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6 THE RURAL VOICE
Keith Roulston
Media, politicians tired of crises
Keith
Roulston is
editor and
publisher of
The Rural
Voice. He
tires near
Blah, ON.
When the tsunami ha southeastern
Asian countries 18 months ago, the
outpouring of financial support from
sympathetic people around the world
was so overwhelming, some aid
agencies had to stop taking money.
Yet recently, aid officials in the
refugee camps of Darfur where
people are dying of starvation. had to
cut daily rations because there wasn't
enough money from the world
community to support a decent diet.
Aid groups call this kind of thing
"donor fatigue": people have been
overwhelmed with so much tragedy
they shut off and ignore really
pressing needs.
I sense a sort of "donor fatigue" is
in effect in the current farming crisis.
The media and the public were very
supportive when the BSE crisis hit
the beef industry in Canada. Ordinary
people attempted to find ways to help
farmers, organizing barbecues and
buying beef directly through buying
groups. Beef consumption actually
went up in Canada, the opposite
experience to other countries. The
media paid attention to the crisis, at
Least at certain times. Governments
came forward with support, even if at
times the programs were badly
designed.
But the current commodity price
crisis seems to be one too many.
Articles are showing up in the
national media saying farmers should
adjust to global marketplace realities
just like industry does. Government
officials, such as the Jim Wheeler's
infamous comments to the Ontario
Federation of Agriculture and
Christian Farmers Federation of
Ontario, seem to indicate they're in
no hurry to help farmers overcome
the effect of U.S. government
support. While those taking part in
the "Grassroots" rallies sensed
support from the public, one wonders
how long it will last when the media
and government are disinterested to
the point of telling farmers to stop
whining and get on with it.
Like the starving residents of the
Darfur refugee camps, the need for
grains and oilseeds farmers are just as
real as those of previous crises, but •
people seem to be sick of hearing
pleas for help.
Part of the problem is that
globalization has given people
permission to shrug when they see
people in economic trouble. We've
been on this path since the Free Trade
election of 1988 when we adopted the
concept that you support the winners
and let the losers fall by the wayside.
Along the way was added the idea of
the need to replace the "old"
economy of supplying resources,
which is basically rural, with the
"new" economy based on ideas and
generally located in urban centres.
My reading of the media sees an
increasing willingness to write-off
rural Canada as irrelevant to the
future which is in the cities. Rural
voices are seldom given the
opportunity to be heard.
The problem with this is that if the
national media say we're irrelevant,
we will be. If the national media
doesn't cover an issue, it's like the
tree falling in the forest with no one
around to hear the crash. How do you
raise the issue and get public support
if you can't get the message out
through the mass information
channels? Without public support,
how to you pressure politicians to
act?
It goes beyond short-term
problems (well, let's hope it's short
term) like a risk management
program. The national media
mobilizes information on the need to
address problems of the cities but
there's no one to point out the needs
of our small towns and our rural
schools and so many other rural
issues.
If the people with the ability to
give us the tools to tackle our own
problems don't know there is a
problem, how are we going to find
solutions?0