, these guidelines are the latest step in the long campaign to reassert the importance of local agriculture.   The Food and Agriculture Organisation says "local production by small-scale farmers" is the most efficient way to ensure food security at the household level in developing countries as it increases food availability, income and employment.   La Via Campesina, a social movement of 150 rural organisations across 70 countries, calls this food sovereignty.   Food sovereignty grants nations control over their food security policies, including the right to impose tariffs against the dumping of cheap exports, and the support of local markets.   It also puts the onus on governments to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of citizens to food and the productive resources to produce it, including land.   April 17 is the anniversary of the 1996 massacre of 19 members of the Landless Workers Movement in Brazil. Two per cent of Brazilian landowners own 56 per cent of available land. On large estates, the latifundos, nearly 100 million hectares of fertile agricultural land lie fallow while 22 million go hungry. For Brazilian farmers land-grabbing is just their latest challenge.   * Alana Mann is a lecturer at the University of Sydney. Visit the related web page
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