From the Cancer Stage of Capitalism to the Political Principle of the Common: The Social Immune Response of "Food as Commons"

Abstract

Background: Critical scholars agree that contemporary globalised and industrialised food systems are in profound and deepening crises; and that these systems are generative of accelerating multiple crises in the earth’s life systems. Why and how did we arrive at this point? This paper argues that, conceiving each individual human as one cell in the greater human body, we are afflicted by what John McMurtry termed ‘the cancer stage of capitalism.’ This provocative framing is adopted here in response to growing calls by climate, earth and physical scientists not to ‘mince words’ in the description and analysis of humanity’s current predicament, but rather ‘tell it like it is.’ Methods: Proceeding from McMurtry’s application of the seven defining medical properties of a ‘cancer invasion [of] an individual organism’ to the broader body politic and the earth’s life system, this paper draws on literature from diverse disciplines to investigate the fundamental cause of food systems crises. The paper references several empirical studies and meta-reviews that indicate the hastening decline in the integrity of human and ecological health, with a particular focus on the grain-oilseed-livestock complex and the accompanying social and ecological impacts on the southern cone countries of South America. Results: The cause of food system crises is to be found in the core logic of capital accumulation, the profit imperative, and the relentless and expanding processes of commodification and financialization. The key metric of ‘economic growth’ is problematised and discussed. An embryonic ‘social immune response’ is now observable, in the diverse practices of de-commodification, proposals for de-growth and commoning that together constitute an emerging ‘food as a commons’ movement. Conclusion: As currently framed, the Food as Commons proposal lacks coherence, rigour and a viable strategy to move beyond the current crisis. Its transformative potential can be strengthened through a more explicitly political grounding based on appeals to and support of anti- and post-capitalist movements and initiatives.

The Political Economy of Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems: An Introduction to a Special Issue

“…83 Rose goes further, arguing that the core driver of today's food systems crises is the logic of capitalism itselfie, an unquestioned belief in and the strong institutionalisation of policies and practices that support continual growth and capital accumulation, profit maximisation, and processes of food commodification and financialisation, with marketbased solutions to food problems sufficient in themselves. 84 The Political Economy of Transformative Food Systems Change A final theme in this Special Issue, is the political economy of food systems transformation. According to systems intervention frameworks, the extent to which 'solutions' generate transformational change depends not only on the type of intervention itself, but also where and at what level in the system it influences, and to what extent it works synergistically with other interventions.…”

“… 83 Rose goes further, arguing that the core driver of today’s food systems crises is the logic of capitalism itself – ie, an unquestioned belief in and the strong institutionalisation of policies and practices that support continual growth and capital accumulation, profit maximisation, and processes of food commodification and financialisation, with market-based solutions to food problems sufficient in themselves. 84 …”

“…This arguably seeks to transform the mental models and goals at the core of the food system itself, moving away from the capitalist logic of accumulation, commodification and perpetual growth. 84 Harris and Nisbett call into question purely technical approaches to nutrition policy and programming action, often framed in terms of economics, scaling-up and investment. Such approaches largely fail to address the basic determinants of malnutrition, including processes of exclusion and marginalization of disadvantaged groups affected by malnutrition.…”

Working for Justice in Food Systems on Stolen Land? Interrogating Food Movements Confronting Settler Colonialism

“…Thus, he suggested, we have reached the cancer stage of capitalism. We argue that from a food sovereignty perspective, the work of confronting settler colonialism is necessarily imbricated with the urgent task of moving beyond the self-destructive logic of capitalism, which has always been deeply interconnected with the ongoing project of settler colonialism (Rose, 2021). By engaging in this process, food movements can commence and advance the work of building relationships of trust and solidarity between Indigenous and settler populations to co-create a shared vision of living together in harmony and respect.…”