GLOBALIZATION, FOOD IMPERIALISM AND WAR
will be one of the major themes at
Biodevastation 7: A Forum on Environmental Racism, World Agriculture and
Biowarfare
May 16-18, 2003, Mildred Bastian Theatre, 5600 Oakland, St. Louis, Missouri
USA
Since the commercialization of genetically engineered food crops began in the
mid-1990s, biotechnology has been a means for global corporations to
concentrate their control over our food and our health. The story began with
Monsanto’s aggressive promotion of biotech crops and its wanton contamination
of food growing regions throughout the world. Other companies, most recently
Bayer and Syngenta, followed suit, combining the marketing of agricultural
chemicals with GE seeds developed to optimize the use of those chemicals.
Every one of these companies has its roots in wartime production and war
profiteering, from 19th century gunpowder production by DuPont — now owner
of the world’s largest seed company — to the development of DDT, Agent
Orange and the high-dosage Roundup being used to eradicate coca crops in
South America.
International financial institutions like the IMF, World Bank and WTO have
also supported the expansion of GE agriculture, through development loans,
“technology transfer” programs, and direct pressure to weaken local
environmental and food safety laws. The WTO’s intellectual property rules
have been used to force countries like India to accept the patenting of life.
US officials continue to threaten WTO sanctions against Europe’s moratorium
on new GE crop varieties.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) offers loans and loan
guarantees to countries throughout the world for purchases of GE grain that
people in Europe and Japan refuse to eat. Several African countries sparked
an international incident last summer when many refused this tainted “food
aid.” Agriculture, and specifically biotech agriculture, plays a central role
in the upcoming world trade negotiations scheduled for Canc�n, Mexico in
September, 2003. Walden Bello of Focus on the Global South has called the
proposed Agreement on Agriculture ” the WTO’s Achilles’ Heel.”
The panel on Globalization, Food Imperialism and War will feature leading
critics of the global “free trade”/biotech agenda:
Dr. Vandana Shiva, director of the Research Foundation for Science,
Technology and Ecology in New Delhi, is one of the world’s leading critics of
“free trade,” biotechnology, and the ways biotech-based transnationals are
threatening the survival of traditional growers of food throughout the world.
Dr. Mwananyanda Mbikusita Lewanika, of the National Institute for Scientific
and Industrial Research in Zambia, was a key figure in the Zambian
government’s effort to investigate the implications of GE food aid. He was
part of the Zambian scientific mission that came to the US in summer 2003 and
ultimately urged its government to continue refusing genetically engineered
corn.
Brian Tokar, of the Institute for Social Ecology’s Biotechnology Project in
Vermont, is a widely published author, grassroots activist, and winner of a
1999 Project Censored Award for his investigative history of Monsanto. He has
been involved in the planning and organizing of the “Biodevastation”
international gatherings since the series began in St. Louis in 1998.
John Kinsman is a Wisconsin dairy farmer, president of Family Farm Defenders and vice president of the National Family Farm Coalition. He has worked to forge new consumer-farmer direct marketing strategies for dairy products and traveled to meet and work with farmer activists all around the world.
The major panel on globalization will be�
7:00 pm, Friday, May 16, 2003, ” Globalization, Food Imperialism and War ”
Workshops related to this theme will include:
2:00-3:45 pm, Friday, May 16. “WTO and the Road to Canc�n,” Vandana Shiva &
John Kinsman
1:45-3:30 pm, Saturday, May 17. “Crop Contamination in Latin America,”
Ignacio Chapela, Ana Ruiz Diaz & S’ra DeSantis
1:45-3:30 pm, Saturday, May 17. Resisting GMOs in Africa, Dr. M.M. Lewanika,
Lawrence Tsimese & Raymond Bokor
Biodevastation 7 also includes the following panel discussions:
10:00 am, Friday, May 16. “The International Threat to Farms and Farmers”
10:00 am, Saturday, May 17. “Backyard Bioweapons: Biolabs, Biodefense,
Biotech, & Billions of $”
7:30 pm, Saturday, May 17. “Environmental Racism”
10:00 am, Sunday, May 18. “Crop Contamination and the Future of Indigenous
Agriculture”
On the afternoon of Sunday, May 18 there will be an anti-globalization
convergence at the World Agricultural Forum. www.worldagforum.com or
314-771-8576
Biodevastation 7 is sponsored by the Gateway Green Alliance, P.O. Box 8094,
St. Louis MO 63156, USA 314-664-1199 www.gatewaygreens.org
Cosponsors: Institute for Social Ecology, Greens/Green Party USA, JMG
Foundation, Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, Solidago Foundation, Fund for Wild
Nature
