Guest guest Posted January 29, 2005 Report Share Posted January 29, 2005 The Ultimate War Crime: Breaking the Agricultural Cycle Edited by Iman Khaduri, http://abutamam.blogspot.com/ January 2005 www.globalresearch.ca 25 January 2005 The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/KHA501A.html For the record: " U.S. declares Iraqis can not save their own seeds " " As part of sweeping " economic restructuring " implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds from US corporations. That is because in recent years, transnational corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or developed by indigenous peoples. In a short time, Iraq will be living under the new American credo: Pay Monsanto, or starve . " " The American Administrator of the Iraqi CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority) government, Paul Bremer, updated Iraq's intellectual property law to 'meet current internationally-recognized standards of protection'. The updated law makes saving seeds for next year's harvest, practiced by 97% of Iraqi farmers in 2002, and is the standard farming practice for thousands of years across human civilizations, to be now illegal.. Instead, farmers will have to obtain a yearly license for genetically modified (GM) seeds from American corporations. These GM seeds have typically been modified from seeds developed over thousands of generations by indigenous farmers like the Iraqis, and shared freely like agricultural 'open source.' " Iraq law Requires Seed Licenses November 13, 2004 " According to Order 81, paragraph 66 - , issued by L. Paul Bremer [CFR], the people in Iraq are now prohibited from saving seeds and may only plant seeds for their food from licensed, authorized U.S. distributors. The paragraph states, " Farmers shall be prohibited from re-using seeds of protected varieties or any variety mentioned in items 1 and 2 of paragraph [C] of Article 14 of this chapter. " Written in massively intricate legalese, Order 81 directs the reader at Article 14, paragraph 2 [C] to paragraph of Article 4, which states any variety that is different from any other known variety may be registered in any country and become a protected variety of seed - thus defaulting it into the " protected class " of seeds and prohibiting the Iraqis from reusing them the following season. Every year, the Iraqis must destroy any seed they have, and repurchase seeds from an authorized supplier, or face fines, penalties and/or jail time. " Iraqis Can't Save Seed January 19, 2005 The original article on this topic: Iraqi farmers aren't celebrating October 15, 2004 As per an Iraqi proverb, the day will come, sooner rather than later, when the Iraqis will shred Bremer's Laws, soak them in water and offer the glass to Bremer to drink. http://globalresearch.ca/articles/KHA501A.html Chris Kelly http://www.scentsappeal.net -- Version: 7.0.296 / Virus Database: 265.8.1 - Release 1/27/2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 29, 2005 Report Share Posted January 29, 2005 , Chris Kelly <Purrrdy@c...> wrote: > > The Ultimate War Crime: Breaking the Agricultural Cycle <snip> " U.S. declares Iraqis can not save their own seeds " > " As part of sweeping " economic restructuring " implemented by the Bush > Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds from US corporations. That is because in recent years, transnational corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or developed by indigenous peoples. In a short time, Iraq will be living under the new American credo: Pay Monsanto, or starve . " <snip> OK, I read this post with utter disgust... I kept thinking that this just cannot be true! What jurisdiction does the US have over the Iraqi people??! How can they do such a thing? This *just has to be* some kind of joke. If it isn't, then it will certainly be a sad, sad day when they start enforcing it. How disgusting. Andrea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/KHA501A.html For the record: " U.S. declares Iraqis can not save their own seeds " I went to the website this came from, and will run it past Snopes, just to check if it is true. It well may be. Bio-piracy is one the biggest crimes of this age. If it is true, maybe Snopes will give it some more publicity. Courts are no help. Here is what happened to Percy Schmeiser of Saskatchewan. Percy had been developing his own Canola (formerly known as rape) seeds for years. Monsanto's round-up ready GM variation blew onto his property and contaminated his crop. Monsanto sued the farmer. Percy was accused of planting Monsanto seed without paying. The fact that he did not want GM seed to begin with did not seem to count. This seems a lot like getting pregnant from a rape and then being charged a stud fee by the rapist. I thought any judge with an ounce of common sense and decency would toss the thing out of court, or better yet, reward Mr. Schmeiser for the loss of his own developed variety. They did not. Percy Schmeiser fought all the way to the Canadian Supreme court and LOST. Monsanto's right to their intellectual property was upheld over a farmer's right to the integrity of his crop. At least there was a dissenting minority report and Mr Schmeiser did not have to pay court costs. My blood boils every time I think of this issue. Can privatizing air be far behind? Ien in the Kootenays ********************************* " The world is as you dream it. But your dream has become a nightmare. What you need is a new dream. " Amazon Shaman, quoted in Utne One good dream: http://theforestpath.com ********************************* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 The situation of the Iraqi seed needs a lot of press. It is exactly what I would expect, because from where i sit, it seems that anyone of influence or one of the so called power brokers, is going to get special treatment, unfortunately the court system should not be involved with who is a power broker and who is just a little guy trying to grow a crop. I remember when the farmer had his crop destroyed with the rotten GM seed pollen, must be how it went. I also could not believe the outcome of the trip to court. This is the second list I am reading this on, just plain old americans need to read this little article. From the other list I read that this was even put into the Iraqi constitution. It was also put in there that it could not be changed, just like our Senior medical card when we read that there could be no negotioation on price with the pharamceuticals. If you get me right, this is the same technique. One is Pharmaceuticals the other seeds same thing right???? Nobody is going to convince me that all is well in Iraq and they love us. If I read the other article right, Iraqs seed of several hundered years has been stolen right out from under them. Monsanto it sounds like, patented Iraqi seed and now it is theirs. Also this is being done to other so called indiginous peoples seed, not just Iraq. I would have to bet that Monsanto is part of the Base. Sharon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Ooooh yes! I've read Percy's story. He spoke up in Albany (unfortunately, I couldn't go) about his situation. Sad, sad, sad situation it surely is! :-(( Kelly Ieneke van Houten wrote: > The URL of this article is: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/KHA501A.html > For the record: " U.S. declares Iraqis can not save their own seeds " > > I went to the website this came from, and > will run it past Snopes, just to check if it is > true. > It well may be. Bio-piracy is one the biggest > crimes of this age. > > If it is true, maybe Snopes will give it some > more publicity. > > Courts are no help. > > Here is what happened to Percy Schmeiser > of Saskatchewan. Percy had been developing > his own Canola (formerly known as rape) > seeds for years. > Monsanto's round-up ready GM variation > blew onto his property and contaminated his > crop. > > Monsanto sued the farmer. > Percy was accused of planting Monsanto seed > without paying. The fact that he did not want > GM seed to begin with did not seem to count. > > This seems a lot like getting pregnant from a rape > and then being charged a stud fee by the rapist. > > I thought any judge with an ounce of common > sense and decency would toss the thing out of > court, or better yet, reward Mr. Schmeiser > for the loss of his own developed variety. > > They did not. Percy Schmeiser fought all the > way to the Canadian Supreme court and LOST. > Monsanto's right to their intellectual property > was upheld over a farmer's right to the integrity > of his crop. At least there was a dissenting > minority report and Mr Schmeiser did not have to > pay court costs. > > My blood boils every time I think of this issue. > Can privatizing air be far behind? > > Ien in the Kootenays Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 31, 2005 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Hi! I'm new to the group. My name is Jessica and I'm an Aromatologist in Ontario, Canada. I couldn't resist responding to this post because I am extremely against Monsanto's policies worldwide. You name the country, and they are doing something heinous there. It is criminal but when governments and corporations are buddies, human rights, animal rights and environmental rights are non-existent. They just get in the way of profit. The only thing that we can do is stop supporting these corporations as much as possible by purchasing from ethical companies. Ethical practises need to be demanded by the consumer. Jessica Jessica Burman www.cocoonapothecary.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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