Vandana Shiva made a sharp point about who really writes the rules of the global food system.
She argued that corporations like Cargill shaped the Agreement on Agriculture, while Pepsi, Coke, and Nestlé influenced sanitary rules and the Codex Alimentarius — systems that, she says, destroyed local food sovereignty, enabled cheap imports, and promoted ultra-processed foods now linked to ~75% of chronic diseases.
Her bigger message: a tiny group of billionaires and corporations hold enormous power, but ordinary people still have the ability to push back. She pointed to farmers blocking streets in the Netherlands and citizens occupying the presidential palace in Sri Lanka as examples of that power in action.
She called the current situation a “colonization of the mind” — the belief that we are powerless — and urged a return to creative, non-violent resistance rooted in our connection to nature.
It’s a passionate reminder that the rules can be challenged when enough people decide they’ve had enough.
What do you think — is the global food system mostly shaped by corporate influence, or do we underestimate the power ordinary people still have?