Submitted by Dru Oja Jay on
ETC Group on COVID, data giants, the food system and community responses
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Those backing risky new technologies are seeing growing profits and power during the COVID-19 crisis. From fast-tracking genomic testing and novel vaccines to automation of ‘people-free’ supply chains, the pandemic is benefitting Big Tech.
From the rise of Zoom and Netflix to enhanced data-surveillance of populations, Silicon Valley and its financial backers are not only shaping how the crisis is lived, but are positioning themselves to shape behaviours and write the rules in a post-crisis new order.
At the same time, the COVID crisis has revealed the fragilities in our food systems and the ways in which we still depend on the peasant food web to sustain us. Although the pandemic has brought numerous risks, community alternatives have flourished, suggesting new ways of living and forging the future ahead.
Participants:
Verónica Villa (Mexico City, Mexico – top left)
Zahra Moloo (Montreal, Canada – host, top right)
Neth Daño (Davao, Philippines – bottom right)
Jim Thomas (Val David, Canada – bottom left)
Key sections:
1:18 - Veronica on impacts in Mexico
2:32 - Neth in the Philippines
4:30 - Jim on Quebec under COVID lockdown
6:42 - Jim on big data, food and "nudging"
11:07 - Neth on data, the industrial food system and COVID
21:45 - Veronica on peasant farmers, community responses, nurturing life, and another new normal
32:28 - Jim on what movements should be paying attention to "when the gravity is turned back on"
35:10 - Neth on "the moment to pounce," and make the invisible visible
39:57 - Veronica on the threats to the people who feed the world
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