On the latest episode of Russell Brand's "Stay Free," scholar, environmental activist and food sovereignty advocate Vandana Shiva, Ph.D., discussed food fascism, the power of "philanthropy," digital enslavement and how people can free themselves from this system.

by Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. , The Defender
August 2, 2023

"Human beings cannot have a relationship with nature, land and one another, it seems increasingly, without the intercedence of this corporate power," comedian and political commentator Russell Brand told scholar and environmental activist Vandana Shiva, Ph.D., on the latest episode of his "Stay Free" podcast.

Brand asked Shiva, a food sovereignty and environmental activist, to explain how this corporate takeover of nature happened.

Shiva said the privatization of land and resources under colonialism was the first step in transforming nature into "either a mine or a dump."

Today, she said, privatization has become so entrenched that mega-corporation Cargill can own every chicken, chicken production facility, and every input needed to raise chickens, and then dump all of its waste into public rivers.

The situation we face today could not have happened, she said, without the criminalization of farmers — for which she held media organizations like The Guardian responsible because they attack farmers instead of the corporations.