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Here is audio collected from the conference so that you can plug in to what is going in the fight against GE Food and other struggles against GMO's. You can stream the audio from PDX IMC Web Radio-below is a list of what is available: [ Opening Session 03-13-2004 | International Policy 03-13-2004 | Corporate Campaigning 03-13-2004 | Family Farmers 03-13-2004 | Latest Science and Statistics with Michael Hansen 03-13-2004 | International Policy 03-14-2004 | Interview with Group that steered the successful campaign against GMO's in Mendocino County, CA 03-14-2004 ]
About Genetic Engineering: A March report from the Union of Concerned Scientists found that DNA from genetically-engineered (GE) crops had contaminated traditional, GE-free seeds of corn, soybeans, and canola. Mexico recently banned imports of some genetically-modified (GM) corn. The UK recently decided to allow GM crops to be grown in Britain.
More info: GE Food Alert Ag BioTech InfoNet
The Biotech industry will hold its annual international convention in San Francisco in June. Reclaim the Commons is being organized to resist the "commodification of life" and show other ways of relating to food production, the planet, and one another.
Extended Indybay Haiti Coverage
@ Cafe Photos: 1 2
The Anarchist Bookfair was Saturday March 13th. | Video | There was a soccer tournament on Saturday and Sunday. Last but not least, the BASTARD Conference was held on Sunday March 14th. The theme this year was Organization: Beyond False Dichotomies.
Free Speech Radio News Audio Report | Santa Cruz IMC Coverage | National Family Farm Coalition
In June, a convergence of permaculture, guerrilla gardening, and resistance to biotechnology, Reclaim the Commons, will face off against a $1,500-per-head international Biotech industry convention in San Francisco. Also, March 12-14 are the dates of the Genetic Engineering Action Network conference in Berkeley.
Read more about Permaculture. Permaculture Activist Magazine. Biotech IMC
Hundreds gathered in San Francisco on Monday March 2nd to protest the US backed coup in Haiti (Photos: 1 2 3 | Audio | Video| Report Back) Around California, there were also protests in Fresno (Photos | Video), San Jose, and Los Angeles. Elsewhere, there were protests in New York (Photos), Houston, Miami and many other cities.
Some sites that have updates about Haiti: Democracy Now | Flashpoints | TransAfrica | The Bay Area's Haiti Action Committee | Z Net | Haiti Support Group| Latest Indybay Haiti Posts
3/7: HAITI ACTION ALERT: Aristide Under Lock & Key, U.S. Delegation Says
While the US helped support a large anti-Aristide rally in Port-au-Prince today, supporters of the democratically elected leader postponed a planned demonstration on Sunday, saying they were offered no protection. Aristide is being held incommunicado following being kidnapped in a US backed coup. While some of the press in the US celebrates US-French cooperation other mainstream news sources are starting to detail how the US had been working to destabalize Haiti's economy for the past three years. John Kerry has even made a statement condemning how the US undermined democracy in Haiti, and papers like the Washington Post have started running stories on dangers to human rights in Haiti following Aristide's ouster. The Jamaica Observer points out that this is not the first time that the US has kidnapped a popular Haitian leader.
3/5: Aristide Details Last Moments In Haiti In First Address To Haitian People From Exile
"Thousands of outraged supporters of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide have poured out of Haiti's slums and into the streets, marching on the US Embassy to denounce the occupation of their homeland and demand Aristide's return." Prime Minister Yvon Neptune has called for an investigation into Aristide's ouster, but Neptune may not have long in office as there is talk that a US backed commission is thinking of appointing a new prime minister. The invasion of Haiti and toppling of a democratically elected government by US, Canadian and French forces has raised calls by Caribbean leaders for a UN investigation. Could Canada and the US's interest in Haiti be tied to cheap sweatshop labor or is the US interested in using Haiti as a new military base? Or with 905 Haitians returned by the US to Haiti since February 21, is the US occupation perhaps tied to a desire to keep Haitians from fleeing the country and get more votes for Bush in Florida in November's election?
3/4: Haiti's U.S. supported killers continue to exact their bloody revenge against leaders of Lavalas, as the US media continues to repeat State Department lies. In a phone conversation with a French writer on Thursday, Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide accused France of helping the US remove him from office. Later in the day, Aristide's lawyer reported that the Central African Republic shut off Aristide's phone service and that armed members of the French and CAR military are guarding him and that he is not free to leave. South Africa and the fifteen member Caribbean Community (Caricom) have called on the United Nations to investigate Aristide's ouster and in the US, Congressional Democrats attacked the Bush administration's handling of the crisis.
3/2: Yvon Neptune, Prime Minister of Haiti, describes the current events as a coup and says he is a prisoner in his office. He calls Aristide's resignation "not constitutional" because it was made under duress and threat. "The coup machine is in motion because the opposition knows they cannot win elections with President Aristide in the country." Guy Philippe set up shop in what was once the headquarters of Haiti's armed forces. Under Aristide, the building housed Haiti's ministry for women's affairs. Philippe's supporters pulled paintings out of the building and tossed them on a bonfire Tuesday afternoon. Philippe, declaring himself in charge of the police and military, threatened to arrest the Prime Minister. There are reports that many former supporters of Aristide are being rounded up, tortured and killed. Meanwhile, the lawyer who represents President Jean Bertrand Aristide told Pacifica Radio KPFK Los Angeles Radio that he had learned that the Central African Republic (CAR) has shut off President Aristide's phone service. He said that armed members of the French and CAR military are guarding President Aristide and he is not free to leave.
3/1/2004: The U.S. Marines and formerly exiled mass killers are now in control of Haiti. Opposition thugs have rolled through the pro-Aristide slums, firing indiscriminantly and even threatening to burn down a school.
In an interview with CNN Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide rejected Washington's assertions that he resigned willingly, accusing the US of staging a "coup d'etat." "They lied to me, and they may lie to you, too," he told CNN in a telephone interview. "No one should force an elected president to move in order to avoid bloodshed." In an interview arranged by Jesse Jackson with the AP, Aristide was asked if he left Haiti on his own, Aristide quickly answered: "No. I was forced to leave"
Monday morning, multiple sources who spoke with Aristide told Democracy Now! that Aristide says he was "kidnapped" and taken by force to the Central African Republic. Congressmember Maxine Waters said she received a call from Aristide at 9am EST. "He's surrounded by military. It's like he is in jail, he said. He says he was kidnapped," said Waters. She said he had been threatened by what he called US diplomats. According to Waters, the diplomats reportedly told the Haitian president that if he did not leave Haiti, paramilitary leader Guy Philippe would storm the palace and Aristide would be killed. According to Waters, Aristide was told by the US that they were withdrawing Aristide's US security. Audio and Transcript
TransAfrica founder and close Aristide family friend Randall Robinson also received a call from the Haitian president early this morning and confirmed Waters account. Robinson said that Aristide "emphatically" denied that he had resigned. "He did not resign," he said. "He was abducted by the United States in the commission of a coup." Robinson says he spoke to Aristide on a cell phone that was smuggled to the Haitian president. Audio and Transcript In addition, groups such as Human Rights Watch are appalled that the US would place confirmed war criminals in power at a time when Haiti is in total crisis.
More From Democracy Now
2/29/2004: Aristide has left Haiti and Haitian Chief Justice Boniface Alexandre has been sworn in as president. President Bush has ordered U.S. Marines into Haiti to take part in this new regime change. There are reports from Haiti that democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide did not resign and was instead "taken away" against his will in handcuffs by US marines.
Today: 4-6 p.m. Democracy Now Special | Latest Posts To This Site About Haiti
2/28/2004: Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, is on edge with flaming barricades up across the city and armed masked men patrolling the streets as Haitians brace for an assault by armed gangs. Opposition leader Guy Phillippe has told reporters that he is following Washington’s lead. “I heard the United States asked our men to stop their advance to Port-au-Prince. It’s on the news on the Net,” said Phillippe, according to a report by the British Press Association. “We will keep on sending troops but we won’t attack Port-au-Prince until we understand what the US means.” The leader of this anti-democracy band of violent thugs has spoken: He will do what Washington says. Everything that happens next over the coming hours and days will be the direct result of signals sent by the government in Washington.
Guy Philippe is a former army officer who received training from the US Special Forces in Equador and says he admires President George Bush. Another rebel operation is being led by Louis Jodel Chamblain, who ran death squads in the 1980s and later headed a notorious paramilitary organisation called FRAPH, which terrorised Haiti in the aftermath of the 1991 coup that ousted President Aristide during his first term.
The General Council for the government of Haiti in the United States is speaking out against US support of right-wing opposition Audio From Flashpoints.
US Congresswoman Maxine Waters charges the U.S. Is encouraging a coup in Haiti (Audio).
Media vs. Reality in Haiti | Recycled Soldiers and Paramilitaries on the March | US can end the killing in Haiti it started | NarcoNews: Haiti 2004, The Great Irony | Latest Updates From Flashpoints
Updates From Democracy Now: 2/25 ( 1 2 3 ) 2/26 ( 1 2 ) 2/27 ( 1 )
1/12/2004: Just days after the 200th anniversary of the Haitian Revolution, hunger is ravaging parts of Haiti where recent floods have destroyed crops, and the crisis facing President Aristide's government has worsened. Students and others have taken to the streets, both for and against Aristide, and several protesters have died. How much is the US involved in destabilizing the Aristide administration? Listen to reports from Haiti on the January 8th and 9th editions of Flashpoints. Read more about last month's "student revolt", intended by the US-backed opposition to provoke outside military intervention, and from corporate sources, last week's "general strike".
1/13: Protesters force 7 radio stations off the air | 1/14: Former military leader arrested in Florida | Brief History Of Haiti | 1/15: Haiti's Cracked Screen: Lavalas Under Siege While the Poor Get Poorer
Media Contact: Craig
Phone: 831.425.3101
E-mail: Montereybayrage@hotmail.com
August 6, 2000 - Earth First! & R.A.G.E. staged an action at Trader
Joe's in Capitola, California pushing for an elimination of genetically engineered
ingredients in their products and for product labeling.
the banner
On a busy shopping day near the Capitola mall, hungry consumers
shared the aisles of Trader Joe's, a nation-wide specialty foods market, with
40 activists representing Earth First! and R.A.G.E. (Resistance Against Genetic
Engineering). The activists expressed their concerns on Sunday, August 6th regarding
genetically engineered (GE) ingredients to customers and store management by
handing out literature and engaging in educational conversations. While
using a more direct-action approach the activists hung a banner outside the
building over the store's sign that read, "ABOLISH BIOTECH FOODS!"
In addition to the banner (which remained hung for a half hour until it was
removed by employees,) the activists attached 1000 small, white stickers on
cans, boxes and other non-organic food packaging that advised, "Warning,
product may contain unlabeled genetically engineered organisms."
the label
After 15 minutes store management asked the biohazard suit-clad activists to leave. The Capitola Police arrived soon after and warned the activists not to re-enter the store. The mid-day demonstration continued in the parking lot at the entrance of the Capitola store with dozens of handheld signs such as, "What are you feeding your kids?" and "Traitor GMOs." Informative literature was handed to willing customers as they entered and exited the store. Included in the information packets were post cards that can be signed and sent to the store's Southern California based Corporate Headquarters that indicate customer concerns for the ingredients in Trader Joe's non-organic products.
the question
According to GE FREE LA, a community educational group, 60% of all non-organic foods may be genetically engineered. Their research documents that 35% of all U.S. grown corn and 55% of soybeans are GE. "The industry says that they cannot segregate GE from Non-GE food, even though they do this for export to Europe" said RAGE media spokesperson Craig, "So if something has a corn, soy, potato or tomato non-organic ingredient, which is nearly all processed foods, then we have to assume that the product is genetically engineered." Genetic Engineering is a new technology still in its early experimental stage of development. By randomly inserting together the genes of non-related species (fish genes with tomatoes for example), utilizing viruses, antibiotic-resistant genes, and bacteria, scientists can permanently alter genetic codes of plants, and animals, creating previously unimaginable transgenic life forms.
In a letter addressed to GE FREE LA from Trader Joe's Corporate office in South Pasadena, the company is choosing not to put genetically modified organism (GMO) information on their labels because, "GE foods have not yet been clearly defined by the FDA and/or the USDA." Movements such as Earth First! and R.A.G.E. find this comment to be a contradiction and indeed should be a motivation in of itself to inform the public of what they are consuming by labeling packaging. GE FREE LA's information exclaims that the long-term effects of eating GMOs have yet to be studied. Craig says that, "Nearly every genetic modification involves a change in an organisms proteins, adding new proteins that have never been in the human diet. So even the FDA admits there is the chance of creating new allergens and new toxins. There are already numerous examples of this, some of them fatal such as with L-tryptohpan, a common food additive that the FDA believes a genetic engineered variety was possibly responsible for 37 deaths and 1,5000 disabling illnesses." In addition to human health risks, there are potential environmental concerns as well. Scientists estimate that GE herbicide-resistant crops planted around the world will triple the amount of toxic herbicides used in agriculture, which creates soil, stream, river and ocean contamination including animal life in their respective ecosystems. "Another concern", says Craig, "is that there will be gene transfer from GMOs to wild relatives that are related to the plants we eat. There may be the creation of super-weeds, or other problems we can't even imagine."
the symbols
The Trader Joe's store manager expressed displeasure with the demonstrator's methods for public outreach, however a Capitola Police officer thanked the activists for having such a peaceful protest. A customer and farm worker expressed his appreciation by giving the activists two boxes of organic peaches. After an hour and a half the protest ended.
the products
Several months ago, a similar event took place involving one of Santa Cruz's Safeway locations. GE FREE LA is organizing an upcoming march on Saturday, August 12th to one of Trader Joe's locations in Los Angeles.
the atmosphere
the interactions
the place
the protesters
the store management
Articles of Interest:
1.
Risks of Genetic Engineering
2. Ten Reasons Why Biotechnology Will Not Ensure Food Security, Protect the
Environment and Reduce Poverty in the Developing World
note: for higher quality photos please contact
indybay@scwid.com
In the evening the opening plenary featuring speakers such as Arundhati Roy (India), Shabana Azmi (India), Shirin Ebadi (Iran) and Mustafa Barghouti (Palestine) spoke to a massive crowd. [Photos | Video] from One world TV.
Read a report of the First Day, art & resistance, and look at anti-war cartoons, photos, photos, and more photos.
Indymedia India | Criticism of WSF: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5