People Putting Food First #107
1. YOUR URGENT ACTION IS NEEDED—on behalf of Brazilian landless in their opposition to Syngenta’s illegal experimental genetic engineering site
2. The ban on genetically modified corn has been extended in France
3. Africa takes a stand against Europe’s unequal economic partnership agreements (EPAs)
1. Urgent Action--on behalf of Brazilian landless in their opposition to Syngenta’s illegal experimental genetic engineering site
This urgent appeal is at the request of Terra de Direitos, a Via Campesina member organization.
Syngenta’s illegal experimental site for GMO seeds in Paraná, Brazil is being challenged by the Movement of the Landless Rural Workers (MST) and Via Campesina. The site has been occupied by MST/Via Campesina families off and on since March 2006, when the corporation’s illegal activities were first made public. Syngenta’s illegal activities with GMO seeds resulted in a US $465,000 fine—which the corporation still has not paid. In November 2006, Paraná state Governor Roberto Requião signed a decree to expropriate the site in order to turn it into a center for research and training in agroecology for small farmers. However, in early 2007, Syngenta obtained a judicial ruling against the expropriation decree that suspended the Governor’s action. Months later, Syngenta announced that it would restart GMO experiments on the site, ignoring Brazilian legislation banning such experiments.
As we reported in an earlier issue of People Putting Food First (http://www.foodfirst.org/node/1795), the most recent occupation of Syngenta’s site by Via Campesina on October 21st, 2007, resulted in the death of activist Valmir Mota de Oliveira (“Keno”) and serious injury to several other activists. Syngenta had hired the NF Security Company, a company that organizes illegal armed militias to thwart land occupations on behalf of large landowners in the region and to guard its site from further occupations. While Syngenta claims its contract with NF Security stipulates that the guards could not be armed, reports that the guards hired by Syngenta had been harassing neighbors with guns and gun shots had been reported to the police for months before Keno’s shooting.
On December 20, 2007, the court granted Syngenta’s request to retake possession of the property. The MST/Via Campesina families remain at the site with threat of eviction at any moment. On Friday, January 18th, 2008, the court will issue a ruling regarding the validity of Governor Requião’s expropriation decree, which has been suspended until now. Paraná courts are notorious for ruling in favor of agribusiness companies and against agrarian reform efforts. There is a potential for more violence by the police or by landowner militias in the area, who are tied to NF Security and Syngenta.
It is important to tell Syngenta that the international community supports the MST/Via Campesina activists and finds the company’s violent behavior unacceptable. Please widely disseminate this appeal, and send your own letter to pressure Syngenta to take responsibility for its actions, and to ensure that this transnational corporation will not engage in violence or other illegalities in the future. A sample letter is attached. Please send the letter before January 18th, 2008.
Your letter will be most effective if you personalize it. To send your e-mail letter, go to http://www.syngenta.com/en/index.aspx Select contacts on the top right, select general, enter your contact information and cut and paste the letter below into the box.
Michael Mack, Chief Operating Officer
Syngenta AG
P.O. Box 8353
Wilmington DE 19803-8353
Dear Mr. Mack,
I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the violence that occurred in Brazil on October 21, 2007, as well as Syngenta’s general behavior in that country. Syngenta is indirectly responsible for the death of two people which occurred in a violent incident on October 21. I urge you to immediately terminate your contract with NF Security before yet more violence occurs.
In November 2007, a Brazilian federal judge ruled that Syngenta pay the fine imposed upon it in 2006 by the federal environmental agency, IBAMA. To date, Syngenta has not paid the fine. This is the price your company must pay for illegally growing genetically engineered plants in violation of a federal environmental law.
If Syngenta strives to “benefit Brazilian society,” as it claims on its website, you could make up for past errors by handing this research property over to the Paraná government for land reform and an agroecology center.
Most importantly, it is absolutely essential that your company take steps to ensure that there will not be any more violence associated with Syngenta, its contractors, or any of its properties. I hope Syngenta will take these actions immediately, and show the international community that it takes human rights seriously.
As a leading global agricultural and chemical firm, Syngenta is in an excellent position to provide leadership and set a good example for other businesses. Unfortunately, however, the international community has been extremely disappointed by Syngenta’s behavior in Brazil thus far. I hope Syngenta will take this opportunity to acknowledge its responsibility for its past mistakes, and to behave more responsibly in the future.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter. I eagerly await your response.
Sincerely,
(your name)
http://www.mstbrazil.org/?q=node/561
2. The ban on genetically modified corn has been extended in France
The French government announced Friday January 22, 2008 that it would extend a ban on the only GMO crop currently grown in France. The government cited new evidence about MON 810, the Monsanto maize variety that produces the pesticide Bt in its stem, raising concerns about biodiversity, its affect on aquatic organisms, and its wide dissemination.
Earlier this month.French farmer and activist, Jose Bove, and 15 of his supporters launched a hunger strike, vowing not to eat until France's food supply was safe from GM contamination. Bove is a spokesman for the international peasants' movement, Via Campesina, and has been involved in campaigns on behalf of small farmers all around the world.
The French ban was announced just as international debate over the right of nations to reject GM food took a serious turn. Washington is actively looking for ways to pry open the European market for American biotech companies. The European Union had until Friday to lift its ban on imports of GM food, but there is little indication that GM imports into EU nations are increasing. Washington could go to the WTO to push for stronger sanctions on the EU as early as this week.
In France, Bove and the 80% of French people polled who are opposed to GM food may be celebrating, but the evidence invoked by President Sarkozy to ban the GM maize is still subject to review by the European Commission. The EC has 60 days to review the new evidence presented by France's panel of government appointed scientists. If they find the scientific foundations behind the ban invalid, the EC could order France to remove its ban before the spring maize planting begins. If the ban holds up however, it represents a major victory for the right of people to democratically determine the shape of their food systems.
http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/filter/agribusiness?OpenDocum...
http://www.greens-efa.org/cms/topics/dok/206/206719.eu_must_refuse_to_au...
http://www.viacampesina.org/main_en/index.php?option=com_content&task=vi...
3. Africa takes a stand against Europe’s unequal economic partnership agreements (EPA's)
Times may be changing in Africa. Europe is no longer free to impose unfair trade agreements to the detriment of African farmers. At the second EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon in December African nations united against the EU’s push for trade liberalization and bilateral economic agreements. The EU’s 27 countries were asking African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries to permit EU goods and services to enter their domestic markets duty-free with a December 31, 2007 deadline for the new trade agreements.
Instead, African governments resoundingly voted no, forcing the European Commission into negotiations that are likely to resume in February 2008. President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal emphatically refused to sign saying “We are not talking any more about EPA’s. We have rejected them.” President Thamo Mbeki of South Africa and Namibia supported Wade in deciding not to sign. This is a turning point for Africa, with African nations rejecting European domination and colonialist policies. The mobilized strength of social movements and trade union organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa also contributed to the collapse of the Summit.
Breaking with the European Commission, French President Nicolas Sarkozy stood behind the African countries that opposed unfair agreements. All in all, only 15 of the 76 poor countries involved in the discussions have signed EPA’s with Europe. Most African leaders fear that the EPA’s will flood their markets with cheap European goods, depriving them of duty revenue, while destroying local businesses and agriculture. Many also fear the EU’s strategy of single country deals that parallel the US’ inequitable trade agreements with Latin American nations.
Chinese investment in Africa could be playing a key role in the rejection of the EU’s inequitable trade agreements. China’s infrastructure investments—with no strings attached— include railways in Gabon, roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and schools and hospitals in Angola. China will soon surpass Europe as one of Africa’s leading suppliers and will likely overtake the U.S. by 2010. While the full impact of China’s involvement remain unclear, they provide leverage in resisting Europe’s top-down trade policies.
http://www.euractiv.com/en/trade/eu-africa-economic-partnership-agreemen...
http://allafrica.com/stories/200711050868.html
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39880
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7591
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This edition of People Putting Food First! e-newsletter was written by Food First development director, Marilyn Borchardt; consultant, Isabella Kenfield, and interns Annie Shattuck and Zack Zimbalist. If you have stories, questions or feedback, please contact: info at foodfirst.org. To subscribe to this People Putting Food First e-newsletter go to www.foodfirst.org or simply hit reply and type the word subscribe in the subject line. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to Food First.