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more on seed solidarity
Posted: January 23 2014
You may be a loyal enough blog reader to have caught the thread on TTIP TTP and TPP. These are free trade agreements being written and negotiated on practically intergalactic level. The stakes are high, especially around agriculture, intellectual property rights, and trade rules-- but unlike during the WTO talks which triggered a massive mobilization and anti-globalization movement-- so far these agreements have been quite quiet, except when the NSA controversy, exposed by Edward Snowden over US spying on European delegation communications, brought it into the press.
Here you can read a full chapter on Wiki Leaks.
Recently Greenhorns director Severine Fleming joined with Via Campesina, farmers, activists, seed savers and campaigners from across Europe and the world for a protest in front of the E.U. Parliament where the agriculture meeting was deliberating. We were demanding that the E.U. require and regulate the rights of farmers to save, plant, breed and sell their own seeds. And to prevent profit-driven patent-grabbing of land-race varieties, traits and genes by agribusinesses. European consumer mobilizations have made clear the widely shared sentiment of distrust over GMO seeds, but these trade deals are being written from a corporate" intellectual property" framework that over-rides nation-state's rights to protect those citizens. Therefore we mobilize together, globalize the resistance against unfair rules.
Via Campesina Member Groups represent 200 million peasants worldwide.
a few you may want to know about include:
EcoRuralis, Romania
Crofting Federation, Scotland
Landworkers Alliance, England
Turkish Farmers Federation, Turkey
Federation Paysanne, France
Greenhorns, USA
Arc2020, Germany
Severine reports, "We ate soup, drank tea with organic speculos cookies, traded seeds, met one another, and listened to wonderful speeches about what is at stake. What a compelling and delightful time it was, I was so lucky to be able to come there from my meetings in France -- on a high speed train no less. I foresee much more demonstrating in our future!"
SEED SOLIDARITY!
full press release: http://landworkersalliance.org.uk/2014/01/mobilisation-to-defend-farmers-rights/
hudson, new york