The politics of butchers & supermarkets

CIVICS AND COMMERCEEpisode 7 — The ButcherShow notesThe story in this episode is composite, drawn from real events. Identifying details are changed. Real-world events the story draws on, full citations, and further reading are below.REAL-WORLD EVENTS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODEAustralia- The ACCC Supermarkets Inquiry 2024-25, with final report delivered 28 February 2025 and published 21 March 2025. The inquiry formally found that Woolworths and Coles together account for approximately 67 per cent of national supermarket grocery sales, and described the sector as an oligopoly.- Wholesale meat processing concentration in Australia, with major processors largely owned by transnational firms including JBS S.A. (Brazil) and Cargill (US).- Mixed-use rezoning of suburban shopping strips across Australian state capitals over the past fifteen years, contested by trader associations, resident action groups, and community-led save-our-strip campaigns.Belgium- The founding of La Via Campesina in Mons, Belgium in May 1993. The international peasant movement is now active in over 80 countries and represents an estimated 200 million small-scale farmers, peasants, agricultural workers, rural women, and Indigenous communities.Japan- The founding of the Seikatsu Club Consumers' Co-operative in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, in 1965 by Shizuko and Kuniyo Iwane, when 200 women organised to buy 300 bottles of milk directly from producers. Incorporated as a consumers' cooperative in 1968. Today operates as a federation of approximately 33 cooperatives across 21 Japanese prefectures, with around 307,000 to 400,000 member households. Awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 1989.REFERENCES[1] Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Supermarkets Inquiry 2024-25: Final Report (Canberra: ACCC, 28 February 2025). https://www.accc.gov.au/inquiries-and-consultations/finalised-inquiries/supermarkets-inquiry-2024-25[2] Vandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2000); Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace (2005); Who Really Feeds the World? The Failures of Agribusiness and the Promise of Agroecology (2016).[3] La Via Campesina, "The International Peasants' Voice." https://viacampesina.org/en. Founded in Mons, Belgium, May 1993.[4] Carolyn Steel, Hungry City: How Food Shapes Our Lives (London: Chatto and Windus, 2008); Sitopia: How Food Can Save the World (London: Chatto and Windus, 2020).[5] Seikatsu Club Consumers' Co-operative Union. https://seikatsuclub.coop/eng. Right Livelihood Foundation, "Seikatsu Club Consumers' Cooperative — Laureate 1989."[6] Australian Retailers Association, Australian Meat Industry Council, and various community-led save-our-strip campaigns across Australian state capitals.FURTHER READINGVandana Shiva, Stolen Harvest (2000). On the political enclosure of food, seed, and agriculture by corporate intermediaries.Carolyn Steel, Sitopia (2020). On how food provision shapes cities and how planning has separated the two.Annette Aurélie Desmarais, La Vía Campesina: Globalization and the Power of Peasants (2007). On the founding and global growth of the international peasant movement.Aegean Leung, Charlene Zietsma, and Ana Maria Peredo, "Emergent Identity Work and Institutional Change: The 'Quiet' Revolution of Japanese Middle-Class Housewives," Organization Studies 35, no. 3 (March 2014). On the Seikatsu Club as a sustained countermovement to supermarket concentration.About the hostLiv Roe is a civic and political adviser based in Melbourne. She works with businesses, organisations, and individuals on the political and civic context of their work. Book a consultation at livroe.org. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit civicsandcommerce.substack.com