Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Latest Breaking News
In reply to the discussion: Anti-GM protesters kept from tearing up wheat crop by police [View all]proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)31. Sad. "We know that their primary goal is not anybody’s food security but their own bottom line."
http://www.alternet.org/environment/155559/how_the_us_sold_africa_to_multinationals_like_monsanto,_cargill,_dupont,_pepsico_and_others_?page=entire
AlterNet / By Jill Richardson
How the US Sold Africa to Multinationals Like Monsanto, Cargill, DuPont, PepsiCo and Others
The G8 scheme does nothing to address the problems that are at the core of hunger and malnutrition but will serve only to further poverty and inequality...
AlterNet / By Jill Richardson
How the US Sold Africa to Multinationals Like Monsanto, Cargill, DuPont, PepsiCo and Others
The G8 scheme does nothing to address the problems that are at the core of hunger and malnutrition but will serve only to further poverty and inequality...
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/21-5
Published on Monday, May 21, 2012 by Common Dreams
Dont Put Monsanto in Charge of Ending Hunger in Africa
by Yifat Susskind
This past weekend, President Obama hid out from protesters at Camp David. He was hosting the leaders of the worlds eight wealthiest economies, known as the G8. As they readied to meet, on Friday, Obama put forward his New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.
This occasion gave Rajiv Shah, the administrator of the US Agency for International Development, the chance to make an astonishing statement:
Thats news to millions of women farmers in Africa. Their harvests feed their families and generate income that sustains local economies. For generations, they have been doing just those things: storing their harvests, protecting and developing seeds, using natural fertilizers.
Smallholder women farmers save and exchange seeds that help keep local crops viable. They demonstrate how to adapt to climate change by adjusting planting cycles, experimenting with new drought-resistant crops and more. They produce crucial food supplies using the small-scale, organic methods that are increasingly recognized as vital to the health of the planetand everyone who lives on it.
There are differences, of course. Unlike big companies, small-scale women farmers do not grab millions of acres of land for monoculture plantations that destroy local biodiversity. They do not develop the terminator seeds that hold farmers hostage to the seed patent rights of corporations. They are not the inventors of chemical fertilizers that worsen climate change.
Those honors belong to the very companies that President Obama is inviting to oversee Africas food security. We know that their primary goal is not anybodys food security but their own bottom line. Thats why its governments, and not corporations like Monsanto, that should bear responsibility for funding and developing agriculture. It is simply not true that only companies can build silos and develop seeds and fertilizers.
President Obama anticipated these criticisms when he addressed whether this New Alliance is just a way for governments to shift the burden onto somebody else. He was quick to assure that, even in hard economic times, his administration would continue to make investments in development aid. Lets make sure that those investments work to prioritize the right to food over corporate profits.
Because heres the truth: were never going to end hunger in Africa without upholding the rights of smallholder women farmers who feed the continent and care for its ecosystems.
Yifat Susskind is the Executive Director of MADRE, an international women's human rights organization. She has worked with womens human rights activists from Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa to create programs in their communities to address women's health, violence against women, economic and environmental justice and peace building. She has also written extensively on US foreign policy and womens human rights and her critical analysis has appeared in online and print publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy in Focus and The W Effect: Bushs War on Women, published by the Feminist Press in 2004. Ms. Susskind has been featured as a commentator on CNN, National Public Radio, and BBC Radio.
Published on Monday, May 21, 2012 by Common Dreams
Dont Put Monsanto in Charge of Ending Hunger in Africa
by Yifat Susskind
This past weekend, President Obama hid out from protesters at Camp David. He was hosting the leaders of the worlds eight wealthiest economies, known as the G8. As they readied to meet, on Friday, Obama put forward his New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.
This occasion gave Rajiv Shah, the administrator of the US Agency for International Development, the chance to make an astonishing statement:
We are never going to end hunger in Africa without private investment. There are things that only companies can do, like building silos for storage and developing seeds and fertilizers.
Thats news to millions of women farmers in Africa. Their harvests feed their families and generate income that sustains local economies. For generations, they have been doing just those things: storing their harvests, protecting and developing seeds, using natural fertilizers.
Smallholder women farmers save and exchange seeds that help keep local crops viable. They demonstrate how to adapt to climate change by adjusting planting cycles, experimenting with new drought-resistant crops and more. They produce crucial food supplies using the small-scale, organic methods that are increasingly recognized as vital to the health of the planetand everyone who lives on it.
There are differences, of course. Unlike big companies, small-scale women farmers do not grab millions of acres of land for monoculture plantations that destroy local biodiversity. They do not develop the terminator seeds that hold farmers hostage to the seed patent rights of corporations. They are not the inventors of chemical fertilizers that worsen climate change.
Those honors belong to the very companies that President Obama is inviting to oversee Africas food security. We know that their primary goal is not anybodys food security but their own bottom line. Thats why its governments, and not corporations like Monsanto, that should bear responsibility for funding and developing agriculture. It is simply not true that only companies can build silos and develop seeds and fertilizers.
President Obama anticipated these criticisms when he addressed whether this New Alliance is just a way for governments to shift the burden onto somebody else. He was quick to assure that, even in hard economic times, his administration would continue to make investments in development aid. Lets make sure that those investments work to prioritize the right to food over corporate profits.
Because heres the truth: were never going to end hunger in Africa without upholding the rights of smallholder women farmers who feed the continent and care for its ecosystems.
Yifat Susskind is the Executive Director of MADRE, an international women's human rights organization. She has worked with womens human rights activists from Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa to create programs in their communities to address women's health, violence against women, economic and environmental justice and peace building. She has also written extensively on US foreign policy and womens human rights and her critical analysis has appeared in online and print publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy in Focus and The W Effect: Bushs War on Women, published by the Feminist Press in 2004. Ms. Susskind has been featured as a commentator on CNN, National Public Radio, and BBC Radio.
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
59 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
It's hard to have symptathy for idiots who attack publically funded research institutes.
enki23
May 2012
#1
Plants produce all kinds of defensive chemicals. Scientists study them for effects on human health.
yellowcanine
May 2012
#49
Big business, altruism? Read this reporting, though it sounds like a fictional political thriller.
proverbialwisdom
May 2012
#25
NOTE: Posts #23 and #25 refer to Dr. Arpad Pusztai's work in the UK described in post #18.
proverbialwisdom
May 2012
#45
Suppression of science free of conflict of interest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpad_Pusztai
proverbialwisdom
May 2012
#18
Another grossly misleading oversimplification. Not up to speed? FORBES on the CDC here.
proverbialwisdom
May 2012
#20
Correction: they could sue YOU for their pollen on your property if they own the pollen patent.
proverbialwisdom
Jun 2012
#57
Sad. "We know that their primary goal is not anybody’s food security but their own bottom line."
proverbialwisdom
May 2012
#31
Again, "Unlike big companies, small-scale women farmers do NOT grab millions of acres of land
proverbialwisdom
May 2012
#32
He can't have it both ways. Either help Africa or help agribusiness, but they're mutually exclusive
WriteWrong
May 2012
#43
Says enhanced to fight aphids, hence it makes its own bug spray, hence, yeah Monsanto,
bemildred
May 2012
#28
No, it makes the natural bug "ew, don't eat this" scent that 400 other plants already do.
boppers
May 2012
#29
Nice summary of absence of consensus among FDA scientists described in 2001 legal brief at link.
proverbialwisdom
May 2012
#35
Fear, uncertainty, doubt? How about independent FDA scientists being overruled by bureaucrats?
proverbialwisdom
May 2012
#41
Selection is a slow method to find vertical mutations, variants, and interesting gene transfers.
boppers
May 2012
#46
You really want to go there? How's the health ofAmerica's children since the introduction of gmos?
proverbialwisdom
May 2012
#48
Roundup-ready crops do NOT fight weeds. They resist being poisoned by a broad-spectrum herbicide
WriteWrong
May 2012
#38
5/23/12 Press Release: American Medical Association Considers GMO Labels
proverbialwisdom
Jun 2012
#56
"...AMA delegates decided to refer this resolution to a committee that would review recent science."
proverbialwisdom
Jun 2012
#59