I don't know who Chantal Laurent is. She was recently interviewed by an Italian as a consultant to the European Commission. I don't know exactly what her job is but what she said is more important than her position in the hierarchy in any case. She had just got back from Haiti and expressed great concern at the chaotic and inefficient manner in which food and other aid being sent to the island was being distributed. She said: “The aid distributed by helicopter had led to disaster and food was stuck at airports”. The chaos was made worse by all the famous people flocking to Haiti - politicians, parachutists and others - and nobody even considered making use of what was already on Haiti like local farming. As Chantal Laurent put it: “Farming in Haiti is not competitive on world markets but it has grown in recent years, following measures and programmes that should be continued. In vast areas of lowland and the upper plateau, the earthquake did not cause any damage at all. The available harvests are available for immediate use, which would have the twin impact of helping people in the cities while supporting the national economy (…) The small farmers couldn't bring their food to the cities - this would mean risking their lives and people didn't have money to buy it anyway. But they expected people to buy their food. International organisations should do this immediately.” Local farming that is not competitive on global markets so it is left to go to rack and ruin or is abandoned? This is the same food crisis as is facing all the poor countries in the world, a crisis caused and fed by large-scale global trade and the evil of financial speculation in commodity foodstuffs, with the backing of the supporters of total free trade in food and farm products around the world... (F.R./transl.fl)