With the passing away of Howard Zinn on January 27 at the age of 87, the world has not only lost a legendary historian but an individual whose commitment to social and economic justice, peace, internationalism, and his passion for telling the truth, can be matched by few others.

While there are many qualities that made Howard Zinn so special, what made him very endearing to us was his generosity at putting those who met him for the first time at ease. He made everyone feel special, as he paid attention to every word, replied personally to email requests ... a tireless activist who made himself available for every good cause. In the process he nurtured minds and hearts and souls around the world. Indeed the world has lost one its best teachers.

In 2006, Howard authored the foreword of a report copublished by the Oakland Institute and Speak Out, Turning the Tide: Challenging the Right on Campus, where he called for building a broad-based and sustainable movement for progressive values on college campuses. He reminded the readers in his foreword, that "far from being a haven from the outside world, the world of war, of famine, of racism and exploitation, the campus is an arena for ideological struggle, in which the stakes are far higher than grades and degrees and career choices. The crucial prize is the mind of the student, the values of the young, for on them depends the future of the nation, as the coming generation makes choices that decide life and death for not only people in our country, but men, women and children all over the world."

While we mourn the loss of a friend, a dedicated activist, and a superb human being, we at the Oakland Institute are committed to celebrating, sharing, and upholding all values and struggles that Howard Zinn stood for and believed in, as our tribute to America's true patriot and hero!

Staff and Board at the Oakland Institute


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On the 10th anniversary of the Seattle protests that shut down WTO negotiations in 1999, trade ministers are headed to Geneva for the 7th Ministerial Conference from November 30 to December 2, 2009. Because the talks have been deadlocked on several issues, the WTO Director General, Pascal Lamy, has already lowered expectations for the meeting to avoid yet another Ministerial failure. Under the theme, "The WTO, the Multilateral Trading System and the Current Global Economic Environment," the Ministerial will assess the WTO's "contribution" to solutions to the global crises. As pointed out by Our World is Not for Sale Network (OWINFS), this emphasis would be laughable were it not so tragic, given the fact that the WTO has contributed to the economic and financial crises, and would actually exacerbate them further through proposals such as increased financial services liberalization.

In the coming days, as the spin advisories pitch the WTO as a way forward to deal with the most pressing issues of our times--unemployment, hunger, and poverty--the groups that bear the brunt of the effects, including social movements, labor unions and civil society organizations, are demanding a "WTO Turnaround" and not more of the same failed policies.

Over 170 trade unionists, farmers, environmentalists, fisherfolk, consumer representatives, and development advocates are in Geneva for the 7th Ministerial, to ensure that their governments advocate for their interests. Protests are being planned, and organizers hope to be able to demonstrate in front of the WTO headquarters on the Rue de Lausanne. Institute's staff and fellows are in Geneva participating in counter-ministerial events and raising concerns about the impacts of the WTO agenda. Even though Geneva is not a negotiating ministerial, high level officials in Geneva will face constant reminders of the expectations at home with massive farmer rallies in India, fisher-people protests in Asia, and union demonstrations and lobby visits in capitals worldwide. More than 140 events celebrating the Seattle anniversary and calling for WTO turnaround are underway across the United States alone.

The Oakland Institute's Eye on Geneva will provide regular reports with independent analysis covering the latest news from inside the convention center and updates from the streets where activists and social movements will be mobilizing and organizing against the WTO.

Click Here to Read the Reports

Press Corner

Anuradha Mittal in The Nation: The Spirit of Seattle Today

Abandon Doha—Confront the Crises!

The 2008 Food Price Crisis: Rethinking Food Security Policies, the latest in the G-24 Discussion Paper Series, is a timely report as member states of the United Nations come together 16-18 November, 2009 at the World Summit on Food Security in Rome, in an effort to find lasting solutions to world hunger. Intended to inform current policy discussions on how to address ever-growing food insecurity, the report contends that it is essential to examine the structural causes of growing food insecurity and to understand the dynamics that have propelled the food crisis.

The report authored by Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, explores the different factors that are affecting food security in developing nations, such as the systemic decline in investment in agricultural productivity; state’s reduced role in agricultural production and trade; indiscriminate opening of agricultural markets which has resulted in import surges and volatile food prices, and emphasis on cash crops.

The report also examines both national and international responses to the 2008 food price crisis and growing hunger, which according to latest estimates impacts over a billion people, and proposes several short-term and long-term measures to address it. However, the effective implementation of these policies, the report argues, depends on the firm application of the principle of food sovereignty, which would allow governments in developing countries to support and protect their agriculture, markets, and be in a position to fulfill their responsibility for the realization of the right to food of their citizens.

The G-24, the only formal developing-country grouping within the IMF and the World Bank, was established in 1971 to increase the analytical capacity and the negotiating strength of the developing countries in discussions and negotiations in the international financial institutions. The G-24 Discussion Paper Series are discussed among experts and policy makers at the meetings of the G-24 Technical Group, and provide inputs to the meetings of the G-24 Ministers and Deputies in their preparations for negotiations and discussions in various forums.

Download the Report

Learn More about the G24

The Great Land Grab: Rush for World's Farmland Threatens Food Security for the Poor, sounds the alarm on the threat that land grabbing poses to food security and livelihoods. Land grabs--the purchase of vast tracts of land from poor, developing countries by wealthier, food-insecure nations and private investors--have become a widespread phenomenon, with foreign interests seeking or securing between 37 million and 49 million acres of farmland between 2006 and the middle of 2009. While such land grabs have not gone unnoticed, much attention has focused on individual countries, such as China and Saudi Arabia, buying land in poor nations. The Great Land Grab lays bare the insidious role played by international financial institutions like the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank and Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS), as well as rich nations, in promoting and facilitating this widespread land reappropriation--all in the name of promoting food security through foreign investment in agriculture.

An estimated 1.02 billion people-one sixth of humanity-suffer from chronic hunger, and, in one of the world's cruelest ironies, 70 percent of this starving population live and work on small-scale farms and in rural areas. To tackle the growing crisis of world hunger, policy makers and agriculture experts will again gather at the World Food Summit in November 2009; preparation for the summit is revolving around increased investment in agriculture. However, as The Great Land Grab points out, there is a dangerous disconnect between increasing agricultural investment through rich countries amassing land in poor countries and the goal of secure and adequate food supplies for poor and vulnerable populations.

The Great Land Grab critically examines the role of the private sector in agricultural development and exposes implications of private sector control over food resources. The report concludes that those who promote the benefits of private sector growth in agriculture fail to recognize that acquisition of crucial food-producing lands by foreign private entities poses a threat to rural economies and livelihoods, land reform agendas, and other efforts aimed at making access to food more equitable. The report concludes that the current debate surrounding the land grab phenomenon fails to adequately and rigorously examine the consequences of this trend and implores that we question the assumption that increased investment in agriculture is beneficial for all parties involved.

Read the Press Release

Download the Report

Additional Resources on Land Grab

The latest G8 extravaganza in L’Aquila, Italy from July 8-10, 2009 will highlight a new initiative to fight hunger that seeks a more coordinated approach to food aid and development. Reports suggest that the United States will announce a “significant” increase in funding for agricultural development aid along with multi-year commitments from other G8 countries to reach a $15 billion target that will be pooled in a global agriculture and food security trust fund, administered by the World Bank.

Proposals to challenge hunger have become a key agenda item at international conferences since the 2008 food crisis. The G8’s performance on past commitments, however, casts a shadow on the sincerity of its intentions.

2009 has witnessed a historic high in hunger – 1.02 billion people are estimated to go hungry every day. Despite commitments, pledges, and grandiose communiqués by rich nations to challenge hunger, world hunger persists. The problem lies in the fallacy of explanations offered to explain the hunger crisis and in the promotion of market and technology-based solutions. The latest G8 effort is more of the same.

Recommendations that focus on sustainability and boosting poor peoples incomes have yet to make it to the G8 agenda. If the G8 is indeed committed to ending hunger, the member countries must stop the steady drumbeat of proselytizing for free markets and technological solutions to hunger and instead implement the findings and recommendations of IAASTD, for instance. More important, a genuine commitment will require recognizing the need for developing countries to have policy space to determine agricultural policies that meet the needs of their populations; implement a genuine agrarian reform that will ensure farmers’ rights to land, water, seeds and other resources; ensure that the local products are competitive; see that farmers’ livelihoods and incomes are sustained; and assure national food security. In short, instead of promoting their old failed “development” formulas in new clothing, the G8 need to take responsibility and support governments in developing countries to put in place or restore sustainable and resilient agricultural systems.

Click Here to Read the Briefing Paper

The Oakland Institute has produced a series of Policy Briefs and Briefing Papers to reframe the global debate around the real root causes of global food crisis and, through its advocacy and outreach activities, has ensured that real solutions find their way into on-the-ground policy.

Click here to Read our Reports on the Food Price Crisis