Blog for the world's poorest

Bloggers have been trashed lately for being too parochial and introspective. In an attempt to hitch the medium to a global cause the Guardian (in an editorial ) today is launching a political blog with one aim: the abolition of all agricultural subsidies. In less than a month the World Trade Organisation negotiations will resume in Cancun, Mexico. There is still a vast gap between the desire of developing countries for a big cut in the $300 billion a year handed out in subsidies to Western farmers and the mood of governments, heavily influenced by agricultural lobbies, to keep the status quo in one form or another. Yet the abolition of subsidies is the nearest thing to a free lunch in economics. Developing countries - with natural advantages in growing products like sugar, cotton and cereals - would be given an unprecedented boost if they didn't have to compete with heavily subsidised products dumped in their back gardens at uneconomic prices by Western (ie European and American) producers. And the West would have $300 billion (equivalent to over $200 a year for each of us) to spend on schools, hospitals or whatever. Reform won't happen by tinkering with the incredibly complex system of subsidies. There is only one answer: we must KICK ALL AGRICULTURAL SUBSIDIES. Join us and KICKAAS. Only the politicians stand in the way.