[asia-apec 1753] The Global Banquet

[Anuradha Mittal]

NEW DOCUMENTARY HIGHLIGHTS INJUSTICES IN 
GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM

Food First to Screen The Global Banquet, Politics of Food 
Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., April 24 at New College of California

	
(Oakland, CA) Food First and Maryknoll World Productions announce the 
release of The Global Banquet, Politics of Food, a two-part documentary 
series which details the ways in which a globalized economy has 
exacerbated the problems of hunger and poverty worldwide instead of 
alleviating them.  

A screening of the documentary will be hosted by Food First/The 
Institute for Food and Development Policy on Tuesday, April 24 at 7:30 
p.m. in the main auditorium of the New College of California, 777 
Valencia Street in San Francisco.   Food First’s co-director, Anuradha 
Mittal, who is featured in the film, will be on hand to facilitate 
discussion.  The event is open to the public and admission is free of 
charge. 

The Global Banquet, Politics of Food begins in rural North America and 
demonstrates how a handful of multi-national corporations have come to 
dominate our food system, driving small family farmers both in the U.S. 
and the developing world out of existence.  

Free trade policies have manipulated control of local markets, 
destroying the ability of developing nations to feed themselves and 
perpetuating structures that promote hunger. Highly industrialized food 
production has led to focus on shareholder profits, resulting in a 
concentration of wealth, thousands of poverty-wage jobs, and 
environmental destruction.  The documentary features a variety of voices 
from the north and south that expose the injustices and suggest 
progressive ways of reshaping the global food system.

"Markets are not the first nor the last word in human development," says 
Anuradha Mittal.  "Many essentials for human development are provided 
outside the market, but these are being destroyed and squeezed by the 
pressures of global competition.  When the market dominates social and 
political outcomes, the rewards of globalization spread unequally."    
		
At the World Food Summit in November 1996, 185 nations declared, "We 
consider it intolerable that more than 800 million people throughout the 
world, and particularly in developing countries, do not have enough food 
to meet their basic nutritional needs."

Delegates at that Summit put forth a plan to liberalize trade and to 
increase food production, hoping to cut the number of hungry in half by 
2015. This past January, the United Nations World Food Program reported 
that the number of people suffering from hunger had soared to 830 
million.  The Global Banquet, Politics of Food asks the question: how 
long can the paradigm of free trade be utilized as a central solution to 
the hunger crisis?

"Maryknoll has long had an interest in this issue," says Larry Rich, 
executive producer of The Global Banquet and director of Maryknoll World 
Productions. "In 1984, we produced a documentary called The Business of 
Hunger, dealing with
the impact of export crops on world hunger.  This film shows the 
continued evolution of the problem, detailing how all phases of food 
production and distribution are in even fewer hands today."

Maryknoll World Productions commissioned The Global Banquet, Politics of 
Food, which was produced and directed by Anne Macksoud and John Ankele, 
collaborators on film and video documentaries for 15 years.  Their works 
include Arms for the Poor and Cancel the Debt, Now, and have been 
broadcast on PBS stations, ABC-TV and cable networks, and shown at the 
Margaret Mead and Florence Film Festivals, The Museum of Modern Art and 
the Smithsonian.

Food First is an appropriate host for the premiere screening.  Since 
1975, Food First, as a think-tank and education-for-action center, has 
empowered citizens to address the root causes of hunger, poverty and 
environmental decline, with a commitment to establishing food as a 
fundamental human right.  

Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy was founded in 1975 
by Frances Moore Lappé and Joseph Collins following the success of the 
book, Diet for A Small Planet.  Recognized as "one of the country’s most 
established food policy think tanks" by The New York Times,  Food First 
is a leading progressive think tank and education-for-action center.

The Global Banquet, Politics of Food can be ordered at www.maryknoll.org 
or by calling (800) 227-8523.

 Maryknoll, the Catholic missionary movement celebrating its 90th 
anniversary, includes three distinct organizations: the Maryknoll 
Society (Fathers and Brothers), the Maryknoll Congregation (Sisters) and 
the Maryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful (lay missioners and 
priest and religious associates).  Maryknollers have been representing 
Catholics in overseas mission since 1911 and currently serve in 39 
countries worldwide.  There also are 40 Maryknoll Affiliate Chapters in 
the United States for persons interested in generating mission spirit in 
their local communities.  For more information on Maryknoll, consult the 
World Wide Web at www.maryknoll.org.

###

Join the fight against hunger. For more information contact foodfirst at foodfirst.org.

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